The Giscome Limestone quarry is located approximately 5 kilometres east-southeast of the village of Giscome and 90 kilometres northeast of Prince George.
Regionally, the area is underlain by pillow basalts, breccia and tuff with minor sediments of the Mississippian to Permian Antler Formation (Slide Mountain Group) and basaltic volcanic rocks of the Upper Triassic Witch Lake Formation (Takla Group). To the northeast paragneiss metamorphic rocks of the Upper Cretaceous to Eocene Wolverine Metamorphic Complex and Eocene quartz monzonitic intrusive rocks are exposed.
Dark-grey fossiliferous limestone of the Mississippian to Triassic Slide Mountain Group outcrops over a 100- by 200-metre area on Lot 9337. The limestone is reported to grade at least 98 per cent calcium carbonate (G. Klein, personal communication, 1991).
Work History
In 1984, Link Resources completed a program of soil sampling, trenching and a ground electromagnetic survey on the surrounding area as the GIS claims of the Giscome property.
Pauline Ventures Ltd.(owner/operator) through Kode-Jerrat Quarries Ltd. of Prince George began quarrying operations in 1990, supplying high-calcium limestone for pulp mills at McKenzie and Quesnel. A total of 15 000 tonnes was quarried in 1990. Similar volumes were quarried in 1991 and 1992.
Kode-Jerrat Quarries Ltd. sells about 50 000 tonnes of limestone a year to customers in the central part of the province. The company plans to build its own kiln to calcine limestone on site and increase its market value four-fold (Information Circular 1996-1, page 9).
Pacific Lime reports no production in 1998. Plans for 1999 include exploration drilling and a push back of the north wall of the pit.
In 1999, the operation produced crushed, screened and sized limestone, totaling 8000 to 10 000 tonnes, to fill orders from two pulp mills in the region. In addition, numerous shallow, percussion drill holes and a six-hole diamond drilling program were focused primarily southwest of the active pit, an area of possible pit expansion. All holes bottomed in limestone.
From 2000 to 2004 inclusive, only small quantities of crushed limestone were shipped from the Pacific Lime Products Ltd quarry to supply local area pulp mills. No mention of shipments is found for 2005. In 2006, the quarry was owned by Chemical Lime Company of Canada Inc, who supplied a limited tonnage of crushed limestone to a local pulp mill. The quarry appears to have been inactive in 2007 and 2008. Graymont Western Canada Inc. acquired the property in June 2007.
In 2007, Graymont Western Canada Inc undertook an extensive drilling program of about 7000 metres, to about 300 m depths – to define a large, high-purity limestone deposit on its Pat group of claims (093J 041). The company’s intent was to develop lime kilns burning 600 000 tonnes/year of limestone with hopes of producing 200 000 tonnes/year of lime. Graymont had begun technology studies, environmental baseline studies, land agreements and consultations to move the project forward. In December 2007, the Company suspended its consultation and environmental assessment process pending clarification of the Provincial Government’s regulatory intent regarding the production of greenhouse gases.
