00455~ - british columbia
TRANSCRIPT
VERA (082LSW015)
00455~
By R.M. Barker
(Fig.
LOCATION
NI:I. )
Lat. 50° 21' Long. 11 '3(;) 22" (82L/6W)
CLAIMS
ACCESS
VERNON MINING DIVISION. Approximately 12km
NW I:' f Ver non.
VERA 1-6, GOLDEN ZONE 1-3, GLORIA 1.
From Vernon via Kamloops Road (Okanagan
Highway), then south along Westside Road for
3km. Final a,:cess is through farming
prClperty on the western side clf Westside
Rl:lad, requiring 4-wheel drive can farm and
mining tracks foY 4km.
OWNER VERA SQUINAS, CANOVA RESOURCES
ENVIROWASTE INDUSTRIES INC.
LTD. ,
OPEPATOF.:
COMMODITIES
CANOVA RESOURCES
INDUSTRIES INC.
S i 1 ver, GCll d.
LTD. .I ENVIROWASTE
2
INTRODUCTION
The main showing at the Veya pyopeyty is a mesothermal-'style
quaytz vein carrying significant base and precious metal
mineYalisation. The Veya vein is one of a number of compaYable
deposits scattered along the western side of Okanagan Lake, west
of Vernon. Minor production was recorded in the mid-1920s. The
Vel" a pr c.per t y was pr ev i ous 1y kn.:)wn as t he II Oc t agon II •
EXPLORATION HISTORY
The area west of Okanagan Lake has a history of minctY placer
activity dating back at least as far as the 1870s, and of lode
metal s prcJspect ing as ear 1 y as the 18'30s. Howevey, no pI aeer
mining has ever been recorded foY" the Irish CY"eek drainage in
which the known mineralisation at the Vera propeYty lies.
The Veya vein was discovered in 1'323. An open cut and short
incline weY"e developed, and l.8t of ore shipped. The recovery
grade was 34gft gold and 2811gft silver (B.C. Minister of Mines,
1955). No recoY'd e)~ists of any further work on the property
un til 1'36';3 •
1'36'3 .- Ttl e Ver a ve i n wc\ s a I mostee.... t a i n lye 0 ver ed by the May
group of claims owned by Silver Post Mines Ltd
(subsequently known as Brown-Overton Mines Ltd), but no
mention of the showing was made in assessment reports of
the time. Exploration effort was concentrated on the May
VEPA
(Jed i :> showing located
3
about 1.7km to the south-
southwest. An incomplete magnetometer survey carried out
over part of the May group did not extend over the Vera
showing (Kikuchi and Venkatarami, 1970).
1980 - The prclperty was inspected and reference made to rock
sampling and assay work done by Thunderbird Resources Ltd
(Daughtry, 1'380). A 1 imited soil geclI:hemical survey was
carried out (Daughtry, 1986).
1985 - The acquisition by Tri-Pacific Resources Ltd of an option
to the Vera property was announced, and small, high
grade, si 1 vel" product iCln program was reported to be in
progress. The discovery of visible native gold was also
reported (George Cross News Letter, Nov.15, 1985).
1986 - The Vera property was inspected and a summary report on
the history, geology and mineral occurrences was prepared
by E. Livgard (Dauqhtry, 1'386). Sur face stY'ipping of the
vein over a length of 12m was carried out by Tri-Pacific
Resources Ltd (George Cross News Letter, Apr.i5, 1986).
1'387 C:anova Pesoulr C (=5 Ltd caY" r i ed out a br i e f pr ogr am 0 f
geologicdl mapping and prospect ng (Sha'...J, 19E38), ·35 well
as a I imitE\d geophysics progY'am compr ising magnetometer
and EM surveys. These surveys proved inconclusive (Grand,
1'388) .
VEF:A
1'388
4
In the spring and early summer, limited geological
mapping and prospecting, rock chip sampling and soil
geochemical survey, and a detailed VLF-EM survey, all
commissioned by Canova Resources Ltd, were carr ied out
(Gr ond, 1'388) • I n June, Canova and Exped it clr Rescll.lr c es
Group Ltd announced a joint venture agreement to explore
the Vera claims. In .July-August, a trench, 60m long and
up to 5m deep, was excavated by drill and blast methods,
exposing a long-section through the shallow-dipping vein.
The exposure was mapped in detail and extensively sampled
for assay (Grond and Thompson, 1988).
The pr clper t y has I a i n dor mant s i nl: e 1988. E)~pedit or Resclur c e
Group Ltd. changed name in 1990 to Envirowaste Industries Inc.
REGIONAL GEOLOGY
The property, located northwest of Vernon, on the west side of
Okanagan Lake, lies close to the eastern margin of the
Quesnellia terrane. The terrane boundary in this area is
represented by the west-dipping Okanagan
east) and the southwest-dipping Louis
Valley Fault
Creek Fault
(to
(to
the
t h(:?
north). The Okanagan Valley Fault is a major, low angle, crustal
shear. Sense of movement on the faul tis normal. I t has bf?en
int~?rpreted as an Eocene "detachment" fault (Tempelman-Kluit and
Parkinson, 1986). The nature of thf.~ Louis Creek Fault is poorly
understood.
VEF~('~
Ev,,,,
..JI;
;:(ej/onal
() Iv I; teJ.,
-•
,,,\\,
-III.......::::
",Jg
-fI,~ Veya C!'~&I •
()t;;li'kl, (ICfB'9).
5
The Vera prclperty is located in a nl:-rthwest-trending belt of
sediments and volcanics assigned by Okulitch (1989) to the
Triassic to Jurassic
unconformably on the
Group, while to the
Nicola Group. To the southwest they rest
Carboniferous to Permian Harper Ranch
north they are faulted against Lower
Palaeozoic rocks of the Sicamous Formation (Fig. 1). The unit is
overlain by volcanics and minor sediments of the Eocene Kamloops
Group which, in this area, is preserved only as scattered
outl iers. Wheeler and McFeely (1'387) place the faulted noythern
bc,undary elf the Nicola 13roup (the Louis Creek Fault) tCI the
sl:-uth I:-f the prl:-perty, and grl:lup the sediments and volcanics
e~~tending north frl:,m the fault into the Shuswap Lake area as
part of the Upper Pr cat er CIZ 0 i c t CI Palaeozoic Eagle Bay
Assemblage.
The Jurassic Pennask-Okanagan plutonic complex crops out within
about 15km south of the pyopeyty; CYetaceous satellite stocks of
the Salmon Arm pluton intrude the Sicamous Formation about 10km
to the north. Appro)r~imately 20km southwest of the pt"operty an
Eocene syenite stock is asso.:: iated with ep it hf.?Y" mal gold
mineralisation at the Brett property (Meyers, 1987; Chuy' c h,
1')80). Dioritic intrusive rocks have been mapped about 2.5km
west of the property (Grond, 1988).
VEF:('~
6
PROPERTY GEOLOGY
The Vera property is underlain by a northwest to west-northwest
striking, steeply"-dipping sequence of argill ites intercalated
with basaltic and andesitic tuffs and minor flows. The tuffs are
mainly mafic crystal tuffs with I ithis: fragments up to 50mm in
d i amet eY· • Th is sequenc e is cut by numer elus f el dspar porphyr y
dykes ranging from 2 to 100m wide (13rc,nd, 1'388). The Vera vein
is hosted in one such dyke. Mapping by I3rond (1'388) shows the
dykes to be generally concordant with the sediment-volcanic
sequence.
The host dyke is abl:lut 100m wide, and comprises grey, quartz-
feldspar (dacite) porphyry, with 15 per cent white potassic-
altered feldspar phenocrysts and 35 to 40 per cent c I ear,
glassy, quartz phenOl: r yst s; it carries about 1 per cent
disseminated pyr ite (I3rond and Th,:,mpson, 1'388). The rock is
massive and well-jointed. The age of the dykes is uncertc-'lin
Okulitch (1979) indicates a possible Jurassic age; Daughtry
(1980) suggests Tertiary.
The Vera vein comprises mainly massive, white, bull quartz, with
some zones of banded white and grey bull quartz. Ribbon texture
is evident in sClme vein mater ial (Dowl in9 and Morr ison, 1'389 :>.
Some evidence for at least two phases of quartz deposition
e:l; i st s in the tl..J() quartz types mentioned above, thE~ rare
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crystalline quartz were observed, and drusy quartz lined vughs
have been reported (George Cross News Letter, Nov. 15, 1'385;
Jun. g, 1988).
The vein, where exposed in the exploration trench, strikes
approximately north-northeast and dips west at ·-·c:::-o"::'.J • At the
northern end of the trench, it appears to rollover to a steep
northerly dip. Prior to the trenching program the vein was also
exposed in a road cut a short distance to the east and several
met res lower· in elevation. That part of the vein strikes
sl:luthwest and dips vertically; it was interpreted by Shaw
(1'388) as a II feeder II tCI the main vein.
The Vera vein pinches and swells dramatically, ranging in width
from 0.3 to 2.0m (Fig.2). Quartz stringers occur in the
footwall; most are subparallel to the main vein but some narrow,
steep, west-dipping stringers are also evident. As the main vein
narrows towards the southern end of the trench, the abundance of
str ingers increases unt iI, at its sc)uthern 1 imit, the vein is
represented by an intense stringer zone.
Shearing has occLurred along much of the hanging wall contact
and, to a I imited e~/;tent, on the footwall contact a A ser ies of
moderate to steep, east to southeast dipping, normal faults give
the vein a step-like pattern (Fig.2). Most of these faults carry
abundant calcite in veins up to 150mm thick. The calcite is
mostly coarsely c'(ystalline and displays classic open spaCf~-
filling textures such as cyustiform and laminated vein-forms and
VEP?~
':1
Spe,:tacula'( assay values have been reported for grab samples
rich in SUlphides:
A 1m channel sample taken along the strike of a 50mm wide
sulphide-rich quartz stringer gave 4.9g/t gold, 941.7g/t silver,
14.96kg/t copper and 24.02kg/t lead (Grond, 1988). Selected grab
samples have yielded values as high as 250g/t gold and 74 777g/t
silver CGCNL, Jun.9, 1988) and 4.99g/t gold, 5090g/t silver,
8.03kg/t copper, 110.76kg/t lead and 4.77kg/t zinc CGrond,
1988).
Systemat ic channel sampl ing clf the quartz vein and stY" inger
zClnes, carY"ied out by Grond and Thompson ( 1988) in the
exploY"ation trench exposure, illustY"ates the spoY"adic nature of
the mineralisation:
MaY~ imum val ue
Minimum value
Me-::~n
Median
1301 d (9/t)
2. '30
detect iCln I imi t
0.48
0.04
Silver (g/t)
2330.0
1.2
301.6
23 .. 6
(19 samples assayed)
The host porphyry contains about 1 pey cent pyrite (locally up
to 3 pel''' cent). Assays yielded gold values up to O.05g/t and
silVf~y values of 0.:0 to 4.00/t (C:irond a.rid Thompson, 1'388).
I)r:~p(·~
10
Alteration attributable to the mineralising event(s) is limited
to localised patches of coarse-grained sericite adjacent to the
vein. Pervasi ve intense chI or it i sat ion .;)f the tu f f aceous roc ks
on the property, as reported by Grond (1988), may be part of the
widespread greenschist facies metamorphism which affected the
Jurassic and older rocks of the region.
EXPLORATION POTENTIAL
The Vera vein appears to die out towards the southern end of the
exploration trench. However, the vein has not been traced to the
northeast, nc.r has it been investigated at depth by drilling.
Tracing of the vein is made difficult by the obvious faulting in
the area and by the paucity of outcrop.
The intercalation of more and less-competent lithologies creates
potential for the development of tensional structures which can
host thickened portions of cross-cutting veins. Hence, tracing
the Vera vein across lithologies may provide enhan.:ed
exploration targets.
The change in orientation of the vein at the northern end of the
trench suggest~:i the presence of a fold. A II saddle reef" modc:?l
may, therefore, bc:? appl icable to the Vera vein, in which cas;)e
the axial plane (as well as other possible axial planes in the
area) would provide a structural control for exploration.
VEPA
11
Soil geochemical and VLF-EM surveys have had limited success - a
number of indistinct northwest-trending anomalies were located
in the Vera property area. None of these has been tested
further.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Access to the library and facilities of Discovery Consultants,
Vern.:.n, B. C., and the in format ion and advice provided by I<en
Daughtry, was greatly appreciated. The advice and assistance
provided by Richard Meyers and Todd Hubner of the Kamloops
District Office of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
F~esclurces was invaluable. I particularly wish to thank Richard
for his time spent reviewing and editing. this report. The
project was funded by the British Columbia Geoscience Research
Grant PYI::.gram.
REFERENCES
B.C. Minister of Mines (1955): Index No.3 to Publications of the
British Columbia Department of Mines; B.C. Minister of
Mines.
Cairnes, C.E. (1931): Mineral Resources of Northern Okanagan
Valley, British Columbia; Geological Survey of Canada,
Summary Report 1931, Part A, pages 66-109.
VEPA
1,-,..:=.
Church, B.N. (1980): Geology of the Terrace Mountain Tertiary
Outlier; B.C. Ministry of Energy. Mines and Petroleum
Resources, Revised Preliminary Map 37.
Daughtry, K.L. (1'380) Re: Ronald (Octagon) Property, Vernon,
B.C.; Private Report for Thunderbird Resources Ltd.
---------- (1986) : Re: Report on Vera Claims, Vernon M.D. by E.
Livgard, P. Eng. ; Private F.:eport for Tr i-Pac i fie
Resources Ltd.
Dowling, K. and Morrisc,n, G. (1'389) Appl icat ion of Quartz
Textures to the Classification of Gold Deposits Using
Nl::.rth Queensland E)~amples. in .<eays, R., Ramsay, R.
and Groves, D.: The Geology of Gold Deposits; Economic
Geology, Monograph 6, pages 342-355.
Grc'nd, H. C. (1'388) Geol og i c al , GeclI: hem i C al and Geophys i c al
Report on the Vera Property, Vernon Mining Division,
Southea,stern Br it ish Columbia; B. C "- -""'i n:i._$t r y of
Enerqy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Assessment
F.:epor t 17664.
---------- and Thompson, D. (1988) : Report on Trenching Program
on the Vera and Skookum Properties, Vernon Mining
Division, Southeastern British Columbia; 8.C. Ministry
o f Energ y • Min e sand Pet r 01 eum F.:esc,u r c e s , Ass e s s m(~.?n t
Repo;,' t 17'328.VERA
13
I<ikuchi, T. and Venkatarami, S. (1'370) Geological Report, May
and Red Hawk Cl aims, VernCtn Area, Brown-Overton Mines
Ltd; B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
Resources, Assessment Report 2552.
Livgard, E. (1'386) ------?????????--------
Meyers, R.E. (1988) : Brett; B.C. Ministry of Energy. Mines and
Pet rCtl eum Resc,urces, E~/~plor at ion in Br it ish Col umb ia
1987, pages B15-B22.
Okulitch, A.V. (197'3): Lithctlogy, Str-atigraphy, Structure and
Mineral Ot:currences of the Thompson-Shuswap--Okanagan
Area, B.ritish Columbia; Geological Survey of Canada,
Open File 637.
---------- (1989) Revised Strat igraphy a.nd Structure in the
Thompson-ShLlswap-Okanagan Map Area, Southern BY' it ish
Columbia; in Current F.:E~search, Part E, 13eolc'gical
Survey of Canada, Paper 89-1E, pages 51-60.
Sh aw, D. <: 1'388) Geological Report on the Vera Claim Group of
Canova F.~esoLlrces L.td; B. C. Min istry of Energy. Mines
and Petroleum Resources, Assessment Report 16816.
'vF:F~A
14
Wheeler, J.D. and McFeely, P. (1987): Tectonic Assemblage Map of
the Canadian Cordillera and Adjacent Parts of the
United States of America; Geological Survey of Canada,
Open File 1565.
VEPA