The Shuttleworth Creek asbestos occurrence lies on a hillside between 790 and 980 metres elevation, 0.8 kilometre south of Shuttleworth Creek and 6.5 kilometres southeast of Okanagan Falls.
This asbestos occurrence has been known for many years. It was supposed to have been discovered by G. Maynard in 1898. Claims were recorded on the ground in 1910. Platinum was reported discovered in Shuttleworth Creek in 1918, by J. Hislop and G. Maynard. No further record of work was recorded until 1920. A second hiatus of work occurred until 1947, when R.C. McKay and L.E. Iverson worked on the occurrence. In the following year exploration was overseen by W.J. Asselstine. Little else was done until 1953 when Western Asbestos and Development Ltd. acquired the property. Exploration consisted of trenching, geological mapping and diamond drilling. In 1971, the southern portion of the ground was staked as the Soo claims by Action Exploration Ltd. and an airborne magnetometer geophysical survey was conducted. The northern portion was owned by Noranda Exploration Co. Ltd. consisting of the Dog and Ajax claims. Their exploration program consisted of geological mapping, soil geochemical, and magnetic, electromagnetic and induced polarization geophysical surveys. In 1988, the ground covering the Shuttleworth Creek occurrence was staked as the Shut claim, owned by G. Crooker. A ground magnetometer survey was conducted.
The deposit is hosted in a mass of fine grained, dark green to black (unweathered) dunite that intrudes light to medium grey granitic and granodioritic gneiss of the Eocene Okanagan Gneiss. The dunite body is exposed discontinuously over 800 metres length and up to 200 metres width. Drilling indicates the dunite is approximately 30 metres thick. The contact relations between the dunite and host gneiss are uncertain but one exposure in a trench indicates the dunite intrudes the gneiss along a shear.
The rock is composed mostly of olivine with up to 10 per cent altered to amphibole and minor serpentine and magnetite. The amphibole is in turn partly altered to talc. A few patches and irregular veinlets of enstatite are also present. The dunite is intruded by felsic dikes and irregular pegmatitic masses 0.13 to 2.1 metres thick.
Asbestos mineralization consists of greyish-green to white anthophyllite, occurring in irregular lenses and cross fibre veinlets scattered throughout the dunite. The lenses are 0.3 to 3 metres wide and up to 3.7 metres in length. Individual veinlets are 0.63 to 68 centimetres thick, with most varying from 5 to 15 centimetres. They strike in various directions, most commonly between 050 and 080 degrees and 135 and 150 degrees, and usually dip near vertical. Frequently, the asbestos and associated mica form zones along the walls of felsic dikes, with dike enclosed by mica which itself is enclosed by asbestos. This occurs most commonly on the hangingwall side.
The anthophyllite occurs in three forms; as hard woody chunks with fibres 20 to 25 centimetres long, as randomly orientated sheaf like clumps, 0.63 to 1.8 centimetres in length, and as powdery aggregates of tiny needle-like fibres. All fibre is easily reduced to a talc-like powder by rubbing between fingers or by pounding on a flat surface. The second and third types of anthophyllite described above are commonly intermixed with varying amounts of silvery green to black biotite and brown vermiculite. A few lenses are comprised almost completely of fine-grained biotite. The vermiculite, an alteration product of the biotite, is brittle, soft, slippery and exfoliates quite well when heated. A sample of long fibre anthophyllite analysed as follows in per cent (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1948, page 182):
-------------- SiO2 57.50 Al2O2 0.36 Cr2O3 0.03 Fe2O3 1.10 FeO 5.69 MnO 0.25 MgO 29.21 CaO 2.24 H2O+ 3.60 H2O- 0.22 -------------- |
One lens of fine-grained biotite was mined to produce material for use in roof manufacturing some time prior to 1948. No production figures are available.
