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| The Douglas Channel map area lies within the Coast belt and contains 77
recorded mineral occurrences. The belt consists intermediate granitic rocks of
the Coast Plutonic Complex, migmatite and metamorphic rocks of the central gneiss complex
in the northeast part of the map, and discontinuous synformal zones of metasedimentary and
metavolcanic schist between plutons or within the central gneiss complex. The
types of occurrences in the area consist of gold-bearing pyritized quartz veins; sulphide
replacements of skarn or schist with copper and gold; limestone, marble and
dimension stone; garnet and kyanite; silica; mica; and thermal springs. The Surf
Inlet and Pugsley mines (103H
027), which produced 12 million grams of gold between 1902 and 1943, are currently
being evaluated underground rehabilitation and drilling. Here, several shear zones contain
auriferous quartz veins within dioritic gneiss. The Ecstall deposit (103H011) and a cluster of thirteen other showings, including the Packsack prospect
(103H
013), occur within the Scotia-Quaal metamorphic belt, a ?Proterozoic-Paleozoic
metasedimentary and metavolcanic sequence that includes the Middle Devonian Big Falls
orthogneiss, Early Jurassic orthogneiss, and Jurassic or Cretaceous mafic and utramafic
rocks. The showings occur in hydrothermally altered volcanic-volcaniclastic rocks,
close to a felsic volcanic centre. At the Ecstall deposit, two massive pyrite lenses
contain 6,349,700 tonnes of 0.6 per cent copper, 2.5 per cent zinc, 42.3 per cent iron,
48.4 per cent sulphur, 20.0 grams per tonne silver and 0.5 gram per tonne gold. |
References:
Gareau, S.A. (1991): The Scotia-Quaal metamorphic belt: a
distinct assemblage with pre-early Late Cretaceous deformational and metamorphic history,
Coast Plutonic Complex, British Columbia; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol
28, pages 870-880.
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