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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  25-Jan-1996 by Keith J. Mountjoy (KJM)

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NMI 082F14 Zn3
Name GALENA FARM, CURRIE (L.744), GROVER (L.1330), STEVENSON (L.1331), PEERLESS REVISED (L.1332), KATE (L.1333), KASLO Mining Division Slocan
BCGS Map 082F094
Status Past Producer NTS Map 082F14W
Latitude 049º 55' 47'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 117º 21' 18'' Northing 5530877
Easting 474521
Commodities Silver, Zinc, Lead, Gold, Cadmium Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Quesnel
Capsule Geology

The Galena Farm occurrence is located at 792 metres elevation, south of Hasty Creek and 1 kilometre east of its mouth at Slocan Lake. Silverton, British Columbia lies 2 kilometres to the north. The Noonday (082FNW068) adjoins to the east.

The Galena Farm occurrence is covered by five claims, originally known as the Currie claim group staked before 1895. The Currie (Lot 744), Grover (Lot 1330), Stevenson (Lot 1331), Peerless Revised (Lot 1332) and Kate (Lot 1333) comprise the claims of this group.

Development work was begun by sinking a shaft on a vein outcrop. In 1896, the claims were acquired by C.W. Callahan and the Galena Mines Company Ltd. Development work was carried out by this company until 1900 when operations were stopped due to the high zinc content of the ore. Property ownership was then transferred to A.W. McCure. In 1914, the property was bonded to P. Clark. In 1917 after his death, work was carried out by his estate, operating as the Galena Mines Company, Northland Mines Limited. A 91 tonne per day concentrator was built in 1915. The company operated the property until 1918 and then intermittently by various lessees until 1924. In 1925, the property was leased by Porcupine Goldfields Development and Finance Company Limited. Crosscutting and diamond drilling was done to explore the downward continuation of the orebody in the footwall of an east-west fault. No orebody was discovered and the option was dropped. Wheeler and associates acquired an option on the property in 1927 and the old mill was converted to flotation with a 36 to 45 tonne per day capacity. Additional underground work was carried out. In 1929, a total of 35 claims including those of the Galena Farm, were optioned to Galena Farm Consolidated Mines Limited. The mill capacity was increased from 91 to 136 tonnes per day. Operations ceased in 1929 due to low silver and zinc prices. Various lessees worked the property from 1936 to 1937. No further work was done until 1949 when F. Mills, under option, began mining small ore remnants in the old workings. The lease was worked until 1964 with further mining of stope remnants, pillar recovery and surface stripping. Other properties holding leases during this period included Transcontinental Resources Limited, Van Roi Consolidated Mines Ltd. and Hardex Mines Ltd. In 1964, Larch Mining Ltd. optioned the property and in 1966 carried out geochemical and geophysical surveys.

Mine workings included the 259 metre main crosscut on the 150 foot level, a 67-metre shaft and a 61-metre drift off the 200 foot level. The main lode was developed by three main levels at 15, 30 and 38 metres depth below the surface. Most of this ground has been mined out to surface and over a length of about 107 metres.

The Galena Farm occurrence is hosted by porphyritic granite of the Middle Jurassic Nelson intrusions containing pendants of metamorphosed quartzite and argillite of the Triassic Slocan Group. Xenoliths of quartzite and argillite were commonly found throughout the underground workings as lenses, belts and irregular inclusions near the Main lode.

The Galena Farm occurrence comprises two lode systems, the Main and Noonday lodes. The Main lode is about 24 metres thick, forming the hangingwall to the Noonday lode (082FNW068). The Main lode strikes 300 degrees and dips about 50 degrees to the northeast. The hangingwall is well defined but the footwall was poorly defined and was determined by the grade of mineralization. Lode width varies from about 60 centimetres to 61 metres but narrows with depth where it is faulted at the 150 foot level. The fault strikes 285 degrees and dips 28 to 30 degrees. To the east, the Main lode is truncated by a north-trending fault and offset by numerous other smaller north- trending faults. The Main lode ore zone consists of a series of subparallel quartz veins separated by varying widths of brecciated wallrock. The veins are also brecciated locally, particularly near the western end of the workings. Alteration of wallrock is reported but not described. The ore consists of massive lenses of sphalerite, galena and pyrite up to 1.5 metres thick in veins composed of quartz with lesser siderite, calcite and locally abundant fluorite. Some native silver has also been reported.

Most production was from the Main lode of the Galena Farm occurrence. The Galena Farm occurrence is renowned for significant ore recovered from shallow workings. Total production figures indicate 84,098 tonnes of ore was mined intermittently from 1900 to 1977. From this, 17,542,637 grams silver, 2068 grams gold, 2,856,577 kilograms lead, 4,638,348 kilograms zinc and 2250 kilograms cadmium were recovered.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1892-531; 1895-677; 1896-37,68,557; 1897-534,573; 1898-1156, 1189,1192; 1900-828; 1904-174; 1915-120,122,126,445; 1916-197; 1917-157,448; 1918-169,473; 1919-125; 1925-245; 1926-255; 1927- 276; 1928-290; 1929-312; 1930-230,250; 1935-A26; 1936-E52; 1937- A37,E51; 1946-166; 1947-171; 1948-147; 1949-190; 1950-149; 1951- 42,177; 1952-43,180; 1953-46,142; 1954-142; 1955-64; 1956-A51,98; 1957-56; 1959-A48,70; 1961-A49,78; 1964-A55,126; 1965-A55,194; 1966-A52,221; 1975-A95; 1977-A116
EMPR BC METAL MM01200
EMPR GEM 1969-326
EMPR INDEX 3-196; 4-121
EMPR LMP Fiche No. 60604,60605
EMPR P 1989-5
EMPR PF (Starr, C.C. (1927): Report on the Galena Farm Mine, 7 p.; Schofield, S.J. (1926): Report on an Examination of the Galena Farm Mine, 4 p.)
EMR MP COMM FILE (Ottawa, Zinc Commission Report #12, 1906, p. 271)
EMR MP CORPFILE (The Porcupine Goldfields Dev. and Finance Co. Ltd.; Galena Farm Consolidated Mines Ltd.; Galena Mining and Milling Co.; Larch Mining Ltd.)
GSC MAP 1667
GSC MEM 173, pp. 13,131,Map 273A; *184, pp. 43,47; *308, p. 187,Map 1091A
GSC SUM RPT 1916, pp. 56-57; 1925A, p. 193

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