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Mercury Deposits of British Columbia

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Mercury Deposits of British Columbia BRITISH COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF MINES Hon. W. I. ASSELSTINE, Minister JOHN F. WALKER, Deputg Minister .. BULLETIN No. 5 __ Mercury Deposits of British Columbia bY JOHN S. STEVENSON 1940 VICTORIA, B.C.: PhotwEset by CEmLW F. BANWLD.Printer to the Kine's Mat Exeellent Majesty. 1940. PREFACE. The present report includes geological descriptions 01: all the known occurrences of mercury in British Columbia. With the exception of the reported occurrence on the Homathko River, all the deposits were examinedby the writer during thefield seasons of 1938 and 1939. For thesake of complete- ness an. introductorychapter is includedthat describes the mineralogy,metallurcy and modes of occurrenceand economics of mercury. The writer wishes to acknowledge the kind assistance given by the various mine officials and prospectors associ- ated with theproperties visited. Acknowledgement is made of the hearty cooperation given by Messrs.Bronlund and Porter of theConsolidated Miningand Smelting Corrpany, and by Messrs. Fraserand Williams of the EmpireMercury Mine. Alan R. Snith, the writer's field assistant during 1938 and 1939, greatiy facilitated the field work by his capable and hearty cooper- ' ation. CONTENTS. Page. PREFACE, 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 4. 5 5 5 5 Condensers ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Coxbentration of Mercury Ores ............................................................................................................ 9 Economics of Mercury ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Production and Consumption .......................................................................................................................... 9 Tariffs and Cartels ..................................................................................................................................................... :t 2 Price of Mercury ................................................................................................................................................................. :L 3 :14 11 5 ILLUSTRATIONS. Frontispiece - Keymap of cinnabaroccurrences in British Columbia. Facing Page Fig. 1 - Tiorkings on thePinchi Lake cinnabar property of theConsolidated Mining andSmelting Company of Canada, Ltd ....................... 20 '! 2 - Keymap, cinnabar'occurrences thein vicinity of. KamloopS Lake......................................................................... 35 I, . 3 '- Plan of north showings,Copper Creek cinnab ar property cinnabar 31 " 4 - Plan of central and southshowings Copper Creek cinnabarproperty . 38 " 5 - Geology of the Yalakom Riverarea after M. S. Hedley 60 " 6 - Detailedgeology vicinityin of Golden Eagle showings,Eagle Yalakom River 67 " 7 - Plan of workings, Empire Mercury Mines Limited : ............................................................................. .............................................. 74 I, 8 . - ?lax of workings atSechart cinnabar property .......................................................................................................... -. 89 Plate I k - Camp of theConsolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd., on Pinchi Lake ......................................... :.................................................................................................... 28 f I B - Portal of North Adit,'Pinchi Lake mer- curyproperty of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd. 28 I! I1 P. - CopperCreek cinnabarproperty, dumps or' north showings on right of picture ................ 31 I1 B - Small D - retort at CopperCreek cin- nabar properky ............................................................................................................................. 31 ,I 111 A - Old Scottfurnace at Copper Creek cin- nabar property .......................................................................................................................... 70 ILLUSTRATIONS (Cont'd) Facing Page Plate I11 B - EmpireNercury Mines Ltd., showing mill building,ground-sluiced trenches Nos. 3 and 3A (middlefore- ground) and portals of adit Nos. 7 and 2 (leftcentre) ............................................................................................. 70 1V.A - Small D - retort at Tunkwa Lake cin- nabarproperty, showing flues from condensers(outer stacks) and flues from fire-boxstacks).(innerfrom 73 ,f IV. B - Mill building of EmpireMercury Mines, Ltd.,housing 10-ton Gould rotary kiln ..........i .................................................................................................................................... 73 INTRODUCTION. In the following report the term mercury rather than the term quicksilver, will beused for the name of the metal. Where the term quicksilver appears in titles of bibliography or in quotations it will be ucderstood to mean mercury. Uercury Minerals Although there are approximately twenty-five mercury min- erais,only one,cinnabar, is of commercialimportance. Eleven of thetwelve minerals described belowoccur on.ly sparingly and theremaining mercury minerals are extremely rare. The properties of these twelve minerals are listed below: Cinnabar - Composition - mercuricsulphide, HgS = mercury, 86.2per cent:, sulphur, 13.8 per cent. Lustre adamantine. Colourscarlet-red to brownish-red.Streak, scarlet to red- dish-browl.iiardness, 2 to 2.5. Fractureuneven. Tenacity, brittleto sectile. Specific gravity, 8 to 8.2. NativeMercury - Lustremetallic, brilliant. Colourtin-white. Specificgravity, 13.6. Commonly occurs as small, liquidglob- ulesscattered through gangue or shearedwall-rock; probab1:y reduced from cinnabar by hydrocarbons. Amalgam - Composition - an alloy of.silver andmercury of vary- ingcomposition; arquerite, an amalgam containingapproximately 85per cent. silver, found in Vital Creek, Omineca District, British Columbia. Color and streak,silver-white. Opaque. Hardness 3 to3.5. Fracture uneven. Brittle to malleable. Specificgravity 13.75 to 14.1. Metacinnabarite - Composition - mercuricsulphide, HgS. Col- our, black.Occurrence, black crystals or more frequently massive, it is a secondarysulphide deposited by descending waters. Calomel (Horn quicksilver) - Composition - mercurouschloride, HgCl. Lustre,wax-like. Colour, white, yellowish-grey, grey, brown, translucent to sub-translucent.Streak, pale-yellow:ish- white.Hardness, 1 to 2. ' Specificgravity, 6.5. An oxidation product. of cinnabar.Rare. Montroydite - Mercuricoxide, HgO. Colour,red. An oxidatfion product of cinnabar.Rare, -Eglestonite and Terlinguaite - Oxychlorides of mercury. Co:L- -1- our, yellowish,turning to brown or green on exposure. Oxi- dationproduct of cinnabar. Uncommon, butfairly abundant at Terlingua,Texas. Coloradoite,Tiemmanite and Onofrite - Primary;rare telluride, selenide, andsulpho-selenide of mercury,respectively. Mercurial Tetrahedrite - A not uncommon form of tetrahedrite containing up to 17 percent. mercury. GeologicalOccurrence of Cinnabar Cinnabaroccurs.in a greatvariety of rock-types. How- ever, it is never of sedimentaryorigin, but is alwaysasso- ciated with some manifestation of igneousactivity, although the relationship may not be as evident as with other types of oredeposits. Cinnabar has been deposited under conditions of low temperature and pressure,therefore, mercury ores occur close to the surface that existed at the time of deposition. Selativelyfew ore-minerals accompany cinnabar;the most common ones arepyrite, stibnite and realgar. The most common gangue-mineralsinclude opal, chalcedony, quartz, calcite and particularly in the Kamloops Lake area of British Columbia, .vein-dolomite.Carbonate-alteration, or carbonatization of thewall-rocks, is common; this type of alteration is wide- spread in the Kamloops Lakeand Yalakom Riverareas of Brit- ish Columbia. Habit ofOre In most mercury mines the ore occurs in irregularly frac- tured or brecciatedzones, or otherwiseporous rocks. In theserelatively open-textured rocks the cinnabar occurs as thin;discontinuous stringers, or as scatteredblebs and small grains.In the larger deposits these brecciated zones, or porousmasses of rock, are capped or bounded on oneside by a relativelyimpervious layer which may consist of either clay gouge or otherwiseimpervious stratum of rock,such as a lava flow. Such structural conditionspermitted the readypassage of cinnabar-bearing solutionsunder no great pressure,and, subsequentlycaused, the trapping and deposition of the sul- phi.de fromthese -solutions. The ore-bodiesare irregular and frequently of indefinite limits; althoughthe form may in .somedegree be controlled by the attitude of the enclosing rocks or faults. -2- The deposits are comnonly associated with volcanic rocks and frequently with hot springs in .regions of volcanic acti- vity. However, themercury-bearing solutions do notneces- sarily originate in thevolcanic rock themselves, but rathe:r in the same deep-seated magma-basins in which the volcanic rooks weredifferentiated; for thatreason, cinnabar deposi-.:s may befound far fromvolcanic or intrusive igneous rocks. The mostfavourable structure for a cinnabardeposit is one that will not only give easy access to the mineralizing solutions, but will also trap and dam them so as to localizs and concentratethe cinnabar. Such op'en structuresare af- forded by sandstone, or
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