64255 092C 121 Alberni WRECK BAY, BLACK SAND, FLORENCIA BAY, LOST SHOE CREEK 092C13E Past Producer 48° 59' 39'' 125° 37' 34'' 48.994167 -125.626111 10 5429950 308000 Gold Insular Overlap Assemblage, Wrangell C01 : Surficial placers The Wreck Bay (now Florencia Bay) beach placers occur between Kennedy Lake and the west coast of Vancouver Island. The placers extend from Ucluelet to Tofino Inlet on a flat coastal plain composed of unconsolidated sands, fine gravels and thin beds of blue clay. These Pleistocene sediments contain a small amount of black sand (magnetite) and fine gold which is being continually concentrated at the base of the cliffs along the bay. Prospectors and campers have historically panned the sand periodically. The amount of sand is small and the quantity of gold is very small where concentration due to wave action has not taken place. The gold probably comes from the quartz veins that occur to the west of Kennedy Lake. In 1900, 23,996 grams of gold are reported to have been removed from these sands (Annual Report 1900 p. 924). The deposit appears to have been mined out between 1899-1902. The discovery was made by Charles C. Binns in 1898. EMPR AR *1899-609,786; 1900-724,921,*924; 1901-1098; 1902-233; 1907-248; 1909-146; 1910-151; 1921-209,236; 1927-343; 1931-160; 1933-246 EMPR FIELDWORK 1989, pp. 503-510 EMPR OF RGS 24, 1990 EMPR PF (Bremner, J.M. (1970): Geology of Wreck Bay, UBC Masters Thesis) GSC MAP 1386A GSC MEM 13 GSC OF 463; 821; 1272 GSC P 72-44; 76-1A; 79-30 GSC SUM RPT *1918 Part B p.38 Carson, D.J.T. (1968): Metallogenic study of Vancouver Island with emphasis on the relationships of mineral deposits to plutonic rocks, Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University Daily Colonist July 18,29, Sept. 7, Oct. 9, 1900; June 29, 1901 Hudson, R. (1997): A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstone & Mineral Sites of British Columbia, Vol. 1: Vancouver Island, p. 145 Times Colonist Islander March 8, 1998, p. 6 (article by Walter Guppy) EMPR PFD 6185, 6187, 6188, 6398, 812826, 600445, 673638, 507902, 507903, 507904