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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  23-May-2007 by Sarah Meredith-Jones (SMJ)

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NMI 082K13 Asb1
Name ASBESTOS, SPROAT, IXL, SIDMOUTH, SPROAT MOUNTAIN, LAUTHER, CHRYS Mining Division Revelstoke
BCGS Map 082K071
Status Developed Prospect NTS Map 082K13W
Latitude 050º 45' 10'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 117º 56' 04'' Northing 5622750
Easting 434083
Commodities Asbestos, Talc, Magnesite, Manganese Deposit Types M06 : Ultramafic-hosted asbestos
M07 : Ultramafic-hosted talc-magnesite
Tectonic Belt Omineca Terrane Kootenay
Capsule Geology

The Asbestos deposit has been known since 1921 and a test shipment of asbestos fibre was made in 1928.

Talc and asbestos occur in a serpentine altered ultrabasic dyke (peridotite or pyroxenite), 270 metres wide and 400 metres long, which strikes north and intrudes Cambrian to Mississippian (?) Lardeau Group grey quartzite, phyllite, slate and schist. The ultrabasic dyke is situated near the base of the Lardeau Group, just above underlying limestone of the Badshot Formation; it is discordant to the metasediments in the vicinity of the workings, but becomes concordant to the northeast (Property File - Purdie, J.J., 1953).

The dyke forms two parallel bluffs; the western bluff exposes talc and serpentine in contact with limestone. To the southwest, the gradation can be seen from talc-actinolite schists to mixed schists to interbedded argillites and limestone. The eastern bluff-forming serpentine exposure is also in contact with metasediments, but is barren of talc.

In general, the dyke is mostly composed of serpentine in its central core, while the outer edges are altered to talc-carbonate schist; in narrow portions the serpentine is absent and the entire width is talc-schist. The serpentine portion is mostly composed of antigorite with magnetite and olivine remnants and minor calcite and chrysotile cross-fibre veinlets. The talc schist is greenish white to dark grey, and greyish white when pulverized. The talc contains many crystals and veinlets of magnesite, which are weathered out on the surface.

The largest zone of talc is at the bottom of a pit, 6.0 metres wide by 15 metres long by 1.8 metres deep, within grey talc schist. This talc is fine-grained, micaceous and dark and contains coarse- grained magnesite and granular magnetite.

Manganese mineralization occurs in quartz stringers that cut massive quartzite. Assays are up to 33 per cent manganese (Newmarch, 1942).

X-rays diffraction analysis of two grab samples by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in 1986, showed the talc to be composed of 40 to 60 per cent talc, up to 25 per cent magnesite, 5 to 10 per cent chlorite, lesser amounts of magnetite and trace amphibole (Open File 1988-19).

The showings were discovered in the early 1900s and held by various individuals and companies from 1922 on. The first recorded claims were staked in 1922 by Mr. Lauthers of Revelstoke who prospected and hand trenched the property. The claims were optioned to Lardeau Mine Exploration Syndicate in 1928 who sampled the asbestos showings and sent a 300 lb. sample to Ottawa for testing. Poor economic conditions in 1929 made marketing of asbestos unfavourable and the claims were allowed to lapse. The showings were re-staked in 1949 by Acme Asbestos Cement Ltd. of Vancouver and a 524 lb. sample was shipped from a new showing to the B.C. Department of Mines Lab for testing. In 1950, Pacific Asbestos Corp. Ltd. was formed to develop the property and built an access road and carried out 309 metres of diamond drilling as well as some surface stripping. Western Asbestos and Development Ltd. continued the exploration program and diamond drilled 604 metres in 1953. They eventually dropped the claims in 1962, and Canadian Johns-Manville Co. Ltd. immediately re-staked the prospect and in the same year carried out ground magnetometer and detailed geological mapping surveys over the entire claims area. Although the company subsequently carried out trenching, fibre counting and sampling, the work was not recorded and the claims were allowed to lapse in 1982. In 1984, the prospect was re-staked by C. Graf and in 1985 rock samples were collected in order to analyze and assay them for quality and quantity of asbestos and talc. Cassiar Asbestos Ltd. assayed the samples at their mine facilities at Cassiar.

Bibliography
EMPR AR 1895-693; 1914-323; 1921-G159; 1928-C313; *1950-214-216;
1953-184; 1962-146
EMPR ASS RPT 469, 470, *15064
EMPR BULL 45
EMPR OF *1988-19, pp. 21-23; 1995-25, p. 84
EMPR PF (*Purdie, J.J. (1953): Report on the Exploration Program
at the Sproat Mountain Property, Revelstoke, 44p; geology map
1"=100'; Dolmage, V. (1953): Sproat Mountain Asbestos Deposit,
3 p.; Newmarch, C. (1942): Asbestos Group Manganese, 3 p.;
Newmarch, C. (1942): Preliminary Report on Lauther's Property at
Sidmouth, 6 p.; Maconnachie (1940): Sampling map of Lauther's
Manganese, 1"=40'; Asbestos Group Manganese showings, 1"=20')
GSC EC GEOL 2, p. 51
GSC MAP 235A
GSC MEM 161
GSC OF 288; 432; 464; 481
GSC SUM RPT 1921, Part A, p. 111

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