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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  04-Aug-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

Summary Help Help

NMI 082F14 Ag63
Name RICHMOND-EUREKA, RICHMOND (L.1472), EUREKA NO. 2 (L.2284) Mining Division Slocan
BCGS Map 082F094
Status Past Producer NTS Map 082F14E
Latitude 049º 57' 58'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 117º 13' 06'' Northing 5534886
Easting 484342
Commodities Silver, Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, Gold, Copper Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Quesnel
Capsule Geology

The Richmond-Eureka occurrence is situated at 1480 metres elevation above sea level on the east side of Sandon Creek, about 3.2 kilometres by road south of Sandon.

The Richmond-Eureka vein was staked by Bruce White in 1891 and development work on a small scale was begun in about 1895. In 1899 the Richmond claim was Crown-granted to G. Gooderham and the Eureka No. 2 to the War Eagle Consolidated Mining & Development Co. Ltd.

The period of greatest development and production was from 1908 to 1916 when it was owned and operated by the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. Ltd. Closed in 1916, the mine was reopened in 1925 and operated intermittently by leasers until 1928.

The Richmond claim had a small amount of development and assessment work done on it in 1940-41 by C. Lindstrom.

The property was optioned by R. Crowe-Sword of Vancouver from Cominco. In 1950 the property was optioned from him by Kootenay Belle Gold Mines. They built a sink-float plant at the base of the lowest, or No. 6 dump and reopened No. 5 & 6 levels. In 1952 they recovered ore from between No. 5 and 6 levels.

In December the property, which included the Silversmith, Slocan Star (082FNW053), Ruth Hope (082FNW052), and Slocan King (082FNW196) claims, was transferred to Carnegie Mines of B.C. Ltd. They produced about 63 tonnes per day all year except during March & April. The Slocan King adit, which is on the same lode but 79 metres below No. 6 adit, was connected to No. 6 adit by a raise.

In 1958 the company was merged with Violamac Mines Ltd. and the name changed to Carnegie Mining Corp. Ltd. In 1959 and 1961 leasers did some small scale mining.

The workings comprise a shaft, a series of open-cuts and short adits, and four main adits connected by raises and stopes. The underground work comprises about 1829 metres of drifts and crosscuts and over 304 metres of raises. The workings have explored the main lode over a horizontal distance of about 610 metres and a vertical distance of nearly 305 metres.

Leasers worked the Ruth Hope claim part time during 1962.

Regionally, the area lies on the western margin of the Kootenay Arc, in allochthonous rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. In the vicinity of the occurrence, the Quesnel Terrane is dominated by the Upper Triassic Slocan Group, a thick sequence of deformed and metamorphosed shale, argillite, siltstone, quartzite and minor limestone. Rocks of the Slocan Group are tightly and disharmonically folded. Early minor folds are tight to isoclinal with moderate east plunging, southeast inclined axial planes and younger folds are open, southwest plunging with subhorizontal axial planes. The sedimentary sequence has been regionally metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies.

South of the occurrence, the Slocan Group has been intruded by the Middle Jurassic Nelson intrusions which comprise at least six texturally and compositionally distinct phases ranging from diorite to lamprophyre. The most dominant phase is a medium to coarse grained potassium feldspar porphyritic granite. Several feldspar porphyritic granodiorite dikes, apparently related to the Nelson intrusions, also cut the sedimentary sequence near the occurrence (Paper 1989-5).

The Richmond-Eureka occurrence is hosted by massive, commonly calcareous quartzite and argillite of the Slocan Group intruded by various dikes of quartz diorite, lamprophyres and minettes. The rocks are dislocated by strong reverse faults subparallel to north to northwest bedding.

The Richmond-Eureka deposit is the extension of the Silversmith (082FNW053) and Ruth-Hope (082FNW052) deposits to the west. On the Richmond and Eureka No. 2 Crown grants, the deposit consists of a vein hosted by an oblique normal-sinistral fault of unknown displacement. The vein strikes 080 degrees and generally dips 45 degrees southeast. The fault consists of a strongly brecciated and sheared zone up to 14 metres wide that curves locally to follow bedding especially near the basic dikes. The fault appears to widen in soft rocks and tightens in the more siliceous strata and dike rocks. The ore consists of up to 2.5 metres of massive sheared galena located at the hangingwall of the fault and bands and veinlets, up to 5 centimetres thick, of sheared galena at the footwall. A vertical zoning of sulphides with sphalerite becoming more abundant with depth and gangue with siderite-calcite passing downwards to siderite-quartz are reported. Pyrite, tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite are present in minor amounts and leaf silver has been noted.

The deposit has been exploited with a shaft and a series of short adits. The underground workings comprise 1830 metres of drifts and 300 metres of raises and stopes. The workings which extend for 600 metres along strike and about 300 metres vertically explore two separate deposits along the same fissure zone. The largest deposit was 3 metres thick, 45 metres long and extended 80 metres downdip.

Production from the Richmond-Eureka deposit between 1896 and 1961 yielded about 24 tonnes of silver, 2322 tonnes of lead, 761 tonnes of zinc, 1499 kilograms of cadmium and 590 grams of gold from 36,650 tonnes mined.

During 2007 through 2009, Klondike Gold Corp. completed programs of prospecting, soil sampling and trenching on the area.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1893-1058; 1895-677; 1896-51,59; 1899-846; 1902-298;
1907-98,214; 1908-99,247; 1909-133,273; 1910-98,244; 1911-134,285;
1912-149,322; 1913-420; 1914-287,510; 1916-516; 1924-196; 1925-245;
1926-251; 1950-144; 1951-43,169,314; 1952-174,335; 1953-46,138;
1954-51,139; 1955-61; 1956-94; 1957-52; 1958-46; 1959-A49,68;
1960-76; 1961-A50,76; 1962-80; 1963-77; *1964-124; 1965-191
EMPR BC METAL MM01374
EMPR BULL 29, p. 102
EMPR INDEX 3-210; 4-124
EMPR LMP Fiche No. 61443
EMPR P 1989-5
EMPR PF (Richmond-Eureka composite cross-section, 1953; Starr, C.C.
(1949): Brief Report on Richmond Eureka Mine, 3 p.)
GSC MAP 273A; 1091A; 1667
GSC MEM 173, p. 14; *184, p. 113; 308, p. 147
GSC SUM RPT 1925 Part A, p. 201
CANMET IR 12 (1906), p. 189
Höy, T. (2016-06-28): Technical Report – The Slocan Silver Camp

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