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: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  15-Sep-2010 by Sarah Meredith-Jones (SMJ)

Summary Help Help

NMI 082K13 Ag2
Name SPIDER (L.15752), SPIDER MINE, SPIDER NO. 1 (L.15753), MULTIPLEX, SUNSHINE LARDEAU, NO. 4, NO. 5, ECLIPSE, GOLD BIRD (L.15750), WINTON (L.15751), MAY FR. (L.15755), READY MONEY, MABEL FR. Mining Division Revelstoke
BCGS Map 082K072
Status Past Producer NTS Map 082K13E
Latitude 050º 46' 43'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 117º 36' 32'' Northing 5625383
Easting 457072
Commodities Silver, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Copper, Cadmium, Antimony Deposit Types I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Kootenay
Capsule Geology

The Spider mine (also known as the Sunshine Lardeau mine) is on the south side of Pool Creek, 2.7 kilometres by steep road southeast of Camborne. The Spider (L.15752), Spider No.1 (L.15753), Eclipse (L.5170)(082KNW044) and Sandy (L.8719)(082KNW048) are the nucleus of a group of Crown granted claims and fractions that extends from the valley of Poole Creek southeasterly towards Mohawk Creek.

The first discovery of ore in this area was made in 1910 on the Spider claim. Development work continued until 1949 during which there were small intermittent shipments of hand-sorted ore. Sunshine Lardeau Mines Ltd. acquired the property and initiated a diamond drilling program which discovered Nos. 4 and 5 veins in 1950. A crosscut was driven to the veins on No. 5 level and No. 6 adit was extended to intersect No. 4 vein. A mill was installed in the old Meridian building on Pool Creek in May 1952. Concentrates were transported by truck to Beaton and thence by the Arrow Lakes barge to the rail-head at Nakusp and from there to smelters in the United States. Berens River Mines Ltd. provided additional funding to gain control of operations and, in 1953, No. 10 adit was driven. In 1956 the company was liquidated and operations passed to Newmont Mining Corp. Mining and milling operations were suspended on May 14th, 1958.

Total production to the end of 1958 was 371 kilograms of gold, 53,481 kilograms of silver, 85 tonnes of copper, 10,845 tonnes of lead, 11,519 tonnes of zinc, 60 tonnes of cadmium and 4 tonnes of antimony from 128,063 tonnes of ore.

The mine is underlain by southeasterly striking, steeply dipping volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Lower Paleozoic Lardeau Group. Sedimentary rocks of the Broadview Formation include medium grey to greenish quartzites, greywackes, carbonaceous phyllites and quartz sericite schist. The volcanic rocks of the Jowett Formation comprise massive fragmental lenses and lava flows, some chlorite schist and a few thin beds of banded iron formation. In the fragmental units, extreme elongation of the clasts, caused by synkinematic metamorphism, has imparted a crude secondary layering subparallel to the primary stratification. These rocks form a broad belt northeast of the Kaskanax batholith. The belt, in part, straddles the northern end of the Kootenay Arc.

A northwest trending fault, locally termed the Camborne fault, cuts the north limb of a southeast plunging (25 to 30 degrees) antiform, along the north side of Pool Creek. A 500-metre wide band of greenstone volcanic rock of the Jowett Formation outlines the antiformal structure along Pool Creek. All of the rocks are foliated in a northwesterly direction with steep dips to the northeast. Small scale drag folds plunge steeply northwest and southeast. Late northerly trending faults cut the foliated rocks and it is mainly along the northerly trending crossfaults that alteration and mineralization has taken place.

The orebodies, south of Pool Creek, occupy four main veins on a system of steeply dipping, northerly trending faults. The faults, spaced at approximately 275-metre intervals, cut across the bedding at about 50 degrees, showing some dextral strike slip displacement. From northwest to southeast the veins are named the Sandy (082KNW048), Barclay (082KNW049), No.4 and Eclipse (082KNW044).

Along these northerly trending fault zones, the greenstone is silicified, carbonatized and cut by steeply dipping quartz-ankerite veins variably mineralized with galena, sphalerite, pyrite and chalcopyrite. Tetrahedrite and arsenopyrite are rare. The mineralization varies from large lenses and pockets of sulphides 2 to 3 metres wide to disseminations. Veinlets of quartz or sulphides also extend into the wallrock. The veins range from less than 1 metre wide to 7 or 8 metres wide, and the alteration zone, principally on the eastern or hangingwall side, is usually about 10 metres wide. There are at least five known veins on the Spider property. The No. 4 vein is the largest of the veins and is the source of most of the production from the property.

This vein was developed from surface to a depth of 200 metres. Ore grade material was intersected in drilling an additional depth of 70 metres below this level.

Past development consisted of at least 7 levels with raising and crosscutting. The No. 10 level adit and associated workings developed the No. 4 vein which was mined in the 1950's. Nearly all ore had been mined out above the No. 10 level by the end of 1957. Mining and milling was suspended on May 14, 1958. East of the No. 4 vein and accessible via the No. 10 level workings, is the Eclipse vein (082KNW044). This development exposed the top of the ore body through a vertical range of 46 metres. The Eclipse vein saw production between 1956-58 with approximately 31,748 tonnes of ore milled with ore of the Spider mine (Assessment Report 16724). The Eclipse vein occurs at a faulted contact between phyllite and greenstone of the Jowett Formation.

The main ore controls are a series of northerly trending fissures (splays or tension fractures?) that appear to be related to the through-going southeasterly trending Camborne fault along the valley of Pool Creek. Hydrothermal solutions were controlled by the intersection of the principal fissures with fold crests. Mineralization appears to have favoured the Jowett Formation because of the volcanic composition and the competent, fissure-sustaining characteristics of these rocks.

Measured geological reserves at the Spider mine are 25,400 tonnes grading 254.7 grams per tonne silver, 6.19 per cent lead, 6.34 per cent zinc and 4.46 grams per tonne gold (George Cross News Letter April 26, 1988).

In 1964, Sunshine Lardeau Mines Limited drilled 25 holes and drifted 61 metres. The diamond drill holes intersected the No. 4 vein over a length of 122 metres and to a depth of 69 metres below the No. 10 level. Based on this work, probable reserves were estimated at 53,343 tonnes averaging 2.74 grams per tonne gold, 92.57 grams per tonne silver, 2.00 per cent lead and 4.25 per cent zinc (Sunshine Lardeau Mines Limited, 1964 Annual Report). The company name was changed in 1965 to Sunshine Comstock Mines Limited, and in 1974 to Sunshine Columbia Resources Limited. The old tailings dump from the milling operation, located on the Treadwell claim (Lot 5402) and owned by C. Nelson, was sampled and tested for gold and silver values (see Cholla (082KNW143). Sunshine Columbia became K-2 Resources Inc. in 1987. They drilled in 1986. K-2 Resources subsequently changed their name to Jazz Resources Inc. and conducted drilling in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1987. In 2007 the company re-assayed drill core from past drilling and released a NI43-101 compliant report on the property May 13, 2008 (www.sedar.com).

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1909-K104; 1910-K95; 1911-K129,K285; 1912-K323; *1914-K258-K259; 1915-K118; 1916-K194; 1917-F153; 1918-K158,K190; 1923-A233; 1924-B206; 1925-A263; 1928-C318; 1929-C285; 1936-E49; 1937-E56; 1938-E22-E25; 1941-A26; 1949-A192; 1950-A150,A151; 1951-A178; 1952-A182,A183; 1953-A143,A144; 1954-A143; 1955-66,67; *1956-99-105; 1957-58; 1958-49; 1964-130
EMPR ASS RPT 10844, *16724, 19018
EMPR BC METAL MM00638
EMPR BULL 2 (1914)
EMPR FIELDWORK 1998
EMPR GEM 1975-E48; 1976-E52
EMPR INDEX 3-214; 4-125
EMPR MAP 65 (1989)
EMPR OF 1992-1; 1998-10
EMPR PF (Numerous plans, notes and sketches of underground workings, some 1929; Eastwood, P. (1954-1957): Notes and Sketches; Emmens, N.W. (1914): Report on the Mineral Resources of the Lardeau Mining Division, pp. 26-28, in 082KNW General; see Eclipse (082KNW044); Skerl, A.C. (1957): Report on the Pipestem Group, in (082KNW146))
EMR MIN BULL MR 223 B.C. 60 (Sunshine Lardeau Mines Ltd. Annual Report 1964)
EMR MP CORPFILE (Multiplex Mining, Milling and Power Company, Limited; Spider Gold and Silver Mines, Limited; Sunshine Columbia Resources Limited)
GSC MEM 161, pp. 85-88
GSC OF 288; 432; 464
GSC SUM RPT 1921 Part A, pp. 107-110
CANMET IR 279, p. 122; 539, pp. 126-128
CIM BULL *Vol. 50, No. 540, pp. 218-221(1957)
GCNL #56(Mar.19), #149(Aug.1), 1980; #220(Nov.17), 1982; #20(Jan.29), #62(Apr.1), #80(Apr.25), #122(June 25), 1986; #13(Jan.20), #193, 1987; *(Apr.26), 1988
MIN REV July/Aug. 1981
PR REL Sept.12, 2010
V STOCKWATCH Aug.27, Oct.2,8, 1987 (K-2 Resources Inc.)

COPYRIGHT | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | ACCESSIBILITY