British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas and Responsible for Housing
News | The Premier Online | Ministries & Organizations | Job Opportunities | Main Index

MINFILE Home page  ARIS Home page  MINFILE Search page  Property File Search
Help Help
File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  23-Feb-1989 by David G. Bailey (DGB)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name BUTCHER, SPRUCE, LIGHTNING CREEK Mining Division Cariboo
BCGS Map 093H002
Status Past Producer NTS Map 093H04E
Latitude 053º 01' 31'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 121º 41' 24'' Northing 5875885
Easting 587861
Commodities Gold Deposit Types C01 : Surficial placers
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Barkerville
Capsule Geology

Placer gold deposits of the Quesnel Highland region, including the former rich producers of the Barkerville camp, have accounted for a large proportion of British Columbia's alluvial gold production. With the exception of a few producers in the Wingdam area, which are underlain by Upper Triassic sediments correlative with the Nicola Group, almost all the deposits are underlain by the Upper Proterozoic to Lower Paleozoic Snowshoe Group. These rocks have been metamorph- osed to greenschist facies and are predominantly metasedimentary.

Placer gold deposits in the region are generally found in relatively young Pleistocene gravels. The morphology and mineral associations of the gold suggests that it was derived locally, the most obvious sources are the numerous auriferous veins in the Downey succession of the Snowshoe Group.

The Butcher, Spruce or Lightning Creek gold production was from gravels on a gently sloping rock bench 18 to 24 metres above the present level of Lightning Creek. This bench appears to be a remnant of an old channel of Lightning Creek.

"Data from the Cariboo mining district indicate that supergene leaching of gold dispersed within massive sulphides by Tertiary deep weathering followed by Cenozoic erosion is the most likely explanation for the occurrence of coarse gold nuggets in Quaternary sediments" (Exploration in British Columbia 1989, page 147).

Bibliography
EM EXPL 2000-9-23
EMPR AR 1875-608; 1896-509; 1902-63; 1925-147; 1942-87; 1943-83; 1944-78; 1945-126
EMPR ASS RPT 16315, 16512
EMPR EXPL 1987, p. C289; 1989, pp. 147-169
EMPR FIELDWORK 1988, pp. 377-385; 1990, pp. 331-356; 1992, pp. 463-473
EMPR PF (Lease Map-Lightning Creek, C-1908)
GSC MAP 1424A
GSC MEM 149, p. 160
EMPR PFD 903582, 14725, 681607

COPYRIGHT | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY | ACCESSIBILITY