Project Information
- Ore Deposit: Orogenic gold
- Commodity: Gold
- Research Themes: Gold Deposits, Regional Metallogeny
- Location: Barkerville Gold Camp, central BC, Canada
- Project Status: Completed
- Start Date: 2016
- End Date: 2017
Much of BC's historic gold production is from orogenic quartz vein networks along the eastern margin of the Intermontane terranes. The Barkerville camp alone accounts for 1.2 Moz of gold from such lodes, and another 2.5-3 Moz were extracted from related placer deposits. The revival of brownfields exploration in the district emphasizes the importance of establishing ore controls for this mineralization style. Structural models for orogenic gold systems emphasize major crustal-scale strike-slip faults as a first-order ore control, but these are absent from Barkerville and related orogenic gold camps such as Cassiar and Sheep Creek.
This project will generate a new series of maps, sections, and structural datasets that incorporate public domain geologic data and new structural mapping to place gold mineralization into a regional structural and kinematic framework that can enhance structural targeting.
This project will establish the geological and structural setting of mineralization in Barkerville, through compilation of historic data and structural mapping. A paragenesis of veins and rock fabrics, supplemented with Ar-Ar geochronology, will constrain the timing of progressive deformation and mineralization.
A parallel approach in the Cassiar and Sheep Creek camps will establish how structural evolution varied along strike in the eastern BC Cordillera. These products will benefit exploration companies and contribute to exploration investment interest in the gold potential of BC.
Publications
- Orogenic gold mineralization of the eastern Cordilleran gold belt, British Columbia: Structural ore controls in the Cariboo (093A/H), Cassiar (104P) and Sheep Creek (082F) mining districts
Murray M. Allan, David A. Rhys, Craig J.R. Hart, 2017
Geoscience BC Report 2017-15, 108 p. Download report, pdf, 21 Mb - Structural Controls on Gold-bearing Veins of the Cariboo, Cassiar and Sheep Creek Mining Districts, BC
Roundup Poster 2017, pdf, 130 Mb - Structural Controls on Gold in the Wells-Barkerville, Cassiar, and Sheep Creek Camps of Interior BC
Conference Presentation, Kamloops Exploration Group 2017, pdf, 16 Mb - Orogenic gold mineralization of the eastern Cordilleran gold belt of BC
Conference Presentation, Minerals South Conference 2017, pdf, 16 Mb
