The Phillips Creek past producer is located 75 kilometres southeast of Cranbrook in southeastern British Columbia.
The Phillips Creek occurrence is in the area of the Roo (Wilda) (082GSW019) and Green (082GSW020) showings and may represent a duplication of the Wilda showing although the descriptions are somewhat different.
The Phillips Creek occurrence consists of a main vein 15 centimetres to 1.53 metres in width and has been traced in excess of 107 metres across the nose of the ridge at 1340 metres elevation. The vein strikes 280 degrees at its east end and changes to 295 degrees at the west end. It crosscuts a sequence of Helikian Sheppard Formation (Purcell Supergroup) volcanics which dip gently northward. The hanging wall of the vein is reported as an altered porphyry, the footwall as a brecciated argillite.
The vein consists of massive, opaque, white barite but considerable carbonate is disseminated throughout in masses up to about 15 centimetres in diameter. Minor pyrite, chalcopyrite, and quartz are also present. The iron carbonate and pyrite have oxidized on weathered surfaces to produce some limonite which stains the barite a yellowish brown. Accessory barite veins up to 30 centimetres wide are present; they are parallel or perpendicular to the main vein.
Seven tonnes of barite were shipped from two small quarries in 1940. Analyses were 57.46 per cent BaO, 0.64 per cent CaO, 0.18 per cent total Fe, and 31.45 per cent SO3 (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1954, page 175).
WORK HISTORY
In 1940, Meth Gorrie and his sons, of Flagston, quarried the barite from 3 shallow pits and two small quarries, each about 7.5 by 4.5 metres. The barite was hauled to Elko and shipped by train to Lethbridge (Annual Report 1954, page 175).
Cominco reported that a number of short workings were driven on quartz veins in the area of their Phillips Creek claims (Assessment Report 1023). These include 4 shafts (6-15 metres), 4 adits (up to 33 metres) and at least 6 open cuts (3 to 6 metres long). This work was completed prior to 1940 and was reported to have been done circa 1900. In 1966 and 1967, Cominco completed 4570 metres of cat road and 1483 cubic metres of stripping.
In 1967, Cominco Ltd. conducted exploration on the Phillips Creek claims (on the north side of Phillips Creek largely overlapping the more recent Robocop claims). A soil survey was completed with samples collected from the top of the B-horizon. It was highlighted that chalcopyrite of significant concentration occurred at the upper contact of the lower Sheppard Formation (Assessment Report 1023). Assessment Report 19898 reports that in 1967 Cominco additionally conducted a bulldozer-type trench program consisting of 5 trenches to re-evaluate copper occurrences.
The 2021 exploration program of Grizzly Discoveries Inc. on the Robocop property consisted of rock and soil sampling, geologic mapping, and an airborne magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical survey (Assessment Report 39963).
Refer to Roo (082GSW019) and Green (082GSW020) for related geological and work history information.
