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File Created: 29-Jan-1988 by Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:  25-Jan-1996 by Jay W. Page (JWP)

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NMI
Name WESTBENCH, MADELINE LAKE, NKWALA Mining Division Osoyoos
BCGS Map 082E052
Status Showing NTS Map 082E12E
Latitude 049º 30' 40'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 119º 38' 44'' Northing 5487640
Easting 308496
Commodities Uranium Deposit Types B08 : Surficial U
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Overlap Assemblage, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The WESTBENCH showing is a postglacial uranium concentration in the lake-bottom sediments of Madeline Lake. It is located approximately 1.0 kilometre northwest of Westbench, a subdivision of Penticton.

This is one of many young 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 is a process which 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 in lake-bottom sediments over an area measuring 16,800 square metres (Culbert, 1979). An auger hole intersected a 4.0-metre thick layer averaging 0.0168 per cent uranium with a 0.5-metre section averaging 0.0303 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). The uraniferous layer lies 2.5 metres below the surface (Culbert, 1979).

Other young uranium occurrences located nearby are NKWALA NORTH (082ENW087), NKWALA CENTER (082ENW088), NKWALA P. LINE (082ENW089) and NKWALA SOUTH (082ESW188).

Bibliography
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
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 760, 1024

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