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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  12-Jan-2022 by Del Ferguson (DF)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name CYPRUS, GOOD FRIDAY, CYPRESS, GOLD, ARSENIC Mining Division Alberni
BCGS Map 092F021
Status Showing NTS Map 092F05W
Latitude 049º 15' 43'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 125º 56' 41'' Northing 5460749
Easting 285761
Commodities Gold, Lead, Zinc, Copper Deposit Types I06 : Cu+/-Ag quartz veins
Tectonic Belt Insular Terrane Wrangell, Pacific Rim
Capsule Geology

The Cyprus (Good Friday) occurrence is located on a southeast facing slope, overlooking Hecate Bay, 13 kilometres north of Tofino, B.C.

The area of the Cyprus showing is underlain predominantly by a northwest trending sequence of mafic volcanics and sediments mapped by Muller (GSC Open File 463) as part of the Paleozoic Sicker Group. The Sicker Group, however, is undergoing redefinition in the Cowichan and Buttle Lake uplifts, with a new Upper Paleozoic Buttle Lake Group being created from what were mainly sediments from the upper part of the Sicker Group. See the H-W occurrence (092F 330) for a summary of revisions.

These rocks are intruded by Paleozoic or Triassic diabasic sills and feldspar porphyritic dykes of possible Tertiary age. In gradational contact are gneisses, hornfelsic basalts and amphibolites of the pre-Jurassic West Coast Complex.

The showing occurs along a major north trending creek, possibly coinciding with a major regional fault. On the steep east bank a series of shears striking 020 degrees are traced for over 30 metres. The host rock is clay and chlorite altered, destroying the original textures. Scattered pyrite, sphalerite, galena and arsenopyrite are recognized in hand specimens. In 1986, a 2.4 metre long chip sample assayed 3.4 grams per tonne gold, 2.1 per cent zinc and 0.4 per cent copper (unpublished report by McIntyre, 1968, quoted in Assessment Report 17098). The same year, a grab sample of massive arsenopyrite assayed 6.60 grams per tonne gold, 9.9 grams per tonne silver, 10 per cent arsenic, 0.074 per cent lead, 0.045 per cent zinc and 0.037 per cent copper (Assessment Report 17098).

An area of andesite with several showings of chalcopyrite occurs about 460 metres to the northeast of the arsenopyrite showing, at about the same elevation. Minor chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite occur up slope about 425 metres to the northwest of the arsenopyrite showing. Scattered showings of chalcopyrite also exist between these showings and the Good Hope occurrence (092F 154), (Assessment Report 4177, Plate 1, Map #5).

In 1972 and 1973, Texada Mines completed programs of geochemical sampling and geological mapping on the area as the Cypress and Top claims. In 1987, Suntac Minerals completed a program of rock and soil sampling and a ground electromagnetic survey on the area as the Good Friday claims.

In 2005, Catface Copper Mines Ltd. had Eagle Mapping conduct a 1:20,000 aerial photographic and 2 metre contour topographic survey over their tenure, including the Cyprus showing.

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 4177, 4688, *17098, *28725, 31052, 40165
EMPR EXPL 1986-C86
EMPR FIELDWORK 1988, pp. 61-74
EMPR GEM 1969-217, 1972-266, 1973-231
EMPR PF (*Prospectus: Thunder Valley Mines Ltd., Aug. 24, 1971; Prospectus: Suntac Minerals Corporation, July 11, 1988)
GSC MAP 17-1968; 1386A
GSC OF 463
GSC P 68-50; 79-30
CJES Vol.24, No.10, 1987, pp. 2047-2064
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
Isachsen, C. (1984): Geology, Geochemistry and Geochronology of the Westcoast Crystalline Complex and Related Rocks, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, M.Sc. Thesis, University of British Columbia

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