MINFILE Mineral Inventory

MINFILE Record Summary

MINFILE No 082ENW068

File Created:	23-Mar-1987	by	Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:	14-Mar-2008	by	Larry Jones (LDJ)

SUMMARY

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		NMI
Name	NORTH FAULDER, FAULDER 3, THREE PEAK BASIN	Mining Division	Osoyoos
		BCGS Map	082E062
Status	Showing	NTS Map	082E12W
Latitude	049º 39' 44''	UTM	11 (NAD 83)
Longitude	119º 46' 02''	Northing	5504753
		Easting	300308
Commodities	Uranium	Deposit Types	B08 : Surficial U
Tectonic Belt	Intermontane	Terrane	Overlap Assemblage, Plutonic Rocks

Capsule Geology

The NORTH FAULDER showing is a postglacial uranium concentration in a pond and associated marsh sediments. It is located approximately 9.25 kilometres northwest of Summerland.

This is one of many uranium occurrences discovered by D.G. Leighton & Associates Ltd. in the late 1970s. Work prior to the uranium moratorium in 1980 consisted of auger sampling. The area is underlain by granodiorite of the Jurassic Okanagan Intrusions.

The occurrence is recent, having formed from the interaction between uranium-rich groundwater and unconsolidated material containing organics or clay. This process is believed to still be taking place. The source of the uranium is thought to be the surrounding igneous rocks, where groundwaters rich in carbonate and alkali ions have leached labile uranium from fresh rock exposed after glaciation.

Uranium enrichment occurs over an area measuring 20,000 square metres. The average thickness of the uraniferous layer is 2.5 metres, which averages 0.0349 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). Within that layer a 0.5-metre section averages 0.0606 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). The uraniferous layer lies 1.7 metres below the surface (Culbert, 1979).

Other young uranium occurrences located nearby are ENEAS A (082ENW076), THREE PEAK BASIN (082ENW078), and MEADOW RIDGE (082ENW080).

Bibliography

EMPR ASS RPT *6575, 7308, 7972

EMPR EXPL 1977-34-35

EMPR FIELDWORK 1979, pp. 11-15

EMPR OF 1990-32; 1994-8

EMPR RGS 29

GSC MAP 538A; 15-1961; 1701A; 1712A; 1713A; 1714A; 1736A;

7686G; 8521G

GSC OF 409; 736; 1969

CIM BULL 1978, Vol. 71, #783, pp. 103-110

CJES *Vol. 21, 1984 pp. 559-566

IAEA TECDOC 322 (Surficial Uranium Deposits, Technical Document,

Vienna, 1984), pp. 179-191

Bates, D.V.; Murray, J.W.; Raudsepp, V. (1980): Royal Commission

of Inquiry, Health and Environmental Protection, Uranium Mining;

Commissioners' Report, Vol. 1, pp. 35-36, 183-184.

*Culbert, R.R. (1979): Post-Glacial Uranium Concentration in South

Central British Columbia, Royal Commission on Uranium Mining,

Accession List #2109S01, 20 pages.

Culbert, R.R. (1979): Uranium Equilibrium - Disequilibrium as

Observed in the Natural Environment in British Columbia, Royal

Commission on Uranium Mining, Accession List #2017S, 15 pages

with Appendices.

*Culbert, R.R. and Leighton, D.G. (1988): Young Uranium;

in Unconventional Uranium Deposits, Ore Geology Reviews, Vol. 3,

pp. 313-330.

EMPR PFD 754