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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  19-Aug-2009 by Sarah Meredith-Jones (SMJ)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name QUARRY BAY, NELSON ISLAND QUARRY, TRI-WATERS RESOURCES, HANSON AGGREGATES Mining Division Vancouver
BCGS Map 092F070
Status Past Producer NTS Map 092F09E
Latitude 049º 39' 49'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 124º 07' 15'' Northing 5501834
Easting 419115
Commodities Granite, Dimension Stone, Building Stone Deposit Types R03 : Dimension stone - granite
Tectonic Belt Coast Crystalline Terrane Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

Four quarries occur in granodiorite of Jurassic age in the Jurassic to Tertiary Coast Plutonic Complex and are located on Quarry Bay at the southern tip of Nelson Island.

The granodiorite is light grey, uniform and has a medium grained texture. Black blades of biotite and occasional hornblende crystals contrast with the light grey feldspar and quartz matrix. Scattered knots of mafic minerals (less than 1 per cent by volume), up to 3 centimetres wide by 10 centimetres long, are visible in outcrop. Isolated clusters of pyrite are also visible. The largest quarry is 115 metres long and was worked in benches up to 18 metres high.

Spacing between joints and fractures at all four quarries permits removal of large blocks. Greater than 80 per cent of vertical joints and fractures, and over 74 per cent of horizontal joints, are spaced more than 50 centimetres apart. Some 60 per cent of all structures are spaced wider than 100 centimetres. Large reserves remain on site at three of the quarries. Cottages have been built on the site of the smallest quarry. Physical properties are as follows (CANMET Report 452, pp. 85-86):

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Specific gravity 2.657

Crushing strength (dry) (lbs/sq.in.) 34,823

Transverse strength (lbs/sq.in.) 2,871

Shearing strength (lbs/sq.in.) 2,300

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These quarries have been operated intermittently since the mid- 1800's, providing stone for a number of buildings and monuments in Vancouver, Victoria, New Westminster and Nanaimo. The stone has also been exported to Australia, California and Hawaii. Vancouver Granite Company Ltd. operated the quarries more or less continuously during the first half of this century. The stone was marketed under the trade name "Nelson Island Grey". No production figures are available.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1923-A268; 1929-C437; 1935-G32; 1939-A113; 1942-A92;
1949-A247; 1953-A185
EMPR FIELDWORK, *1986, pp. 309, 315, 323-327, 329
EMPR INF CIRC 1986-1, p. 67; 1987-1, p. 75; *1988-6, p. 13, 1994-15
EMPR OF 1991-20
GSC MAP 17-1968
GSC OF 611
GSC P 68-50; 90-1F, pp. 95-107
CANMET RPT *452, pp. 85-86; *846, pp. 163-166
Geoscience Canada, Vol. 35, No. 2., pp. 88-96
Victoria Times Colonist, June 22, 1997, p. C8
EMPR PFD 503369

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