MINFILE Mineral Inventory

MINFILE Record Summary

MINFILE No 082ENW078

File Created:	29-Jan-1988	by	Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:	25-Jan-1996	by	Jay W. Page (JWP)

SUMMARY

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		NMI
Name	THREE PEAK BASIN, FAULDER	Mining Division	Osoyoos
		BCGS Map	082E062
Status	Showing	NTS Map	082E12W
Latitude	049º 39' 35''	UTM	11 (NAD 83)
Longitude	119º 45' 42''	Northing	5504461
		Easting	300698
Commodities	Uranium	Deposit Types	B08 : Surficial U
Tectonic Belt	Intermontane	Terrane	Overlap Assemblage, Plutonic Rocks

Capsule Geology

The THREE PEAK BASIN showing is a postglacial uranium concentration in a pond and in associated marsh sediments. It is located approximately 8.5 kilometres northwest of Summerland.

This is one of many uranium occurrences discovered by D.G. Leighton & Associates Ltd. in the late 1970s. Work prior to the uranium moratorium in 1980 consisted of auger sampling. The area is underlain by granodiorite of the Jurassic Okanagan Intrusions.

The occurrence is recent, having formed from the interaction between uranium-rich groundwater and unconsolidated material containing organics or clay. This is a process which is believed to still be taking place. The source of the uranium is thought to be the surrounding igneous rocks, where groundwaters rich in carbonate and alkali ions have leached labile uranium from fresh rock exposed after glaciation.

Uranium enrichment occurs over an area measuring 3,500 square metres (Culbert, 1979). An auger hole intersected a 1.0-metre thick layer averaging 0.0377 per cent uranium with a 0.5-metre section averaging 0.0595 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). The uraniferous layer lies 2.5 metres below the surface (Culbert, 1979).

Other young uranium occurrences located nearby are NORTH FAULDER (082ENW068), ENEAS A (082ENW076), and MEADOW RIDGE (082ENW080).

Bibliography

EMPR ASS RPT 6575, 7308, 7972

EMPR EXPL 1977-34,35

EMPR FIELDWORK 1979, pp. 11-15

EMPR OF 1990-32; 1994-8

EMPR RGS 29

GSC MAP 538A; 15-1961; 1701A; 1712A; 1713A; 1714A; 1736A; 7686G; 8521G

GSC OF 409; 736; 1969

CIM BULL 1978, Vol. 71, #783, pp. 103-110

CJES *Vol. 21, 1984 pp. 559-566

IAEA TECDOC 322 (Surficial Uranium Deposits, Technical Document, Vienna, 1984), pp. 179-191

Bates, D.V.; Murray, J.W.; Raudsepp, V. (1980): Royal Commission of Inquiry, Health and Environmental Protection, Uranium Mining; Commissioners' Report, Vol. 1, pp. 35-36, 183-184.

*Culbert, R.R. (1979): Post-Glacial Uranium Concentration in South Central British Columbia, Royal Commission on Uranium Mining, Accession List #2109S01, 20 pages.

Culbert, R.R. (1979): Uranium Equilibrium - Disequilibrium as Observed in the Natural Environment in British Columbia, Royal Commission on Uranium Mining, Accession List #2017S, 15 pages with Appendices.

*Culbert, R.R. and Leighton, D.G. (1988): Young Uranium; in Unconventional Uranium Deposits, Ore Geology Reviews, Vol. 3, pp. 313-330.

EMPR PFD 763, 1027