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File Created: 24-Jul-1985 by BC Geological Survey (BCGS)
Last Edit:  22-May-2020 by Karl A. Flower (KAF)

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NMI
Name NICK, NIK, LIARD FLUORSPAR, THOR Mining Division Liard
BCGS Map 094M060
Status Showing NTS Map 094M09E
Latitude 059º 31' 44'' UTM 09 (NAD 83)
Longitude 126º 09' 29'' Northing 6602383
Easting 660733
Commodities Fluorite Deposit Types E11 : Carbonate-hosted fluorspar
Tectonic Belt Foreland Terrane Ancestral North America
Capsule Geology

The Nick or Nik fluorite showing is situated on the boundary between the West 87 and 89 claims, on a small circular hill 400 metres west of Teeter Creek, 13 kilometres north-northwest of the settlement of Liard River on the Alaska Highway (Assessment Report 3975, Maps 4, 19), in one of the most important areas of fluorite mineralization in British Columbia.

The region is underlain by Lower to Upper Paleozoic, platformal sedimentary rocks of Ancestral North America (Geological Survey of Canada Maps 46-1962, 1712A, 1713A). The Nick showing is one of many similar fluorite deposits in a 17-kilometre long belt extending north from Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. This belt is defined by an open anticline, with a gently south-plunging axis, in the Upper Devonian Besa River Formation, with the Middle Devonian Dunedin Formation exposed in a several-kilometre wide zone in the core of the fold. All the fluorite deposits in the belt are situated at or just above or below the unconformity between these units.

The Dunedin Formation consists of mid- to dark grey, massive to thinly-bedded fossiliferous limestone. It is generally exposed in the Teeter and Mould creek valleys, which are characterized by karst and 'mesa and butte' topography. The overlying Besa River Formation is predominantly black shale or slate and argillite, with some calcareous shale and minor, buff-brown dolomitic layers. The unconformity between the units is commonly characterized by brecciation and is very irregular in detail, probably due to an erosional or disconformable relationship between them, or to later faulting along the contact (Assessment Report 3975; Geology, Exploration and Mining in British Columbia 1972). The deposits in the Liard fluorite belt generally occur as lenticular replacement bodies or infillings in breccias in one or both units.

The Nick showing is on the west-dipping flank of the anticline referred to above, although bedding is subhorizontal here. The showing area is only about 120 metres across and is poorly exposed. All outcrops or trenches consist of Besa River shale or brecciated shale. Mineralization is generally confined to the breccia and consists of fluorite, witherite and barytocalcite which form a replacement matrix. The best sample (2031) taken from this material contained 17.3 per cent CaF2 (Assessment Report 3975, Map 19). These minerals may also occur in sparse fracture-filling veins in shale.

The experience at other showings in this region suggests that mineralized limestone breccia could lie below the shale breccia at the Nick, but this has not been tested by drilling.

Fission-track studies of fluorite from the Gem prospect 9 kilometres to the south-southeast suggest that the age of the mineralization in this region is Mississippian (Open File 1992-16).

See the Gem (MINFILE 094B 002) occurrence for a completed work and exploration history of the area.

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT 3840, *3975
EMPR FIELDWORK 1988, pp. 478-479
EMPR GEM 1972-587
EMPR IND MIN FILE (Fluorite Occurrences in BC, (GEM) (in Ministry
Library))
EMPR OF *1992-16, pp. 33-40
GSC BULL 186
GSC MAP 46-1962; 1712A; 1713A
GSC P 72-32, p. 20
CJES, Vol. 15, pp. 1391-1406
N MINER, Vol. 57, No. 33, 1972
McCallum, N.G. (2012-12-12): Technical Report on the Liard Fluorspar Project

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