British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas and Responsible for Housing
News | The Premier Online | Ministries & Organizations | Job Opportunities | Main Index

MINFILE Home page  ARIS Home page  MINFILE Search page  Property File Search
Help Help
File Created: 29-Jan-1988 by Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:  25-Jan-1996 by Jay W. Page (JWP)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name CONTACT POOL, FAULDER Mining Division Osoyoos
BCGS Map 082E062
Status Showing NTS Map 082E12E
Latitude 049º 37' 13'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 119º 43' 39'' Northing 5499986
Easting 303005
Commodities Uranium, Molybdenum Deposit Types B08 : Surficial U
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Overlap Assemblage
Capsule Geology

The CONTACT POOL showing is a postglacial uranium concentration in a pond and in surrounding marsh soils. It is located approximately 3 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 Eocene trachyte, andesite and pyroclastic rocks of the Marron Formation, Penticton Group which unconformably overlie 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 and volcanic 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 3,800 square metres (Culbert, 1979). An auger hole intersected a 5.5-metre thick layer averaging 0.0302 per cent uranium with a 0.5-metre section averaging 0.0517 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). Molybdenum averages up to 0.04 per cent over 0.5 metre (Culbert, 1988). The uraniferous layer lies 1.0 metre below the surface (Culbert, 1979).

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 6575
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 762, 1026

COPYRIGHT | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | ACCESSIBILITY