GeoFile 2008-5:  Mineralized Mesozoic EXPOSED in the Anahim Area
by M.G. Mihalynuk and C.R. Peat

View GeoFile 2008-5 (PDF, 25.4 MB)

Geofile 2008-5 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. Geofile 2008-5 the digital version of a poster display highlighting the results of mapping in the Chezacut area (NTS 93C/08). It was first presented at Mineral Exploration Roundup 2008, in Vancouver.

The Chezacut mapsheet, part of the Anahim area, is ~200 kilometres west of Williams Lake. It was targeted for geological mapping because of a historical lack of mineral exploration. A network of logging roads that today provide access to large parts of the area, did not exist in the late 50’s, when regional 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 km2 area where only one mineral occurrence was known previously.

One of the zones, called the “Vampire”, is of particular interest. Altered and mineralized volcanic rocks can be traced in sparse outcrops for over 100 metres. Analysis of a 1.1-metre zone speckled with copper sulphide minerals retuned over 0.2% copper.

Detailed technical and location data can be obtained from the Technical Background.

In another zone, called the “Orovain”, subparallel veins ~1 metre apart cut volcanic rocks over a 50 by 75-metre area. Most of these veins carry traces of mineralization, with the most mineralized containing more than 1% copper and 3 g/t silver.

A third zone, called the “Pyro”, is a coarsely fractured rock cemented by iron and manganese oxide minerals over a 10 by 25-metre area. Oxide material has elevated zinc (to 0.3%), silver (11 ppm), bismuth (30 ppm) and gold (0.16 ppm) contents.

The new showings span the Chezacut area and occur primarily in the oldest rock package which is now known over more than twice the area as previously mapped. Young basaltic and glacial cover in the region are an exploration hindrance. 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.