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File Created: 03-Apr-2008 by Sarah Meredith-Jones (SMJ)
Last Edit:  03-Jul-2008 by Sarah Meredith-Jones (SMJ)

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NMI
Name PRODUCER'S PIT, LEHIGH, METCHOSIN GRAVEL PIT, CONSTRUCTION AGGREGATES Mining Division Victoria
BCGS Map 092B043
Status Past Producer NTS Map 092B06W
Latitude 048º 24' 25'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 123º 29' 12'' Northing 5361646
Easting 463983
Commodities Aggregate, Sand, Gravel Deposit Types B12 : Sand and Gravel
R15 : Crushed rock
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Crescent
Capsule Geology

The Producer's Pit started production in 1910 and continued until early 2008. It was most recently owned and operated by Construction Aggregates Limited, a part of Lehigh Northwest Cement Ltd. Historically this pit produced over 60 million tonnes of aggregate and was a major supplier not only to the surrounding area, but also to Vancouver and Seattle.

The pit resides within the Colwood Delta which is a large, raised (75 metres above sea level) glaciofluvial delta located west of Victoria. The deposit formed at the end of the Fraser Glaciation approximately 13,000 years ago. Deltaic sediments overlay glacial till and fine-grained basalt bedrock of the Cenozoic Metchosin Volcanics. The underlying Vashon Till was deposited during the last glaciation and has a high percentage of fines making it almost impermeable.

The meltwater which formed the Delta flowed from glacial lobes occupying the mountains west of Victoria, the upper Goldstream River, and Finlayson Arm. The predominant unit identified consists of interbedded medium to coarse sands and pebble to cobble sized gravels. The unit shows large-scale planar and trough cross bedding interpreted as prograding delta foreset beds. Clasts are well rounded and petrographic analysis shows less than 30 per cent siliceous minerals and pebble lithologies dominated by granitoid and finely porphyritic volcanic rocks. Because the sands and gravels are well graded, contain few fines, and gravel clasts are hard the quality of aggregate produced from the pit is good.

The Metchosin Volcanics form a belt 8 to 16 kilometres wide which extends west-northwest across the southern end of Vancouver Island. The volcanics consist principally of basalt and some diabase. The Producer’s Pit resides within a unit of pillow basalt, tuff, and breccia. The quarrying of the basalt bedrock in the southwest corner of the property began in 1993 in order to extend the life of the pit.

Planned reclamation for the site will consist of infilling and then the construction of a housing development.

Bibliography
EMPR P 2004-2
GSC MAP 1553A
GSC OF 701
GAC/MAC B5: Fieldtrip Guidebook, Quaternary Geology of Southern Vancouver Island; 1995
EMPR PFD 884827, 805000, 805001, 805002, 805003, 805004, 805005, 805006, 805007, 805008, 805009, 805010, 805011, 805012, 805013, 805014, 805015, 805016, 805017, 805018, 805019, 805020, 805021, 805022, 805023, 805024, 805025, 805026, 805028, 805029, 805030, 805031, 805032, 805033, 805034, 805035, 805036, 805037, 805038, 805039, 805040, 805041, 805042, 805043, 805044, 805045, 805046, 805047, 805048, 805049, 805050, 805051, 805052, 805053, 805054, 805055, 805056, 805057, 805058, 805059, 805060, 805061, 805062, 805063, 805064, 805065, 805066, 805067, 805068, 805069, 805070, 805071, 805072, 805073, 805074, 805075, 805076, 805077, 805078, 805079, 805080, 805081, 805082, 805083, 805084, 805085, 805086, 805087, 805088, 805089, 805090, 805091, 805092, 805093, 805094, 805095, 805096, 805097, 805098, 805099, 805100, 805101, 805102, 805103, 805104, 805105, 805106, 805107, 805108, 805109, 805110, 805111, 805112, 805113, 805114, 805115, 805116, 805117, 805118, 805119, 805120, 805121, 805122, 805123, 805124, 805125, 805126, 805127, 805128, 805129, 805130, 805131, 805132, 805133, 805134, 805135, 805136, 805137, 805138, 805139, 805140, 805141, 805142, 805143, 805144, 805145, 805146, 805147, 805148, 805149, 805150, 805151, 805152, 805153, 805154, 805155, 805156, 805157, 805158, 805159, 805160, 805161, 805162, 805163, 805164, 805165, 805166, 805167, 805168, 805169, 805170, 805171, 805172, 805173, 805174, 805175, 805176, 805177, 805178, 805179, 805180, 805181, 805182, 805183, 805184, 805185, 805186, 805187, 805188, 805189, 805190, 805191, 805192, 805193, 805194, 805195, 805196, 805197, 805198, 805199, 805200, 805201, 805202, 805203, 805204, 805205, 805206, 805207, 805208, 805209, 805210, 805211, 805212, 805213, 805214, 805215, 805216, 805217, 805218, 507735, 507751

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