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: 14-Oct-1987 by Jennifer W. Pell (JP)
Last Edit:  04-Aug-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

Summary Help Help

NMI 082M7 Ree
Name MT. GRACE CARBONATITE, VICTORIA Mining Division Kamloops
BCGS Map 082M046
Status Showing NTS Map 082M07W
Latitude 051º 26' 10'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 118º 49' 08'' Northing 5699893
Easting 373574
Commodities Niobium, Cerium, Lanthanum, Neodymium, Rare Earths Deposit Types N01 : Carbonatite-hosted deposits
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Monashee, Kootenay
Capsule Geology

The area lies within the Monashee Complex along the western margin of the Frenchman Cap Dome. The core of the dome is composed of a mixed paragneiss and orthogneiss succession of probable Aphebian age, and is mantled by an unconformably overlying success- ion of metasedimentary rocks, locally intruded by a suite of alkalic gneiss. The metasediments consist of a basal quartzite unit over- lain by a sucession of interbanded pelitic schists, pelitic gneiss, calc-silicate and marble.

Two types of carbonatites occur within the calc-silicate unit. Type I is concordant within quartz-biotite-gneiss, quartz-amphibole gneiss and quartzite. It trends northwest for 3 kilometres, and dips to the southwest, and varies from 20 to 200 metres in width. The carbonatite averages 60 to 80 per cent calcite, 10 to 30 per cent apatite with accessory biotite, amphibole, sphene and minor pyrrhotite, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, pyrochlore and monazite.

Type II, occurring 2 kilometres to the west, is concordant with a white marble unit and other metasedimentary layers and has been interpreted to be a carbonatite tuff.

This is another location for an example of Type II carbonatite.

The area has been explored in conjunction with the nearby Cotton Belt (MINFILE 082M 086) occurrence and a completed regional exploration history can be found there. A shaft, referred to as the Victoria shaft, is reported to exposed lead-zinc-silver mineralization in the area of the Mount Grace carbonatite occurrence.

In 2011, a grab sample (545628) taken from the Victoria shaft at the south end of the Cotton Belt (MINFILE 082M 086) zone assayed 23.82 per cent lead, 0.29 per cent zinc and 192 grams per tonne silver, while a chip sample (545633) taken to the north west of the shaft assayed 5.46 per cent lead, 1.22 per cent zinc and 62 grams per tonne silver over 0.8 metre true width (Williams, J.D. (2012-06-12): Technical Report on the Copper King – Cotton Belt Property).

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT *11639
EMPR BULL 80
EMPR EXPL 1983-161
EMPR FIELDWORK 1981, pp. 194,199; *1985, pp. 69-87
EMPR OF *1987-17, pp. 55-59; 1994-8
CJES V. II, pp. 304-318 (McMillan, W.J., and Moore Jr., J.M. (1974))
ECON GEOL *Vol. 81, 1986, pp. 1374-1386
*Williams, J.D. (2012-06-12): Technical Report on the Copper King – Cotton Belt Property
EMPR PFD 860905, 861733

COPYRIGHT | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | ACCESSIBILITY