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File Created: 15-Aug-1986 by Gary R. Foye (GRF)
Last Edit:  27-Feb-2018 by George Owsiacki (GO)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name LOWHEE CREEK, LOWHEE GULCH, BLACK BULL, VICTORIA, NEW BLACK BULL (L. 2F) Mining Division Cariboo
BCGS Map 093H003
Status Past Producer NTS Map 093H04E
Latitude 053º 04' 34'' UTM 10 (NAD 83)
Longitude 121º 33' 26'' Northing 5881710
Easting 596652
Commodities Gold Deposit Types C02 : Buried-channel placers
C01 : Surficial placers
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Barkerville
Capsule Geology

Placer operations took place over most of the length of Lowhee Creek, about 2.8 kilometres west-northwest of Barkerville.

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 predominantly metasedimentary rocks have been metamorphosed to greenschist facies.

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.

Lowhee Creek was one of the highest placer gold producers in the Barkerville area. Placer mining operations on Lowhee Creek concentrated mainly on a pre-glacial channel. Benches representing an older channel were also mined. Mining was first done in shallow ground in the bed of the channel near the creek's mouth. As depth to the buried channel increased, upstream mining by drifting took place. Later, mining was done by hydraulicking. The gold was mainly coarse and nuggety. Recorded production from 1874 to 1945 totalled 2,302,084 grams gold (Bulletin 28).

In 1961, two to three weeks work on Stouts (093H 120) and Lowhee gulches produced 8600 grams of gold (Property File Placer Dome - Pawlowicz, L., 1981).

"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).

In 2002, International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd. made the final payment required for it to obtain a 100 per cent right, title and interest in both the surface and undersurface rights to Crown grant Lot 2F (New Black Bull), known as Blackbull and situated at Lowhee Creek, and Crown grant Lot 42F (Waoming), known as Canusa (093H 058), situated at Stout Gulch.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1874-table; 1885-487; 1899-621,622; 1900-730; 1901-959,969; 1902-60,101,104; 1903-59; 1906-39; 1907-38; 1908-41; 1909-43; 1910-42; 1911-49; 1913-56; 1914-59; 1915-55; 1917-137; 1922-118; 1924-113; 1925-146; 1926-165; 1927-166; 1928-194; 1932-102; 1933-134; 1935-C36; 1937-C36; 1938-C51; 1939-105; 1940-90; 1941-85; 1942-84; 1943-81; 1944-76; 1945-124; 1946-196; 1947-191; 1948-8,175; 1949-241; 1950-198; 1951-203; 1952-237; 1953-175; 1954-170; 1955-83; 1956-139; 1957-74; 1958-78; 1959-147; 1960-122; 1961-129; 1964-175
EMPR BULL *28, pp. 22,27; 38; 47
EMPR EXPL 1987-C289; 1989-147-169
EMPR ASS RPT 16517
EMPR PF (Plan showing location of Placer Properties of the Lowhee Mining Co., date unkown; Poole, W.H. (1947): Placer Mining on Lowhee Creek, Barkerville, B.C.)
EMPR PF Placer Dome (Pawlowicz, L. (1981-05-10): Property Submission - Pawlowicz)
EMPR FIELDWORK 1990, pp. 331-356; 1992, pp. 463-473
GSC MEM *149, pp. 102-108; 181, p. 25
GSC MAP 1424A
GSC SUM RPT 1918B, pp. 44-46; 1932A, pp. 70,71
GSC OF 844
PR REL International Wayside Gold Mines Ltd., Jun.13, 2002, Jul.*12, 2005

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