The Paulsen talc occurrence is located approximately 3.25 kilometres southeast of Cawston, British Columbia and 400 metres east of Highway 3 (Minister of Mines Annual Report, page 164).
The talc occurrence was first discovered in 1957 by K. Paulsen. In 1959, 5 additional claims were staked on additional talc showings around the discovery showing by K. Paulsen for Western Mines Ltd.
The talc showings comprising the Paulsen talc occurrence are located in Carboniferous to Permian Kobau Group rocks. The talc occurs in scattered patches of schist associated with chlorite schist, dark thin-bedded quartzite, carbonate-cemented, coarse grained white quartzite and greenstone. The rocks strike 150 to 160 degrees and dip 15 to 55 degrees southwest. The talc showings trend along 305 degrees.
The talc showings are exposed by small scattered rock exposures in two adjoining subparallel gullies and are described as follows. The showing lowest in elevation occurs about 60 metres above the highway. A 5.5-metre wide opencut has been dug over 7.6 metres along the bottom of a small northwest trending gully. Talc schist is exposed along the sides of the opencut and on either side of a chlorite schist band. Folding and faulting observed in the exposure suggest fault duplication of the talc schist band. The widest continuous exposure of talc, on the southwest side of the cut, was sampled across 3 metres width. The composition was determined to be:
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SiO2 52.77%
Al2O3 1.35%
CaO 4.17%
MgO 21.92%
CO2 6.59%
Fe 4.53%
H2O 0.13% ( 105 degrees C)
H2O 5.64% (>105 degrees C)
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The pulverized samples were pale greenish white and slightly gritty.
About 30 metres to the northwest and down the gully, a 1.5-metre wide talc schist zone was uncovered over 12 metres along a gully bank. The talc schist is enclosed in chlorite schist with minor quartzite interbeds. Midway between these two exposures an opencut 3.00 by 0.90 by 0.45 metres has been excavated on a 0.90-metre wide talc lens.
In another gully, 300 metres to the southwest and 113 metres higher in elevation, talc schist is exposed over 52 metres along the gully bottom. Thin bedded and folded quartzites are associated. Two smaller talc schist exposures were found between these two main showings.
