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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  21-Feb-1990 by Garry J. Payie (GJP)

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NMI
Name CREAM 1, 3, CREAM VEIN, A VEIN, CREAM LAKE Mining Division Alberni
BCGS Map 092F043
Status Prospect NTS Map 092F05E
Latitude 049º 29' 08'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 125º 32' 11'' Northing 5484527
Easting 316301
Commodities Silver, Gold, Zinc, Lead, Copper Deposit Types I06 : Cu+/-Ag quartz veins
I05 : Polymetallic veins Ag-Pb-Zn+/-Au
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Wrangell
Capsule Geology

The prospect occurs within the southern part of a belt of rocks known as the Buttle Lake Uplift. The belt is bounded on the east by Upper Triassic Karmutsen Formation volcanics (Vancouver Group) and on the west by Early to Middle Jurassic Island Intrusions.

The geology of the uplift has recently undergone revision and the stratigraphy has been re-assigned to several new formations of a redefined Sicker Group and the new Buttle Lake Group (formerly the upper part of the Sicker Group), (Juras, 1987; Massey, personal communication, 1990).

The new Upper Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian Buttle Lake Group consists of: (1) the Lower Permian (?) Henshaw Formation composed of conglomerate, epiclastic deposits and vitric tuffs; and (2) the Lower Permian to Pennsylvanian Azure Lake Formation (formerly Buttle Lake Formation) consisting of crinoidal limestone and minor chert.

The Devonian to possibly Pennsylvanian or Mississippian Sicker Group consists of: (1) the Mississippian or Pennsylvanian(?) Flower Ridge Formation largely comprising coarse mafic pyroclastic deposits; 2) the Lower Mississippian (?) Thelwood Formation, a bedded sequence of siliceous tuffaceous sediments, subaqueous pyroclastic deposits and mafic sills; (3) the Upper Devonian Myra Formation consisting of basaltic to rhyolitic flows and volcaniclastic rocks, lesser epiclastic sediments, argillites and cherts, and massive sulphide mineralization; and (4) the Upper Devonian or older Price Formation comprising feldspar-pyroxene porphyritic andesite flows, flow breccias and minor pyroclastic deposits.

The occurrence is located in an area that was originally mapped as Middle to Upper Sicker Group volcanics which were thought to belong mainly to the old unrevised Myra Formation of Muller (Geological Survey of Canada Paper 79-30). The rocks underlying the property consist of felsic to intermediate flows, tuffs and agglomerates which are overlain to the east by Azure Lake Formation limestone, lesser chert and argillite.

The Cream vein has been exposed intermittently for at least 135 metres along a strong lineament which is visible for about 1370 metres. The vein strikes east and dips 65 to 80 degrees north with its widths varying from 7 to 60 centimetres. It consists of quartz plus minor siderite and calcite lying within a strong gouge zone. The wall rocks consist largely of oxidized and altered greenish grey volcanics, plus a highly altered near white, igneous dyke rock. The latter rock was seen at several points along the depression of the Cream vein, and it may be an altered granitic or quartz diorite dyke occupying part of the same fracture as the vein.

Mineralization occurs as narrow bands or small masses in the quartz and consists of arsenopyrite, sphalerite, galena, owyheeite, pyrite, tetrahedrite, pyrargyrite and chalcopyrite. The latter three minerals were not identified in hand specimens. A 60-centimetre chip sample assayed 4.11 grams per tonne gold and 2801.17 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 1884).

The "A" vein is a south trending offshoot of the Cream vein, found at its western most exposure. The vein has an indicated width of 46 centimetres. A grab sample of vein material assayed 1.71 grams per tonne gold and 1119.44 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 1884).

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1966-245; 1967-78; 1968-106
EMPR ASS RPT 826, 1563, 1564, *1884, 2254, 2647, 3241, 3242, 3243, 3910, 3911, 3912, 16747, 17003
EMPR BULL 8; 13; 20-Part V, pp. 24-28
EMPR EXPL 1988-C85,C92
EMPR GEM 1969-219; 1970-286; 1971-245; 1972-267
EMPR PF (*Prospectus: Cream Silver Mines Ltd., Feb.16, 1967; A Mineralographic Report on the Cream Silver Deposit by Rod Olson, 1968(?); *Report on the Cream Silver Property by R.H.D. Phillip of Agilis Exploration Services Ltd.; Cream Silver Mines correspondence containing reserve figures, 1973; Report on the Examination of Cream Silver Mines Ltd., Cream Property by K.E. Northcote, Sept.6, 1975)
GSC MAP 17-1968; 1386A
GSC OF 463
GSC P 68-50, p. 38; 71-36; 72-44; 79-30; 80-16
GCNL #43,#61, 1987; #14,#77,#150,#172, 1988
N MINER Jan.26, Sept.12,1988
NW PROSP Jan 1987; Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, 1988; July/Aug, 1989
PERS COMM: Nick Massey, Feb.,1990
V STOCKWATCH Jan.18, 1988
Carson, D.J.T. (1968): Metallogenic Study of Vancouver Island With Emphasis on the Relationships of Mineral Deposits to Plutonic Rocks, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University
Carvalho, I.G. (1979): Geology of the Western Mines District, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Western Ontario
Hudson, R. (1997): A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstone & Mineral Sites of British Columbia, Vol. 1: Vancouver Island, p. 220
Juras, S.S. (1987): Geology of the Polymetallic Volcanogenic Buttle Lake Camp, with Emphasis on the Price Hillside, Central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Columbia
Yole, R.W. (1965): A Faunal and Stratigraphic Study of Upper Paleozoic Rocks of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Ph.D. Thesis, University of British Columbia

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