Chezacut Area Geology
(NTS 093C/08)
BCMEMPR Open File
2008-02
By M.G. Mihalynuk, C.R. Peat, E.A. Orovan, K. Terhune, T. Ferbey, M.A. McKeown
View
Open File 2008-2
Map (PDF, 3.5 MB)
Download
OF2008-2-Chezacut
Geology Map (ZIP
available April 2008; MANIFOLD GIS digital file)
Open File
2008-2 is part of a Provincial program to help reduce the long term economic
impact of the Mountain Pine Beetle through support of economic
diversification. The program includes geological mapping projects aimed at
locating areas of potential interest to the mining and oil and gas
industries. Open File 2008-2 is a 1:50 000-scale geological map for the
Chezacut mapsheet (NTS 93C/08).
The Chezacut
mapsheet, part of the Anahim area, is ~200 km west of Williams Lake. It was
targeted for geological mapping because of a historical lack of mineral
exploration. A network of logging roads provided access to large parts of
the area, and did not exist in the late 50’s, when geological mappers last
passed through the region.
Geological
mapping does not specifically focus on the search for mineral occurrences,
but occasionally significant mineralization is discovered during the course
of mapping. During the summer of 2007, mapping crews in the Chezacut area
discovered five mineralized zones in a ~1000-kilometre area where only one
mineral occurrence was known previously. See Geofile 2008-2 for
lithogeochemical data from rock
samples collected in the Chezacut map area.
The new
showings span the Chezacut area and occur primarily in the oldest rock
package which is now interpreted to extend over more than twice the area
previously mapped. Young basaltic and glacial blankets are exploration
hindrances. However, neither is as extensive as has in the past been
generally assumed. These discoveries demonstrate the untapped mineral
potential beneath the beetle-infested forests of Interior British Columbia.
