Lode Metals
CONTENTS
Page
General Review 3
Notes on Metal Mines 5
Taku River 5
Stikine 5
Unuk River 6
Portland Canal 7
Alice Arm 7
Observatory Inlet 8
Ecstall River 9
Hazelton 9
Smithers 10
Telkwa 12
Houston 12
Omineca 13
Ingenika River 13
Cariboo 14
Likely 14
Williams Lake 14
Lac la Hache 18
Lillooet 22
Highland Valley 24
Guichon Creek 28
Nicola 29
Kamloops 29
Birch Island 31
Tulameen River 3 2
Copper Mountain 33
Hedley 33
Olalla 34
Fairview Camp 34
Peachland 34
Rock Creek 35
Westbridge 37
Beaverdell 37
Greenwood 1 38
Phoenix 38
Rossland 40
Trail 41
Nelson 41
Ymir 43
Salmo 43
Nelway 46
South Kootenay Lake 47
North Kootenay Lake 48
Keen Creek 51 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Paddy Peak
Page
51
Retallack-Three Forks ~
52
Sandon
52
Slocan Lake
54
Springer Creek
57
North Lardeau .
58
South Lardeau . . _
60
Creston . . ...
60
Goat River
61
Kimberley ... , .
. 62
Fort Steele . : .__..
. ... 63
Elk River
63
Skookumchuck . ~ .
64
Windermere . _
64
Spillimacheen
Vowell Creek . . .
65
...... 65
Field
65
Skagit River .. . .
66
Hope . -. ...
66
Howe Sound..
67
Texada Island * ..
67
Vancouver Island
68 GENERAL REVIEW
The average prices of all principal metals were down in 1957 compared with 1956.
The gains of the past two years were wiped out in a time of still rising mining costs.
The average Canadian price of gold fell to $33.55, the lowest figure in twenty-five years,
as the Canadian dollar attained a record premium over the United States dollar. The
price of silver was relatively steady, but the Canadian price was reduced for the same
reason as gold. The United States price of copper dropped below 30 cents in February,
below 24 cents early in September, and at the year's end was 22.270 cents per pound.
The average price in Canadian funds, 26.031 cents per pound, was almost 35 per cent
less than the corresponding price in 1956. The New York price of lead dropped from
16 cents per pound early in May to 13 cents at the year's end. The St. Louis price of
zinc dropped from 13.5 cents per pound at the first of May to 10 cents by early July,
which figure held for the rest of 1957. The price of tungsten (scheelite) ore dropped
from a quotation of $27.25 to $27.75 per unit to one of $12 to $13 at the end of the year.
Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc produced at British Columbia lode mines in
1957 had a gross value of $111,968,648. Miscellaneous metals, including iron ore,
tungsten, tin, and minor metals recovered at the Trail smelter, had a gross value of
$12,755,362. The total quantity of ore mined at all lode mines amounted to 7,282,436
tons and came from fifty-nine mines, of which forty produced 100 tons or more. The
average number employed in the lode-mining industry in 1957, including mines, concentrators, and smelters, was 9,006.
In 1957 thirty-one mills were operated, eighteen of them throughout the year and
three intermittently. There were five new mills—a small gold mill at Hedley, a lead-zinc
mill near Kaslo, copper mills at Greenwood and Cowichan Lake, and a magnetic concentrator at Benson Lake on Vancouver Island. Six mills were closed when work ceased
at the respective properties; namely, Polaris Taku (Tulsequah mine), Allenby (Copper
Mountain mine), Velvet, Silver Giant, Iron Hill, and Woodgreen. Three Slocan mills
accepted custom ore, one steadily and two intermittently.
The Trail smelter recorded custom receipts of 865 tons of crude ore, 13,865 tons of
lead concentrates, and 9,951 tons of zinc concentrates from properties in British Columbia. Totals of approximately 21,802 tons of lead concentrates and approximately 81,673
tons of zinc concentrates were shipped out of the country for smelting. Copper concentrates and ores, and dross from the Trail smelter were shipped to the Tacoma smelter.
Concentrated iron ore was shipped to Japan. Tungsten concentrates were sold to the
United States Government under contract.
The production of gold increased slightly compared with that of 1956. A small mill
was brought into production at Hedley by French Mines Limited. The Queen shaft of
Bralorne Mines Limited was extended 175 feet to a point 630 feet below sea-level.
Development on the 32nd level showed excellent ore in the 77 vein, the richest orebody
in the history of the mine. A considerable amount of work was done to improve the
ventilation and decrease temperature at depth.
Silver, lead, and zinc were mined at a somewhat reduced rate. The closing of the
open pit at the Sullivan mine reduced the tonnage milled from 11,000 tons per day to
8,800 tons per day after May. The Silver Giant mine closed in June following exhaustion of the orebodies. At several properties the effect of lowered prices was countered
with reduction of staff and other economy. Ore was developed on the 2900 adit level
of Highland-Bell mine, and about one-third of the year's output came from the lower
mine. In the Slocan, Violamac Mines Limited took over the mill and holdings of
Carnegie Mines of British Columbia, Ltd. Western Exploration started to drive an adit
400 feet below the Mammoth No. 9 level, with a view to eventual elimination of the
tram-line and upper camp. A small mill was erected at the Utica mine. There was
a normal level of activity in the general Ainsworth-Slocan area.
Copper production was seriously curtailed with the closing on April 29th of the
Copper Mountain mine. The 1,000-tons-per-day mill of Woodgreen Copper Mines
3 4 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Limited, which had gone into production on January 20th, 1957, closed in August when
the company went into bankruptcy. The Velvet mine closed, and with it the new mill
that had been operating for about eight months. On the other hand, Cowichan Copper
Co. Ltd. commenced milling in December at a rate of 300 tons per day. At the Granduc
property a new level was driven, from the shaft, 625 feet below the main-haulage adit
level.
The closing of the Copper Mountain mine ends another chapter in the history of
the Granby company, which has prospered in British Columbia since 1899. The company mined nearly 14,000,000 tons of copper ore at Phoenix before the camp closed in
1919, and about 24,000,000 tons at Anyox from 1914 to 1935. Mining of the Copper
Mountain orebodies was halted in 1930, but production resumed in 1937, and a total
output of nearly 35,000,000 tons was achieved. In the past five years Granby has
directed development of the Granduc property, in which it has a large interest, repurchased its old property at Phoenix and built there a 500-ton mill, conducted exploration
on Babine Lake and at other places, and recently has undertaken the management of the
Western Nickel mine. At the end of 1957 Granby, for the second time in more than
fifty years, lacked a producing mine of its own.
Investigation of copper deposits continued in the southern part of the Province,
although at a rate somewhat reduced by the drop in price of copper. In the Highland
Valley area, drilling by American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd. on the Bethlehem
property located the East Jersey ore zone of good grade. This was completely covered
by overburden. In May, Bethlehem Copper Corporation Ltd. announced ore reserves
of about 100,000,000 tons in the Iona and Jersey zones. Most of the property in the
Highland Valley area came under the control of three major companies—American
Smelting and Refining Company Ltd., Kennecott Copper Corporation (through its subsidiary, Northwestern Exploration, Limited), and Phelps Dodge Corporation (through
its subsidiary, Anson Mines Limited). About 80 per cent of the total exploratory drilling,
nearly 30,000 feet, was done on the Bethlehem property. Rotary drilling was tried and
was found suitable for the testing of areas covered with overburden. The existence of
an important orebody has been demonstrated at the Craigmont property, which is 20
miles south of the Bethlehem property. This situation is well south of Highland Valley
and is at the southeastern edge of the Guichon batholith.
Development was started of a deposit of tungsten ore near Salmo that had been
recently discovered by diamond drilling. However, the company's government contract
for sale of concentrates was soon due to expire, and rapid worsening of the tungsten
market resulted in closure soon after work had started.
In July, 1957, the final clean-up of iron ore was made at Iron Hill, ending the life
of the first mine to ship magnetite concentrates to Japan, in 1951. In September, 1957,
Empire Development Company Limited started producing magnetite concentrates at the
newest iron mine at Benson Lake and hauling the concentrates 25 miles to Port McNeill
for shipment to Japan. Texada Mines Limited recovered important amounts of copper
and gold from a newly installed flotation circuit in the company's magnetic concentrator.
Airborne magnetometer surveys were conducted by the Provincial Government on
Vancouver Island in 1957, continuing the work begun in 1956. Certain magnetic
anomalies at Texada Island, Campbell Like, and Quadra Island, detected in 1956, were
investigated on the ground, geologically and with dip needle. The aeromagnetic maps
were made available to the public between February 8th, 1957, and January 9th, 1958.
A separate publication, "Airborne Magnetometer Surveys, 1956-57," summarizes the
extent of these investigations, contains full reports of the ground examinations, and is
accompanied by pertinent maps (published May, 1958).
The results of investigations by the Department in 1957 of the magnetite content
of beach sands at Florencia (Wreck) Bay, Cape Caution, and Graham Island were published as " Investigation of Beach Sands " in March, 1958. LODE METALS 5
NOTES ON METAL MINES
TAKU RIVER*
Gold-Silver-Copper-Lead-Zinc
(58° 133° N.W.) Company office, Trail; mine office, Tulsequah.
Tulsequah Chief, J. J. McKay, property superintendent; R. M. Mattson, mine super-
Big Bull intendent; O. I. Johnson, superintendent of maintenance; E. N.
(Tulsequah Mines, Doyle, mill superintendent. In 1957 this company, a subsidiary of
Limited) The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, operated the Tulsequah Chief mine. There was no production
from the Big Bull mine, which was closed in 1956. On September 1st, 1957, operations
were suspended at the Tulsequah Chief due to low metal prices. Two watchmen remain
at the property. All ore was treated at the Polaris Taku concentrator, which was operated
under lease. Production: Ore milled, 142,537 tons.
The following is a summary of the development work completed at the Tulsequah
Chief mine: Drifts and crosscuts, 590 feet; subdrifting, 289 feet; raising, 1,637 feet;
underground diamond drilling, 9,898 feet. The property safety record for 1957 showed
improvement; at the time of closure four lost-time accidents had occurred.
The annual Tulsequah River flood commenced on August 8th but did not reach its
peak until August 15th. Both the Tulsequah Chief and the Big Bull crossings were
badly damaged. The bridges were not replaced.
(58° 133° N.W.) This property of sixteen Crown-granted claims
Janet-Vega is owned by New Taku Mines Limited, Vancouver. It is on the
east bank of the Tulsequah River, 1V2 miles north of the Big Bull
mine. In 1957 The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited,
optioned the claims, and during July drilled three holes totalling 1,472 feet to explore
a sericitic shear zone in volcanics where it enters a concealed area. Four men were
employed under the direction of D. W. Heddle. Access to the area was provided by
tractor.
STIKINE*
Nahlin (58° 131° N.W.)
Nickel
Company office, 601, 220 Bay Street, Toronto. G. Webster, presi-
Opal (Canadian dent. This property is at Opal Lake, about 5 miles west of Tedi-
Explorers Limited) deech Lake in the Nahlin area. The following claims are held by
record: Tagoon Silver Nos. 1 to 6, Web Nos. 1 to 8, Opal and
Opal Nos. 2 to 12, Nor Nos. 1 to 8, Jim Nos. 1 to 8, and Windfall Nos. 1 to 6. The
showings lie in a belt of ultrabasic rocks and close to a regional fault zone. Small faults
and fractures transverse to the regional strike are opalized and locally contain concentrations of the nickel mineral, millerite. From late May to early October about 1,000 feet of
open-cutting and 1,290 feet of diamond drilling were done. A crew averaging eight men
was under the direction of Jack McBeth. The property was serviced entirely by air.
Copper
Scud River (57° 131° S.E.)
Head office, 61 Broadway, New York 6, N.Y.; Canadian office,
Copper Canyon 25 Adelaide Street West, Toronto 1. H. A. Vogelstein, president.
(The American This property is at the headwaters of the east fork of Galore Creek,
Metal Company a tributary of the Scud River. It is about 13 miles east of the
Limited) Stikine River and about 8 miles south of the Scud River. The
property of seventy-three recorded claims and fractions is on show-
* By David Smith. 6 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
ings found by an American Metal Company exploration party in 1956. Mineralization
is chalcopyrite, which occurs as disseminations within a syenite stock emplaced along
a major thrust fault at the contact between Permian sediments and Triassic volcanics.
Work commenced on June 1st and finished August 27th, 1957. A crew averaging fifteen
men, including a geologist and assistant, a surveyor and helper, and a helicopter crew
was under the direction of K. H. Cumming. A geological survey was made, and diamond
drilling and trenching were done. Seven drill-holes totalling 3,311 feet were drilled.
Trenching was done on the WM 8, CC 9, and the LC 7 claims. Transportation from the
base camp at the junction'of the Stikine and Scud Rivers to the drill camp was by helicopter. On December 30th, 1957, the name of the controlling company became American Metal Climax, Inc.
UNUK RIVER*
Copper
(56° 130° S.E.) Company office, Room 507, 1111 West Georgia
Granduc (Granduc Street, Vancouver 5; mine office, Stewart. L. T. Postle, president;
Mines, Limited) J. J. Crowhurst, manager; R. F. Lambert, general foreman. This
company holds a total of 240 mineral claims and fractions, as follows: By Crown grant, 16 claims; by retention lease, 48 claims; by record, 117 claims
in the Leduc Glacier area and 59 claims in the South Fork Unuk River area. The property is 25 miles northwest of Stewart at an elevation of 4,500 feet. Mineralization consists
mainly of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and pyrite. Because of difficulties encountered in
sinking the shaft, there is nothing to add to the description of the orebodies given in the
1956 Annual Report.
The shaft-sinking contract was concluded and the company undertook to finish the
sinking to the 2625 level. A total of 313 feet of shaft sinking was completed during the
year, a total depth of 676 feet below the 3250 main haulage level. Shaft stations were cut
at the 3100 level and 2800 level in readiness for future operations. On the 2625 level the
station was completed, and a sublevel sump and dam were installed to aid in unwatering
the shaft. On the 2625 level, 1,570 feet of crosscutting was done. This work will permit
further exploration in the Glacier area. On the 3250 level at the north end an additional
244 feet of drifting was done. On the 3250 level 5,488 feet of diamond drilling was done
and on the 2625 level, 570 feet. In the shaft a 2-ton skip was installed in one compartment and a man cage in the other. On the 2625 level two 75-horsepower 200-gallon-
per-minute pumps were installed to operate singly or in parallel, and also a bank of three
50-kva. 2,300-440-volt transformers.
On the surface there was completed a diamond-drilling programme on the Leduc
Glacier of seven holes totalling 4,674 feet. New units installed in the power-house
include the following: A 350-kw. Caterpillar diesel-electric set and an electrically driven
550-cubic-feet-per-minute Joy Sullivan compressor.
The difficulties of moving freight to the property have not been brought any closer
to a final solution, and the aeroplane and the tractor train are the main standbys. A total
of 159 tons of freight was transported to the mine by air from Stewart, as well as innumerable passengers. The tractor train transported 2,011 tons of freight during the winter
months.
Work has been carried on continuously throughout the year with a crew averaging
sixty-five men. One fatal accident marred the safety record, which has improved under
the supervision of L. T- Kirby, newly appointed safety officer.
• By David Smith.
, LODE METALS
PORTLAND CANAL*
Salmon River (56° 130° S.E.)
Gold-Silver-Lead-Zinc
Company office, 572 Howe Street, Vancouver. A. E. Bryant,
Silbak Premier president; J. Vallance, superintendent; Henry Hill and Associates,
Mines Limited consulting management engineers. Definite plans to rebuild the
mill destroyed by fire in 1956 and to resume operation in 1957
were shelved owing to the decline of metal prices. A three-month detailed underground
geological study was made by W. N. Plumb with four assistants. In June, salvage operations were undertaken to recover the scrap metal left in the wake of the fire, and to
recover the concentrates which were scattered by the collapse of the bins, etc.
Maple Bay (55° 130° S.E.)
Copper
Head office, Room 906, 357 Bay Street, Toronto; British Colum-
Maple Bay Copper bia office, 315 Credit Foncier Building, 850 West Hastings Street,
Mines Limited Vancouver. W. J. Lawson, president; F. J. Hemsworth, consulting engineer. The company holds twenty-two Crown-granted
claims, twenty-four recorded claims, and sixteen fractions near Maple Bay on the east
side of Portland Canal, 37 miles south of Stewart. Assessment work consisting of stripping and trenching on several quartz veins was carried out in August and September by
four men. All claims are maintained in good standing. During the month of October
all machinery and equipment was moved from the beach camp and placed in storage in
Prince Rupert.
ALICE ARM*
Silver
(55° 129° N.W.) Registered office, 309 Royal Bank Building,
Toric (Torbrit Vancouver; executive office, 44 King Street West, Toronto; mine
Silver Mines office, Alice Arm. R. W. Burton, manager; A. M. Connie, mine
Limited) superintendent; G. K. Sutherland, mill superintendent. Capital:
3,000,000 shares, $1 par value. The Torbrit mine camp and mill
are on the west bank of the Kitsault River, 17 miles by road from Alice Arm. Power
is obtained from a company-operated hydro-electric plant 5 miles above the mine near
the mouth of Clearwater Creek.
Production: Ore milled, 154,419 tons. Flotation concentrates amounting to 2,005
tons and containing 1,308,945 ounces of silver and 1,466,066 pounds of lead were
shipped to the smelter. In addition, the total bullion produced was 365,221 ounces of
silver. The source of the ore milled in 1957 was as follows: 20 per cent from the winze
below the 813 level; 28 per cent from the 813 level; 13 per cent from the 916 level; and
39 per cent from the 1018 level.
A summary of mining operations follows:—
Ore broken—
Tons
Stoping 94,233
Stope raises and stope drifts 7,889
Development 775
Total . 102,897
' By David Smith. REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Waste broken—
Tons
Level development 1,719
Stope raises and stope drifts 5,110
Raises 2,225
Total 9,054
Development in linear feet—
Ft.
Drifts and crosscuts 285
Raises 861
Stope drifts 284
Stope raises 3,549
Total 4,979
Underground diamond drilling 14,979
Longhole drilling with tungsten carbide bits 68,943
No safety officer is employed, but a mine safety committee carries out regular
monthly inspections of the mine and mill and holds monthly meetings. Sixteen compensable accidents occurred as follows: Mining, 10 accidents; surface, 3 accidents;
kitchen, 3 accidents.
On the surface no new construction was undertaken. Roads in this area present a
problem and require constant maintenance. Collapse of one of the more important
bridges rendered the access trail to the hydro plant hazardous in the transportation of
supplies.
On the Moose and Lamb claims 4,360 feet of surface diamond drilling was done,
but results were unfavourable and the project was abandoned in September. On the
North Star claim 4,678 feet of diamond drilling indicated a strong vein north of the zone
of dykes traversing that claim. Almost all the vein intersections were reported to be
below ore grade, but sufficient encouragement was obtained to warrant a further search
for oreshoots.
OBSERVATORY INLET*
Copper
Anyox (The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited).
—(55° 129° S.W.) This property of sixty-five Crown-granted claims is owned by the
Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company and includes the old Hidden Creek mine.
During the summer of 1957 two diamond-drill holes totalling 2,911 feet were drilled on
the Spruce claim about 1 mile south of the mine area. The men were housed at the
Anyox camp. Coastal boats and aircraft were used for transportation. J. D. Kelland
was engineer in charge.
(55° 129° S.W.) This property of fifteen recorded claims is on
Double Ed (The Bonanza Creek 3 miles west of Anyox. It is on a showing of
Consolidated Min- disseminated copper minerals in volcanic rock that was diamond
ing and Smelting drilled in 1953 and 1954. From April 11th to September 30th
Company of the Granby Construction Company, employing an average of
Canada, Limited) twelve men, built 2 miles of road under contract, completing a road
from Granby Bay to the property. The men were housed at the
Anyox camp. Coastal boats and aircraft were used for transportation. John Rokosh
was engineer in charge.
* By David Smith. LODE METALS 9
ECSTALL RIVER*
Pyrite
(53° 129° N.W.) Company office, 355 Burrard Street, Van-
Ecstall (Ecstall couver. R. D. Mollison, New York, president; W. R. Bacon,
Mining Company director and manager of British Columbia operations. This prop-
Ltd.) erty consists of twenty-one Crown-granted claims which extend
across the Ecstall River at a point 30 miles above its confluence
with the Skeena River. It is 45 miles southeast of Prince Rupert. Work on the property
commenced in May and was discontinued in mid-September. A geophysical survey was
performed on the southernmost claims, and a crew of five was engaged in geological
reconnaissance up river from the property.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept., 1952, pp. 81-84.]
HAZELTON*
Silver-Lead-Zinc-Cadmium
(55° 127° S.W.) Head office, 609, 602 West Hastings Street,
Silver Standard Vancouver; mine office, Hazelton. R. R. Wilson, president;
(Silver Standard H. B. Gilleland, manager; A. C. Ritchie, general superintendent;
Mines Limited) G. E. Apps, mine superintendent. The property is on Glen Mountain, 5>V2 miles north of Hazelton. It consists of the following
claims: Thirty-five Crown granted, twelve recorded, and eight held by retention lease.
Ore has been mined from the main vein system of sixteen parallel quartz veins ranging in
width from a fraction of a foot to 12 feet. The veins strike northeastward and dip from
40 to 80 degrees to the southeast. The ore from these veins was almost exhausted when
in 1955 surface drilling located a new vein designated No. 11 cross-vein, and its faulted
extension No. 10 cross-vein. The vein strikes north 37 degrees west and dips 25 degrees
northeast. All underground work during 1957 was concentrated on these vein segments.
The mine worked 278 days, with 10,968 man-shifts underground, 3,607 man-shifts in
the mill, and 3,490 man-shifts on surface.
A summary of the work done in 1957 was as follows:—
Mine
Development— Ft.
Drifting and crosscutting 389
Subdrifting 917
Raising 1,063
Total 2,369
Diamond drilling—
Surface 5,050
Underground 7,162
Total 12,212
Stoping— Tons
No. 11 cross-vein 13,405
No. 10 cross-vein 11,607
No. 11 vein 34
Ore-passes : 263
Total 25,309
• By David Smith. 10 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Ore tO mill Tons
Stopes 25,309
Development 4,280
Total 29,589
Mill
Tons
Ore from mine 29,589
Sorted as waste '. 7,831
Tons milled 21,758
Underground the No. 10 cross-vein has been stoped for a strike length of approximately 400 to 100 feet above the 1500 level, and below the 1500 level to the main fault,
a maximum of 130 feet down the dip. Only remnants of the oreshoot remain to be
mined. Diamond-drill holes and prospect raises failed to find more oreshoots on this
vein. No. 11 cross-vein has been stoped for a strike length of approximately 550 feet.
Of this length, about 350 feet has been stoped from the bottom of the ore horizon (about
70 feet above the 1500 level) to the main fault, 100 to 265 feet above the 1500 level.
The remaining 200 feet has been stoped to about 100 feet above the bottom of the ore
horizon, and stoping is being continued. Subdrifting to the south of this section has
disclosed at least an additional 100 feet of ore at a horizon about 80 feet above the 1500
level. This section is being developed for stoping. Several small oreshoots have been
found and mined in the main fault zone above 1511-1200 and 1511-1300 stopes. All
mining has been by open stoping. Development and stoping have been complicated by
numerous faults which displace the veins from a few feet to 40 feet. A total of 7,161
feet of underground diamond drilling was done in forty-eight holes in 1957. Except for
two drill-holes totalling 897 feet, that were drilled on the 1300 level to explore the main
fault, the drilling was for the purpose of exploring the No. 10 and No. 11 cross-veins
and to solve the fault problems involved.
On surface, approximately 4,000 feet of bulldozer trenching was done in 1957.
Most of this work was in the vicinity of the main fault zone projected to the surface south
of No. 11 vein, and in an area about 1,000 feet north and east of No. 11 vein on the
surface. No new discoveries were made by this work. A total of 5,050 feet of diamond
drilling in ten holes was done from the surface. This drilling was planned to explore areas
which might be developed from the present underground workings.
Milling was on a seven-days-per-week basis. A total of 29,589 tons of ore was
drawn from the mine. Of this, 7,831 tons was hand-sorted and discarded as waste; the
remainder, 21,758 tons, was milled. The indicated recovery was 94.5 per cent of the
gross value of the ore. There were no major alterations made to the mill flow-sheet and
no major breakdowns.
SMITHERS*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Duthie (Sil-Van (54° 127° N.E.) Company office, 609, 602 West Hastings Street,
Mines Limited) Vancouver. R. R. Wilson, president; Newt Cornish, general
superintendent. The Duthie mine is on the south slope of Hudson
Bay Mountain and is about 16 miles by road from Smithers. Sixty-five mineral claims
are held by the company—forty-three by Crown grant, twenty by record, and two by
retention lease. The principal mine workings are between elevations of 3,200 and 4,500
feet on the Raven, Raven Fraction, Henderson, Hummingbird, and Canary claims of the
Henderson group.
* By David Smith. LODE METALS 11
The property is underlain by rhyolite, dacite, and andesite flows and breccias. The
mineral deposits occupy four main fault zones, known as the Henderson, Ashman, Fault-
plane, and Dome. Of these, the Henderson zone has been the most widely developed and
has been traced on the surface for 3,500 feet from an elevation of 3,500 to 4,500 feet.
These mineralized fault zones strike northeastward and range in dip from 50 degrees
southeast to 70 degrees northwest. They are sliced, sheared, and brecciated zones along
which occur sulphide veins and replacement deposits, the latter associated with some vein
quartz and carbonate. The most important ore minerals are galena and sphalerite.
In the autumn of 1956 Sil-Van Consolidated Mining & Milling Company Ltd.
entered into an agreement with Silver Standard Mines Limited whereby the latter undertook to expend the sum of $32,000 on development work by January 31st, 1957. Under
this agreement Silver Standard completed, in 1957, 215 feet of drifting, 108 feet of raising, and 1,919 feet of diamond drilling from underground headings.
On March 31st, 1957, Silver Standard Mines Limited exercised an additional option
and the company was reorganized under the name of Sil-Van Mines Limited. During
April and May plans were made to do further development work and stoping so that production could commence in the autumn. Reduced metal prices forced the company to
alter plans, and limited development work and surface diamond drilling were carried
out during June, July, and August, after which time work was suspended temporarily.
The following work was done by the new company: 328 feet of drifting, 463 feet of
raising, and 1,708 feet of surface diamond drilling. Hours worked were 378 shifts on the
surface and 737 shifts underground.
Total development for 1957 was as follows:—
Tons of Ore
Place Footage Extracted
Drifting—
3950 drift north 215 250
3950 hangingwall drift 264 867
4100 hangingwall drift 65 190
Totals 544 1,307
Raising—
3800 F. raise 32
3800 D. raise 76
3800 L. raise 43
3950 K. raise 27 99
3950 M. raise 92
3950 Q. raise 185 256
4100 O. raise 115 70
Totals 570 1,732
A total of 1,919 feet of underground diamond drilling was done in twenty-seven
holes to test the Henderson zone for parallel ore zones. One zone about 10 feet wide
carrying mineralization of ore grade was located in the hangingwall on the 3950
level. A total of 1,708 feet of surface drilling in eight holes was done. Seven holes
were drilled on the northern extension of the Henderson vein, five of which intersected
material of ore grade over a width of 4 feet. One hole was drilled on the Dome vein.
Approximately half a mile of road was built to provide access to diamond-drill set-ups
and 600 feet of trenching was done, using a TD-9 tractor.
A watchman remains on duty at the property. 12 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Silver-Lead-Zinc-Cadmium
(54° 126° N.W.) Company office, 572 Howe Street, Vancouver;
Cronin (New mine office, Smithers. L. C. Creery, president; Paul Kindrat,
Cronin Babine resident manager; Henry L. Hill and Associates, consulting man-
Mines Limited) agement engineers. The property is on the east slope of Cronin
Mountain, about 30 miles by road from Smithers. A considerable
amount of road-building and maintenance work was done. The crushing plant was
redesigned and a gyratory crusher was installed. On the advice of the Workmen's
Compensation Board, a complete dust-collector system was installed. The season's
operations commenced May 16th, milling was resumed June 17th, and all operations
were suspended October 25th. Approximately 5,000 tons of ore was mined from the
No. 2 vein and approximately 1,000 tons from the No. 1 vein.
On the No. 1 vein (Rhyolite vein), No. 1 level was reopened, a raise was driven
to it from No. 2 level, and a raise was driven from it to the bottom of No. 2 shaft.
A small lens of high-grade lead ore was mined from the bottom of No. 2 shaft, and less
than 100 tons was mined from 312 stope.
On the No. 2 vein a short raise was driven from 222 stope, 322 and 323 stopes were
completed, and approximately 1,000 tons of ore was mined from 421 stope. Some 3,000
tons was mined from 521 and 531 stopes, mainly in the series of ore sections in the nose.
Individual lenses contain from 200 to 500 tons. No diamond drilling or other exploration work was done. A total of 5,917 tons of ore was milled, grading 8.4 per cent lead
and 10.3 per cent zinc.
TELKWA*
Limonite
(54° 127° N.W.) Head office, 204, 510 West Hastings Street,
Limonite Creek Vancouver. Nicholas Mussallem, president; Michael Hretchka,
(Shawano Iron manager; James E. Louttit, consulting engineer. This property of
Mines Limited) five Crown-granted claims and ten claims held by record is
approximately 38 miles east of the Copper River bridge on Highway No. 16 and approximately the same distance west of Telkwa. A series of twenty-
seven holes was drilled, and on the basis of the findings a tonnage of 100,000 tons of
limonite is indicated over an area of some 45 acres. Thicknesses as much as 22 feet were
encountered, but the average thickness of clean limonite would be in the neighbourhood
of 10 feet. The options on the Crown-granted claims have been dropped, but the
recorded claims are still held by the company.
HOUSTON*
Molybdenite
(54° 127° S.W.) This property consists of fifteen recorded claims,
Lucky Ship owned by Matthew Sam and B. McRae, of Topley; it is on the
east side of Morice Lake, 90 air miles west of Burns Lake. It
covers a zone of quartz stringers containing molybdenite that cut quartz porphyry. The
Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, optioned the property
and in July, 1957, did 203 lineal feet of trenching. Four men were employed under
the direction of E. H. Caldwell. Transportation was by aircraft and back packing.
Zinc
(54° 126° S.W.) This property consists of the Dot and Rod
Bob Creek claims on Bob Creek, 12 miles south of Houston. The claims are
owned by George Smith, of Houston, and were optioned by Mindev
Exploration Company, of Edmonton, Alta. Diamond drilling and bulk sampling outlined
* By David Smith. LODE METALS 13
an extensive low-grade deposit of zinc. A road was constructed for Wz miles. Dan
Tidsbury was engineer in charge. The crew averaged three men. The option has been
dropped.
OMINECA*
Thutade Lake (57° 127° S.E.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
This group is on Bren Creek, a tributary of Finlay River, about
Firesteel 2 miles west of the north end of Thutade Lake. The claims are
held by record by Emil Bronlund. The showings consist of siliceous zones along tuffaceous horizons in limestone, and fissure veins. Some high silver
values occur. Exposures lie on either side of a north-trending limestone ridge immediately west of Bren Creek. Some zinc showings occur about 1 mile north on the same
group, but no work was done on them during 1957. Granby Consolidated Mining,
Smelting and Power Company Limited optioned the property, and between June 19th
and August 26th surface work was done by eight men under the direction of A. W.
Tempest. Eleven holes totalling 1,985 feet were drilled. Transportation to Thutade
Lake was by aeroplane. The options have been dropped.
Babine Lake (54° 126° N.E.)
Copper
This island, locally known as Copper Island, is in the northern
McDonald Island reach of Babine Lake at the mouth of Hagan Arm. The property
(Granisle Copper consists of forty-five recorded claims. Early in 1957 a new corn-
Limited) pany, Granisle Copper Limited, was formed; head office, Room
507, 1111 West Georgia Street, Vancouver; L. T. Postle, president.
During the summer ten holes totalling 405 feet were drilled with a packsack drill. L. R.
Haggard was geologist in charge. The property is serviced by boat from Topley Landing,
a distance of 5 miles across the lake.
INGENIKA RIVER*
Lead-Zinc
(56° 125° N.E.) This property is owned by Ingenika Mines Lim-
Ferguson (The ited, and consists of thirty-two Crown-granted and twenty-two
Consolidated Min- recorded claims at Delkluz Lake, 20 miles west of Fort Grahame.
ing and Smelting It covers a silver-lead-zinc deposit in limestone and is under option
Company of to the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company. From March
Canada, Limited) 28th to October 1st, 1957, twenty-eight diamond-drill holes totalling 10,718 feet were drilled to explore possible extensions of the
known mineralization. This work was under the supervision of K. V. S. Meyer. In all,
ten men were employed. Freight was carried from Prince George by aircraft and by
river boat when water transportation became available.
(56° 125° N.E.) This property consists of thirty-three recorded
Swannell (The claims on the Swannell River 5 miles south of the Ferguson group.
Consolidated Min- It is held under option by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting
ing and Smelting Company from the owner, Gust Ola, of Prince George, and covers
Company of lead-zinc showings in limestone. From August 11th to September
Canada, Limited) 11th 1,101 feet of diamond drilling was done in four holes. Five
men were employed under the direction of K. V. S. Meyer. Equipment was moved by tractor from the Ferguson camp.
* By David Smith.
_ 14 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
CARIBOO*
Wells-Barkerville (53° 121° S.W.)
Gold
Company office, 1007 Royal Bank Building, Vancouver. W. B.
Aurum and Cari- Burnett, president; M. Guiguet, manager; R. E. C. Richards, J. W.
boo Gold Quartz Wylie, superintendents; J. I. Stone, mill superintendent. The Cari-
(The Cariboo Gold boo Gold Quartz and Aurum mines operated by this company are
Quartz Mining adjacent to the town of Wells, which is 51 miles by road from
Company Limited) Quesnel on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. The development
work in both mines comprised 3,007 feet of drifting and cross-
cutting, 642 feet of raising, 218 feet of stope development, and 12,045 feet of diamond
drilling.
The production from the two mines was about equal and totalled 90,796 tons, of
which 87,610 tons was obtained from stoping and 3,186 tons from development.
LIKELY*
(52° 121° N.E.) This group of fourteen claims, including the
Mariner (Spanish Mariner and Tidewater groups, is held by record by Allen P. Him-
Mountain Explora- melman. The claims are on Spanish Mountain, about 7 miles by
tion Co. Ltd.) road easterly from Likely. This deposit was discovered in 1933
and is described in the 1933 Annual Report, pages 134 and 135.
During the summer of 1937, surface exploration of the veins and some rehabilitation of
the old underground workings was carried on. Three men were employed.
WILLIAMS LAKEf
McLeese-Cuisson Lakes Area (52° 122° S.E.)
Copper
The country in the vicinity of McLeese and Cuisson Lakes is part of the Fraser
Plateau. Relief is relatively slight and the slopes are mostly gentle, except for valleys
such as that of Sheridan Creek, which are graded to the Fraser River. Much of the
area is covered by swamp or drift.
The geology of the area is shown on Figure 1. The oldest rocks exposed are
metamorphosed tuffs, green schists with lesser volcanic breccia, and limestone that may
all belong to the Cache Creek group. On the Iron Mountain property these rocks grade
northward into medium- to fine-grained foliated greenish diorites and amphibolites whose
relationship to the stratified rocks is not clear. All these rocks are intruded and metamorphosed by foliated granodiorite which is very uniform in composition at all exposures,
except on Granite Mountain where the prevailing rock is a poorly foliated leucocratic
granite. Small aplitic granite dykes similar to the Granite Mountain phase are widely
distributed but of minor importance. Possibly the granites are a late phase of the granodiorite or a separate intrusion. The southernmost granodiorite of Figure 1 seems to
be a sheet overlying the intruded stratified rocks. All pre-Tertiary rocks in the area have
a distinct to intense foliation that strikes eastward and dips southward at about 40
degrees. Primary and secondary foliations in stratified and plutonic rocks are essentially
parallel. In the granitic rocks primary foliation resulting from oriented hornblende crystals is in many places accentuated by a parallel shearing that at its most extreme produces
a mylonite.
West of Cuisson Lake all the foregoing rocks are overlain with great unconformity
by flat-lying late Tertiary basalt flows.
* By R. B. King.
t By A. Sutherland Brown. Figure 1. McLeese-Cuisson Lakes area. 16 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Copper mineralization is widely distributed in very small amounts throughout the
whole of the area of Figure 1 east of Cuisson and McLeese Lakes in granitic, dioritic,
and stratified rocks. Some concentrations are known and have been prospected sporadically since the early 1920's. Showings on Iron Mountain and Granite Creek have been
actively explored during the past two years and, together with the Pollyanna, were visited
by the writer.
This property includes more than 100 claims that extend eastward
Iron Mountain from a line joining McLeese and Cuisson Lakes. The showings
are about 3 miles northeast of McLeese Lake and may be reached
from the Cariboo Highway at McLeese Lake by a branch from the dirt road that follows
Sheridan Creek. The original nucleus of claims, the Iron Mountain group, was located
in 1952 by S. Pearson. Additional claims were located by C. M. Fuller, J. MacGowan,
and others from 1954 to 1956. The groups were optioned and additional claims were
located by The Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company Limited in 1956. The main
showings are on the Iron Mountain and Iron Mountain Nos. 1 to 7 claims.
The area of the showings is underlain by metamorphosed thin-bedded tuffs and green
schists with less schistose volcanic breccia and limestone (see Fig. 1). South of the
showings is foliated granodiorite that appears structurally to overlie the stratified rocks.
North of the area are foliated diorites and amphibolites. Bedding in the stratified rocks
and foliation in intrusive rocks strike east and dip south at 40 degrees. Contacts between
rock types appear to be largely conformable. The limestones are believed to be pod-like
lenses in an essentially volcanic sequence. The thickness of limestone decreases markedly
toward the west.
The showings are of two types: one consists of an aligned series of thin lenses of
magnetite or specular hematite with chalcopyrite and some epidote, pyroxene, and garnet
that replace the enclosing limestone and schist; the other consists of disseminated chalcopyrite and malachite in green schist or tuff. The iron oxide lenses are conformable
with bedding and are aligned with an easterly strike for over 5,000 feet. They are not
all at one horizon but are in one general zone. Specular hematite forms the lenses in
the central section of the showings and magnetite those at either end. Individual lenses
range from a few inches to as much as 6 feet wide, and the largest appears to be 200
feet long. Chalcopyrite occurs as disseminated blobs and grains within the iron oxide
lenses, and malachite occurs on joints in oxide lenses and on bedding and joints in the
footwall schists. The copper content of four samples of the iron oxide lenses was as
much as 2.6 per cent and averaged 0.95 per cent. The disseminated copper mineralization is widespread. The best concentrations are seen in trenches in the northeastern
part of the property, where sparse disseminated chalcopyrite and more prevalent malachite
occur with small veinlets of epidote, quartz, chalcopyrite, and rare magnetite. Although
assays of the order of 0.1 per cent copper can be obtained over hundreds of feet, no
sample assayed more than 0.73 per cent copper (across 40 feet). In general, the volcanic
breccia does not seem as well mineralized as the green schists or tuffs.
The showings have been explored by the locators with hand-dug trenches and test-
pits, and by The Cariboo Gold Quartz company with bulldozed trenches, magnetometer
surveys, and a minor amount of X-ray drilling. The magnetometer survey showed an
anomaly of the order of 700 gammas over the western magnetite showings and two
smaller anomalies to the south. Only 150 feet of X-ray drilling was done, core recovery
was extremely poor, and the programme of work was abandoned and the option dropped.
The writer carried out geological mapping and a dip-needle survey of the property. The
latter showed no marked variations from the norm except immediately adjacent to the
known magnetite bodies.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept. 1956, pp. 33, 34.]
- "
LODE METALS
17
Company office, 122, 744 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. The
Sunset (Kimaclo Sunset showings and adit are part of a group of about 100 claims
Mines Limited) held by the Kimaclo Company, a private company whose principals
are E. Kinder, T. Matier, and R. L. Clothier. The group covers
much of Granite Mountain and includes the Pollyanna showings. The claims were located
from 1954 to 1956. The Sunset adit is on the lower part of Granite Creek at approximately 3,160 feet elevation about 1 mile east of the north end of Cuisson Lake. The adit
can be reached by an extension of the Cuisson Lake road and is 7 miles by road from the
Cariboo Highway.
The area of the adit, one of the few outcrops on lower Granite Creek, is underlain
by intensely foliated, pyritized granodiorite. The foliation strikes in the usual direction
for the area, north 65 degrees west, and dips 40 degrees south. The foliation is secondary, and consists of a shearing or sub-mylonitization that has the same intensity throughout the area of exposure. This regional shearing is cut at a small angle by a local shear
striking north 35 degrees west and dipping 50 to 70 degrees southwestward. The adit
follows the latter shear. Diamond drilling shows that Granite Creek follows locally the
trace of a fault which is probably post-mineral and strikes about north 45 degrees east.
Mineralization seems to extend along the adit shear and also along the regional
foliation. The adit shear contains lenses of quartz with chalcopyrite and pyrite, and
veinlets horsetailing from it into the regional foliation contain quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and chalcocite. Similar quartz veinlets occur over a minimum width of 15 feet
on either side of the shear. Diamond drilling shows the full width of the mineralized
zone at the adit to be of the order of 100 feet. The drilling also shows that pyrite-
chalcopyrite mineralization extends southeastward along the regional foliation as well
as along the adit shear. Besides the main ore minerals, traces of azurite, malachite, and
covellite occur near the surface and at the portal. It is not known whether the chalcocite is primary or secondary or how much it may contribute to the value of the ore.
At the time of the writer's visit in June, exploration included clearing and blasting
exposure along the creek, driving the adit 110 feet at south 35 degrees east, and 900 feet
of packsack diamond drilling.
Chip samples assayed as follows:—
Sample
No.
Position
Width
Copper
1
Ft.
23
23
1214
2i/3
Per Cent
0.87
2
0.20
3
1 43
1 95
The showings are on Granite Mountain at about 4,000 feet eleva-
Pollyanna (Kimaclo tion, a little over half a mile northwest of the lake at the source
Mines Limited) of Granite Creek. A good trail leads up the mountain from the
end of the road at the Sunset adit. The Pollyanna showings are
in an extensive shear zone in quartzose granite. The shear zone strikes about north
30 degrees west, dips about 45 degrees northeast, and is at least 230 feet wide with several
internal mylonitized zones. Shearing seems to be strongest to the southwest, and quite
possibly the main shear is just beyond a small scarp that marks the end of the outcrop.
The mineralization consists mostly of malachite and azurite with some chrysacolla, chalcopyrite, and traces of cuprite. Primary mineralization and much of the secondary occurs
in small and commonly irregular quartz veins that in general strike parallel to the shearing.
Some of the veins are drusy and some comb-like. Most of them do not appear to be
sheared. Some of the secondary mineralization is distributed as films on shearing sur- 18 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
faces, which gives the whole zone a mineralized appearance. Although mineralization is
distributed along the shear, the best mineralization seems to be concentrated in a line
at right angles to the shearing at the point where most work has been done.
The workings are described in the 1950 Annual Report under Copper King, as
follows:—
" The main original workings on the Pollyanna claim comprised three shafts at
25-foot intervals along a north-south line. When examined in September, 1950, these
shafts were filled with water. It was reported that the most northerly shaft was sunk to
a depth of 10 feet and that little or no copper mineralization had been found. The middle
shaft was sunk to a depth of 30 feet. In 1949 this shaft was drained, and half a ton of
ore was mined and shipped to Tacoma, Wash. It was reported that this shipment assayed
10.5 per cent copper. A grab sample of the quartz and sheared granodiorite on the dump
of this shaft gave the following assay: Gold, nil; silver, 0.1 oz. per ton; copper, 3.3 per
cent. The third shaft was not drained by the present owners but was reported to be 27
feet deep. It was noted that the dump material was stained with malachite.
" In 1949 considerable trenching was done to crosscut the shear zone approximately
50 feet north of the north shaft. This work was abandoned when it was found that the
overburden was much deeper than anticipated. Work was then directed to sinking a shaft
120 feet south of the third shaft. This shaft was sunk to a depth of 28 feet in 1950 and
penetrated sheared and weathered granodiorite lightly stained with malachite. One small
lens of crushed quartz was exposed on the east wall of the shaft but did not extend across
to the west wall. No copper mineralization was visible in the quartz. A grab sample
of the sheared diorite on the dump gave the following assay: Gold, trace; silver, nil;
copper, 0.3 per cent."
No new work of significance has been done. A grab sample of the dump of the
last-mentioned shaft above assayed: Copper, 0.6 per cent.
[References: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Repts., 1950, pp. 106-107; 1925, pp.
155-156; 1928, p. 197; 1929, p. 122.]
LAC LA HACHE*
Takomkane Mountain (52° 120° S.W.)
Molybdenum
British Columbia office, 718 Granville Street, Vancouver. In 1956
Boss Mountain this company optioned 103 mineral claims, including nine Crown-
(Climax Molyb- granted claims, Lots 11116 to 11124, inclusive, which were located
denum Company) between 1928 and 1935. The recorded claims were located in
1956 by H. H. Huestis and associates, of Vancouver, owners of the
Crown-granted claims. The property is on the east side of Takomkane (Big Timothy)
Mountain at the headwaters of Molybdenite Creek. During 1957 the property was
serviced entirely by aeroplane from Williams Lake, landings being made on a small lake
near the head of Boss Creek at the southern foot of Takomkane Mountain. From this
lake a pack-trail leads over the mountain and down to the camp near the showings. An
alternative method of access involves travel by poor road from 100 Mile House to
Murphy Lake and by pack-horse trail from there.
The property was first located in 1917. About 1,000 pounds of selected molybdenum ore from vein deposits on the south slope above Molybdenite Creek was shipped
in 1918 (Eardley-Wilmot, 1925, p. 32). The property was acquired in 1930 by The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited. The claims were sold for
taxes in 1955 and acquired by the present owners. The Climax Molybdenum Company
began exploration in September, 1956.
* By A. Sutherland Brown. LODE METALS
Geology
19
Takomkane Mountain is underlain by two types of plutonic rock of Mesozoic age
and two types of olivine basalt of late Pleistocene age (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2. Takomkane Mountain. 20 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The oldest rocks form the southwestern part of the mountain and consist chiefly of
monzonite and syeno-diorite. These rocks have the appearance of fine-grained diorites
but actually are very heterogeneous in grain size and rock type. Variation occurs areally,
in hand specimens, and in thin sections as a gradational mottling. Foliation is weakly
developed. Under the microscope the rocks all have a characteristic texture with large
poikilitic orthoclase grains containing small rounded laths of labradorite. Fresh clino-
pyroxene is locally the chief mafic mineral and quartz invariably forms less than 5 per
cent of the rock. These rocks appear to be of hybrid origin.
Intruding these hybrid rocks are uniform, medium-grained hornblende-rich quartz-
diorites. The contact may be gradational over a few hundred feet, but more commonly it
is gradational over a few tens of feet; it also can be sharply intrusive. Under the microscope the quartz-diorite is seen to be composed of laths of slightly zoned fresh andesine
(50 per cent) and hornblende (20 per cent) and in the interstices is orthoclase (18 per
cent) and quartz (10 per cent); magnetite (2 per cent) is associated with the hornblende.
The quartz-diorite has primary foliation throughout. Together with the weak foliation of
the hybrid diorites, the foliation forms an arc from north 20 degrees east in the north and
east to north 50 degrees east in the south and west. Everywhere it dips steeply northwestward to vertically.
All the foregoing rocks are markedly jointed. Variations in orientation are not
related to the different rock types. The chief joint orientations are: North 65 degrees
east, dip 65 degrees southeast; north 45 degrees west, vertical; and north 30 degrees
west, dip 40 degrees southwest. Of these, the first is well developed throughout the area,
the second particularly in the eastern part of the mountain, and the third in the west.
Some joints are very extensive and may be dyke-filled or slightly faulted.
Five dyke rocks have been recognized; some of them occur in characteristic
orientations. Quartz-orthoclase-tourmaline pegmatites are probably the oldest dykes.
Characteristically they are very nearly flat lying. Small aplite dykes occur in any orientation. The biggest and commonest dykes are porphyritic hornblende andesite. These and
biotite lamprophyre dykes regularly occur in the north 45 degrees west joint orientation.
One large quartz-porphyry dyke is exposed in trenches north of the creek showing, but
no other was seen.
The twin peaks of Takomkane Mountain are formed from a cinder cone of olivine
basalt that rests on the glaciated surface of the main mountain mass. The cone is about
300 feet high, and from it a flow extends about one-half mile to the northwest (see Fig.
2). The cone is chiefly built of vesicular cinders and bombs of olivine basalt as much
as 2 feet long by 1 foot in diameter. Some flows or dykes are intercalated. Rare blocks
of quartz-diorite occur among the bombs and more commonly as inclusions in the flows,
where they may be as much as 1 foot in diameter. The flows are composed of dense dark
purplish basalt with large and small phenocrysts of olivine and small phenocrysts of
plagioclase. The olivine crystals are very numerous and rarely are as much as 1 foot long.
Some small ones are a good transparent green and may be called peridot, but most are
semi-opaque, highly fractured, and altered to iddingsite, hypersthene, etc. A few crystals
are fresh and glossy black. The flow to the northwest is about 15 feet thick at the snout
and probably not much thicker elsewhere. The dips are everywhere gentle. Some erratic
granitic boulders lie on the flow and on the cone. On the east side of the cone, flow
material forms a wall some 30 feet high at the edge of a cirque but does not extend down
into the cirque. This suggests the cirque was filled by a glacier at the time of eruption,
whereas the main part of the mountain was ice-free. The mountain had obviously been
glaciated before the cone was built, and the presence of erratic boulders and minor
sculpturing of the cone indicate that it was also glaciated after. All facts indicate that the
cone and flows were formed late in the Pleistocene epoch. LODE METALS 21
Faults are difficult to differentiate from large joints. The most continuous known
fault is just north of the cone and strikes about north 85 degrees west and dips steeply
south. Minor showings of pyrite and chalcopyrite and their weathered products occur
adjacent to this fault (Reinecke, 1920, pp. 82, 97-98). A shear striking north 60
degrees east and dipping 80 degrees northwestward cuts the creek showings and extends
at least 3,000 feet to the southwest.
Showings
Two main areas of mineral showings are known (see Fig. 2): one on Molybdenite
Creek is composed of breccia, and the other 800 feet southwest, and extending up the
slope south of the creek, is composed of quartz veins. The only mineral of importance in
both showings is molybdenite.
The creek showings are considered the most important as a result of the outlining
by trenching and drilling of a well-defined orebody. This orebody forms the centre of a
breccia pipe in quartz-diorite. The pipe at the surface forms a lens about 100 feet wide
by more than 400 feet long oriented north 30 degrees west. The orebody forms the
centre of the pipe, about 20 feet wide by 360 feet long.
The shattering of the pipe ranges outward from intense brecciation at the centre
through a stockwork to a zone of random small veins. Where most intensely developed,
the breccia is composed of angular fragments less than 6 inches in diameter of quartz-
diorite with rare felted biotitic rocks that represent shattered lamprophyre dykes or altered
inclusions. Some fragments have been rotated. The whole is sealed by quartz with a
minor amount of orthoclase, but some drusy vugs occur in the matrix. There has been
some silicification of quartz-diorite and complete alteration of hornblende to felted biotite.
Molybdenite chiefly fringes the quartz-diorite fragments. Minor minerals include pyrite,
magnetite, and chalcopyrite. The pyrite occurs chiefly in vugs and in the matrix but also
occurs as impregnations in the fragments. The magnetite occurs as impregnations. The
intensely brecciated zone is about 20 feet wide. Outward from it there is a gradation
through breccia with less quartz filling and no rotation of fragments to a zone of minor
quartz veinlets and silicification and beyond to normal quartz diorite. The complete zone
of breccia, stockwork, and veining is about 100 feet wide. The central breccia that forms
the orebody is well exposed at the creek and less well in trenches over a length of 360
feet. Trenches north of the orebody expose occasional quartz-molybdenite veins.
X-ray diamond drilling by the British Columbia Department of Mines in 1942 tested
the breccia pipe to a depth of 150 feet, to which depth the average grade of the body was
0.61 per cent molybdenum (Stevenson, 1942).
At and near the creek the orebody is cut by post-mineral fractures striking north
60 degrees east and dipping 80 degrees northwestward. Minor pyrite mineralization is
associated with fracturing of this attitude at the edge of the cirque 3,000 feet southwest
of the orebody.
The showings on the south side of the creek consist of isolated small quartz veins
which form a narrow zone that strikes parallel to the breccia pipe, north 35 degrees west,
and extends along the slope for 1,700 feet. Some of these veins contain spectacular films
of molybdenite. There are few other metallic minerals. The molybdenite occurs chiefly
as fringes to the vein, with blades normal to the vein forming a honeycomb of equilaterial
triangles. The blades may be as large as a centimetre in diameter. Veins mostly strike
north 50 degrees west and dip 50 to 70 degrees southwest, but exceptions and irregular
veins occur. The largest veins are of the order of 2 feet wide and 50 feet long. Most are
smaller.
Individual trenches at both showings are described by Stevenson (1940, pp. 41-47). 22 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Exploration
Exploration by the Climax Molybdenum Company in 1957, as in 1956, consisted
almost entirely of diamond drilling. In 1957 one drill started on June 23rd and a second
at the end of August. A total of about 10,000 feet was drilled to test the extension of the
breccia-pipe and to investigate the possibility of a similar deposit below the veins of the
south slope.
[References: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Repts. 1956, pp. 34-35; Reinecke, L.,
Geol. Surv., Canada, Mem. 118, 1920; Stevenson, J. S., B.C. Dept. of Mines, Bull. 9,
1940; Stevenson, J. S., 1942, private report; Eardley-Wilmot, V. L., Dept. of Mines,
Canada, Mines Branch Pub. No. 592, 1925.]
LILLOOET*
Blue Creek (51° 122° S.W.)
Gold
The Elizabeth group of four Crown-granted claims is north of Blue
Elizabeth Creek, a tributary of Yalakom River. They are owned by Eliza
beth V. White, of Vancouver, and T. W. Ulidge, of Bralorne.
Access to the property is by 48 miles of road from Lillooet.
In 1956 a new crosscut on the Elizabeth claim was driven 466 feet to explore two
quartz veins. These were intersected by the crosscut at 110 and 455 feet and were designated the main and west veins respectively. Twenty-four feet of drifting was done on the
west vein.
In 1957 the west vein was followed an additional 320 feet under the supervision of
T. W. Midge. A geological study of surface and underground was carried out under the
direction of R. Thompson.
Bridge River (50° 122° N.W.)
Gold
Company office, 555 Burrard Street, Vancouver; mine office,
Bralorne Mines Bralorne. A. C. Taylor, president; M. M. O'Brien, vice-president
Limited and managing director; D. N. Matheson, general manager, died on
November 7th, 1957; C. M. Manning, general superintendent;
J. S. Thomson, mine superintendent; C. D. Musser, mill superintendent. This mine is on
Cadwallader Creek, a tributary of Bridge River, and is 75 miles by road from Lillooet on
the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.
The mine is worked from the Crown, Empire, and Queen shafts. The Queen is an
internal shaft which is below the levels of the Crown and Empire shafts. In 1957 this
shaft was sunk 175 feet, and a loading-pocket was installed on the 33rd or lowest level.
Development work comprised 2,972 feet of drifting, 1,356 feet of crosscutting, 845
feet of raising, and 10,377 feet of diamond drilling. The majority of the mine development was in the Queen shaft section on the 77, 79, and 93 veins. An extensive diamond-
drilling programme was carried out on the 20th level in the area of the King section and
in the adjoining Taylor (Bridge River) Mines property.
Ore is mined principally by cut and fill and shrinkage stoping. A total of 143,812
tons of ore was mined. Fill for the stopes was brought into the mine from talus slopes
near the portal. In the mill, gold is recovered by amalgamation. A sulphide concentrate
is made by flotation. A total of 141,192 tons of ore was milled in 1957.
The number of men employed was 367, of whom 261 were employed underground.
* By R. B. King.
- LODE METALS 23
Company office, 525 Seymour Street, Vancouver; mine office,
Pioneer Gold Mines Pioneer Mine. Victor Spencer, president; W. B. Montgomery,
of B.C. Limited general manager of Pioneer Mine Division; H. D. M. Jager, mine
superintendent and chief engineer; T. Bevister, mill superintendent. This property is on Cadwallader Creek, a tributary of Bridge River, and is about
78 miles by road from Lillooet on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.
The mine is at present being worked from No. 2 and No. 3 shafts and an inclined
three-compartment winze, designated No. 5 shaft. Development work comprised 932
feet of drifting and crosscutting, 2,459 feet of raising, and 11,432 feet of diamond drilling.
Most of this work was done in the No. 5 shaft area on the 27 and 29 veins.
Ore is mined mainly by cut and fill methods. The stope excavations are filled with
sands from mill tailings. New construction consisted of a bin and conveyor belt at No. 3
headframe to handle ore that is trucked from the workings on the Taylor vein. A new
substation was built at No. 3 portal. Electric immersion heaters with a total capacity of
50 kilowatts were installed in the water pipe-lines at the Hurley River dam to prevent
freezing of the water supplied to the mine. In the crushing plant a 4- by 8-foot Symons
rod-deck screen was installed to replace a Hummer screen.
In 1957, 102,084 tons of sorted ore was milled. The number of men employed was
247, of whom 124 were employed underground.
Cobalt-Gold-Uranium
Company office, 510 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. A. R.
Little Gem (North- Allen, president; H. R. Shuttleworth, mine manager. This prop-
ern Gem Mining erty, consisting of eight Crown-granted and twenty-six recorded
Corporation Ltd.) mineral claims, is on Roxey Creek near its headwaters. Roxey
Creek flows into Gun Creek, which is a tributary of the Bridge
River. The mine camp, elevation 5,500 feet, is 3 miles from Gun Creek and 12 miles
from the Bridge River Road. The mine road branches from the Bridge River road nearly
2 miles east of Minto.
The lowest or No. 3 adit, elevation 6,085 feet, is reached from the mine camp by a
jeep road. No. 2 adit, elevation 6,193 feet, and No. 1 adit, elevation 6,250 feet, are
serviced by a tramline.
On No. 1 level, development work comprised 363 feet of drifting, 50 feet of cross-
cutting, and 400 tons of slashing. No work was done on No. 2 level during the year.
No. 3 adit was started, and the development work comprised 435 feet of drifting, 70 feet
of crosscutting, and 640 tons of slashing. A total of 2,600 feet of diamond drilling was
done on the two levels.
This work was done from May 25th to October 21st. Eight men were employed.
Stein River (50° 122° S.E.)
Silver
Company office, 408 West Pender Street, Vancouver. R. H.
Silver Queen Seraphim, exploration manager. The Silver Queen group of eigh-
(Moneta Porcupine teen Crown-granted claims is on the west fork of Cottonwood
Mines, Limited) Creek, which is a tributary of Stein River. Access to the property
is gained by road from Lytton to the junction of Stein River and
the Fraser River and then by pack-horse trail along Stein River for about 25 miles. The
property is under option to Moneta Porcupine Mines, Limited.
Prospecting and surface trenching of several silver-bearing veins was carried out
from June to September. A total of 2,387 feet of diamond drilling was done. 24 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
HIGHLAND VALLEY*
Copper
Since 1955 large-tonnage low-grade deposits of "porphyry copper" type have been
investigated at Highland Valley, 20 miles southeast of Ashcroft. This central part of the
Guichon Creek batholith is underlain by a variety of intrusive rocks which include older
and younger quartz-diorites, granodiorite, dacite-porphyry, and breccia composed of the
above rocks. The intrusive rocks are overlain north of Highland Valley by mid-Tertiary
lava flows. Elevations are mainly between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, and much of the area
is covered by drift and alluvium. Mine roads connect all the properties with the Highland
Valley road, which leads to Ashcroft or to Merritt.
An index map showing the locations of most properties in the Highland Valley area
was included in the 1956 Annual Report (Fig. 2, p. 42). In a few cases the boundaries
of the properties have changed.
Most of the property in the Highland Valley area is now controlled by three companies—American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd., Kennecott Copper Corporation,
and Phelps Dodge Corporation. Since 1955 exploration of the Bethlehem property has
been directed and financed by American Smelting and Refining (Vancouver office, 813
Birks Building, 718 Granville Street; G. A. Dirom, resident engineer), which now
controls also a number of adjacent properties. These include the Sheba and Ventures-
Minex properties together with the Lodge, Hat, and Gnawed Mountain groups, and part
of the Beaver group. Kennecott, through its subsidiary, Northwestern Explorations,
Limited (Vancouver office, 1111 Burrard Building, West Georgia Street; J. S. Scott,
manager), controls the Bethsaida and Krain properties. Phelps Dodge, through its
majority ownership of Anson Mines Limited (P.O. Box 519, Kamloops), controls the
Jericho property, which has been greatly extended in 1957.
(50° 121° N.E.) Company office, 1004, 850 West Hastings
Krain Copper Ltd. Street, Vancouver. D. F. Farris, president. This company holds
about eighty-six claims and fractions east of the north peak of
Forge Mountain, which comprise the D.W., Krain, and R.K. groups. In August, 1957,
the property was optioned by Northwestern Explorations, Limited.
Work in 1957 by Krain Copper Ltd. was directed by W. M. Sirola and included six
surface diamond-drill holes, making a total of about 10,000 feet so far drilled on the
property. Northwestern Explorations did geological mapping and electrical prospecting,
together with a small amount of bulldozer trenching and 1 mile of road construction.
This work was supervised by D. A. Barr.
On the Krain Copper claim a zone of primary mineralization adjoins a shallow zone
of secondary mineralization and occurs in altered quartz-diorite and porphyry near
Tertiary flows covering Forge Mountain. The zone is about 400 feet long and widens
southward from about 130 to 500 feet. It persists in depth to at least 400 feet. The
mineralization consists of chalcopyrite with pyrite, molybdenite, and very little bornite.
(50° 120° N.W.) Company office, 1001 837 West Hastings
Trojan Consoli- Street, Vancouver. C. Armour, president; M. M. Hunt, mine
dated Mines Ltd. manager. This company holds about 100 claims and fractions
north and east of the south peak of Forge Mountain. At the
Trojan mine, 4 miles north-northeast of Quiltanton (Divide) Lake, a great mass of
breccia has been investigated by stripping and diamond drilling.
In 1957 the shaft was continued to 161 feet and a mineralized zone in the western
part of the adjacent breccia mass was explored on the 150 level. Crosscutting and drifting
totalled 881 feet. Chalcopyrite is enriched with chalcocite and native copper, near strong
gougy faults in these workings.
* By J. M. Carr. LODE METALS
25
Bethlehem Copper Corporation Ltd., Highland Valley. Bulldozer stripping near
an old shaft on a molybdenite-copper showing.
«~ ms^o
BHMI
Trojan Consolidated Mines Ltd., Highland Valley. Shaft headframe and camp buildings. 26 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Construction in 1957 included headframe, sampling plant, power-house, mine ventilation blower, and a residence for the chief mechanic. Twenty-five men were employed.
(50° 120° S.W.) Company office, 814, 402 West Pender Street,
Bethlehem Copper Vancouver. H. H. Huestis, president. This company holds 110
Corporation Ltd. claims and fractions immediately east of Quiltanton Lake. American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd. continued exploration
work on this property in 1957. To November the work was supervised by G. A. Dirom,
with C. J. Coveney and J. R. Klem as engineer in charge, successively. Since November,
P. A. Lewis is acting superintendent at the property and C. J. Coveney is geologist in
charge.
Work in 1957 included 16,717 feet of diamond drilling, 10,925 feet of rotary
drilling, and 1,830 feet of churn drilling. A total of 4,000 feet of bulldozer stripping and
trenching was done, and 20 miles of road was constructed. Thirty-five men were
employed.
By testing covered areas with rotary, churn, and diamond drill the East Jersey
mineralized zone was discovered 1,000 feet east of the Jersey zone and 2,000 feet north
of the Iona workings. The East Jersey zone appears to be of good grade, and by November was known to be at least 700 feet long, between 200 and 300 feet wide, and to be at
least 400 feet deep. In the north part of the Jersey zone, diamond drilling has shown that
mineralization in places persists to 1,000 feet in depth and has not been bottomed. The
combined tonnage of the Iona and Jersey zones was estimated by Bethlehem Copper in
May, 1957, at about 100 million tons.
(50° 120° N.W.) This group adjoins the northwest boundary of
Beaver the Bethlehem property and is held jointly by Farwest Tungsten
Copper Mines Limited (company office, 1075 Melville Street,
Vancouver) and Beaver Lodge Uranium Mines Limited of the same address. The northern part of this group, comprising twenty-nine claims and fractions, was optioned in
March, 1957, by American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd., which subsequently
drilled seven rotary-drill test-holes totalling 2,240 feet and constructed 1 mile of road.
(50° 120° N.W.) This group adjoins the Beaver group and the
Lodge north boundary of the Bethlehem property. It comprises about
thirty-nine claims and fractions which are held by Northlodge
Copper Mines Limited (company office, 1075 Melville Street, Vancouver). In March,
1957, the group was optioned by American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd., which
drilled ten rotary-drill test-holes totalling 1,437 feet and constructed \Vi miles of road.
(50° 120° N.W.) This group of ten claims and fractions is east
Hat of the Bethlehem property about 4Vz miles from Quiltanton Lake.
It is held by Northlodge Copper Mines Limited. In August, 1957,
the group was optioned by American Smelting and Refining Company Ltd., which drilled
five rotary-drill holes totalling 395 feet. These test-holes were drilled near faulted mineralized rock exposed in trenches dug in 1956.
(50° 120° S.W.) Company office, 1519 Marine Building, 355
Sheba Copper Burrard Street, Vancouver. W. R. Wheeler, president. This corn-
Mines Limited pany holds ninety-six claims and fractions between Witches Brook
and Gnawed Mountain, to the south of the Bethlehem property.
Prior to optioning this property in February, 1958, American Smelting and Refining
Company Ltd. carried out geological mapping, did some 200 feet of bulldozer trenching,
and constructed about 4 miles of access road. LODE METALS
27
Ventures and
Minex
(50° 120° S.W.) This group of ten claims is on Gnawed Moun-
Gnawed Mountain tain, about 4 miles south of the Bethlehem property. The claims
are held by B.X. Mining Company Limited (company office, 1500,
355 Burrard Street, Vancouver). In 1957 the company constructed about 3 miles of
road, giving access to Gnawed Mountain from the Victor mine. Prior to optioning the
Gnawed Mountain group in January, 1958, American Smelting and Refining Company
Ltd. did preliminary geological mapping of the group.
(50° 120° S.W.) Ventures Exploration Limited, 612 View Street,
Victoria, and Minex Development Company Limited, 640 West
Hastings Street, Vancouver, hold 102 claims and fractions northwest and southeast of Gnawed Mountain, extending south to Ros-
coe Lake. In November, 1957, this property was optioned by American Smelting and
Refining Company Ltd., which previously drilled five rotary-drill holes totalling 400 feet.
(50° 121° S.E.) Company office, 900 West Pender Street, Van-
Victor (Skeena couver. S. S. Parker, president; C. Rutherford, consulting engineer.
Silver Mines Ltd.) This company holds twenty-four claims and fractions immediately
west of the Sheba property. The Victor adit is 1% miles south-
southeast of Quiltanton Lake.
Work in 1957 consisted of 406 feet of surface diamond drilling. At the Victor
workings a quartz vein dips 40 degrees to the east-southeast and is exposed underground
for 180 feet along the strike. Pyrite and chalcopyrite occur in and along the vein, across
widths ranging between IV2 and 6 feet. Chip samples taken in the north drift assayed
as follows:—
Sample
No.
Location
Gold
Silver
Copper
1
2
3
Across 5 feet, of which 6 inches is footwall, at 65 feet from the winze
Across IY2 feet in the hangingwall, at 70 feet from the winze
Across 314 feet beneath the hangingwall, at 159 feet from the winze
Oz. per Ton
Trace
Oz. per Ton
0.2
0.2
Per Cent
3.28
0.3
0.82
Bethsaida Copper
Mines Limited
Mineralization is exposed on surface north and south of the adit for a total distance
exceeding 800 feet. Surface diamond-drill holes inclined toward the vein from the east
indicate that the mineralization continues to a depth of about 325 feet measured on the
dip of the vein, and extends at this depth for at least 500 feet measured parallel to the
strike of the vein. The width of mineralization appears to increase at depth.
(50° 121° S.E.) Company office, 303, 1075 Melville Street,
Vancouver. D. F. Farris, president. The company holds six
Crown-granted claims and fifty-three located claims and fractions
extending west from Quiltanton Lake. In July, 1957, the property
was optioned by Northwestern Explorations, Limited, which did some line-cutting and
electrical prospecting, supervised by D. A. Barr.
(50° 120° S.W.) Company office, 204, 717 West Pender Street,
Jericho Mines Vancouver. R. F. Stibbard, president. This company holds 1,077
Limited claims and fractions, all of which are optioned by Anson Mines
Limited. The latter company holds by record forty claims that
are integral with the Jericho property. This property largely surrounds the Highland
Valley area.
Work by Anson Mines Limited in 1957 was supervised by R. E. Geer. It included
geological and magnetometer surveys of claims in the vicinity of the Jericho camp on
Witches Brook and in the Pimainus Lake area. Some other parts of the property were
covered by geological reconnaissance. Five miles of road was constructed between Calling Lake and Pimainus Lake. Five men were employed for most of the season. 28 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
GUICHON CREEK
Copper
(50° 120° S.W.) Company office, 1111 Burrard Building, West
Vimy and H.C. Georgia Street, Vancouver. J. S. Scott, manager, Vancouver;
(Northwestern P. E. Hirst, superintendent, Merritt. Until late in 1957 the com-
Explorations, pany held about 210 located claims and nine Crown-granted claims
Limited)* lying mainly west of Guichon Creek about 4 miles south of Mamit
Lake. This property, which includes the old Aberdeen and Vimy
Ridge mines, reverted to Bethlehem Copper Corporation in November. Copper mineralization occurs in altered and fractured intrusive rocks of the Guichon Creek batholith.
Bornite and chalcopyrite are the two chief minerals. In 1957 work included six surface
diamond-drill holes totalling 1,565 feet. Electrical and magnetic ground surveys were
carried out and geochemical prospecting done, using both soils and stream sediments.
Small amounts of bulldozer trenching and road-building were done. Camp at the property was occupied from April to July. Between fifteen and thirty men were employed.
Copper-Iron
(50° 120° S.W.) Head office, 678 Howe Street, Vancouver. The
Craigmont (Craig- property consists of 157 claims located from December, 1954 to
mont Mines 1957. The showings are about 10 miles northwest of Merritt on
Limited)t the Promontory Hills at about 4,000 feet elevation. The main
showings are on the Merrell No. 8 claim. The property was
optioned in November, 1957, by Canadian Exploration Limited, which assumed direction
of exploration late in the year.
The property is in a zone of interfingering of dioritic phases of the Guichon batholith
with banded flows and tuffs of the Nicola volcanics. Exposures in the general area are
meagre, and the orebody at present being explored does not outcrop. About a mile
southeast of this orebody are the showings that originally attracted attention to the area;
they are all in diorite. The rocks of the ore zone are fine- to medium-grained foliated
diorites and banded green to red volcanic flow rocks and tuffs. Intense alteration of
original minerals to chlorite, epidote, and orthoclase is common. Foliation in the
diorites and banding in the volcanic rocks are steeply dipping and subparallel.
The structure is obscure, but it appears that there is a shear zone subparallel and
adjacent to a contact of the diorites with the volcanic rocks, and that the latter have been
extensively replaced by ore minerals. Shears, foliation, banding, minor replacement
features, and orientation of the orebody all appear to be subparallel, striking eastward
and dipping steeply to the south.
Mineralization consists of large-scale replacement, chiefly of the volcanic rocks, by
magnetite, specular hematite, or both, with included blobs and irregular veinlets of
chalcopyrite. Other metallic minerals, including pyrite, are rare. Heavily replaced
sections consist of about 50 per cent iron and 1 to 4 per cent copper.
The discovery of the orebody resulted from diamond drilling an area of coincident
geophysical and geochemical anomalies. Field soil testing and reconnaissance magnetometer surveying in 1956 revealed several anomalies, and the most intense was tested
by drilling starting in March, 1957. Seven holes with a total of about 3,500 feet were
drilled by Craigmont Mines Limited in 1957 along the easterly trending axis of the
anomalies. All are vertical holes except No. 7, which was drilled southward at an
inclination at the collar of about 60 degrees. The first two holes missed the objective,
but all the others except No. 6 contain ore. Estimates of dimensions and grade of the
ore zone cannot be made, but it appears to extend at least 1,000 feet along strike and to
have a true width at No. 7 drill-hole of about 200 feet.
* By J. M. Carr.
t By A. Sutherland Brown. LODE METALS 29
NICOLA*
Copper
(50° 120° S.W.) Head office, Room 608, 1255 Phillips Square,
Copperado Montreal. D. W. Heller, president, Montreal. The Copperado
(Western Cop- property includes the Turlight Crown-granted claim and forty-
perada Mining seven claims and fractions held by record by Guichon Mine Lim-
Corporation) ited. In December, 1956, the property was leased to Western
Copperada Mining Corporation. The property is at an elevation
of from 3,500 to 4,500 feet and is about 4 miles north of the southern end of Nicola
Lake. The principal showings are on the flank of a low ridge sloping gently southwest-
ward toward the valley of Clapperton Creek. The property is accessible by a 7-mile road
which leaves the Merritt-Kamloops Highway at Nicola village. Geologically it lies near
the southwestern margin of the Central Nicola batholith and is largely underlain by
granodiorite. The main showing, which is on the Turlight claim, is a northwesterly to
northerly trending shear zone that contains lenses of vein matter; this consists mainly
of quartz which is locally mineralized with chalcopyrite and bornite.
The initial work on the Turlight claim was done in 1929, when a shaft inclined
at 67 degrees was sunk 60 feet on the shear zone, and several small open-cuts were made
near the shaft collar. The property remained inactive until 1947, when Guichon Mine
Limited acquired control. During the following four years the shaft was deepened to
450 feet and approximately 720 feet of drifting and crosscutting was done at four levels—
50-foot, 100-foot, 200-foot, and 425-foot. In the winter of 1947/48 the property was
optioned to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which diamond drilled seven holes
totalling 2,578 feet. The property remained inactive again from November, 1951, until
May, 1956, when Guichon Mine Limited resumed work, The shaft was unwatered to a
depth of 250 feet and a raise was driven 50 feet in ore from the 100-foot level. Approximately 95 tons of ore was produced, of which 45 tons was shipped to Tacoma smelter
for test purposes. On December 1st, 1956, the property was taken over by Western
Copperada Mining Corporation. In the winter of 1956/57 eight holes were diamond
drilled at the 200 level, totalling 2,000 feet. Early in 1957 an electromagnetic survey
of the property was carried out under the direction of Shield Mining Surveys Ltd., of
Ottawa, and a number of anomalies were indicated. The majority of these were later
found to be due to structural factors rather than to mineralization, but some are considered
to merit further investigation. In the spring of 1957 a diamond-drilling programme was
started under the supervision of W. L. Young, of Shield Mining Surveys Ltd., and later
under F. D. M. Horsecroft. Twenty holes were drilled, totalling 9,962 feet. At the
time of the writer's visit to the property in May, a crew of twenty-one men was employed
and three diamond drills were in operation. The drilling was completed on July 26th.
It is reported that the drilling has disclosed a new area of mineralization between 4,400
and 5,600 feet north-northwest of the shaft on the Turlight claim. In this area it is
reported that drill cores indicated chalcopyrite and bornite mineralization in quartz feldspar veins and to a lesser extent in granodiorite and chlorite schist.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept. 1949, pp. 115-120.]
KAMLOOPSf
Copper
(50° 120° N.E.) Company office, 1208 Vancouver Block, Van-
Makaoo Develop- couver 2. W. I. Nelson, president and general manager. This
ment Company company holds five Crown-granted claims and seventy-two re-
Limited corded claims in the vicinity of Coal Hill, about 3 miles southwest
of Kamloops. This and other properties occurring in the eastern
* By A. R. C. James.
t By J. M. Carr, except as noted. 30 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
part of the Iron Mask batholith were fully described in the 1956 Annual Report, pages
47 to 69.
In 1957 the property was optioned by D. W. Heller, of Montreal. An electromagnetic survey was made by Shield Mining Surveys Ltd., Ottawa, of seven claims extending
east from a point 1 mile south of the Python workings.
(50° 120° N.E.) Company office, 1430 Burrard Building, 1030
Galaxy Minerals West Georgia Street, Vancouver. W. Fred Evans, president; W. I.
Ltd. Nelson, vice-president and general manager. This company holds
six Crown-granted claims and seventy-two recorded claims immediately west of the Makaoo property. In 1957 about 200 feet of small-diameter diamond
drilling was done on three widely separated claims.
(50° 120° N.E.) This company holds twenty-five claims and
Ajax (The fractional claims at Jacko Lake, 5 miles southwest of Kamloops.
Consolidated Min- Three of the claims are Crown-granted, one is held by retention
ing and Smelting lease, and the others are held by record. A detailed description of
Company of this property, which includes the Ajax and Wheal Tamar workings,
Canada, Limited) was given in the 1956 Annual Report, pages 63 to 67. Disseminations and veins of chalcopyrite occur in albitized microdiorite of the
Iron Mask batholith near contacts with picrite-basalt bodies. Surface diamond drilling
by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company in 1929, 1955, and 1956 was concentrated about two small adits on the Ajax claim in the western part of the property.
A plan showing the better-mineralized intersections in this area was included in the 1956
Annual Report.
Work by the company in 1957 consisted of 4,552 feet of drilling, bringing the total
of surface diamond drilling in the vicinity of the Ajax claim to over 20,000 feet. Eleven
holes were drilled at moderate inclinations to the southeast, in contrast to the northeast
and southwest directions of previous holes. The holes are arranged in two parallel series
which extend northeast and cover the eastern half of the Ajax claim and the adjacent part
of Jacko No. 6 Fraction. The northwestern series comprises holes Nos. 35 to 39. The
southeastern series crosses the adits and comprises holes Nos. 40 to 45.
The cores of holes Nos. 41 to 45 only were examined; holes Nos. 41 and 45 lie
north and south respectively of the mineralized area. The first penetrates coarser-grained
batholithic rocks; the second penetrates picrite-basalt together with microdiorite. Holes
Nos. 42, 43, and 44 contain varying amounts of chalcopyrite over much of their lengths.
Hole No. 43 follows closely the strike of the mineralized zone exposed in the north-driven
adit. It is drilled south 34 degrees east at minus 51 degrees from a point near hole No. 6
(see Fig. 7, 1956 Ann. Rept.). Good mineralization is intersected almost continuously
from 158 to 521 feet in the hole, and gives way to poorer material at 400 feet vertical
depth. Holes Nos. 42 and 44 are on either side of hole No. 43, at distances of 200 feet
to the northeast and 170 feet to the southwest respectively. They intersect better-grade
mineralization for about one quarter of their aggregate length, the intersections being
short and widely spaced.
Iron
(50° 120° N.E.) Cliff Fraction and Gift are Crown-granted
Cliff and Gift* mineral claims owned by Francis P. Newcome, 59 Menzies Street,
Victoria. They lie one-half mile south of the Trans-Canada Highway about 8 miles west of Kamloops, and include showings on the former Magnet claim
(see Iron Ores of Canada, Vol. I, Geol. Surv., Canada, Econ. Geol. Ser. No. 3, 1926,
pp. 115-128). Outcrops and shallow trenches expose several magnetite veins that occur
in diorite and monzonite of the Iron Mask batholith. A shaft is now caved.
* By J. M. Carr and R. B. King. LODE METALS 31
The principal veins are Nos. 3 and 4. They strike east-southeast and dip either
vertically or steeply north. The walls are generally sharply defined, but in places the
veins either split or enclose sheets of country rock. The estimated magnetite content of
the veins at the surface ranges between 50 and 90 per cent, and averages about 70 per
cent. Other minerals include apatite, epidote, and possibly amphibole or pyroxene. Very
small amounts of sulphides are present, with pyrite in excess of chalcopyrite.
Vein No. 3 is intermittently exposed for 900 feet and has widths varying between
6 and 30 feet. Omitting sheets of country rock, the maximum and average width of this
vein are 13 feet and approximately 8 feet respectively.
Vein No. 4 is 7 feet wide at a point 60 feet north-northeast of the most easterly
exposure of vein No. 3. It can be followed for 300 feet west-northwest, where its width
is reported to increase to 30 feet. Because of caving of the trenches, only a vein 4 feet
wide is now visible in that direction.
In 1957 two holes were diamond drilled at minus 45 degrees to intersect the veins
from the north-northeast. Access to the cores in Vancouver was arranged by A. H.
Upton. Hole No. 1, 605 feet long, is drilled from a point 300 feet slightly east of north
of the caved shaft and at about 20 feet less elevation. It intersects two veins whose
apparent widths are 5lA and 9 feet respectively, five other veins of widths between \Vi
and 2 feet, and numerous veinlets less than 1 foot wide. The 5V2-foot intersection at 26
feet contains an estimated 80 per cent magnetite. The 9-foot intersection at 452 feet
contains an estimated 75 per cent magnetite and lies nearly vertically below an outcrop
of vein No. 3, whose width is there 12 feet. Two smaller veins at 269 feet have a combined apparent width of 6 feet, which includes 1x/i feet of country rock. Their estimated
contents of magnetite are 75 and 60 per cent respectively.
Hole No. 2, 480 feet long, is drilled parallel to and approximately 415 feet east-
southeast of hole No. 1 from a point whose elevation is about 40 feet less than that of the
near-by showings. It intersects one 18-foot section of diorite containing an estimated
40 per cent magnetite, five veins of apparent width between 2% and 4% feet, seven veins
of width between 1 and 2 feet, and numerous veinlets. The 18-foot intersection at 457
feet is vertically below the eastern showing of vein No. 4. It contains small amounts of
chalcopyrite and is bounded by rock with little magnetite. The five veins of moderate
width are intersected in the interval 239 to 346 feet. All but one have magnetite contents
estimated between 70 and 80 per cent.
Copper
(50° 120° N.W.) Company Office, 1116, 85 Richmond Street
D.M. (Graham West, Toronto. T. J. Day, president. This company holds 133
Bousquet Gold claims which lie mainly south of the Trans-Canada Highway be-
Mines Limited) tween 8 and 11 miles west of Kamloops. Named the D.M. group,
the property surrounds the Cliff and Gift claims and the Afton
group, on which an old copper prospect known as the Pothook is situated.
In 1956 a geophysical survey of this property showed the presence of a very large
number of conducting zones. During 1957 Graham Bousquet Gold Mines Limited soil-
sampled most of the property and geologically mapped the whole of it. The work was
supervised by H. Darling.
BIRCH ISLAND*
Fluorite-Celestite-Uranium
(51° 119° N.W.) Head office, 550 Sherbrooke Street West, Mon-
Rexspar Uranium treal; mine office, Birch Island. Philip Joseph, president, Mon-
& Metals Mining treal; John W. Scott, manager, Birch Island. Capital: 6,500,000
Company Limited shares, $1 par value. The property is in the Red Ridge area, 2 to
3 miles south of Birch Island on the Canadian National Railway,
* By A. R. C. James. 32 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
81 miles by rail or 90 miles by road north of Kamloops. The company holds 123 claims
and fractions, of which 40 claims and fractions are held by Crown-grant, 72 claims and
fractions by record, and 11 claims and fractions by lease from Deer Horn Mines Limited.
The property is on a north-sloping hillside at elevations ranging from 3,500 to
4,500 feet, and is accessible from Birch Island by a good road about 6 miles long. The
area is underlain by schists and slates that are probably of Precambrian age. Associated
with these rocks is a body of alkali feldspar porphyry. Within the porphyry are tabular
zones containing radioactive mineralization and fluorite. The presence of fluorite
together with other minerals has been known since 1918, and intermittent work has been
done since that time. Uranium mineralization was discovered in 1949, and the present
company has been active since 1950. The company reports that three uranium-bearing
orebodies have now been explored by extensive diamond drilling and limited underground
work. These are flat-lying lenses averaging 40 feet thick -and situated around the
periphery of a prominent ridge east of Foghorn Creek. The company reports that the
aggregate tonnage proved up in these three zones, known as the A, B, and BD zones, is
approximately 1,650,000 tons, grading about 0.08 per cent U308. Other radioactive
showings are being investigated. The fluorite-celestite body on the same ridge has,
according to information supplied by the company, over 1,000,000 tons indicated by
diamond drilling. In 1957 work was continuous throughout the year. A crew averaging
fifteen men was employed; this was increased to a maximum of forty men in the middle
of the summer. Ninety-nine holes were diamond drilled, totalling 15,045 feet. A total
of 15,000 cubic yards of material was stripped by bulldozer on the various zones and
showings.
A Geiger counter survey was made of a twelve-claim area on the east flank of the
property. A considerable amount of preliminary work was done in preparation for the
construction of an aerial tramline and mill. This included clearing along 2 miles of the
tramline route and building access roads to the tower-sites. An additional 3 acres was
cleared at the plant-site, making a total of 13 acres cleared. The ground for a 700-foot
spur track was prepared and graded ready for track-laying. One and a half miles of
main road was relocated and gravelled, and 2 miles of open-pit access road was roughed
out. Aerial-tramline equipment was purchased and overhauled. Preliminary construction plans for the main leach plant, grinding plant, office, and warehouse were completed.
Work was in progress at the end of the year.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept. 1954, pp. 108-111.]
TULAMEEN RIVER*
Summit Camp (49° 121° S.E.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Company office, 800 Hall Building, Vancouver. Ralph J. Pronger,
Silver Hill president; Edward L. Borup, vice-president and managing direc-
Mines Ltd. tor. This property is in the Summit camp, 21 miles by road south
west of Tulameen. It includes the old Dornberg mine (also known
as the Mary E or Silver King), as well as the old Jensen mine. All activity on this property ceased early in 1957 and there was no production. The 50-ton mill was dismantled
and removed in July.
* By A. R. C. James. LODE METALS 33
COPPER MOUNTAIN*
Copper
(49° 120° S.W.) Head office, 1111 West Georgia Street, Vancou-
Copper Mountain ver. J. A. C. Ross, general manager, Copper Mountain; D. W.
(The Granby Con- Pringle, general superintendent; G. F. Camroux, mine superin-
solidated Mining tendent. Underground development at Copper Mountain was dis-
Smelting and Power continued in 1956 and open-pit mining was expanded. However,
Company Limited) early in 1957 it became evident that under conditions of declining
copper prices the mining of low-grade ore could not be continued,
and the mine was finally closed down on April 29th, together with the Allenby concentrator. Dismantling of the plant was continued for several months after the closing of the
mine. The total production from Copper Mountain has been 34,774,902 tons of ore.
Production in 1957 was 568,006 tons of ore, about half from the underground workings
and the remainder from open-pits Nos. 1, 2, and 5.
HEDLEY*
Gold
(49° 120° S.E.) Company office, 314, 718 Granville Street,
French (French Vancouver; mine office, Hedley. W. B. Burnett, president; J. S.
Mines Ltd.) Biggs, mine superintendent. The French mine is on the Oregon
mineral claim, about 8 miles from Hedley and \Vi miles east of
the Hedley-Nickel Plate road at an elevation of 3,900 feet.
The orebody consists of gold-bearing skarn. It is a generally flat-lying, northwesterly trending, irregular body approximately 620 feet long, from 40 to 80 feet wide, and
ranging up to 12 feet thick. The main part of the orebody is flat lying at the 3,920-foot
level, but at the easterly end it dips at about 35 degrees to the 3,785-foot level. Immediately below the 3,785-foot level it is cut off by the Cariboo fault. The flat-lying portion
of the orebody is now almost entirely mined out, and the reserves of the mine are at
present in the dipping part of the orebody at the easterly end and in a tongue of ore
toward the westerly end which projects downward to the 3,835-foot level. The adding
of new ore reserves would appear to depend on finding the extension of the orebody
beyond the Cariboo fault.
The showings were originally discovered in the early years of the century, but the
mineralization at the surface was mainly copper and the grade was low. Intermittent
development work was done, however, in the period from 1905 to 1917. In 1949
Kelowna Mines Hedley Limited optioned the property from F. H. French and associates
and drove a new adit on the 3920 level. The mine was brought into production in 1950
and continued to produce until 1955. In this period a total of 32,463 tons of ore was
mined, yielding 25,284 ounces of gold. In 1956 a controlling interest in the property
was acquired by The Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Company Limited, and a new company, French Mines Ltd., was formed. Development work was resumed on July 12th,
1956. A new adit, the 3785 level, was driven for a distance of 700 feet to cut the downward extension of the orebody as indicated by diamond drilling from the 3920 level. The
old adit at the 3835 level, driven over forty years ago by the Granby Company, was rehabilitated and driven 429 feet to a total distance of 550 feet from the portal. A new
road was built to a point just below the 3785 level, which now forms the main haulage
level of the mine. Early in 1957 an ore-bin was built at this level. Construction of a
50-ton mill for extraction of the gold by cyanidation was begun in April, 1957, in the
Similkameen Valley just south of Hedley. Production began on August 26th.
The following underground development work was completed in 1957: Drifting,
363 feet; raising, 205 feet; crosscutting, 157 feet. A total of 4,394 tons of ore was
* By A. R. C. James.
3 34 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
milled, yielding 1,940 ounces of gold and 120 ounces of silver. A crew of twenty men
was employed in the mine and mill.
OLALLA*
Copper-Molybdenum
(49° 119° S.W.) In 1957 W. W. Geminder, of Olalla, acquired
Golconda control of this group of claims, together with the adjoining Crown-
granted Copper King claim. The property is on the south fork of
Olalla Creek, about three-quarters of a mile west of the highway.
There is a road into the property from the highway at Olalla.
The claim group is underlain by sedimentary rocks which are intruded by pyroxen-
ite. Mineralization consists of quartz lenses with chalcopyrite and molybdenite in a fault
zone in pyroxenite. The property has been developed intermittently since 1899, and
small shipments of hand-cobbed copper-molybdenum ore were made in 1917 and 1922.
There are several adits on the claims.
In 1957 some cleaning out of the old tunnels was done, together with some open-
cutting on the Copper King claim. A small mill was erected on the property. This
work was begun on November 1st and was still in progress at the end of the year.
A crew of three men was employed.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept. 1946, pp. 126-132.]
FAIRVIEW CAMP*
Silica-Gold
(49° 1190 s w ) Head offic6) Trail. mine office; p 0 Box 337j
Fairview (The Oliver. G. S. Ogilvie, property superintendent. This mine is
Consolidated Min- about 5 miles west of Oliver at an elevation of 3,080 feet. Quartz
ing and Smelting is mined and shipped to Trail for use as flux in the smelter. The
Company of quartz contains a small amount of gold and other metals. The
Canada, Limited) orebody is a quartz vein, ranging in width up to about 25 feet,
striking northwestward and dipping about 35 degrees northeast in
the present working stopes. The ground is cut by many small faults and slips and is
difficult to hold in shrinkage-stope mining; it is the practice to leave large pillars for
support. The mine is at present worked from two adit levels. No. 6 level is the lowest
adit and the haulage level, near the portal of which are the dry-house, blacksmith-shop,
ore-bin, and compressor-house. No. 3 is the top level, and stoping is at present being
done above it.
Most of the ore produced in 1957 was mined from one large stope, the 305-GH.
A new stope, the 305-J, was prepared for production at the end of the year. Total
development consisted of 250 feet of drifting, 330 feet of raising, and 502 feet of box
holing. Operations were continuous throughout the year, and 31,874 tons of quartz
was shipped. A crew of sixteen men was employed at the mine.
In addition to the rock shipped from the Fairview mine, 1,057 tons of tailings was
shipped from the dump at the old Morning Star mill 2 miles west of Oliver.
PEACHLAND*
Copper
(49° 120° N.E.) British Columbia office, 202, 2256 West
Brenda (Noranda Twelfth Avenue, Vancouver. B. O. Brynelsen, manager, Van-
Exploration Com- couver. The property comprises eighty-four claims held by record.
pany, Limited) It lies east of Brenda Lake and around the headwaters of Peachland
Creek. Access is by road from Peachland. In 1957 Northwestern Explorations Limited participated in exploration of the property and was largely
responsible for carrying out the programme of work.
* By A. R. C. James.
- LODE METALS 35
Mineralization is reported to consist of chalcopyrite and minor molybdenite in fractures in granitic rocks of the Similkameen-Okanagan batholith. Several small veins
carry a relatively high grade of mineralization. The 1957 exploration programme, however, was aimed at examining the possibilities of outlining a large low-grade deposit in
the area.
A camp was established at the property and was occupied from May 23rd to September 12th. A crew averaging eight men was employed under the supervision of
C. S. Ney. Geological mapping and geophysical and geochemical prospecting were
carried out, and seventy holes were diamond drilled, totalling 1,585 feet.
Copper-Lead-Zinc
(49° 119° N.W.) Company office, 700 Burrard Building, Bur-
Lakeview (Cana- rard Street, Vancouver. J. A. Mitchell, exploration manager.
dian Exploration This property comprises sixteen claims held by record by R. Fulks
Limited) and Charles McDonald, of Peachland and Westbank respectively.
It is 3 miles west of Peachland, between Peachland and Trepanege
Creek. The rock exposures are reported to range from syenite to pyroxenite and are
locally mineralized with disseminated pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite.
Canadian Exploration Limited optioned the property in June, 1957. A crew
averaging four men was employed from June to August under the supervision of T. S.
Smith. A total of 64,000 square feet of stripping was done by bulldozer to an average
depth of 4.5 feet. Eight holes were drilled by X-ray diamond drill, totalling 695 feet,
the holes ranging from 52 to 121 feet long. Because of disappointing results, the option
was given up in August.
ROCK CREEK*
Chromium
(49° 119° S.E.) Anarchist Chrome Company, 524 Lawrence
Anarchist Chromet Avenue, Kelowna, holds a large group of claims located in 1956.
The showings are one-quarter mile north of Highway No. 3 at the
Anarchist Summit, 2 miles west of Bridesville.
The showings are in rocks of the Anarchist group of probable Permian age, which,
near the showings, include limestone, metamorphosed chert, and limy siltstone and some
amphibolite. The rocks strike about north 10 degrees west and are tightly folded, with
axial planes overturned to the west.
The showings consist of small angular lenses of chromite which appear to be intrusive into limestone. No serpentine or other ultramafic rocks are seen in the immediate
vicinity except as float. The ore lenses are composed dominantly of chromite, but contain about 35 per cent antigorite and related minerals. Microscopically, the chromite
is translucent and has a brecciated texture. Typical ore has a chromium content of
26.7 per cent and a chromium-iron ratio of 3.15:1.
Exploration has consisted of a considerable amount of surface stripping and open-
pitting and some diamond drilling. A few hundred tons of ore has been sorted for
shipment.
(49° 119° S.E.) Company office, 536 Howe Street, Vancouver.
Belchrome (Belair W. P. Watson, president, Vancouver. This is a private company
Mining Corpora- at present controlling the Belchrome property. The property com-
tion Ltd.) prises the Bridon group of six claims held under option agreement
with B. A. Fenwick-Wilson, of Rock Creek, and twenty-eight
claims held by record. It is situated about 2 miles northeast of Baldy Mountain and 3
miles north of Camp McKinney. The route into the property is as follows: The old Camp
McKinney road, which leaves the Southern Trans-Provincial Highway at Rock Creek
* By A. R. C. James, except as noted.
t By A. Sutherland Brown. 36 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
canyon, is followed for 5 miles. The Jolly Creek trail (negotiable by motor traffic) is
then followed for 2 miles, and from this point a mine road has been constructed to the
property, a distance of 9 miles. The total distance from the main highway is 16 miles.
A camp has been established at a point 2 miles from the showings.
The principal showings are at an elevation of 6,500 feet on the Bridon Nos. 1, 2, 3,
and 4 claims near the headwaters of Rock Creek. The showings are on the summit of a
rounded ridge with steep upper slopes. The ridge summit is relatively bare of trees, but
otherwise the locality is quite heavily timbered.
The chromite showings were originally discovered many years ago, probably in the
early years of the present century, and, according to local information, the ground has
been restaked several times. Development work was restricted to open-cutting on the
outcrops of chromite rock, and there have been no recorded shipments of ore. There has
been no description of the property in any previous Annual Report. In 1956 the Bridon
group was located by B. A. Fenwick-Wilson, of Rock Creek, and was subsequently
optioned to the present company. Additional claims were located on ground adjoining
the Bridon group.
The claims are underlain by a northwest-trending tongue of metamorphosed sediments and volcanics of the Anarchist series. These are surrounded by a large mass of
granitic rocks of the Shuswap complex. In the area of the showings a zone of sheared
serpentine strikes north 30 degrees west along the top of the ridge and dips very steeply.
This zone is at least 300 feet wide and is bounded on the northeast side by banded reddish
quartzites, also dipping very steeply and striking northwestward. Overburden is thin and
outcrops are plentiful. The showings all occur in the highly sheared serpentine zone and
consist of lenses of chromite ranging from a few inches to 7 feet wide and from a few feet
to 100 feet long. The most important showings occur over a length of 2,200 feet along
the top of the ridge and on the strike of the serpentine. These showings extend on either
side of the location line between the Bridon Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 claims, with the most
extensive showings on Nos. 2 and 4 claims. The showings include seven main lenses,
as follows:—
B_
C_
D_
F_
G_
H.
Length
(Ft.)
Average Width
(Ft.)
40
4.0
90
1,7
20
3.0
20
2.5
25
4.0
70
3.0
100
5.0
Total 365 3.4
Lenses A to G were seen by the writer at the end of July. Lens H was uncovered
by stripping later in the season.
A grab sample of typical ore material from an open-cut on lens A assayed: Chromic
oxide, 30.21 per cent. A similar sample from lens B assayed: Chromic oxide, 28.25
per cent. These agree very closely with the results of sampling carried out by the
company. The writer was advised by the company that the chrome-iron ratio from a
composite sample was 1.84:1.
Work on the property was carried out from May to November, with a crew averaging
fourteen men. Nine miles of road was constructed, and a camp to accommodate twenty-
five men was built about 2 miles south of the showings. Plywood buildings erected
included bunk-houses, cook-house, machine-shop, wash-house, and power-house. Four
thousand feet of stripping and 1,600 feet of diamond drilling were completed. Further
work is planned for 1958. LODE METALS
37
WESTBRIDGE*
Lead-Zinc
Jo Dandy
(Canadian Exploration Limited)
Highland-Bell
(Highland-Bell
Limited)
(49° 119° S.E.) Company office, 700 Burrard Building, Burrard
Street, Vancouver. J. A. Mitchell, exploration manager. The
property comprises six recorded claims and one Crown-grant lease
held by Mrs. Lillian Long, of Westbridge, and four recorded claims
held by M. Wiley, of Westbridge. It is situated 2 miles northwest
of Westbridge. The showings are reported to consist of argillite mineralized with disseminated pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and less chalcopyrite. The argillite is overlain by a
porphyry sill and the rocks are strongly faulted and folded. The greater part of the area
is covered by overburden.
The company optioned the property in April, 1957. A crew of two men was
employed for one month under the supervision of T. Smith. Some trenching and geological mapping were done. Mineralization was found to be disappointing and the option
was relinquished in June, 1957.
BEAVERDELL*
Silver-Lead-Zinc-Cadmium
(49° 119° S.E.) Company office, 604, 789 West Pender Street,
Vancouver; mine office, Beaverdell. K. J. Springer, president,
Toronto; O. S. Perry, manager; J. de Yaeger, mine superintendent;
A. D. Coggan, mill superintendent. The mine is at Beaverdell, 32
miles north of Rock Creek. The property consists of twenty-nine
Crown-granted claims and nine claims held by record. The mine at present consists of
two sections—the upper and lower workings. Both sections are in the same ore zone, but
are separated by a major fault known as the East Terminal fault, which dips 65 degrees to
the east and has a vertical displacement of 800 feet; the upper workings are on the
hangingwall side of the fault and the lower workings are on the footwall side. The No. 4
adit, at 3,974 feet elevation on Wallace Mountain, is the main haulage level for the upper
mine. Access to the lower mine is by the 2900 adit level, which was completed in July,
1955. The portal of this adit is XVi miles by road northeasterly from the office at Beaverdell.
In 1957 extensive development work was carried out in the lower mine, both on
the 2900 and 3000 levels. A third raise, the 2905, was put up from the 2900 to the
3000 level. Stope preparation was carried out on the 3000 level. Development work
disclosed the presence of a fault on the southwest side of the workings, and at the end
of the year efforts were still being made to find the extension of the ore zone beyond the
fault.
In the upper mine, work was restricted mainly to the mining of pillars and remnants
of ore in old stopes. It is expected that operations in the upper mine will be finished
sometime in 1958.
The following is a summary of mining operations in 1957:—
Type of Work
Upper Mine
Lower Mine
Total
Drifting
Crosscutting..
Raising..
Diamond drilling..
Ore mined
..tons
174
174
167
2,641
10,505
1,103
510
364
9,183
6,045
1,103
684
531
11,284
16,550
Additions to plant included a secondary Symons cone crusher which was installed
in the crushing plant at the mill. At the 2900 level portal, the 25-horsepower electric
motor driving the Sturtevant size No. 45 ventilating fan was replaced with a 40-
* By A. R. C. James. 38 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
horsepower motor. The fan was speeded up to 1,720 r.p.m. The air is conducted for
6,000 feet along the adit through a 20-inch duct, and after the change-over to a larger
motor about 6,000 cubic feet of air per minute was delivered at the end of the duct.
The ore from both mines is trucked to the mill, which is adjacent to a spur of the
Canadian Pacific Railway at Beaverdell. A total of 15,779 tons of ore was milled in
1957, an increase of 10 per cent over the 1956 production. At the end of the year a
crew of forty-three men was employed, of whom twenty-five were underground.
GREENWOOD*
Copper
(49° 118° S.W.) Head office, 1024, 85 Richmond Street West,
Mother Lode Toronto. S. B. Landell, president, Toronto; J. Embury, manager,
(Woodgreen Greenwood. The property is about 4 miles by road west of Green-
Copper Mines wood. Open-pit mining in the area adjacent to the old Mother
Limited) Lode glory-hole was begun on January 20th, the work being carried
out at first under contract by the McClay Construction Company,
of Vancouver. The new 1,000-ton concentrator, built in 1956, went into operation on
January 26th. The concentrator worked intermittently through February, and toward
the end of that month was closed down for twelve days due to unsatisfactory disposal of
tailings. The concentrator was not operated at full capacity until about the middle of
May. In August, due to steadily falling copper prices and other factors, the company
went into bankruptcy and the property has remained inactive since then. It is estimated
that about 100,000 tons of ore was milled. A crew of seventy men was employed.
PHOENIX*
Copper-Gold-Silver
(49° 118° S.W.) Company office, 1111 West Georgia Street,
Phoenix Copper Vancouver; mine office, Davis Block, Grand Forks. L. T. Postle,
Company Limited president, Vancouver; J. H. Parliament, manager, Grand Forks.
Capital, 3,000,000 shares, no par value. This company, a wholly
owned subsidiary of The Granby Consolidated Mining Smelting and Power Company
Limited, controls thirty-six claims in the Phoenix area. Twenty-one of these are Crown-
granted claims held by option, in addition to which the company holds six other Crown-
granted claims, eight recorded claims, and one retention lease. The Granby company
resumed work on this well-known property in 1955 after an interval of thirty-six years.
This renewal of interest was stimulated by the existing high price of copper and the possibility of cheap open-pit mining. Work on the property was continued throughout 1957,
although after July the number of men employed was greatly reduced and construction
work was slowed down. By the end of the year the crushing plant and concentrator
buildings were completed and the machinery for a 750-ton mill was being installed by
a small crew.
The compressor-house was completed, one 1,000-cubic-feet-per-minute compressor
was installed, and a 1,500-cubic-feet-per-minute capacity compressor was in course of
being installed. A repair-shop was completed and fitted out with machine tools. A main
water system was completed, with an electrically driven pump in the old Victoria shaft
supplying water from the old mine workings to the concentrator and to an 80,000-gallon
storage tank. A transmission-line and transformer-station were installed by the West
Kootenay Power Company and the main power distribution system was completed by the
company electrical crew. The warehouse, engineering office, and dry, built in 1956, were
stocked and furnished ready for use. Most of the above-mentioned machinery and equipment was transferred from the company's property at Copper Mountain and Allenby.
• By A. R. C. James. LODE METALS
\
39
, • '■■-—-'«mm
•/;
.w\
J4
Victoria shaft and ore-bins of the Granby company, Phoenix, in 1907. (Provincial Archives.)
Victoria shaft, Phoenix, just before the headframe was demolished in 1957.
I 40 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
In the first half of the year a total of 54,000 tons of overburden and waste rock was
removed from the Snowshoe area. During this operation 4,900 tons of ore was sorted
and stockpiled at the concentrator.
Geological mapping of underground workings and surface was continued. Stripping,
open-cutting, and geological mapping were carried out on located claims.
A total crew of forty men was employed to the middle of July. At that time the
crew was drastically cut as, due to falling copper prices, the development programme was
slowed down. At the end of the year a crew of fourteen was employed. In addition, a
crew of about forty men was employed on construction work by contracting companies in
the summer months. No living accommodation is provided at the mine, the crew being
transported to the mine from Grand Forks.
ROSSLAND*
Gold-Copper
(49° 117° S.W.) Company office, 614 West Pender Street, Van-
Velvet (Mid-West couver; mine office, Box 69, Rossland. M. F. Maxwell, president;
Copper & Uranium A. G. Pentland, director and consultant; S. J. Anderson, manager.
Mine Ltd.) Capital: 4,000,000 shares, 50 cents par value. This company
owns the old Velvet mine on the Rossland-Cascade Highway, 13
miles west of Rossland. Former operators had developed the steeply dipping Velvet
vein by a vertical shaft and a lower adit, No. 8, which was connected by raises to No. 6
level, the bottom shaft level. Most of the past production was from above No. 4 level.
The present owners started development work in 1955. A new 150-ton mill was erected
and milling started in November, 1956.
A new orebody, or possibly the extension of the Velvet vein, was located on No. 7
level. Chalcopyrite mineralization was quite massive where encountered, but the walls
were indefinite and the orebody was difficult to delineate. Two stopes, each mined for
a length of 80 feet, indicated the orebody at these points to be flat lying, 15 feet thick, and
40 feet wide. This ore was mined by open stoping and removed by scrapers to ore-passes
driven from the No. 8 or main haulage level. At the portal of No. 8 level, a gravity tram
lowered the ore to the mill in the bottom of Sheep Creek valley.
Four other veins are known to exist in the footwall, and parallel to the old Velvet
vein. Not much work has been done on them other than to establish their position by
diamond drilling and crosscutting, mainly on No. 3 level. The Dick Rowe vein, closest
to the Velvet vein, appeared to be the most promising. A crosscut was driven to this vein
on No. 4 level and a raise driven to No. 3 level.
The mill operated at partial capacity. The concentrates were trucked to Northport,
Wash., for rail shipment to the Tacoma smelter. All operations ceased in August, after
which time only watchmen were employed. A maximum of fifty were employed previous
to the shut-down.
Lead-Zinc
(49° 117° S.W.) These two Crown-granted claims, owned by
L'Nora, X-Ray J. A. Ruelle, of Rossland, are just south of the Velvet mine.
A mineralized fissure zone in granite, 8 feet wide, is exposed on the
new access road connecting the No. 8 portal of the Velvet mine to the Rossland-Cascade
Highway. Oxidation within the fissure is nearly complete. Galena, sphalerite, and
limonite are the noticeable minerals. In 1957 an adit 50 feet below the showing was
driven about 40 feet.
I
* By J. W. Peck. LODE METALS 41
Gold
(49° 117° S.W.) The Cariboo, Bannock, Elinor, Camden, and
Cariboo Nugget Crown-granted claims are controlled by a syndicate con
sisting of B. Hunt, A. Simm, E. Tomich, R. Foyle, and H. Thor-
steinson. The main workings are on the Cariboo claim and are reached by a steep road
three-quarters of a mile long from a point on the Rossland-Cascade Highway 1 mile west
of Rossland. A 60-degree shaft has been sunk 60 feet to develop a quartz vein. From
a drift 30 feet long at the bottom, stoping has been done in the past to a height of 25
feet. Recent work has included rehabilitating the workings, erecting a small headframe,
and installing a gasoline-powered hoist. The drift at the shaft bottom was driven a few
feet. The vein here was nearly vertical, up to 4 feet wide, with 18 inches of gold-bearing
pyrrhotite on the footwall. A few tons of ore was sorted from this work.
(49° 117° S.W.) Company office, 605 Howe Street, Vancouver.
O.K., Midnight, S. A. Liening, Seattle, Wash., president. Capital: 5,000,000
I.X.L. (Midnight shares, $1 par value. This company was formed late in 1956 to
Consolidated develop a group of old Crown-granted claims west of Rossland.
Mines Ltd.) The main workings are on the Midnight, I.X.L., and O.K. claims
and are accessible by a road 1 Vi miles long which leaves the Rossland-Cascade Highway one-quarter mile west of Rossland. A small amount of drifting
was done in the O.K. mine, but this work disclosed nothing of importance. M. Doran
was in charge, with two men employed. All work ceased in April.
TRAIL*
Gold
(49° 117° S.W.) This claim, owned by E. Wells and F. Donelly,
W. D. of Trail, is in the Columbia River valley, AVz miles by road east
of the Trail bridge. It was at one time known as the Casino Red
Cap and was last worked in 1951. The main workings consist of open-cuts and a 50-
foot crosscut adit. About 400 feet to the north an adit has recently been driven on a
small fissure reported to contain high gold values. The mine plant consisted of a portable
compressor and an ore-bin. Work was done intermittently, and the ore obtained was
trucked to the Trail smelter. Production: Ore shipped, 87 tons. Gross content: Gold,
50 oz.; lead, 388 lb.; zinc, 200 lb.
NELSON*
Gold-Silver-Lead
(49° 117° SE) This Crown-granted claim is owned by B. A.
Golden Eagle Pickering and G. S. Strong, of Nelson. It is on the west side of
Sandy Creek and was made accessible in 1957 by the construction
of 1 Vi miles of road from a point on the Eureka mine road near the upper Eureka portal.
This portal is 3 miles from the Kenville concentrator, which is 7 miles west of Nelson.
The workings range in elevation from 4;075 to 4,150 feet. A quartz vein 6 to 12 inches
wide, on a granite-schist contact, has been developed in the past by two adits, 50 feet
apart vertically and each approximately 125 feet long. A stope-raise connects the adits.
The vein strikes south 10 degrees west and dips 45 degrees to the east. There is a parallel
vein 100 feet east on which an adit has been driven 20 feet. Recent work has consisted
of bulldozer stripping above the upper adit of the main vein. Here the vein was as much
as 18 inches wide, but it was broken up and the continuity was uncertain. A grab sample
taken of material blasted from the vein assayed: Gold, 1.30 oz. per ton; silver, 1.3 oz.
per ton; lead, 5.09 per cent.
* By J. W. Peck. 42
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The Heinze smelter on the Columbia River at the mouth of Trail Creek in 1896. This was
the start of the Trail smelter. (Provincial Archives.)
The Trail smelter and metallurgical works, 1949. LODE METALS 43
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 117° S.E.) The Vera No. 1 Fraction, Vera No. 2, Yankee
Vera Fraction, Yankee, and Yankee No. 1 are recorded claims covering
the area of the cancelled Crown-granted Morning, Evening,
Pacific, and Cumberland claims. They are owned by R. Palmer, of Nelson. The claims
are west of the Silver King group and are accessible by 1 mile of jeep-road and 1 mile of
blazed trail from a point on the Silver King mine road 8 miles from Nelson. A series of
open-cuts was made in an effort to locate the source of galena float. One open-cut, at
an approximate elevation of 5,600 feet, exposed a showing 10 feet wide of banded calcite,
quartz, minor galena, and schist wallrock believed to be in place. One grab sample taken
of the best material blasted from this showing assayed: Gold, trace; silver, 0.3 oz. per
ton; lead, 0.09 per cent; zinc, 0.59 per cent. A small percentage of manganese was
contained in this sample.
Hall Creek (49° 117° S.E.)
Gold
This property is owned by W. Rozan and associates, of Nelson.
Sun Fraction It is on the summit between Fortynine and Hall Creeks and is
reached by 15 miles of road from Nelson up Fortynine Creek.
Quartz veins in granite have been developed by two adits containing a total of about 500
feet of drifting and crosscutting. Most of this work was done prior to 1954. In the
lower adit some sections of the vein contain soft iron sulphides with high gold values.
A shipment was made to the Trail smelter in 1957.
Production: Ore shipped, 9 tons. Gross content: Gold, 30 oz.; silver, 8 oz.; lead,
37 lb.; zinc, 37 lb.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept., 1954, p. 124.]
YMIR*
Gold-Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 117° S.E.) Company office, 1221 Cedar Avenue, Trail.
Goodenough, Ymir W. L. Ashmus, president; Mrs. K. Lenhardt, Waukeshaw, Wis.,
(Americonda Mines secretary-treasurer; W. Geist, manager. Capital: 200,000 shares,
Limited) $5 par value. This company holds under option the Goodenough
and Ymir mines on Ymir Creek, 6 miles by road northeast of
Ymir. The only work done was in the No. 2 adit of the Goodenough mine, where an
exploratory raise was put up 20 feet from the back of an old stope. Three men were
employed.
SALMO*
Erie Creek (49° 117° S.E.)
Gold-Silver-Lead-Zinc
Company office, 609 Baker Street, Nelson. J. A. Russell, Edmon-
Arlington (New ton, president. Capital: 3,500,000 shares, $1 par value. This
Arlington Mines company owns the Arlington mine on Rest Creek, 7 miles by road
Limited) from Salmo. A 125-ton mill on site was operated previously to
1954, treating dump material. In 1957 G. D. Fox and R. W.
Linn, of Trail, working under a lease arrangement, made a clean-up at the mill and
shipped to the Trail smelter.
* By J. W. Peck. 44 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Sheep Creek (49° 117° S.E.)
Gold
This mine is part of the old Reno holdings in the Sheep Creek
Nugget camp. It is owned by A. Endersby, of Fruitvale, who has worked
the property intermittently for several years. Recent work has
been in the upper Nugget workings, which are reached by 6 miles of road from the main
Sheep Creek road. Air for drilling is supplied through 2 miles of pipe by the old water-
driven compressor which is installed in the Reno mill building on the north bank of
Sheep Creek. As in 1956, mining was done in the Calhoun vein on No. 4 level, about
1,100 feet from the portal. Stoping reached a height of 30 feet on the nearly vertical
quartz vein, which ranged in width from 6 inches to 2 feet. Ore was sorted and trucked
to the Trail smelter.
Iron Mountain (49° 117° S.E.)
Lead-Zinc-Tungsten
Head office, 700 Burrard Building, Vancouver; mine office, Salmo.
Emerald, Jersey, G. A. Gordon, general manager; J. D. Little, assistant general
Dodger, Feeney manager; C. M. McGowan, plant superintendent; D. N. Hogarth,
(Canadian Explora- mine superintendent; H. A. Steane, general mill superintendent;
tion Limited) R. A. MacLeod, superintendent, tungsten concentrator; E. A.
Erickson, superintendent, lead-zinc concentrator. This company
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Placer Development Limited. The Emerald, Feeney,
Dodger, and Jersey mines, the tungsten concentrator, and the main camp are located on
the summit between Sheep Creek and Lost Creek. The property is reached by two roads
which leave the Nelson-Nelway Highway 4 and 5>Vi miles respectively south of Salmo.
The lead-zinc concentrator is on the Nelson-Nelway Highway and is served from the
mine by a series of surface and underground conveyors. The average number of employees was 340, a decrease of twenty from the average for 1956.
Emerald.—This mine produced the majority of the tungsten ore. Most of it came
from the large open-pits where the outcrop has been stripped for a length of about 1,500
feet. Most of the ore remnants above the 3800 or lowest adit were almost mined out
by this method at the end of 1957. Below the 3800 level the orebody has been fully
developed by a 32-degree inclined three-compartment winze which was being sunk in
the footwall of the trough of the orebody to the 2730 level. The trough plunges southward and is formed where the easterly dipping contact between black argillite and limestone is cut off on the east by granite. Scheelite-bearing skarn bands occur in the trough
and also on the limbs as much as 100 feet above the trough. Except near the bottom
of this winze-orebody, only the east limb has been productive. The limbs are mined
5 to 15 feet wide by open-stope and slusher methods. The orebody in the winze is
smaller in size than it is above the 3800 level, but a higher grade has been maintained.
Feeney.—This tungsten mine, 800 feet north of the northern end of the Emerald
workings, has been idle since 1955 and is considered about mined out.
Dodger.—The Dodger 4400 tungsten mine, with a portal elevation of 4,405 feet,
has been developed by a 14- by 15-foot adit driven south 1,050 feet. Ore has been
mined from above and below this adit. In 1957 an orebody on the east side of the adit
was mined to surface. By the end of 1957 most of the known ore in this mine had been
removed, a total of 127,000 tons since mining started in 1952. The ore is transported
by diesel trucks to the top of an ore-pass near the Dodger 4200 portal, leading to an
underground crusher on the 3800 level of the Emerald mine.
The Dodger 4200 tungsten mine is 5,000 feet southwest of the Dodger 4400 mine.
A 14- by 15-foot crosscut adit, with a portal elevation of 4,125 feet, has been driven
east for 2,500 feet. From near the end of the crosscut a drift of similar size extends
north for 1,950 feet. The end of the drift is connected by raises and via the 4300 level
to the Dodger 4400 mine. Irregularly shaped orebodies have been mined above the LODE METALS 45
main drift over a length of 1,500 feet. By the end of 1957 most of the known ore had
been removed, a total of 158,000 tons since the start of mining in this ore zone in 1954.
Invincible.—This claim is north of the Feeney and west of the Dodger 4400 mine.
Thirty-four diamond-drill holes drilled during the past three years indicated the presence
of a tungsten orebody 800 to 900 feet below the surface. This indicated orebody,
according to company reports, contains 386,000 tons grading 0.83 per cent tungstic
oxide. A start was made on the sinking of a 900-foot vertical shaft. A large hoist was
obtained and a foundation for it was established on surface. A large adit was driven to
allow the construction of underground ore pockets. All work ceased in October because
of the discouragement of low world prices.
Tungsten Concentrator.—This mill is near the 3800 portal of the Emerald mine.
It can receive ore by track haulage from the Emerald mine, by conveyor from the underground crusher on the Emerald 3800 level, or by truck from outside sources. The milling
rate averaged over 15,000 tons per month, a decrease from 1956. The grade of ore
was also lower. All tungsten concentrates continued to be sold to the United States
Government under contract.
Jersey.—This lead-zinc mine extends through Iron Mountain in a northerly direction
from the Lost Creek slope. The ore zones occur in dolomitized limestone along folds
which rise gently to the north. There are seven ore zones now recognized, named from
west to east A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The A ore zone, with long axis striking almost
due north, has been fully developed from the south end of the Jersey mine to a point
north of the old Emerald lead-zinc mine, a distance of 5,000 feet. The B, C, and D
ore zones, each with long axis striking somewhat east of north, have not been developed
more than 2,000 feet north of their outcrop on the Lost Creek slope. The E, F, and G
ore zones lie farther to the east and are not distinguishable at the south end of the mine.
They are 2,000, 1,500, and 1,000 feet long respectively.
The ore zones vary greatly in thickness. At places the A zone is over 70 feet thick,
whereas the E, F, and G zones are 8 to 10 feet thick. Most of the production was by
trackless mining using room-and-pillar methods, the ore being removed by diesel trucks
and loaders. Ore is trucked via the 4200 Jersey adit to the top of the ore-pass beside
the tungsten ore-pass near the Dodger 4200 portal. Both ore-passes lead to the underground crusher on the 3800 level of the Emerald mine. The remainder, 30 per cent of
the production, was from the track area at the south end of the mine, where ore is mined
by open-stoping and moved to draw points by slushers. The main haulage was on the
4000 level, where a diesel-electric locomotive transported the ore to the ore-pass system
above the underground crusher in the Emerald 3800 level.
The following diesel equipment has been approved for underground use: 6 Dart
10-ton dump trucks, 7 Koehring 8-ton Dumptors, 5 Eimco overhead loaders, 1 Allis-
Chalmers HD 9 loader, 1 Euclid 10-ton dump truck, 1 Caterpillar DW-10 and Landis
Wagon, 3 track-mounted drilling jumbos, 1 Caterpillar 212 grader, 1 Michigan tractor
shovel, 2 Caterpillar D-7 bulldozers, 2 LeRoi 500 D compressors, 1 Ingersoll-Rand TJD24
compressor, 1 Mercedes-Benz diesel-electric locomotive, 1 Trump Industrial Giraffe.
The operation of diesel equipment underground has necessitated the circulation of
larger flows of air than is required in other methods of mining. This has been accomplished by the installation of large underground fans, numerous connections of mine
workings, and by large fan pipe ventilation of dead-end areas. The total amount of
air entering the Dodger and Jersey mines was 150,000 cubic feet per minute, which was
more than sufficient for any combination of the diesel equipment used.
Lead-Zinc Concentrator.—This mill operated at near capacity of 2,000 tons per
day, but only on a four-day week. The best month was October, when 41,000 tons was
milled. The grade of ore was about 3.5 per cent zinc and 1.5 per cent lead. The
concentrates were shipped to Kellogg, Idaho. 46 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Aspen Creek (49° 117° S.E.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
J. C. MacLean, property superintendent; H. G. Barker, mine
H.B. (The superintendent; N. Doyle, mill superintendent. The H.B. mine
Consolidated Min- is on the west side of Aspen Creek, with the main camp located
ing and Smelting on the north side of Sheep Creek, 7 miles by road from Salmo.
Company of Zinc-lead dolomite replacement orebodies have been developed by
Canada, Limited) two adits connected by an interior two-compartment vertical shaft.
The hoistroom is on the top or 3500 level, and the main haulage
is the bottom or 2800 level. Long ore-pass systems extend from the 2800 level to the
ore zones. Most of the production came from two orebodies above the 3300 level,
where mining was done by blast holing to pillar slots above slusher drifts. In plan the
orebodies are roughly parallel to each other, about 150 feet apart, and have a rake to
the south of about 20 degrees. In cross-section they are lenticular, with nearly vertical
sides. The average width is 50 feet, and the maximum height is 350 feet. The No. 1
or East orebody has been developed over a length of 1,000 feet. The northern half of
this block was about mined out at the end of 1957. The No. 2 or West orebody was
being mined over a length of 500 feet. Some production also came from a smaller but
higher-grade orebody situated between the East and West orebodies.
The milling rate averaged 37,500 tons per month, the highest in the Nelson district.
This was an increase above that of 1956. The average number employed decreased
slightly to 130.
NELWAY*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 117° S.E.) Company office, 413 Granville Street, Vancou-
Reeves Mac Donald ver; mine office, Remac. W. L. Zeigler, Metaline Falls, Wash.,
Mines Limited general manager; L. M. Kinney, Metaline Falls, Wash., general
superintendent; F. R. Thompson, property superintendent; J.
Kozar, mine superintendent; J. S. Steele, mill superintendent. Capital: 3,000,000
shares, $1 par value. This company owns the Reeves MacDonald mine on the Pend
d'Oreille River, on the Nelway-Waneta road, 4 miles west of Nelway. Zinc-lead replacement orebodies have been developed from the main haulage 1900 level. At 3,500 feet
from the portal the Reeves orebody, which has furnished most of the production, has
been developed by an interior 55-degree inclined shaft which extends to the 2650 adit
level. Except for lower-grade marginal sections, the orebody has been nearly mined out
from the 1950 scram level to surface above the 2650 level. However, a considerable
tonnage remained in the horizontal and vertical pillars, and pillar recovery accounted for
more than 50 per cent of all production in 1957. The remainder of the production came
from the O'Donnell orebody, which is 7,000 feet from the portal on the 1900 level. This
orebody bottoms on the 1900 level and is believed to be a faulted section of the Reeves
orebody. It is developed by a large service raise to the old O'Donnell adit or 2350 level.
Six levels have been driven from this raise, the lowest or 1970 level being the scram drift.
The ore was removed by blasting to pillar slots above this drift, similar to the mining
method used in the Reeves orebody. By the end of 1957 the ore had been mined out to
the 2250 level.
Exploration continued on the Reeves orebody below the 1900 level. The 52-degree
inclined winze which was sunk in 1953 to the 1500 level was further sunk to the 1100
level. A Cryderman mucker was used in this work. About 200 feet from the bottom,
ore was encountered in the hangingwall, and the winze was steepened at this point to 62
degrees. Other development was in the B.L. section of the mine. The B.L. orebody is
also thought to be a faulted upper section of the Reeves orebody. Development previous
• By J. W. Peck.
. LODE METALS 47
to 1957 consisted of driving a 1,200-foot drift on the 2350 Reeves level to reach the
bottom of this orebody. In 1957 a raise was driven to surface 250 feet vertically above.
A scram drift was driven 10 feet above the 2350 level, and production from this area was
under way by the end of the year.
The mill operated continuously at an average rate of 33,500 tons per month. Mill-
heads averaged 3.7 per cent zinc and 1.3 per cent lead. Concentrates were shipped to
smelters in the United States. The number employed averaged 135.
SOUTH KOOTENAY LAKE*
Next Creek (49° 116° S.W.)
Gold-Silver-Lead-Zinc
Company office, 530 Rogers Building, Vancouver; mine office,
Spokane (Rimrock Cranbrook. D. J. Fulton, president; E. H. Berquist, manager.
Mining Corpora- Capital: 5,000,000 shares, no par value. This mine, formerly
tion Limited) owned by K. K. Laib, is on Wall Mountain, 18 miles by road from
Tye. A steeply dipping vein in granodiorite has been developed by
several adits, the main one being No. 4, which is at the upper terminal of a small tramline. A new crosscut adit, No. 5, has been driven intermittently by different operators
since 1949. In 1956 a vein was intersected 170 feet from the portal and a short drift was
driven on it to the south. The new owners commenced work in August. The crosscut was
driven ahead 6 feet and another vein was intersected. Drifting was done to the south on
this vein, which is an oxidized fissure 30 inches wide containing mostly decomposed
wallrock. High gold values are reported to be contained in a narrow soft oxidized zone
adjacent to both walls. A raise will have to be driven to No. 4 level to determine if this
is the same vein that in the past was productive above No. 4 level.
On the surface, living quarters and a compressor-house were built. Six men were
employed.
Summit Creek (49 ° 116 ° S.W.)
This mine, 22 miles by road from Tye, is on Bayonne Creek, a
Bayonne southerly flowing tributary of Summit Creek. The first 17 miles of
road are good, but the last 5 miles are only passable with a tractor
or a vehicle with four-wheel drive. The mine and plant were owned by Bayonne Consolidated Mines Limited, which last operated the property in 1946. Since then lessees have
carried on intermittent work. In 1957 the property was escheated to the Crown. The
machinery was sold by public tender in November to Rogers and Coombs, of Vancouver.
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Sanca (49° 116° S.W.)
Head office, Rogers Building, Vancouver, and 307 Sixth Avenue
Lakeview (Blu- West, Calgary, Alta.; mine office, Boswell. This company re-
mont Mines Ltd.)t tained its option on the Lakeview property of five claims on the
east shore of Kootenay Lake, immediately south of Sanca Creek.
The No. 2 level south drift was extended a distance of 50 feet to a total length of 680
feet. Two hundred feet of diamond drilling was done in three holes.
Boswell (49° 116° S.W.)
This property, comprising six located claims, is on a steep moun-
Hope* tainside one-quarter mile east of Dark Canyon Creek, the first
south-flowing tributary of Akokli Creek east of its mouth. The
claims were under option to W. Schwartzenhauer, of Castlegar, and development work
was done on them by L. H. Bettin, of Vancouver.
* By J. W. Peck, except as noted,
t By J. E. Merrett. 48
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The access road, 2Vi miles long, was completed from the Glacier Logging Company
road to the mine. A crew of three men extended the surface stripping and drove 80 feet
of drift on the vein. Twelve and one-half tons of ore was shipped to the Bunker Hill
smelter at Kellogg, Idaho.
NORTH KOOTENAY LAKE*
Crawford Creek (49° 116° N.W.)
Silver-Lead
This property of two recorded claims is on the northwest slope of
Santa Fet the ridge between Hooker and Canyon Creeks, tributaries to Craw
ford Creek. D. Bentley, of the Dolores-Dorothy Exploration and
Mining Company Limited, optioned the property from J. W. Mulholland, of Nelson.
A tractor-road, IV2 miles long, was constructed over the original pack-horse trail, and
1,500 feet of surface stripping along the vein was done by bulldozer. Work was suspended when the vein mineralization was found to be of low grade.
Deanshaven (49° 116° N.W.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
R. Deane, of Rossland, optioned this property (also called Richard
Berengariat the First) to Messrs. Shugarman and D. Smith, of Edmonton, Alta.
Three carloads of ore, totalling 124 tons, were shipped to the
Bunker Hill smelter at Kellogg, Idaho. The weights and grades of the shipments were
as follows:—
Lot No.
Dry Weight
Silver
Lead
Zinc
Iron
1
Lb.
58,860
99,142
89,900
Oz. per Ton
1.6
5.4
2.1
Per Cent
7.4
6.5
8.3
Per Cent
9.85
6.5
8.2
Per Cent
28.8
2
3
32.5
28.6
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Riondel (49° 116° N.W.)
Bluebell (The
Consolidated Mining and Smelting
Company of
Canada, Limited)f
Company office, Trail; mine office, Riondel. D. S. Campbell,
property superintendent; J. B. Donald, mine superintendent; T. F.
Walton, mill superintendent. This property is at Riondel on a
small peninsula on the east shore of Kootenay Lake, 6 miles by
road north of the ferry landing at Kootenay Bay. The ore deposits
are sulphide replacement bodies in a limestone band that crosses
the peninsula and dips westward under the lake. The Bluebell ore
zone is in the central part, the Comfort near the north, and the Kootenay Chief ore zone
is at the south end of the peninsula. The early history of the property was given in the
Annual Report for 1949, in which year extensive development was begun.
Mining and development operations were confined to the Comfort and Kootenay
Chief ore zones, most of the work being done in the latter area. Development work
completed in 1957 was as follows: 3,203 feet of drifting, 2,500 feet of crosscutting,
4,070 feet of raising, and 15,852 feet of diamond drilling. The development work was
done on all levels from the 225 level to the 875 level.
In December, 1957, the average daily amount of water pumped from the mine was
3,257,000 imperial gallons (2,262 gallons per minute). To assist in removing this large
quantity of water, two new 150-horsepower 500-gallons-per-minute pumps were added
to four similar units at the 525 level pumping-station and two new 40-horsepower 300-
* By J. W. Peck, except as noted.
t By J. E. Merrett. LODE METALS 49
gallons-per-minute pumps were added to the 675 level pumping station. The thermal
water, entering the bottom of No. 1 shaft at the rate of 1,000 gallons per minute, was
brought under control by pouring a massive concrete bulkhead close to the shaft bottom.
Diamond drilling was done in this vicinity to establish the location of the water conduit
and to assist in the cement grouting of fissures.
The induced ventilation of the mine was increased to 150,000 cubic feet of air per
minute by the installation of three 60-horsepower 48-inch-diameter Woods Aerofoil fans,
each of 50,000 cubic feet per minute capacity. The increase was made to remove the
carbon dioxide gas inflowing with the thermal water at the bottom of No. 1 shaft.
A total of 29,848 cubic yards of backfill was placed in empty stopes. This amount
was composed of 16,885 cubic yards of gravel, 1,146 cubic yards of mine waste, and
11,817 cubic yards of deslimed tailings. Three Dorclone desliming units were installed
in the mill, and a steel sand-storage tank of approximately 300 tons capacity was erected
near by. This equipment was put into use in October, and the sand produced was conducted underground by way of large-bore diamond-drill holes.
The jig-tailings recovery operation on the deep deposit in Bluebell Bay was suspended in the spring by Inland Dredging Ltd., of Calgary, after 530 tons of tailings was
recovered.
Through the combined efforts of all employees, the safety programme was successful
in achieving an accident-free record. Mine-rescue and first-aid classes were held in the
spring. The mine-rescue team, captained by J. D. McDonald, was successful in winning
both the West Kootenay and Provincial Mine Rescue Competitions.
The average number of persons employed was 295, of whom 163 were employed
underground.
The concentrator milled 256,118 tons of ore, including 530 tons of reclaimed tailings. The concentrates were shipped to the Trail smelter.
Ainsworth (49° 116° N.W.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
This is a recorded claim astride Coffee Creek, adjacent to the
Belle Aire Coffee Creek bridge on the Nelson-Kaslo Highway. The owner, S.
Hallgren, of Ainsworth, has worked intermittently since 1950
developing a fissure vein exposed on the north side of Coffee Creek just west of the highway bridge. A lower adit has been driven above high-water mark for about 100 feet.
An adit 30 feet vertically above it has been driven 20 feet. The vein is about 1 foot
wide, mineralized with small lenses of galena and sphalerite.
In December, Bruce Plummer, of Columbia Falls, Mont., obtained an option and
started underground operations. A small mining plant is on site.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept., 1950, p. 136.]
Company office, 525 Seymour Street, Vancouver; mine office,
Highlander, etc. Ainsworth. H. W. Knight, president; P. E. Olson, mine manager;
(Yale Lead & Zinc E. Pickard, mine superintendent; C. Anderson, mill superinten-
Mines Limited) dent. Capital: 5,000,000 shares, $1 par value. This company
controls most of the claims lying between Coffee and Cedar Creeks
in the Ainsworth camp. The crushing plant, mill, and main haulage adit are below, and
the mine plant and old Highlander adit are above the Nelson-Kaslo Highway, about
three-quarters of a mile south of Ainsworth.
The Highlander mine is serviced by the old Highlander or 2150 level adit and by
the main haulage or 1900 level adit. Both levels explore for several thousand feet the
7-foot-wide Highlander ore-bearing shear which strikes north-south and dips 45 degrees
west. Two main ore zones, the Albion and Banker, have been developed by raises and
sublevels through to surface several hundred feet above. The Albion ore zone, which is
4 50 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
in the south end of the workings, bottomed 60 feet above the 1900 level and was almost
mined out by the end of 1957. The Banker ore zone at the north end of the workings
continued to produce from ore remnants above the 2150 level, but these were becoming
more difficult to find. Below the 2150 level the 1900 level was being driven toward the
expected projection of the Banker ore zone. Another orebody was located on the 1900
level between the Albion and Banker zones; it was rapidly put into production. All
mining was by open stoping with support furnished by numerous pillars, stulls, and roof
bolts. Diesel locomotives are used on the 1900 and 2150 levels.
The mill operated continuously at about 5,300 tons per month. Mill-heads averaged
5 per cent lead and 1.3 per cent zinc. The crew was reduced from eighty at the beginning
of the year to sixty-five at the end of 1957.
This old Crown-granted claim is part of the holdings of Yale Lead
Spokane & Zinc Mines Limited. It was under lease to T. Lane, of Ains
worth, who made a shipment to the Trail smelter. Production:
Ore shipped, 4 tons. Gross content: Silver, 107 oz.; lead, 5,493 lb.; zinc, 100 lb.
Company office, 850 West Hastings Street, Vancouver; mine office,
Kootenay Florence, Ainsworth. H. M. Wright, president; H. M. Turner, superinten-
Lakeshore (Western dent. Capital: 3,000,000 shares, $1 par value. This company
Mines Limited) owns a large group of claims lying south of Lendrum Creek and
astride Princess Creek. The mine plant and mill are on the Nelson-
Kaslo Highway, 2 miles north of Ainsworth. Since 1954 The Consolidated Mining and
Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, has been carrying out an exploratory programme
with a view to gaining eventual control of the property. In 1957 the results of surface
diamond drilling done in the preceding years was investigated at a lower horizon by
underground work in the old Lakeshore mine. This adit (elevation, 2,520 feet) was
rehabilitated throughout its length of about 850 feet. A total of 700 feet of drifting,
crosscutting, and raising was done from the end of the adit workings. One surface hole
was intersected, and it was shown to have been drilled parallel to a narrow mineralized
fissure from which replacement had extended for a few feet into the limestone walls.
Additional exploration consisted of 1,400 feet of underground diamond drilling in eight
holes.
Compressed air for drilling was provided by a surface line from the Kootenay Florence plant. A diesel locomotive was used for haulage. Ten men were employed under
the direction of M. N. Anderson. All work ceased in September.
Company office, 355 Burrard Street, Vancouver. S. A. Liening,
Hercules, Silver Seattle, Wash., president; C. Lind, manager. Capital: 3,000,000
Glance (Triumph shares, $1 par value. This company owns a group of recorded and
Mines Limited) Crown-granted claims south of Lendrum Creek and west of the
property of Western Mines Limited. The main workings are about
3 miles by road from the Kootenay Florence camp. Since 1954 a small crew has been
employed on the underground development of fissure veins on the Noranda claim of the
Hercules group. Recent work has been the extension of an adit on the Silver Glance
Crown-granted claim with the object of intersecting these veins 380 feet vertically below.
Most of the work in 1957 was done under an agreement with Intermountain Petro-
Mining Limited (company office, 640 Seventh Avenue West, Calgary; W. H. Myers,
president). The Silver Glance adit was driven over 200 feet to a total length of 1,030
feet. The downward projection of the Hercules veins was not encountered. Diamond
drilling, totalling 1,700 feet in nine holes, was done on the surface in the vicinity of the
Hercules adits, the deepest hole being 340 feet. The results of this drilling were reported
to be encouraging and also indicated that the Silver Glance adit would have to be driven
farther to intersect the veins at that horizon. Work ceased in August because of financial
difficulties. The number employed averaged three. LODE METALS
51
Can-Amer Mining
& Milling Company Ltd.
was treated in 1957.
not repaired.
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Woodbury Creek (49° 116° N.W.)
Company office, 459 Baker Street, Nelson. L. N. Martini, Kenne-
wick, Wash., president; L. D. Besecker, Ainsworth, manager.
Capital: 400 shares, $500 par value. Since 1953 this company
has been operating intermittently a custom mill at the mouth of
Woodbury Creek. Capacity is rated at 85 tons per day. No ore
A roof section of the mill was damaged by heavy snow and was
KEEN CREEK*
Daybreak
(Daybreak Mining
Corporation
(1957) Ltd.)
(49° 117° n.E.) Company office, 1442 Bay Avenue, Trail.
D. L. Cummings, president. Capital: 4,500,000 shares, no par
value. The Daybreak mine is on the east bank of Klawala Creek,
a northwesterly flowing tributary of Keen Creek. It is accessible
by \Vi miles of trail from a point on the Keen Creek road \\l/i
miles from Kaslo. The property has been idle for over thirty years,
mainly because of litigation. In 1957 Henry L. Hill and Associates, of Vancouver, were
engaged as consulting management engineers. Five adits, between elevations of 5,080
and 5,450 feet, explore for several hundred feet two nearly parallel lodes which conform
with a belt of Slocan sediments. The lodes are known as the "A" and " B " veins and
are about 300 feet apart. The veins are in a mineralized sheared and brecciated zone
averaging 5 feet in width. The zone is filled with broken rock carrying, in places,
disseminated sphalerite and pyrite with sparse amounts of galena. From June to late
July five men, under the supervision of S. Fish, reopened the workings so that sampling
could be done and a geological examination made.
(49° H7° n.e.) This old mine is on Keen Creek, UVz miles
Index by road from Kaslo. It is part of a group of recorded claims,
B Nos. 1 to 8, owned by H. F. Kenward, 751 Granville Street,
Vancouver. The last underground work was done by Kaslo Base Metals Limited in
1951. In 1957 the owner made a small shipment to the Trail smelter.
PADDY PEAK*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Utica (Lajo
Mines Limited)
(49° 117° n.E.) Company office, 717 West Pender Street, Vancouver; mine office, Kaslo. T. S. Lathrop, New York, president;
J. A. Cooper, manager. This company holds a long-term lease on
the Utica mine (which has been operated since 1953 by J. A.
Cooper, also under lease) from Utica Mines (1937) Limited. The mine is at the head
of Twelve Mile Creek, about 15 miles by road from Kaslo. The main level is the No. 7
adit, which is connected by raise to the No. 4 adit. A sublevel, the No. 5, has been
driven from the raise to develop two parallel veins known as the East and West veins.
As in previous years, production in 1957 was from the East vein. A new stoping
section was prepared on No. 5 level. The nearly vertical vein contained from 1 to 6
inches of galena with a high silver content. Ore was removed with a diesel locomotive
on No. 7 level. All underground operations were under contract to E. Swantz, of Kaslo.
On the surface, erection was completed of a 50-ton mill which had formerly been
at the property of Silver Hill Mines Ltd. near Tulameen. Milling started in December.
The concentrates were shipped to the Trail smelter. A maximum of fifteen men was
employed.
* By J. W. Peck. 52
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
RETALLACK-THREE FORKS*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Caledonia
(Canadian Minerals Ltd.)
Star, Wellington
(Blue Star Mines
Limited)
(50° 117° S.E.) Company office, Calgary, Alta. R. E. Legg,
consulting engineer. This company optioned the Caledonia mine
near Blaylock from G. E. McCready, of Kaslo. An east-west
fissure zone with a steep southerly dip has been developed by
surface workings and two adits. A contract for 75 feet of drifting
at each end of the lower adit was completed by C. Lind, of Kaslo. This work disclosed
two short oreshoots. The option was dropped later in the year.
(50° 117° S.E.) Company office, 1500 Marine Building, Vancouver; mine office, Retallack. Edward L. Borup, president
and manager; B. Ecker, superintendent. This company controls
the Star group of recorded claims and has a lease on the old
Wellington mine near Retallack. The Star claims are 2 miles north
of the Wellington mine, which is owned by New Wellington Mines, Ltd., and cover the
Heba, Pluto Fraction, Oppollo, and Hera cancelled Crown-granted claims. The old
Whitewater buildings at Retallack were purchased for a main camp. Work in 1957 was
restricted to road work and improvement of camp facilities.
(50° 117° S.E.) The Snap claim and the Lucky Jim mine at
Snap, Lucky Jim Zincton were leased by a partnership of A. Keckonen, E. D'Lerma,
and R. E. Martin. The Snap is owned by J. L. Drumheller, of
Spokane, and the Lucky Jim by Sheep Creek Mines Limited, of Nelson. Fifteen feet
of drifting was done on the No. 1 level of the Lucky Jim mine with the object of advancing
into the Snap claim. Several hundred tons of milling ore was obtained from the No. 1,
No. 2, and No. 3 levels of the Lucky Jim, but no shipments were made. Work started
in August and ceased in October.
(50° 117° S.E.) This property of Slocan Monitor Mines Limited
Min, Cork near Three Forks was optioned in 1956 to Frank McMahon, of
Calgary. The Cork adit, near the Violamac mine road, was
extended to investigate a structure determined by surface geological work. The underground work was completed in 1957, with a total of about 1,000 feet of drifting and.
crosscutting. No worth-while mineralization was encountered. Four men were employed.
(50° 117° S.E.) This group of recorded claims is astride the
Lost Atlantis New Denver-Three Forks Highway just north of the old Alamo
mill. It is owned by A. S. Wojna, of New Denver, but was under
option to R. J. Renn, of Calgary. Small lenses of galena are found in the argillite bedding
close to granite porphyry. Two adits, 30 feet apart vertically, were driven from near the
highway. Galena sorted from this work was trucked to the Trail smelter. Three men
were employed. Production: Ore shipped, 3 tons. Gross content: Silver, 166 oz.;
lead, 1,184 1b.; zinc, 511 lb.
SANDON*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 117° N.E.) Head office, 1160 Peel Street, Montreal; mine
office, Sandon. G. S. Rosenthal, New York, president; T. R.
Buckham, mine manager. Capital: 10,000 shares, $1 par value.
This Company owns the Silversmith, Slocan Star, Richmond-
Eureka, Ruth Hope, and Slocan King mines on Sandon Creek,
south of Sandon. A truck-road extends to all mines from the mill
on the western outskirts of Sandon. Underground operations by the company ceased in
Silversmith, etc.
(Carnegie Mines
of British
Columbia, Ltd.)
* By J. W. Peck. LODE METALS 53
February, and milling continued into March. Most of the ore came from the No. 3 level
of the Slocan Star.
In June, groups of lessees began work. The Slocan Star was leased to J. Zambon,
P. Leontowiez, S. Sibilleau, and N. Sibilleau. These partners obtained about 140 tons of
milling ore by hand-sorting the No. 3 dump. Underground work was started on No. 5
level. The Rabbits Paw section of the Silversmith was leased to T. Hawes and E. Singel,
who mined and shipped four truck-loads of high-grade ore to the Trail smelter. The Ruth
Hope was leased to E. Perepolkin, F. Vanin, and F. Pho. Over 350 tons of milling ore
was obtained from No. 4 and No. 5 levels. Higher-grade ore was trucked to the Trail
smelter. Another lease on the Ruth Hope was given to E. H. Petersen, who stripped the
surface above No. 3 adit with a bulldozer and exposed an ore remnant.
The mill reopened in November to handle lessees' ore. Three men were employed
in the mill. In December, arrangements were being made for a merger with Violamac
Mines Limited.
(49° 117° N.E.) Head office, 721 Eastern Avenue, Toronto.
Noble Five, etc. James A. Taylor, president. Capital: 3,000,000 shares, $1 par
(Cody-Reco Mines value. This company owns a group of claims north of Cody,
Limited) including old mines such as the Noble Five, Slocan Sovereign, Last
Chance, American Boy, and Deadman. A road extends from the
mill at Cody to all principal workings. No work was done in 1957. The mine and mill
plant remained intact. A watchman was employed.
(49° H7° n.E.) Head office, 416, 25 Adelaide Street West,
Victor (Violamac Toronto; mine office, New Denver. Mrs. Viola MacMillan,
Mines Limited) president; J. C. Black, manager, western operations. Capital:
5,000,000 shares, $1 par value. This company owns the Victor
mine, 2Vz miles by road northwest of Sandon, or 2Vi miles by road southeast of Three
Forks. The nearly vertical Victor vein has been developed by several connected adits,
the lowest being No. 9. The Victor vein has a mineralized length of about 1,400 feet and
a width ranging from a crack to as much as 6 feet. Most of the production in 1957 came
from the west end of the vein known as the West Victor orebody. The remainder of the
ore was produced from remnants in various sections of the vein. Mining is done by
cut-and-fill methods with close timbering. Not much ore remained in the Victor vein at
the end of 1957. Exploratory work continued in the west end of the mine at the No. 5
level horizon with access from No. 7 level. Some promising discoveries were made of
high-grade silver-lead ore.
The No. 10 adit, which is on a different vein, has been driven over 900 feet from the
portal. Short sections of ore were encountered in this drive. A raise was put up to break
through to surface near the compressor-house at No. 9 portal. Some stoping was done
from this raise.
A new No. 11 adit was started near the old Cinderella mine in a location 150 feet
northeast of No. 10 portal and 100 feet lower. It was driven southwestward to intersect
old shaft workings at 150 feet from the portal, and by the end of 1957 was 550 feet long.
Not much ore was found in this adit.
Milling ore continued to be trucked to the Western Exploration mill at Silverton,
but at a reduced rate. Tin was indicated in the zinc concentrates but was not recovered.
High-grade sorted ore was trucked to the Trail smelter. The number of men employed
averaged fifty.
(49° 117° N.E.) This company is controlled by Violamac Mines
Lone Bachelor Limited, which owns the adjoining Victor mine. The main haulage
(Lone Bachelor is the No. 4 level, which is connected by raises via a sublevel to the
Mines Limited) old No. 3 adit. A small amount of stoping was done on the sub-
level and also on No. 2 vein on No. 4 level. All services were 54 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
supplied from the Violamac camp. Work was suspended in September. Two men were
employed.
(49° 117° N.E.) This old Crown-granted claim is east of the
Hinckley Victor claim, about half-way along the Sandon-Victor mine road.
It is owned by W. D. Pengelly and associates, of New Denver and
Silverton. Since 1954 a narrow lode containing small lenses of galena has been developed
intermittently by the extension of an old adit. Work in 1957 was restricted to a small
amount of diamond drilling.
(49° 117° n.E.) Company office, 373 Baker Street, Nelson.
Wonderful (Silver H. F. Magnuson, Wallace, Idaho, president and acting manager.
Ridge Mining Capital: 5,000,000 shares, 50 cents par value. This company
Company Limited) owns a large group of claims southwest of Sandon, including the
Wonderful. A small amount of surface and underground work was
done in the same location as in 1956. Two men were employed.
(49° 117° N.E.) This old mine, 1 mile west of Sandon, has been
New Springfield developed by three adits. The lowest or No. 3 contains about 1,000
feet of drifting and crosscutting. Most of the ore in the past has
come from No. 2 adit. In 1957 the owner, E. H. Petersen, of Sandon, raised 10 feet in
the west drift in No. 2 adit. Sorted ore from this work was sent to the Trail smelter.
Production: Ore shipped, three-quarters of a ton. Gross content: Silver, 57 oz.; lead,
692 lb.; zinc, 167 lb.
SLOCAN LAKE*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(50° 117° S.E.) This old property is located 1 mile north of New
Molly Hughes Denver. It is owned by C. Higgins, of New Denver, and was last
active in 1940. In 1957 a lease was given to C. Johnson, who
made a shipment to the Trail smelter from the Tryon claim. Production: Ore shipped,
one-third of a ton. Gross content: Silver, 142 oz.; lead, 54 lb.; zinc, 9 lb.
(49° H7° n.E.) Company office, 38 South Dearborn Street,
Mammoth, Stand- Chicago, 111.; mine office, Silverton. M. P. McCullough, Chicago,
ard, Monarch, president; A. M. Ham, Silverton, managing director; J. M. Mc-
Enterprise Dearmid, manager; R. A. Avison, mine superintendent; C. E.
(Western Explora- Towgood, mill superintendent. Capital: 2,000,000 shares, 50
tion Company cents par value. A management contract is held by H. L. Hill and
Limited) Associates, consulting mining engineers, Vancouver. The company
owns the Mammoth, Monarch, and Standard mines near Silverton,
and the Enterprise mine on Enterprise Creek, 12V& miles by road south of Silverton.
The Mammoth produced continuously but at a variable rate to fit in with custom-
ore intake at the mill. The main haulage is the No. 7 adit, which is connected by a 45-
degree raise to No. 9 adit level, 340 feet below. Most of the ore above No. 8 sublevel
has been mined in previous years. In 1957, as in 1956, ore was recovered from square-
set stopes on No. 9 level. Drifting was done to the east on No. 9 level with encouraging
results. On No. 7 level the Monarch orebody has been explored by a raise from the
Hecla drift to the Monarch adit, 310 feet vertically above. Not much work was done on
this orebody in 1957 other than the driving of a sublevel established half-way in the raise.
In the Hecla drift the mineralized section discovered in 1956 was prepared for stoping.
It was producing steadily in the latter half of 1957. All ore was delivered to the mill via
the 16,000-foot tram-line, which has its upper terminal at the portal of No. 7 adit.
Electricity and compressed air were supplied from the company's hydro plant on Silver-
ton Creek.
* By J. W. Peck. -^
LODE METALS
55
[..
b
a 56 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The main development was the preparation for a new low-level drive. A new road
2.3 miles long was constructed from the old Hewitt mill-site on the Silverton Creek road
to a portal site on the Tick claim at an elevation of 4,290 feet. It is proposed to drive
2,300 feet northeastward to reach a point 400 feet vertically below the No. 9 level of the
Mammoth mine.
The Standard was idle, except for leasing operations. J. W. Kelly mined about 300
tons, which was milled at the company's mill.
The Enterprise mine remained closed, but the camp is intact and a watchman is
employed.
The mill operated throughout 1957 treating company ore as well as Violamac ore
on a custom basis. The number of men employed was increased from thirty-five to
seventy in the latter half of 1957.
(49° 117° n.E.) Company office, 511, 850 West Hastings Street,
Bosun (New Vancouver. R. Crowe-Swords, president. Capital: 3,000,000
Santiago Mines shares, 50 cents par value. The Bosun mine is on the east shore
Limited) of Slocan Lake, \Vi miles south of New Denver on the Nelson-
Nakusp Highway. The main haulage, No. 6 adit, is driven beneath the highway from a site 40 feet above the lake. W. H. McLeod, with the aid of
a partner, has operated a lease intermittently since 1956. Exploration, consisting of
crosscutting and raising, was continued in the south central section of the mine to investigate the findings of diamond drilling done many years ago, but was unsuccessful. Ore
remnants were mined on No. 6 level near the main winze, in the central section above the
main drift, and in the east section near the portal. This ore was milled at the Carnegie
mill at Sandon. Production: Ore milled, 76 tons. Gross content: Gold, 1 oz.; silver,
1,251 oz.; lead, 6,566 lb.; zinc, 12,049 lb.; cadmium, 63 lb.
(49° 117° N.E.) Company office, 532 Burrard Street, Vancouver.
Van Roi, Hewitt W. Tattrie, mine manager; T. Leask, mill superintendent. Capital:
(Slocan Van Roi 5,000,000 shares, no par value. This company owns the Van Roi
Mines Limited) and Hewitt mines, 6V2. miles by road southeast of Silverton.
Transcontinental Resources Limited has directional control. In the
Hewitt mine an orebody below No. 10 level was developed in 1956 by a winze to No. 11
level. This block of ore, 95 feet long, was leased to J. Heichert for removal. Eight men
were engaged in this work, and the operation was completed in July. Another lease was
given to M. Tarnowski, who mined ore remnants in the same area above No. 10 level.
Another lease on this level was given in the latter part of 1957 to J. Harding and A.
Cooper.
In the Van Roi mine the S.F. and M. Mining Company, which has leased the mine
since 1953, operated on a reduced scale. Some development was done on No. 4 level in
the " Brookes' " stope area. Four men were engaged in this work.
The Van Roi mill is 1 mile south of Silverton on the Nelson-Nakusp Highway. It
operated in 1956 after being shut down since 1952. In 1957 it operated intermittently
until September, handling lessees' ore from the Hewitt and Van Roi. Custom milling
was also done for the Westmont mine on Enterprise Creek.
(49° 117° N.E.) This mine is 2 miles by road south of Silverton.
Galena Farm For several years it has been operated intermittently on lease by
Frank S. Mills, of Silverton. A mineralized fissure, discovered in
1955 east of the old shaft, was developed in 1956 by a short adit and shallow winze. In
1957 the old Galena Farm main adit was rehabilitated for 500 feet and a raise connection 100 feet long was made with the winze. A small orebody of milling grade was
exposed in this work. No shipments were made in 1957, and the property was idle in
the latter half of the year.
- LODE METALS 57
(49° 117° N.E.) This is a group of eight Crown-granted claims
Westmont on the north side of Enterprise Creek, opposite the Enterprise mine.
It is owned by J. A. Cullinane, of Nelson. A short access road
leads to the lowest of four adits from a point on the Enterprise road about AV2 miles from
the Nelson-Nakusp Highway. The property has been idle since 1929, except for a
leasing operation in 1956. In 1957 a lease was given to Chexdeco Mining Limited, of
Nelson. The No. 4 dump was trucked to the Van Roi mill at Silverton.
(49° 117° N.E.) The Boomerang and Richmond claims are owned
Boomerang by the estate of S. N. Ross, which is administered by the executrix,
Mrs. E. Ward, of Rossland. The claims are on the south side of
Enterprise Creek, about 1 Vi miles above the confluence with Paupo Creek. The property
is accessible by a fair road to Paupo Creek, 9 miles from the Nelson-Nakusp Highway,
and thence by a steep road and 1,000 feet of trail. A narrow quartz-tetrahedrite vein in
granite has been developed by two adits which have been inaccessible for many years.
In 1957 the Boomerang and Richmond Mining Company employed two men on a lease
arrangement reopening the lower adit. The portal was retimbered and the adit made
accessible for 225 feet. Work then ceased without the vein having been exposed.
(49° 117° N.E.) Company office, 2, 415 Baker Street, Nelson.
White Hope, D. C. Bentley, manager. Capital: 600,000 shares, $1 par value.
Homestake This company owns the White Hope, White Hope No. 1, Home-
(Dolores-Dorothy stake, and Senator Crown-granted claims and six recorded claims
Exploration and astride the Nelson-Nakusp Highway north of Slocan City. The
Mining Company main workings are on the White Hope and Homestake claims and
Limited) are accessible by short access roads from points on the highway
AV2 and 5J/i miles respectively north of Slocan City. On the
White Hope a narrow vein in granite, striking south 40 degrees east and dipping 50
degrees southwestward, has been explored by two adits, 25 feet apart vertically. Most of
the ore shipments in the past came from the upper adit, which is about 80 feet long with
a raise to surface. The best part of the vein not mined shows 2 to 6 inches of zincy
mineralization. The lower adit is 50 feet long and exposes a wider vein section but with
minor mineralization. There is another adit at the elevation of the upper adit which was
driven 140 feet as a crosscut to intersect a parallel vein exposed in an open-cut above,
but no vein was encountered. In 1957 a new adit site was chosen to explore these veins
at a horizon about 50 feet below the lowest workings. A crosscut was driven 200 feet,
but no worth-while mineralization was encountered. Three men were employed in this
work. On the surface a building was erected to house a portable compressor.
At the Homestake, silver-lead showings had previously been prospected by open pits
and short adits. In 1957 a lower adit was extended 200 feet, but no worth-while mineralization was encountered. Two men were employed in this work.
SPRINGER CREEK*
Silver
Ottawa (Ottawa Silver Mining & Milling Company).—(49° 117° N.E.) Company office, c/o W. E. Graham, Slocan City. Capital: 3,000,000 shares, 1 cent par
value. This company owns the Ottawa mine on Springer Creek, 5 miles by road from
Slocan City. C. Thickett, operating under a lease arrangement, obtained ore by underhand mining in the lowest or No. 6 adit.
* By J. W. Peck. 58 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
NORTH LARDEAU*
Gold-Silver-Lead-Zinc
(50° 117° N.W.) Company office, 604, 744 West Hastings Street,
Spider, Eclipse Vancouver; mine office, Beaton. J. Drybrough, president; J. A.
(Sunshine Lardeau Pike, managing director; G. G. Sullivan, manager; O. Meurling,
Mines Limited) mine superintendent; E. Hall, mill superintendent. Capital:
4,000,000 shares, no par value. The mine camp and mill are at the
old townsite of Camborne, 6 miles by road northeast of Beaton on the northeast arm of
Upper Arrow Lake. The mine is on the south side of Pool Creek, 2 to 3 miles by very
steep road from Camborne. The Spider No. 4 orebody has been developed by several
adits, the lowest being No. 10. The orebody is vein-like with a northerly strike and a dip
of 75 degrees to the east. It is 1 to 4 feet wide, except at the junction of short branch
veins, where it is as much as 18 feet wide. The orebody was 90 feet long above No. 7
level to near surface, 300 feet long on No. 8 level, and 450 feet long on No. 10 level.
Mining in 1957 was restricted to the northern extremity of No. 10 level and a remnant
above No. 7 level. Nearly all ore had been mined above No. 10 level by the end of the
year. Preparations were made to sink a winze to recover the ore below No. 10 level, but
the project was abandoned after the hoist station was cut. Underhand mining was started
on the vein in December.
The Eclipse orebody is serviced by a 1,000-foot crosscut from the No. 10 level of
the Spider mine. A raise has been driven on the vein to an adit 270 feet vertically above.
The orebody on No. 10 level was 180 feet long and 6 feet wide, with strike and dip
similar to the Spider orebody. The ore pinches out 130 feet above No. 10 level and was
mined out by the end of 1957. A winze was sunk on the vein 150 feet at 65 degrees, and
a level was established at 130 feet in the winze. This level, No. 11, was driven 160 feet
and a raise driven to No. 10 level. About half the ore between No. 11 and No. 10 levels
was removed by shrinkage stoping by the end of 1957.
A lease was given to S. Barclay, who worked No. 5 and No. 6 levels of the Spider
mine with the aid of a partner. A few carloads of sorted ore were obtained.
On the surface, a geophysical survey was carried out to the south of the mine
workings. Two anomalies were located. These were being checked in December by
diamond drilling.
The mill operated continuously at an average of 2,400 tons per month. Mill-heads
averaged: Silver, 9.5 oz. per ton; lead, 7.3 per cent; zinc, 9.3 per cent. Concentrates
were shipped to smelters in the United States. The number employed averaged sixty-nine.
(50° 117° N.W.) Company office, 404 Pemberton Building, 744
Beatrice (Beatrice West Hastings Street, Vancouver. W. J. Scorgie, president and
Mining Co. Ltd.) managing director. Capital: 50,000 shares, $1 par value. This
company owns a group of claims at the head of the east fork of
Mohawk Creek. The main workings are on the Beatrice claim and are accessible by 4
miles of tractor-road from the Spider mine road. No work was done in 1957 other than
some improvement to the camp buildings.
(50° 117° N.W.) Company office, 423 West Broadway, Van-
Silver Dollar couver. W. L. Sebolt, manager. Capital: 3,000 shares, no par
(Monterey Mining value. The Silver Dollar mine adjoins the holdings of Beatrice
Company Limited) Mining Co. Ltd. on the northwest. The Beatrice tractor-road
passes through the Silver Dollar camp at a point about 3Vi miles
from its junction with the Spider mine road. A quartz vein containing minor silver
values was developed many years ago by two connected adits, 50 feet apart vertically.
In 1952 diamond drilling was done from the surface north of the mine workings to test
* By J. W. Peck, except as noted. LODE METALS 59
the continuity of the vein on strike. In 1957 drifting was done on the vein in the lower
adit to reach a point under the surface drill-holes. A crosscut was driven 70 feet into
the hangingwall at this point to establish a diamond-drilling station. A total of 464 feet
of drifting and crosscutting and 1,934 feet of diamond drilling was accomplished.
The old camp buildings were improved and a new cook-house was erected. Eight
men were employed. All work ceased in November.
(50° 117° N.W.) Company office, 2210 Palmerston Avenue,
Pipestem, Wide West Vancouver. G. D. Humphrey, president and manager.
West, Lost Chord Capital: 10,000 shares, $10 par value. This company owns
Alma (Lardeau several groups of claims on Pool Creek. Most of the work in
Mines Exploration 1957 was concentrated on the Pipestem group, which is on the
Limited) north side of Pool Creek near the confluence with Mohawk Creek.
A short access road leads to the property from a point on the
Sunshine Lardeau mine road near the No. 8 portal of the Spider mine. Trenching was
done on vein exposures and a geophysical survey was carried out. Living quarters were
erected. Work was done on the trails leading to the other groups near the head of Pool
Creek. About five men were employed.
Silver-Lead
(50° 117° N.E.) Company office, 15th Floor, 1030 West
Index (Northern Georgia Street, Vancouver. K. Hannigan, president; S. Donald
Inland Resources Moore, vice-president. Capital: 20,000 shares, no par value.
Ltd.)* This company holds the Index, Red Cliff, Royal R, Hidden
Treasure, President, and White Quail Crown-granted claims under
agreement, and the Joy group of eleven claims and the Star Fraction by record. These
claims extend along the southwest side of Index Creek, from Redcliff Peak to Gainer
Creek. Stripping of galena mineralization on the White Quail and Index in the summer
of 1956 was followed by the diamond drilling of two holes that autumn and eight holes in
the summer of 1957, all on the Index, and totalling 1,800 feet. Camp was made in the
Mollie Mack cabins at Gainer Creek, 10 miles by road from Ferguson and 2 miles by
jeep and tractor road from the Index. About five men were employed.
The galena is disseminated in portions of the thin Mollie Mac limestone that have
been replaced by siderite. This member thickens and thins and appears to be largely
squeezed out in the upper part of the Index basin. On the Index claim it is about 60
feet wide and dips vertically or steeply southwest. It is offset short distances by a
number of cross-faults, at least one of which contains a little galena. Three mineralized
zones occur in the limestone on the Index claim. The middle one is about 5 feet wide
and 150 feet long. Another lies along the hangingwall and is rather ragged but probably
averages 6 feet wide and is about 500 feet long. The third lies close to the footwall and
has been the principal object of the drilling; it is 8 to 10 feet wide and has been traced
for 1,000 feet. A short adit and shaft were driven into opposite sides of the limestone
some years ago. The limestone is mostly covered in the southeast one-third of the
Index claim, but several old pits expose a little mineralization near the boundary.
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(50° 117° N.E.) Executive office, 660 Market Street, San Fran-
Bannockburn (The cisco, Calif.; operations office, Kellogg, Idaho. W. G. Woolf,
Bunker Hill Co.) vice-president; A. E. Nugent, exploration geologist. This company holds an option on the Bannockburn group of claims from
J. Gallo, of Howser, together with an option on some adjoining recorded claims owned
by Sheep Creek Mines Limited. The Bannockburn group is on the south side of Hall
* By J. W. Peck and G. E. P. Eastwood. 60 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Creek on one of its headwater tributaries. The property is reached by a 17-mile road
up Healy Creek to the divide with Hall Creek and thence by a rough trail about 4 miles
long. It has been idle for over fifty years, except for surface diamond drilling done in
1955 by The Granby Consolidated Mining Smelting and Power Company Limited. In
1957 the Healy Creek road was reconditioned and road construction started towards the
Bannockburn. Considerable rock was encountered, and only about one-quarter of the
estimated 4-mile road had been completed when work ceased because of an early snowfall
in September. A geological map of the area was produced for the company by Bruce
Reed.
SOUTH LARDEAU*
(50° 116° S.W.) This group of claims lies northwest of Glacier
J.G. Creek and extends across a mountain ridge to the east arm of
Duncan Lake. The ground was at one time known as the Amato-
Ruby and Glacier groups. It is owned by J. Gallo and associates, of Howser, but was
under option to The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited.
A band of limestone has been explored by trenching and diamond drilling over several
thousand feet of strike length, and there is an adit on the Glacier Creek side. Work in
1957 was restricted to geological mapping.
(50° 116° S.W.) Company office, 717 West Pender Street, Van-
Moonshine, Right couver. C. G. Willett, president; O. Moen, superintendent.
Bower (Willett Capital: 1,000,000 shares, 50 cents par value. This property
Mines Ltd.) is on the Kaslo-Lardeau Highway, 1 mile south of Lardeau.
A narrow fissure vein in limestone has been developed by two
short connected adits and an old shallow inclined shaft. The upper adit has been
stoped to surface. A new level was started from this stope, with access via a raise from
the bottom level. It was driven 50 feet on the vein. Overhand stoping was done in this
drift to a height of 15 feet, making the back of the stope about 15 feet from surface.
On the surface, the vein was stripped below the lower adit, and some ore was
obtained. The total ore from underground and surface amounted to 268 tons. It was
shipped to the smelters at Trail and Kellogg, Idaho. Five men were employed during
May and June.
CRESTONf
Lead-Silver-Copper
(49° 116° S.W.) Company office, 516, 736 Granville Street,
King (King Crest Vancouver; mine office, Creston. This company owns ten claims
Mines Ltd.) on Glaser Creek, 2 miles north of Creston. A crew of four men
was employed sinking a 30-foot winze to a vertical depth of 20
feet on a galena-bearing quartz vein immediately west of the farm owned by L. J. Lansing,
of Creston. In addition, 216 tons of low-grade ore was shipped to the Bunker Hill
smelter at Kellogg, Idaho. This was from an irregular quartz vein in a diorite sill which
outcrops on the west side of a low ridge 1 mile north of the winze workings.
Copper
(49° 116° S.E.) This property, comprising three recorded claims
May-Bee owned by O. Arrowsmith, of Erickson, is on the north side of
Arrow Creek, 3 miles west of Kitchener on the Creston-Cranbrook
Highway. The claims are astride the south end of the Iron Range Mountain fault, and
extend from the north side of Goat River northward up the mountain.
Access to the property is in part by way of either of two logging-roads, the remaining
distances being by short trails to the workings. One road leaves the highway a quarter
* By J. W. Peck.
t By J. E. Merrett. LODE METALS
61
of a mile west of Goat River bridge and passes the bottom claim a mile from the highway.
The other road is by way of Kitchener, crossing the Goat River and ending close to the
upper claim. This road is very rough and is suitable only for four-wheel-drive vehicles.
It is reported that several open-cuts have been made on the property on five separate
veins. However, the depth of snow prevented the examination of anything other than
two adits on the main vein. This occurrence is a chalcopyrite-bearing quartz vein ranging
in width from 1 foot to 5 feet. The vein, striking north 36 degrees west and dipping
vertically, is in a diorite sill of Purcell age in the Iron Range Mountain fault zone.
The upper adit, 83 feet in length, is at an elevation of 3,200 feet. The portal is in
a creek bed and consequently is very wet. Leaching has removed most of the sulphide
mineralization from the quartz to a distance of at least 20 feet from the portal. Seven
samples were taken between this point and the drift face, as in the following table:—
Location of Sample
Width
Gold
Silver
Copper
Ft.
2.3
1.0
2.0
2.0
3.2
4.6
1.8
Oz. per Ton
0.03
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
0.02
Oz. per Ton
0.5
0.1
0.4
Nil
0.3
0.3
0.5
Per Cent
1.81
Portal + 70 feet
0.82
Portal + 60 feet . ..
0.72
Portal + 50 feet
0.09
Portal + 40 feet
0.56
Portal + 30 feet
0.18
Portal + 20 feet
0.18
A yellowish green lamprophyre dyke of northerly strike comes against and follows
the vein. Isolated and unoriented plates of biotite as much as VA inches in diameter
occur within the dyke rock.
The second adit, which is 45 feet long, is 180 feet vertically below and about 600
feet down hill from the upper adit. No sulphides or secondary copper mineralization
were seen in this drift and no samples were taken.
At the end of 1957 it was reported that 40 feet of surface stripping had been done
along the vein, the upper adit had been extended a distance of 55 feet, 10 miles of access
road via Kitchener had been repaired, and one-quarter mile of new road had been
constructed.
Iron
Kitchener (The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited).—(49° 116° S.E.) A small crew was employed reopening the Arrow Creek road
to the summit of Iron Range Mountain, where bulldozer stripping was done on the large
hematite deposit.
GOAT RIVER*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 116° S.E.) This property, owned by F. J. Brady, of Creston,
Star is on the east side of Goat River approximately 3% miles from
Kitchener, on the Creston-Cranbrook Highway. It is at an elevation of 4,500 feet. Access is by 2Va miles along the Goat River road and 1 Vi miles of
logging-road.
At the top of a talus slope a rock cut 75 feet long and 25 feet wide in Aldridge
quartzite discloses a narrow quartz vein striking north 71 degrees east and dipping 72
degrees to the south. The vein is irregularly mineralized with galena and minor amounts
of sphalerite and chalcopyrite. In some places the sulphides are absent and in others
there are pods of galena 2 inches to 1 foot in width. The quartzite walls in the immediate vicinity of the vein are limy. A pit 7 feet deep was dug on the vein at the bottom of
the open-cut. The pit exposed a diorite sill striking at right angles to the vein. Only
* By J. E. Merrett. 62
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
a small quantity of ore was seen, and from the surface evidence it would not appear
profitable to mine it.
Two samples were taken—one across the vein where galena was present and the
other a grab sample from a small pile of stacked ore. These were taken to indicate the
silver-lead ratio.
Location of Sample
Width
Gold
Silver
Copper
Lead
Zinc
Ft.
0.3
Grab
Oz. per Ton
Nil
Trace
Oz. per Ton
21.0
10.6
Per Cent
0.04
0.05
Per Cent
61.1
34.8
Per Cent
Nil
1 2
Sullivan (The
Consolidated Mining and Smelting
Company of
Canada, Limited)
dent of concentrator.
(49° 116° S.E.) This property, owned by F. J. Brady, is east of
Blue Rain and adjoins the Star group. Traces of tetrahedrite in quartzite have
been observed over a large area. A few short diamond-drill holes
have been drilled at random locations in order to prospect the occurrence. A grab sample
from this property assayed: Gold, trace; silver, 0.3 oz. per ton; copper, nil; nickel, less
than 0.1 per cent.
KIMBERLEY
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 115° N.W.) Company office, 215 St. James Street West,
Montreal; mine and smelter office, Trail. R. E. Stavert, Montreal,
president; R. D. Perry, Trail, vice-president and general manager;
W. G. Jewitt, Trail, vice-president in charge of mines. Sullivan
mine office, Kimberley. J. R. Giegerich, general superintendent;
A. G. Robertson, superintendent of concentration; R. N. Porter,
mine superintendent; H. W. Poole, Chapman Camp, superinten-
Capital: 20,000,000 shares, no par value. This company owns
and operates the Sullivan mine on Mark Creek, near Kimberley, and the Sullivan concentrator at Chapman Camp. The holdings include 678 Crown-granted mineral claims
and fractions in a block in the Kimberley area, covering and surrounding the mine workings, from which over 73,923,500 tons of ore has been removed since December, 1909,
at which time the company commenced operations on this property. The following
report, prepared by the management, is a synopsis of the 1957 operations: —
"The Sullivan mine produced and the concentrator treated 2,423,577 tons of ore
during 1957. The open-pit operation, which was temporarily closed down in May, produced 8 per cent of the mine tonnage. The section of the mine above the 3900 level
produced 64 per cent of the mine tonnage. The remainder of the mine tonnage, 28 per
cent, was produced from below the 3900 level.
" Long-hole drilling methods, using diamond drills and percussion drills with sectional steel, accounted for 85 per cent of the underground production. The remainder of
the underground production was obtained from open stopes by bench mining methods.
Three winzes for float filling of stopes below the 3900 level and two for gravel filling
above 3900 level were sunk by diamond-drill methods, the longest one being 53 feet.
"The development footage of 57,098 for 1957 was considerably above that for
1956. The increase was mainly in development for stoping and backfilling. The backfill
development included a long raise driven to surface for the gravel filling of three stopes
above the 3900 level.
"In 1957, 160,000 cubic yards of gravel backfill were placed in two stopes above
the 3900 level, and 228,100 cubic yards of float fill, returned from the concentrator, were
placed in eleven stopes below the 3900 level. Of the total float fill placed, 29 per cent
was scraped. Induced caving of waste rock from the hangingwall following pillar extraction amounted to 293,800 cubic yards of backfilling above the 3900 level. LODE METALS 63
"Primary ventilation of the mine was done by seven Jeffrey fans totalling 950
horsepower, two Joy fans totalling 250 horsepower, one 100-horsepower Sheldon fan,
and one 75-horsepower Sirocco fan. The total volume of air exhausted from the mine
was approximately 900,000 cubic feet per minute.
"An active safety programme was maintained at the mine and concentrator during
the year. The mine, with fifty-three lost-time accidents, had a frequency rate of 0.23
accidents per 1,000 shifts and a severity rate of 12.2 days lost per 1,000 shifts worked.
The concentrator came close to equalling their best year of 1956 with only five lost-time
accidents, giving a frequency rate of 0.05 and a severity rate of 0.9 per 1,000 shifts
worked. Days lost due to accidents were: 2,814 at the mine and 101 at the concentrator.
"Eye protection is now worn by all employees underground. Seventy-three new
employees attended the induction school at the mine. A total of 2,005 have had this
training since the school was started. Twenty-five new miners were given a four-week
course of mining instruction. Since the mining school was organized in 1947, 251 men
have been given this training. Eighteen employees were trained in mine-rescue and were
awarded their certificates. Mine-rescue and first-aid teams competed in local, East
Kootenay, and Provincial competitions. An underground emergency fire and rescue
squad was organized during the year, and twenty-eight men were given three days' training
comprised of lectures and practical work. Fifty-six new employees were given a job
safety training course and 147 employees a refresher course. Seven employees were
successful in obtaining their industrial first-aid certificates. Three hundred and forty-five
St. John first-aid certificates were awarded to 182 adults of the community, including a
high percentage of employees, and to 163 school students. Training was done by mine
and concentrator safety personnel.
"The concentrator operated 250 days. The milling rate averaged 11,000 tons per
day for the first five months of the year but decreased to 8,800 tons per day for the
balance of the year after the open-pit operation was suspended. A 125-tons-per-day pilot
mill was constructed in the main concentrator building. The pilot-mill equipment generally duplicates the flotation flow of the main concentrator, and various circuits and
reagents will be investigated.
" The number of men employed at the mine and concentrator at the year-end was
1,366, of whom 706 were employed underground."
FORT STEELE*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(49° 115° N.W.) Registered office, 1442 Bay Avenue, Trail;
Fort Steele Gold mine office, Box 1720, Cranbrook. D. Shirling, president; C. F.
and Silver Mines Gorse, manager. The Joy, Rita, and Gertrude claims on the north
Ltd. side of Wild Horse River between Brewery and Fisher Creeks are
held by C. F. Gorse. Immediately below the junction of Fisher
Creek and Wild Horse River a caved adit 8 feet in length and 26 feet of abandoned shaft
were reopened on a mineral occurrence of silver, lead, and zinc.
ELK RIVER*
Copper
(49° 115° S.E.) This property comprises two claims overlying
Silver King Lots S 34 and S 36 on the east bank of the Elk River, 3 miles south
of Elko. It is owned by Z. A. Dunlop, of Elko. Access is by way
of a narrow abandoned road on the east bank of the river.
The mineral occurrence consists of a few narrow scattered quartz stringers containing minor amounts of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in quartzite bands exposed below
high-water level. The quartzite bands, which in places are well mineralized with fine
* By J. E. Merrett. 64 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
disseminated pyrite, alternate with bands of highly sheared argillite. The formation
is Precambrian in age. Insufficient ore mineralization is evident to warrant further
development.
Lead
(49° 115° S.E.) R. Monesmith, of Waldo, and partners own six
Leah mineral claims on the summit and south slope of Sheep Mountain
on the west side of the Elk River, approximately 3 miles south of
Elko. Access to the property from the Elko-Roosville Highway is by IV2 miles of
narrow road.
Several widely scattered open-cuts have disclosed narrow vertical quartz veins of
east-west strike and undetermined length in quartzite, closely paralleling Purcell diorite
sills. Rare patches of galena occur within the quartz veins. At no point was sufficient
ore mineralization apparent to warrant further development.
SKOOKUMCHUCK*
Tungsten
(49° 116° N.E.) This property, comprising in excess of ninety
Pico (The mineral claims, is on Burnt Creek or the Second North Fork of
Consolidated Min- Skookumchuck Creek. Access from Torrent station on the Koote-
ing and Smelting nay Central Railway is by 18 miles of good dirt road and 4 miles
Company of of road suitable only for four-wheel-drive vehicles. The mineral
Canada, Limited) occurrence is scheelite in a skarn zone within granite. The scheelite,
which appears abundantly in some surface outcrops and in some
boulders on the hillside, is associated with quartz, garnet, chlorite, and minor amounts
of chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite.
A crew of eight men was employed surface stripping by bulldozer and hydraulic
methods.
WINDERMERE*
Toby Creek (50° 116° S.E.)
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Company office, 6, 490 Baker Street, Nelson; mine office, Toby
Mineral King Creek. H. E. Doelle, managing director; J. B. Magee, mine man-
(Sheep Creek ager. The property is on the Toby Creek slope of the ridge between
Mines Limited) Jumbo and Toby Creeks, 27 miles west of Athalmer. The deposit
is a lead-zine replacement, with barite, in limestone of the Mount
Nelson formation. Development included 1,619 feet of drifts and crosscuts, 1,818 feet
of raises, 381 feet of shaft raise, and 5,123 feet of diamond drilling in sixty holes.
Parallel manway and ore-pass raises were completed from the inner end of No. 7 level to
No. 3 level. A 50-horsepower hoist was installed underground on No. 7 level and a
man-skip in the shaft for servicing between the levels. At the end of the year No. 7 level
was being extended preparatory to driving a waste-pass raise system to No. 3 level.
Drifting on Nos. 4 and 5 levels, on a mineral occurrence encountered while raising
the shaft, disclosed an ore zone ranging in width from 6 to 28 feet and with a higher lead
content than encountered elsewhere in the mine. It is possible that this zone is a downward extension of the south end of the "A" ore zone.
Open-stope mining methods were used, and 168,119 tons of ore was mined and
milled.
The mine ventilation was both natural and mechanical, with approximately 29,000
cubic feet of air per minute being exhausted from the workings. A 15-horsepower 6 HS
Canadian Sirocco fan of 18,000 cubic feet per minute capacity was installed at No. 2
level intake.
* By J. E. Merrett. LODE METALS 65
On the surface a 500-ton coarse-ore bin was built and a 200-foot-long trestle leading
to it from No. 7 level portal.
New equipment included a vibrating coarse-ore feeder under the new ore-bin, a
100-horsepower Belliss-Morcom air compressor in the power-house, and two diesel locomotives (27 and 30 horsepower) underground.
The average number of men employed was ninety-five, of whom fifty were employed
underground.
Horsethief Creek (50° 116° N.E.)
Silver-Copper
This property is at an elevation of 8,600 feet, at the headwaters of
Ptarmigan Red Line Creek, a tributary of McDonald Creek, which in turn is
a tributary of Horsethief Creek. H. F. K. Seel, of Edgewater, is
the owner. A crew of three men was employed removing the ice from part of the old
workings and re-establishing ventilation. A small cut-and-fill stope was developed on
No. 3 level on a narrow quartz vein mineralized with tetrahedrite and pyrite. Six shipments of ore totalling 21 tons were made to the Trail smelter. Silver assays of these
shipments ranged from 15 to 203 ounces per ton. The property was in continuous
operation from May 15th.
SPILLIMACHEEN*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(50° 116° N.E.) Company office, 908 Royal Bank Building,
Silver Giant (Giant Vancouver; mine office, Spillimacheen. R. B. Buckerfield, presi-
Mascot Mines dent. A management contract is held by H. L. Hill and Associates,
Limited) consulting mining engineers, Vancouver. J. M. McDearmid,
general superintendent; J. C. Ehlers, mine superintendent; J. A.
Vallance, mill superintendent; D. C. Beddie, surface superintendent. The property is on
the west slope of Jubilee Mountain, on the northeast side of Spillimacheen River, 8 miles
by road from Spillimacheen station on the Kootenay Central Railway.
Mining was discontinued on June 1st and milling on June 7th because the known
ore reserves were exhausted. Diamond-drill exploration was discontinued July 29th, at
which time the crew was reduced to a watchman.
Development work included 1,590 feet of drifts and crosscuts, 449 feet of raising,
and 8,059 feet of diamond drilling.
During the period of operation 75,237 tons of ore was milled. A crew of 107 men
was employed.
VOWELL CREEK*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
(50° 116° N.W.) Company office, Suite 1001, 335 Bay Street,
Ruth-Vermont Toronto. President, D. R. Derry. The property is on Vermont
(Rio Canadian Creek about 3 miles west of its confluence with Vowell Creek,
Exploration Ltd.) which is tributary to the Spillimacheen River by way of Bobbie
Burns Creek. It was reported that a small amount of diamond
drilling was done and a geochemical survey was made of soil samples.
FIELD*
Silver-Lead-Zinc
Monarch and Kicking Horse (Base Metals Mining Corporation, Limited).—(51°
116° S.E.) The mill equipment was removed and shipped to the property of Cowichan
Copper Co. Ltd. on Cowichan Lake. While removing the equipment, 60 tons of lead
concentrate and 94 tons of zinc concentrate were recovered and shipped to the Trail
smelter.
' By J. E. Merrett.
5 66 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
„ SKAGIT RIVER*
Copper
(49° 121° S.E.) Company office, Hope. S. A. Perry, Toronto,
A.M. president; F. R. Thompson, mine manager. The A.M. group con-
(Canam Copper sists of eight Crown-granted claims, in addition to which the Parks
Company Ltd.) Branch of the Department of Lands and Forests allowed use of a
small area in Manning Park under Park Use Permit No. 10. The
property is on the western boundary of Manning Park and is about 4 miles by road
southerly from approximately Mile 26 on the Hope-Princeton Highway. The claims are
about 24 miles southeast of Hope.
The 4300 level adit was driven an additional 603 feet; the total distance driven on
this adit since it was started in 1955 is 5,454 feet. Much of the work was done with
considerable difficulty.in the water-bearing sheared zone in granitic rock. Work was
suspended in February, 1957.
HOPE*
Nickel-Copper
(49° 121° S.W.) Company office, 1111 West Georgia Street,
Western Nickel Vancouver; mine office, Hope. D. W. Pringle, manager; L. R.
Limited Archibald, mine superintendent. The property is at the head of
Stulkawhits (Texas) Creek, which flows eastward into the Fraser
River about 6 miles north of Hope. From a point on the Trans-Canada Highway 10
miles north of Hope, a good gravel road, 5.1 miles long, leads up Stulkawhits Creek to
the mine camp near the 2600 adit portal. A branch road from the camp provides access
to the 3550 adit.
In November, 1954, work was suspended after the 2600 adit, an inclined raise,
and the 2950 sublevel were driven. This work provided access for diamond drilling
beneath known mineral occurrences.
In April, 1957, The Granby Consolidated Mining Smelting and Power Company
Limited was appointed to conduct the management of the mine. The road from the
mine to the highway was rebuilt throughout, and a machine-shop, change-house, warehouse, assay office, crushing plant, concentrator, and concentrate-storage buildings were
built at the mine. Concentrate-loading facilities were built at the Canadian Pacific Railway siding at Choate.
In the underground workings, the inclined raise from the 2600 level to the 2950
sublevel was continued to the 3550 level and was converted to an internal shaft for
servicing this and intermediate levels. A station was cut at the 3250 level. An ore-pass
was driven from the 2600 level to the 3550 level. A raise 700 feet long was being driven
in the Pride of Emory orebody from the 3550 level to surface.
Sublevel and shrinkage methods of mining are being used. Production started in
January, 1958.
The following summary supplied by the management shows the underground work
completed during 1957: Winze, 456 feet; ore-pass, 1,200 feet; raises, 1,780 feet;
drift and sublevels, 1,121 feet; diamond drilling, 7,264 feet. At the end of the year 240
men were employed.
Gold
(49° 121° S.W.) This property, comprising eight claims held by
Blue Chip record, is adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway approximately
1 mile west of Laidlaw. D. McWilliams has an agreement with the
recorded owner, George Steeves, to operate the property. The showings are in diorite
and consist of several narrow stringers containins pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite, striking north 34 degrees east and dipping about 15 degrees northwest. The
stringers have been explored by former owners with open-cuts and short tunnels.
* By R.B.King.
I LODE METALS
67
In 1957 two trial shipments of vein material totalling 3,280 pounds were sent to
the Tacoma smelter.
HOWE SOUND*
Copper
(49° 123° N.E.) Head office, 730 Fifth Avenue, New York,
N.Y.; mine office, Britannia Beach. E. C. Roper, president; J. S.
Roper, acting manager, succeeded G. C. Lipsey, vice-president and
general manager who retired November, 1957; L. Allan, mine
superintendent. The company owns and operates the Britannia
mine and concentrator at Britannia Beach. The following summary supplied by the
management provides details of the operation in 1957:—
Classification by Type
Britannia Mining
and Smelting Co.
Limited
Class
Jane
No. 8 Bluff
Fairview
Empress
Victoria
Total
Drifts
Ft.
220
Ft. [ Ft.
1.104 1 1.187
Ft.
21
460
203
Ft.
18
Ft.
1,154
100
814
Ft.
3,665
Crosscuts
Raises
95 | 214 | 413
338 | 2,074 | 2,512
235 | 1,652
888 j 37392 I 5/764
1 1
843
6,216
2,090
Totals...'
684
18
2,068
12,814
Classification by Mine
Mine
Current
Stope
Total
Percentaec
of Total
Ft.
153
924
834
1,007
Ft.
735
2,468
4,930
684
18
1,061
Ft.
888
3,392
5,764
684
18
2,068
12,814
6.93
No. 8
26.47
Bluff
44.98
5.34
Empress _
0.14
Victoria _
16.14
Totals
2,918
9,896
100.00
The ore is mined by caving, shrinkage, open-cut-and-fill and filled square-set mining
methods. The tonnage broken in the various sections of the mine was as follows: Bluff,
403,618; Fairview, 113,683; Victoria, 92,717; No. 8, 198,537; Jane, 34,794; Empress,
2,619; development, 5,692; total, 851,660 tons.
The consumption of explosives and blasting accessories was: Powder, 18,802 cases;
electric blasting-caps, 10,977; No. 6 blasting-caps, 338,760; safety fuse, 2,534,405 feet.
The accident-frequency rate for the mining department was 0.28 per 1,000 shifts
worked. The severity rate was 16.71 shifts per 1,000 shifts worked. The total men on
the mine payroll at the end of the year was 323, including 50 staff. The total number of
shifts worked in the mining department was 134,851.
The total number of full-time employees in all departments at Britannia at the end
of the year was 523. The accident-frequency rate for the whole operation was 0.23 per
1,000 shifts worked. Production: Ore milled, 849,212 dry tons.
Iron
Texada Mines
Ltd.
TEXADA ISLAND*
(49° 124° N.W.) Registered office, 626 West Pender Street,
Vancouver. A. D. Christensen, San Francisco, president; B. L.
Alexander, general manager; J. Kenneth Halley, chief engineer;
J. Yuill, mine superintendent. This property is on the southwest
* By R. B. King. 68 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
coast of Texada Island about 3 miles westerly from Gillies Bay, which is nearly 70 air
miles northwest of Vancouver airport. The Prescott, Paxton, and Yellow Kid orebodies
were mined during the year.
Magnetite is mined in pits from levels which are established at 20-foot intervals.
Waste rock is stripped where necessary and hauled to waste dumps. Vertical holes are
drilled with Joy and Gardner-Denver rotary drills and wagon drills and are blasted electrically. The broken ore or waste is loaded by 2V2 -cubic-yard diesel-driven shovels into
15-cubic-yard-capacity trucks and is transported to stockpiles or to the crushing plant.
Ore is crushed in three stages, and a concentrate is made by magnetic separators. The
fine concentrate is conveyed to storage bins and then to the concentrator. In the concentrator it is ground in ball mills and classified. The classifier discharge is pumped
to flotation cells, where a copper concentrate is made. The flotation tailings are passed
over wet magnetic separators, and a magnetite concentrate is recovered. This concentrate
is dried in a rotary kiln and is conveyed to a stockpile.
A new loading-dock was built to replace the dock destroyed December 5th, 1956,
by a slide of marine silt.
In 1957, 209,271 tons of magnetite concentrates was shipped. Approximately
100 men were employed.
VANCOUVER ISLAND*
Benson (Elk) Lake (50° 127° S.E.)
Iron
Company office, 736 Granville Street, Vancouver; mine office,
Empire Develop- Port McNeill. J. A. C. Ross, general manager; A. Shaak, mine
ment Company manager. This property is south of Benson and Kathleen Lakes
Limited in the Quatsino-Nimpkish area of Vancouver Island. It is reached
by a 25-mile road from Port McNeill on Broughton Strait. Magnetite ore is mined from two open pits on the Merry Widow orebody at an elevation of
2,500 feet. Vertical blast-holes are drilled by Gardner-Denver rotary drills. Broken
rock is loaded by 2Vt. -cubic-yard diesel-driven shovels on to trucks and hauled about
1 mile to a crushing plant. Crushed material is conveyed to a loading-bin at the head of
an inclined surface tram. Ore is loaded into 8-ton-capacity skips which operate in
counterbalance. The ore is dumped from the skips into a bin and is then conveyed to
the concentrator, at an elevation of 800 feet, where it is crushed and ground to proper
size. The magnetite concentrate is separated magnetically and is stockpiled. The concentrate is trucked to Port McNeill, where it is again stockpiled for shipment. The
surface tram, crushing plant, concentrator, and stockpiling and ship-loading facilities
were built during the year.
The mine produced 121,423 tons of ore, yielding 82,668 tons of magnetite concentrate, of which 65,033 tons was shipped.
Zeballos (50° 126° S.W.)
Gold
Company office, Powell River. C. J. L. Lawrence, president;
White Star H. A. Thielman, managing director. This property is on Spud
(Cascade Lode Creek, a tributary of Zeballos River, and is about 5 miles from the
Mines Limited) village of Zeballos. The workings of the White Star mine were
rehabilitated and some drifting was done. In December, 1957,
a shipment of 5 tons of hand-sorted ore was shipped to the Tacoma smelter.
* By R. B. King, except as noted. LODE METALS
69
Upper Quinsam Lake (49° 125° N.W.)
Iror
Company office, Campbell River. A. F. Geiger, general manager.
This property is near Upper Quinsam Lake, 23 miles by road from
Campbell River. It was in operation from April to July, 1957,
and during that time a final clean-up of ore and concentrate was
completed. All operations were suspended and the machinery and
equipment removed from the property. Since work commenced
in January, 1951, 2,660,527 cubic yards of material was stripped,
4,027,337 tons of ore was mined, and 2,193,917 tons of concentrate was shipped.
Iron Hill
(Argonaut Mine
Division of Utah
Co. of the
Americas)
Copper
Tsolum River (49° 125° N.E.)
Company office, 1111 West Georgia Street, Vancouver. Gordon
C. Murray, president and managing director. This company holds
ninety-six claims by record and four Crown-granted mineral claims
known as the Domineer group. The claims are on Mount Washington, at the headwaters of the Tsolum River, and are 14 miles
northwest of Courtenay. Noranda Exploration Company, Limited, optioned the property and explored it by a geological and geophysical survey, surface trenching, and diamond drilling. During 1957, 1,200 feet of diamond drilling was done.
Domineer
(Mt. Washington
Copper Co. Ltd.)
Gold
Tranquil Inlet (49° 125° S.W.)
Fandora and Gold
Flake (Moneta
Porcupine Mines,
Limited)
Company office, 408 West Pender Street, Vancouver. R. H. Seraphim, exploration manager. Moneta Porcupine Mines, Limited,
acquired management control of this property in 1957. The property includes the Edmar, Gold Flake, Bell, and E.M. groups of
claims on Tranquil River, about 6 miles from the head of Tranquil
Inlet. Tranquil Inlet is on Vancouver Island about 115 miles by
air west of Vancouver airport. During the year a crew of six men completed some road
work and constructed a light tram-line from the road to the mine at an elevation of 1,500
feet.
Alberni Canal (49° 124° S.W.)
Copper
H. P. Killoran, president. This group of claims consists of two
Crown-granted claims, the Kitchener and the Modoc, and seventeen claims held by record. The claims are about 16 miles south
of Port Alberni on Chesnuknuw Creek, which flows westward into
Alberni Canal. Surface prospecting, trenching, and 750 feet of diamond drilling were
carried out during the year.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept. 1931, p. 166.]
Kitchener (Mineral
Research Limited)
Copper
Cowichan Lake (48° 124° N.E.)
Blue Grouse
(Cowichan Copper
Co. Ltd.)*
Head office, 620 Howe Street, Vancouver; mine office, Lake
Cowichan. Oswood G. McDonald, president and general manager; J. R. Billingsley, mine manager; D. C. Rotherham, geologist. This property consists of three Crown-granted mineral claims
and sixty claims held by record. It includes two old properties,
the Blue Grouse and Sunnyside, and is on the south side of Cowichan Lake about 3 miles
by motor-road northwest of Honeymoon Bay.
* By N. D. McKechnie and R. B. King. "AM Diorite
Basalt
Tuff
Sulphide j
Scale
^<j Fault
0 20 40
Figure 3. Cowichan Copper Co. Ltd. " E " zone on 1340 level and
possible extension on 1100 level. LODE METALS 71
The property has been partially explored on two levels—the 1100 and the 1340—
and on two sublevels—the 1280 and 1430.
Aside from development carried out in preparation for milling, the principal work
done was drifting and raising on the " E " zone on the 1340 level. The " E " zone is
a mineralized tuffaceous horizon 10 to 15 feet wide which, on the 1340 level, lies about
1,000 feet due south of the G-H orebody (see Ann. Rept., 1956, pp. 120-122). It is
exposed for about 300 feet on a strike of north 10 degrees east, and for some 150 feet
on a dip of 65 to 70 degrees west in a raise at the north end of the zone. On the 1100
level a similar zone is exposed for a length of 100 feet, with a similar dip to the west, but
this zone lies some 200 feet east of the projection down dip of the zone on the 1340 level.
Diorite is exposed east of the north end of the zone cn the 1340 level and west of the
zone on the 1100 level; it is not known whether or not these exposures are parts of the
same diorite body. On both levels the zones are cut by post-mineral faults of small
displacement; on the 1340 level the zone terminates both northerly and southerly against
such faults. The principal mineralization is pyrrhotite, which in places has almost completely replaced the bedded rock. The pyrrhotite is irregularly veined with small stringers
and irregular masses of chalcopyrite and pyrite. Small grains of specular hematite occur
sparsely.
The zones on the two levels (see Fig. 3) may be interpreted as (a) parts of the same
bed with a fold lying east of the 1340 level and above the 1100, (b) parts of the same bed
separated by a fault, or (c) two separate tuffaceous horizons. Exploratory drilling was
continuing at the end of 1957.
The following summary, provided by the management, shows details of the operation since the present company started working in 1953:—
Ft.
Crosscutting 2,899
Drifting : 8,439
Sublevelling 854
Raising 2,915
Diamond drilling—
Surface 14,247
Underground 38,869
Mill construction on the property was started in the early spring, and the mill went
into operation in December at 300 tons per day.
In 1957, 9,234 tons of ore was shipped to the smelter at Tacoma.
1 [References: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Repts., 1952 to 1956; B.C. Dept. of
Mines, Bull. 37, Geology of the Cowichan Lake Area, pp. 54-57.]
Nitinat (48° 124° N.W.)*
Copper
Company office, 620 Howe Street, Vancouver. Oswood G. Mc-
Nadira Mines Donald, manager. This property of fifty-two recorded claims is
Limited west of the Nitinat River and north of the headwaters of Home
Creek. The property was described and previous references were
listed in the Annual Report for 1956 (p. 123).
In 1957 an adit on the O.G.M. 20 mineral claim at about 1,200 feet elevation was
driven south 10 degrees west to intersect a shear zone exposed on the hillside about
50 feet higher in elevation. The shear zone strikes north-south and dips 72 degrees west;
it is about 40 feet wide and is sparingly mineralized with chalcopyrite. The rock is
andesitic lava and amphibolite; limestone is exposed south of and slightly higher in
elevation than the shear-zone exposure. The rocks strike north 40 degrees west and dip
65 degrees southwest.
* By N D. McKechnie. 72 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The shear is exposed on surface by an open-cut for a strike length of about 50 feet.
The face of the adit, at 102 feet from the portal, had just reached the zone when work
was suspended.
Company office, 620 Howe Street, Vancouver. Oswood G. Mc-
Avallin Mines Ltd. Donald, manager. The property, held by record, consists of
seventy-eight claims situated about half a mile southeast of the
Nitinat River at Tenas and Granite Creeks.
The rocks are basaltic to dacitic volcanic flows with some thin tuffaceous horizons
and minor limestone lenses. They are intruded by diorite. Locally the volcanic rocks
are altered to amphibolite, ilvaite-garnet skarn, and epidote-garnet skarn.
The formations are folded into open northwestward-trending flexures of small
amplitude.
Faulting in two directions was recognized, one fault striking north 83 degrees west,
dipping 80 degrees south, and apparently post-mineral; the other striking north to north
10 degrees east, dipping 80 to 86 degrees east, and sparsely mineralized. The stronger
north-south faults show a subsidiary shearing striking north 45 degrees east and dipping
55 degrees southeast, and their intersection plunges at 30 degrees to the south. Other
related structures which might influence mineralization could plunge in the same direction.
Mineralization is chiefly pyrite with chalcopyrite and, rarely, magnetite. It is associated, in the main, with the skarns and amphibolites. The principal showings are on
the northeast side of Tenas Creek at about 1,500 feet elevation on mineral claims O.G.M.
182 and O.G.M. 184. Mineralization, varying from sparse chalcopyrite to perhaps
10 per cent chalcopyrite, is exposed in eight small open-cuts for a strike length of 1,000
feet. Not enough work has been done to establish continuity. The strongest mineralization is in the two southeasternmost open-cuts, where chalcopyrite occurs in a grey dacite
flow about 30 inches thick on the west limb of an anticline. The grey dacite is overlain
by green dacite of comparable thickness and underlain by amphibolite; amphibolite also
forms the hangingwall of the green dacite. These rocks appear to be terminated immediately to the northwest by a fault. The fault is not exposed, but the distribution of
outcrops indicates that it may be a north-south fault.
Jordan River (48° 124° S.E.)
Copper
Head office, Tadanac; mine office, River Jordan. This property
Sunloch and is on the Jordan River about 1 mile upstream from the mouth.
Gabbro (Sunro The present workings are reached by a branch road, 1 mile long,
Mines Limited) that leaves the Provincial highway from Victoria about half a mile
east of River Jordan post office. An adit about 100 feet above
sea-level was started and was driven 4,349 feet. This adit is to explore the downward
extension of an extensive shear zone in basalt and gabbro that is well mineralized with
chalcopyrite. A compressor-house, machine-shop, and explosives magazine were constructed. Forty-seven men were employed. Placer
ATLIN*
Spruce Creek (59° 133° N.W.)
This underground placer mine is at the confluence of Dominion
Noland Mines Creek with Spruce Creek and is 12 miles by road from Atlin.
Limited Mining consisted of salvaging pillars. Old workings along the
original J-drive on the north side of the channel were re-entered in
the hope of reclaiming what appeared to be a substantial pillar, but values on mining did
not stand up to those obtained in testing. As a result, the crew was reduced to a minimum in September from a maximum of nine men. Pay gravel mined consisted of 1,485
cubic yards from pillar salvage and 55 cubic yards from general cleanup. Recovery:
Gold, 755 crude oz.
Mr. Falconer worked alone on a drift on his lease.
Dan Langevin staked a lease adjoining Mr. Falconer's property, started a drift, and
did some sniping.
Wright Creek (59° 133° N.E.)
The property of nineteen leases owned by the Compagnie Francaise des Mines
d'Or du Canada is operated by Walter W. Johnston and associates, of San Francisco.
Some work was done in the old shaft on the 104 level. The heading had been driven
40 feet upstream when work was stopped due to failure of the pump.
McKee Creek (59° 133° S.W.)
Three placer-mining leases on McKee Creek, about 10 miles south of Atlin, are
owned by Joe and Louis Piccolo and George Watt. They hydraulicked approximately
10,000 yards of gravel between the middle of May and the early part of October.
Boulder Creek (59° 133° S.W.)
Seven placer leases on Boulder Creek, approximately 15 miles northeast of Atlin,
owned by Norman Fisher and Ole Olson, of Atlin, are under option to purchase by
W. S. Weber, of Abbotsford. Mr. Weber and a crew of five began operations in May
and finished in the early part of October. This hydraulic has not been worked for some
years and setting up of the new plant prevented an early start.
OMINECA*
Quill Creek (54° 128° N.E.)
Three partners headed by Mr. McKenzie worked in a short drift headed upstream
on Quill (Porcupine) Creek, about 3 miles west of Ritchie.
Lorne Creek (54° 128° N.E.)
Some work was done on Lorne Creek by a partnership headed by George B. Rolph,
of Prince Rupert.
* By D. Smith.
73
6 74 ■. REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
CARIBOO*
Hixon Creek (53° 122° S.W.)
Company office, 2032 Third Avenue, Seattle, Wash.; mine office,
Hixon Placers Inc. Hixon P.O. H. W. Hargood, president; C. J. Norris, superintendent. This property, consisting of twenty-one placer leases, is
3 miles up Hixon Creek from the Cariboo Highway. A pipe-line from a diversion dam
on Hixon Creek was completed and 10,000 yards was hydraulicked.
Willow River (53° 121° S.W.)
Coulter Creek.—D. D. Clarke hydraulicked some gravel on Coulter Creek, a tributary of Slough Creek.
Williams Creek.—Thomas Crawford hydraulicked some gravel on the east bank
of Williams Creek near Richfield.
Lowhee Creek.—R. E. MacDougall continued to hydraulic in the Lowhee pit.
Five men were employed.
Lightning Creek (53° 122° S.E.)
Lightning Creek.—Angus Creek Placers Ltd. did a small amount of hydraulicking
on its lease at the junction of Angus Creek and Lightning Creek.
Mostique Creek.—Mr. and Mrs. P. J. Macdonald hydraulicked gravel from a gravel
bank about 75 feet high.
Gagen Creek.—G. S. Gagen sluiced a small amount of gravel on Gagen Creek.
Keithley Creek (52° 121° N.E.)
Keithley Creek.—Thomas Payne ground-sluiced for a short period on his lease
near the junction of Four Mile Creek with Keithley Creek.
L. Fournier ground-sluiced during the summer on his lease.
E. Mitchell constructed a boomer dam and ground-sluiced 60,000 cubic yards of
overburden on his lease at the junction of Keithley and Little Snowshoe Creeks.
Cariboo Falls Placer.—G. A. Goldsmith drilled several churn-drill holes to test
ground on his placer lease near the junction of Keithley and Honest John Creeks.
Nigger Creek.—Thomas Payne hydraulicked a small amount of gravel on his lease
at the headwaters of Nigger Creek, a tributary of Cariboo Lake.
Jack Monet ground-sluiced a small amount of gravel on his lease.
Barr Creek.—R. H. Grant did some testing of his placer lease on Barr Creek, a
tributary of McMartin Creek, which flows into the Swift River.
Rollie (Duck) Creek.—A. E. Sandberg and partner drove a short rock tunnel and
intersected gravel which had been located by drilling.
FRASER RIVER*
Lillooet Area (50° 121° N.W.)
This lease is on the Fraser River opposite the Pacific Great Eastern
Fountainview Railway station at Fountain. The property is 13 miles by road
from the Lillooet-Bridge River road. A bulldozer is used to mine
the gravel and push it to a hopper at the top of a washing plant. About 3,000 cubic
yards of gravel was washed during the year.
* By R. B. King. PLACER 75
BRIDGE RIVER*
Hurley River.—(50° 122° N. W.). W. Haylmore and one man did some work
on his lease on Hurley River near Gold Bridge.
SIMILKAMEENf
Tulameen River (49° 120° N.W.)
G. Francis worked for about one month on his placer claim 3 miles west of Princeton.
M. Heap did 2,500 feet of stripping by bulldozer on his lease 2 miles west of
Princeton.
Granite Creek (49° 120° N.W.)
John G. Craigie and A. Pecton did 21 feet of drifting on their placer lease half a
mile south of the mouth of Granite Creek.
VERNONf
Harris Creek (50° 118° S.W.)
R. Fosberry did some hydraulicking on his leases on Harris Creek.
Monashee Creek, South Fork (50° 118° S.E.)
L. R. Callahan and J. R. Hemmett worked on their lease on Monashee Creek half
a mile south of the junction with Sugar Creek. Operations this season were confined to
removing overburden by bulldozer and to installing a small hydraulic.
COLUMBIA RIVER}
Kirbyville Creek (51° 118° N.W.)
Company office, 2360 Abbott Street, Kelowna. J. H. Buckland,
West Columbia president. This company owns Special Placer Mining Lease No.
Gold Placers 462, an area of 3.9 square miles on the west side of the Columbia
Ltd. River at the confluence of Kirbyville Creek and opposite the
mouth of Goldstream River. The property is reached by boat
from Mile 56 on the Big Bend Highway, north of Revelstoke. Activity in 1957 was
restricted to exploratory drilling.
LARDEAU!
Lardeau Creek (50° 117° N.E.)
W. Hladinec and A. Bobicki, of Beaton, own Placer Mining Lease No. 465 at the
main falls on Lardeau Creek, 5 miles by road from Ferguson. A short access road was
built to the falls from the Lardeau Creek road. Living quarters were erected. It is
the intention of the partners to divert the creek around the falls through a 40-foot
diversion tunnel.
FORT STEELE§
(49° 115° N.W.). Registered office, 1442 Bay Avenue, Trail;
Fort Steele Gold mine office, Box 1720, Cranbrook. D. Shirling, president; C. F.
and Silver Mines Gorse, manager. Four placer leases on Wild Horse River at the
Ltd. mouth of Fisher Creek are held by C. F. Gorse. A crew of four
men, after installing a bucket conveyor, a sluice assembly, a 4-inch
monitor, and a 2,700-gallons-per-minute pump, washed about 10,000 cubic yards of
gravel.
* By R.B.King.
t By A. R. C. James.
t By J. W. Peck.
§ By J. E. Merrett. Structural Materials and Industrial Minerals
Asb ESTOS
CONTENTS
Page
76
Barite
77
Building-stone
77
Clay and Shale
- 79
Gypsum
83
Limestone and Cement
84
Marl
90
Sand and Gravel
90
Silica
. 94
ASBESTOS
Mount McDame (59° 129° S.W.). Head office, 1001 Richmond
Cassiar Asbestos Street West, Toronto; mine office, Cassiar. F. M. Connell, presi-
Corporation dent; J. D. Christian, general manager; N. F. Murray, general
Limited* superintendent. A gravel road 86 miles long connects the property
with the Alaska Highway at mile 648.8 west of Watson Lake. The
property consists of forty-two claims, of which thirty-nine are Crown-granted. The mine
is on Mount McDame at an elevation of 6,300 feet. The modern company town of
Cassiar and the mill are located in the valley of Troutline Creek at an elevation of
3,540 feet.
At present mining is by open pit at 6,110 feet elevation. No underground development was done in 1957. The ore, high-grade chrysotile asbestos, occurs in fractures in
a serpentine dyke which strikes north 15 degrees west and dips 45 degrees east. The
crushing plant at the mine was relocated in 1957.
In 1957 mining was carried on from April 17th to November 6th. During that time
413,615 tons of ore and 876,349 tons of waste were broken. The aerial tram-line
operated from April 24th to October 15th and carried 225,884 tons of ore; the other
188,943 tons of ore was carried by trucks operating under contract to the company.
At an average daily rate of 1,100 tons, the mill processed 402,198 tons of ore to produce
the following grades of fibre:
Spinning grades— Tons
No. 1 Crude 19.00
AAA 9.60
AA 1,362.10
A 5,786.00
Cement grades—
AC 8,100.95
AK 11,113.95
AS 2,280.45
AX 2,771.20
Total 31,443.25
* By David Smith.
76 STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 77
During the year a crew averaging 354 men was employed.
Additional buildings constructed in 1957 included a 70- by 150-foot fibre-storage
shed, a 40- by 160-foot mechanical and electrical shop, a 40- by 120-foot carpenter-shop,
a 70- by 140-foot heavy-duty garage (incomplete), a 20- by 65-foot power-house addition (incomplete), a 36- by 90-foot office, a 30- by 60-foot addition to the recreation
hall, and seven Pan-Abode dwellings.
The lunchroom and drill repair-shop at the mine was destroyed by a serious fire in
August, and was immediately replaced by a semi-permanent structure. Safety has been
given every consideration, and under the direction of Peter Davies, safety officer, a safety
programme is helping to reduce the accident rate materially. Dust control within the
mill has been improved by the addition of a bank of Wheelabrator dust collectors.
BARITE
Company office, Meech Building, P.O. Box 273, Lethbridge, Alta.;
Mountain quarry office, Brisco. R. A. Thrall, managing director; William
Minerals MacPherson, superintendent. This company owns one barite quarry
Limited* 7 miles west by road from Parson siding and another 5 miles west
by road from Brisco, both in the Windermere Valley, south of
Golden. The Parson quarry (51° 116° S.W.) was operated for a short period, during
which time 425 tons of barite was shipped to the company's processing plant at Lethbridge.
The Brisco quarry (50° 116° N.E.) operated for a ten-month period, during which
time a crew of seven men quarried, crushed, and shipped 19,647 tons of barite to the
Lethbridge plant. Two new quarry faces were developed at the north end of the outcrop.
Prospecting revealed two barite outcrops extending as far south as 2,200 feet from
the quarry. Approximately 350 feet of surface stripping was completed by bulldozer on
the outcrops and between them and the quarry. The work completed was not able to
demonstrate continuity between any of these occurrences.
Approximately 500 feet east of the north end of the quarry and on the south bank
of Templeton River, an adit was begun 25 feet below a 14-foot-wide outcrop of barite.
The drifting was stopped after an advance of 25 feet when the barite disappeared either
by pinching or faulting. A second adit, directed to intersect the north end of the main
barite body, was begun 200 feet west of the initial adit, and was driven 220 feet without
intersecting the main barite zone.
Five hundred feet of diamond drilling was completed in six surface holes. The
average number of persons employed was nine, of which two were employed underground.
Invermere (50° 116° S.E.). Company office, 221 Eighth Avenue
Larabee Mining West, Calgary, Alta. Chris Hansen, manager. This company owns
Exploration a group of four claims on the south side of Toby Creek, 8 miles
Company* west of Invermere. The property adjoins the Bunyan claims.
A crew of four men was employed diamond drilling and bulldozer
stripping an outcrop of barite.
BUILDING-STONE
Andesite
(50° 127° N.E.) Company office, J. A. and C. H. McDonald
Haddington Island Limited, 1571 Main Street, Vancouver; quarry, Haddington Island.
Quarryt Andesite is quarried to obtain dimension stone for building pur
poses. The quarry face slopes about 45 degrees, following the
main jointing of the deposit. Stone is undercut by drilling and blasting; the ends
of the stone are formed by a secondary joint system. Drilling is done with air machines
* By J. E. Merrett.
t By R. B. King. 78 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
using conventional steel with a spade-shaped bit. Holes are drilled 3 to 4 inches apart
for shaping the stone and are blasted with black powder. The blocks removed weigh
up to 20 tons. Derricks are used to move the stone to scows, by which it is transported
to Vancouver for finishing. Six men were employed.
Granite
Cheam View (49° 121° S.W.). Company office, 410 Mayfair
Valley Granite Avenue, Chilliwack; plant, Bridal Falls. Kenneth Jessiman, gen-
Products Ltd.* eral manager. The quarry is on the Trans-Canada Highway 11
miles east of Rosedale. Rock is mined by drilling vertical blast-
holes with jackhammers. It is broken to approximately 8 inches and is piled under temporary shelters and dried with open-flame kerosene burners. The dried rock is loaded on
to wheelbarrows and transported to a dry-process crushing and screening plant. The
plant produces turkey, chicken, and bird grits, stucco dash, sand-blasting material, filler
for asphalt roofing, and sand material for automotive vehicles. Twenty men were
employed.
Little Mountain Quarry.t—Chilliwack (49° 121° S.W.). This pit is on the north
slope of Mount Shannon about 1 mile northeast of Chilliwack. It is operated intermittently by the Fraser Valley Dyking Commission to obtain rock for dyke repairs. During
1957 about 13,400 tons of rock was quarried.
Pitt River (49° 122° S.W.). Company office, 902 Columbia Street,
Gilley Bros. New Westminster; quarry office, Pitt River. J. H. Gilley, general
Limited* manager; Francis J. MacDonald, superintendent. Quartz diorite
is quarried to obtain rock for jetties, dykes, and concrete aggregate.
Rock is broken from a quarry face, which is nearly 100 feet high, mainly by coyote-hole
method of mining. Broken rock is loaded by a 2-cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel into
12-cubic-yard-capacity trucks and is transported to a crushing plant. The crushing plant
consists of a 42- by 60-inch jaw crusher which discharges crushed rock over an inclined
6-inch grizzly to a conveyor belt for loading scows. Undersized material ( — 6-inch) is
stockpiled. Hydro-electric power to run the plant is produced on the property. Twenty-
five men were employed.
Nelson Island (49° 124° N.E.). Company office, 744 West Hast-
Vancouver Granite ings Street, Vancouver; quarry, Nelson Island. W. C. Ditmars,
Co. Limited* president. Rock for building purposes, monuments, jetty rock, and
rubble are mined at this quarry. The mining is done by drilling
the rock to size, following a mineral lineation pattern, and blasting and wedging for
removal. Derricks are used to move the stone to scows, by which it is transported to
Vancouver for cutting and finishing. Approximately 1,200 tons of stone was produced
during the operating year. Six men were employed.
Slate
Howe Sound (49° 123° N.E.). Head office, Richmix Clays Lim-
McNab Creek ited, 2890 East Twelfth Avenue, Vancouver; quarry, McNab
Slate Quarry* Creek. G. W. Richmond, manager. Slate is quarried for flagstones, roofing granules, and filler. Rock is broken from a 30-foot
quarry face by drilling and blasting horizontal holes. Broken slate is hand-loaded into
scows. The product is shipped to Vancouver for grading and sizing. The quarry is
operated intermittently.
* By R. B. King.
t By J. W. McCammon. STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 79
Jervis Inlet (50° 123° S.W.). Philip Graham, president; J. Ehlers,
British Columbia quarry superintendent. This property is on an Indian reservation
Slate Co. Ltd.* west of Deserted Bay on the south side of Princess Royal Reach in
Jervis Inlet. Slate is mined by slashing it from the quarry face.
Broken slate is hand-sorted, and marketable sizes are split to Vi-inch thickness. Some of
the stone is trimmed with a diamond saw.
In 1957 approximately 200 tons of flag-stone slate and 3,000 slate tiles were produced and shipped to Vancouver.
CLAY AND SHALE
Central British Columbia!
In the 1957 field season seventeen samples of clay and shale were collected from
central British Columbia. The samples were submitted to the Industrial Minerals Division
of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa, for ceramic testing. The
results of this testing are recorded in I.M. Report 496, December 13th, 1957. A summary of test results is on pages 80 to 82.
Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island
(49° 122° S.E.) Head office, 302 Credit Foncier Building, Van-
Clayburn-Harbison couver; plants, Kilgard and Abbotsford. R. M. Hungerford,
Ltd.* managing director; G. H. Peterson, manager; A. G. Westaway,
assistant plant manager. The name of the company was changed
from Clayburn Company Limited in June when Harbison Walker Refractories Company
purchased a partial interest. Two plants are operated by this company; one, in which
sewer-pipe and flue-linings are manufactured, is at Kilgard; the other, in which facebrick,
refractories, special refractory shapes, and refractory specialties are made, is at Abbots-
ford.
In the Kilgard plant, sewer-pipe and flue-lining are extruded through dies, pre-dried,
and burned in down-draught beehive kilns. At this plant a new Bonnet horizontal extrusion machine was installed and the kilns were converted from oil to natural-gas firing.
In the Abbotsford plant, bricks are dry-pressed or extruded through dies, hand set
on cars, and passed through a drier.
From the drier the bricks pass into a tunnel kiln 300 feet long. At this plant a
third International dry press and a second Clearfield dry pan were installed. This plant
was also converted to the use of natural gas for firing the ware. Some shale used in the
manufacture of refractories is precalcined in a 150-foot rotary kiln. The rotary kiln is
also used for bloating of certain shales.
Shale is mined from certain members of the Huntingdon formation on Sumas Mountain. Three underground mines and two open pits produce shale for the plants. A room-
and-pillar method of mining is used in the underground mines, and extensive use is made
of roof-bolting for ground support. Holes are drilled with tungsten-carbide-tipped augers
which are driven by air-operated drills. Stumping-powder is used in blasting down the
shale. Scrapers, operated by 30-horsepower electrically driven hoists, are used to move
broken shale directly to mine cars. In the open pits, shale is mined in 20-foot benches
by drilling and blasting vertical and horizontal holes. Broken shale is hauled to the
plants by truck.
Shale mined during 1957 totalled 75,547 tons, of which 32,454 tons was used in the
production of facebrick and firebrick and 10,827 tons was used for sewer-pipe and flue-
lining. Calcined shale and light-weight aggregate produced in the rotary kiln amounted
to 12,359 tons. Twenty men were employed in the mining operation.
* By R.B.King.
t By J. W. McCammon. 80
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
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cd STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 83
Fort Langley (49° 122° S.E.). This company opened a clay pit
Lafarge Cement about 8 miles east of Fort Langley on River Road. A large elec-
of North America trically powered scraper is used to scrape clay from the deposit to
Ltd.* a bin. Water is mixed with the clay in large tanks to form slurry.
The slurry is pumped to barges for transportation to the company
cement plant on Lulu Island.
Surrey (49° 122° S.W.). Head office, Victoria Tile & Brick Co.
Bear Creek Brick Ltd., Vancouver; plant, Archibald Road, Surrey Municipality.
Company* James McBeth, plant manager. During 1957 there was no pro
duction from this plant. An enclosed drying area was built, and
plant repairs were carried out.
Haney (49° 122° S.W.). Company office, 846 Howe Street,
Haney Brick and Vancouver; plant, Haney. E. G. Baynes, president; J. Hadgkiss,
Tile Ltd.* managing director. During the year the company name was
changed from Port Haney Brick Company Limited. Plastic clay
is mined from a low pit face adjacent to the plant by a Vi -cubic-yard gasoline-driven
shovel and is transported by truck to a covered air-drying area. The clay is dried in a
rotary wood-fired kiln and conveyed to a dry pan for grinding. Brick and tile are formed
by a stiff-mud extrusion process and dried in a controlled-temperature drying-room. The
products are burned in down-draught beehive kilns. Conversion of the drying-rooms
and kilns to burn natural gas was almost complete by the end of the year. During 1957,
14,700 tons of clay products were produced. Sixty men were employed.
Barnet (49° 122° S.W.). Head office, 8699 Angus Drive, Van-
Mainland Clay couver; plant, Barnet. Surface clay is mined from a pit adjacent
Products Limited* to the plant and is transported to a covered air-drying area. Some
fireclay is obtained from Kilgard. Bricks are formed and dried
in a heated drying building. Common brick, Roman brick, and firebrick are burned in
rectangular oil-fired kilns. Seven men were employed.
Bazan Bay (48° 123° N.E.). K. Bruce, plant manager. This
Deeks-McBride company operates a clay pit and brick and tile plant at Bazan Bay
Ltd. (Clay near Sidney, Vancouver Island. Surface clay is mined by scrapers
Division)* and stockpiled for drying. It is then ground in a dry pan and
elevated to a storage hopper. Brick and tile are formed by a stiff-
mud extrusion process and dried in a temperature- and humidity-controlled drying-room.
The products are burned in an oil-fired shuttle-type kiln. Common brick, building-tile,
and drain-tile are produced.
Victoria (48° 123° S.E.). Office and works, 3191 Douglas Street,
Baker Brick Victoria. Surface clay is mined near the plant and transported by
& Tile Company truck to storage bins. The clay is air-dried, ground, and formed
Limited* into shapes by soft-mud extrusion process and then dried with
waste heat from kilns. Down-draught kilns are used to burn the
ware. During 1957, 3,500 tons of clay was mined.
GYPSUM
Windermere (50° 115° S.W.). Company office, 306 Electric
Western Gypsum Railway Chambers, Winnipeg 2, Man.; quarry office, Athalmer.
Products Limitedt A. E. Portman, superintendent. This company commenced operations on July 6th, 1957, having acquired the Columbia Gypsum
* By R. B. King.
f By J. E. Merrett. 84 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Company Limited holdings and operating equipment in the Windermere area. The
quarry is on Windermere Creek, 10 miles by road from Lake Windermere station at
Athalmer on the Kootenay Central Railway.
A D-8 Caterpillar tractor was purchased and used to strip the overburden in advance
of the north and west walls of the quarry. The quarrying method was modified by replacing the churn drill with a wagon drill and jackhammers and by dividing the high advancing
face into three shorter benches.
A crew averaging sixteen men quarried and crushed 67,257 tons of gypsum and
shipped 50,561 tons. During the period of operation by Columbia Gypsum Company
15,642 tons was quarried and 21,957 tons was shipped.
The destination and approximate distribution of the total tonnage shipped was as
follows: Canada Cement Company, Exshaw, Alta., 24 per cent; Western Gypsum Products Ltd., Calgary, Alta., 20 per cent; Columbia Gypsum Company, Austin, Wash.. 22
per cent; Ideal Cement Company, Irvin, Wash., 15 per cent; Lehigh Portland Cement
Company, Metaline Falls, Wash., 15 per cent; and Richmond, B.C., 4 per cent.
LIMESTONE AND CEMENT
Limestone in the Prince George and Dawson Creek Areas*
During the 1957 field season a search was made for possible commercial sources
of limestone in the vicinities of Prince George and Dawson Creek. Three limestone
deposits are known near Prince George. These are at Hansard, Beaverley, and Red
Rocky Creek. Marl has been reportedf at five localities in this area also, but in each
case the quantity available is too small to be of economic significance. In the Dawson
Creek region the closest calcareous deposits of economic interest are limestone outcrops
along the Hart Highway near Pine Pass and banks of calcareous tufa along the Peace
River at Hudson Hope.
Hansard
Limestone forms a ridge south of Highway No. 16 and the Canadian National Railway tracks 50 miles east of Prince George. Outcrops are on Lots 3073, 3070, and 2681
and extend along the highway for IVi miles between 1 and 2lA miles northwest of the
railway crossing at Hansard. The limestone is exposed in an intermittent series of bluffs
which reach a maximum height of 320 feet above road level.
The largest exposure is 1,000 feet southwest of the highway at a point 1.1 miles
northwest of the Hansard railway crossing. This exposure consists of a bluff which
extends for 1,000 feet parallel to the road. The rock is fine-grained light-grey limestone
of uniform appearance. It does not show recognizable bedding and is highly fractured.
Scattered fossils, probably archceocyathids, are present in some places. A chip sample
taken horizontally across 200 feet at the centre of the base of the bluff face had the
following percentage composition: Insol., 1.04; R203, 0.26; Fe203, 0.10; MnO, 0.01;
MgO, 0.42; CaO, 55.10; P205, 0.01; S, 0.02; Ig. Loss, 43.38; HoO, 0.08.
A second exposure of similar rock is behind a cabin 1.5 miles northwest of the railway crossing. It forms an isolated knoll 200 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 20 feet high.
At a point 1.6 miles northwest of the crossing a bluff of limestone at least 60 feet
high parallels the road for more than 150 feet.
A large bluff of streaked dark- and light-grey limestone occurs 100 feet south of the
road 0.3 mile northwest of the last-mentioned bluff.
A fifth outcrop, 2Vi miles northwest of the railway crossing, consists of a small bluff
of dark-grey limestone at the edge of the road. A sixth outcrop, 0.2 mile farther to the
northwest, is a small bluff of light-grey limestone.
* By J. W. McCammon.
t British Columbia Soil Survey, Report No. 2, 1946, pp. 53-54. STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 85
Except for one or two gullies, the main ridge is continuous between the outcrops just
described, but overburden and vegetation hide the bedrock. Undoubtedly these isolated
exposures are all part of one limestone band of considerable size. The band is probably
a continuation of the belt of Lower Cambrian limestone found in the Grand Canyon on
the Fraser River 15 miles to the southeast.
[References: B.C. Dept. of Mines, Bull. 11, 1941, p. 21 and Fig. 3; Bureau of
Mines, Canada, Publ. No. 811, 1944, pp. 220-221.]
Beaverley
A low knoll of limestone projects through the glacial till near the centre of Lot 1893,
3Vz miles southwest of Beaverley, a settlement 13 miles southwest of Prince George.
A farm road in fair condition leads to the southwest corner of Lot 615, whence a disused
trail extends for a mile to the limestone outcrop. A reserve once put on the limestone
by the Department of Agriculture has been removed.
The limestone is fine-grained light-grey rock. It occurs in thin beds that enclose
small lenses and minute layers of white cherty material. The beds strike north 75 degrees
east and dip 55 degrees to the south. Bedrock is exposed for 250 feet along the strike,
and for 100 feet across the strike at the widest point. The limestone plunges under glacial
cover in all directions.
On the south side of the exposure the rock forms a steep face about 20 feet high.
A few tons of limestone has been quarried from this face. The remains of an old pot kiln
lie beside the quarry.
A second small outcrop has been reported* 600 feet from the one described above.
A sample consisting of chips taken at 5-foot intervals across 100 feet of beds at the
widest section of the outcrop had the following percentage composition: Insol., 5.50;
R2O3,0.30; Fe2Oa,0.11; MnO, 0.005; MgO, 0.35; CaO, 52.40; P2Od, 0.04; S, 0.08;
Ig. Loss, 41.53; HoO, 0.07.
Redrocky Creek
A prominent bluff of limestone occurs along the side of a hill north of Redrocky
Creek, just east of the Hart Highway 55 miles north of Prince George. The south tip of
the hill lies within Lot 3022 and the rest is in unsurveyed land to the north of this lot.
Limestone is exposed for more than 1,000 feet along the bluff parallel to and a
quarter of a mile northeast of the highway. Additional intermittent exposures are present
on the Westcoast Transmission pipe-line right-of-way that runs parallel to the bluffs 400
to 500 feet farther to the northeast; they extend for half a mile along the right-of-way.
At the northwesternmost outcrop the limestone is in contact with highly sheared argillite.
No other contacts were seen, since at all other terminations the limestone plunges beneath
overburden. The highest point on the hill is 300 feet above the highway.
The limestone consists of a dark-grey to black matrix crowded with round and ellipsoidal pellets 1 to 10 millimetres in diameter. The pellets are composed of ankerite or
ferroan dolomite, and are pale buff on fresh surfaces but weather to reddish brown; they
give the rock a porphyritic appearance. Stringers of calcite are abundant throughout
the rock. Fractures are numerous and closely spaced. No bedding is discernible at
close range, but varicoloured horizontal lines that may represent bedding can be seen
from the highway.
This rock is very similar in appearance to some parts of the Lower Cambrian limestone on the Fraser River at the Grand Canyon and also to parts of the Cunninghamf
limestone of the Cariboo district.
A sample consisting of chips taken at 10-foot intervals for 600 feet along the
base of the bluff starting at the southeast end had the following percentage composition:
* British Columbia Soil Survey, Report No. 2, 1946, pp. 52-53.
t B.C. Dept. of Mines, Bull. 38, 1957, p. 23. 86 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Insol., 2.80; R203, 0.36; Fe2O3,0.21; MnO, 0.005; MgO, 0.38; CaO, 53.82; P205,
0.03; S, 0.02; Ig. Loss, 42.61; H20, 0.08.
Pine Pass
The closest accessible limestone to Dawson Creek is exposed in rock cuts along the
Hart Highway 110 miles west of the town. In this locality, east of the Pine Pass summit,
the highway cuts through the Murray Range, which is composed of sedimentary rocks,
predominantly calcareous.
Samples were obtained at four rock cuts in the vicinity of the highway bridge over
the Pine River 105 miles west of Dawson Creek.
The first sample was from a long rock cut 15.1 miles west of the bridge. In this
cut, dark-grey to black limestone occurs in thin, peculiarly crinkled beds. Interbedded
with the limestone are scattered 6-inch to 2-foot thick beds of light-grey dolomite.
A sample taken across 50 feet perpendicular to the bedding, with obvious dolomite
bands omitted, had the following percentage composition: Insol., 38.56; R203, 2.90;
Fe2Os, 2.03; MnO, 0.04; MgO, 5.56; CaO, 25.70; P,05, 0.12; S, 0.12; Ig. Loss,
27.29; H20, 0.22.
Limestone of similar appearance outcrops along the road for nearly 4 miles toward
Dawson Creek.
The second sample was taken across a 150-foot stratigraphic thickness of beds
exposed in a road cut 3.2 miles west of the bridge. The limestone in this location is
fine-grained black rock with highly developed cleavage. The uppermost beds are inter-
layered with chert. The sample had the following percentage composition: Insol., 25.5;
R203, 0.70; Fe203, 0.91; MnO, 0.01; MgO, 1.94; CaO, 38.2; P,Os, 0.03; S, 0.33;
Ig. Loss, 32.6; H20, 0.09.
This cut is across the end of the long narrow ridge that runs northwestward from the
peak of Solitude Mountain.
The third sample was taken across 200 feet at the east end of a long outcrop 1 mile
west of Pine River bridge. The limestone is thick-bedded, fine-grained, black, brittle
siliceous rock. The sample had the following percentage composition: Insol., 47.9;
R203, 1.22; Fe203, 2.09; MnO, 0.02; MgO, 2.94; CaO, 20.8; P2O0, 0.16; S, 1.40;
Ig. Loss, 24.7; H26, 0.27.
A fourth sample was taken across 100 feet of black siliceous limestone exposed in
a small road cut 1.3 miles east of the bridge. The sample had the following percentage
composition: Insol., 48.8; R203, 0.64; Fe203, 0.63; MnO, 0.03; MgO, 8.30; CaO,
18.1; P2Or,, 0.06; S, 0.27; Ig. Loss, 23.3; H20, 0.08.
Hudson Hope
Extensive deposits of calcareous tufa have formed along the north bank of the Peace
River at Hudson Hope, 51 miles by road west of Fort St. John.
One deposit extends from the ferry landing at Hudson Hope for 300 feet upstream
along the river bank. It is at least 30 feet thick in the centre and covers the slope for
about 100 feet up from river level. The tufa has been deposited from a spring and
deposition is still taking place. A sample consisting of chips taken at random from the
surface of the tufa had the following percentage composition: Insol., 0.82; R203, 0.18;
Fe,03, 0.09; MnO, 0.003; MgO, 0.97; CaO, 53.38; P2O0, 0.01; S, 0.08; Ig. Loss,
44.48; H2 0,0.22.
The remains of two pot kilns stand near by. Lime burned in the kilns is reported
to have been of good quality.
A second deposit of comparable size is on the river bank 100 yards farther upstream.
A third and larger deposit covers the river bank for nearly 800 feet on Lot 11, 2.4
miles by road upriver from Hudson Hope. The deposit forms steep cliffs more than 100 STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 87
feet high. Chunks of tufa are ploughed up in a field more than 300 feet back from the
edge of the cliffs. The deposit is a surface coating overlying black silty shales. Its thickness is unknown but may be at least 100 feet in some parts. A sample of chips taken at
random from the base of the cliff had the following percentage composition: Insol., 5.28;
R2O3,0.80; Fe2O3,0.30; MnO, 0.009; MgO, 1.59; CaO, 49.98; P2O5,0.03; S, 0.04;
Ig. Loss, 42.30; H20, 0.16.
Fife (49° 118° S.E.). Head office, Trail. G. S. Ogilvie, property
The Consolidated superintendent; Oscar Tedesco, quarry foreman. The quarry is
Mining and Smelt- alongside the Kettle Valley branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
ing Company of half a mile north of Fife. The limestone quarried here was shipped
Canada, Limited* to Trail for use as a flux in the smelter. On May 15th the quarry
was closed down for an indefinite period following arrangements
by the company to obtain limestone from a cheaper source of supply in Washington.
A crew of twelve men was employed on a two-shift basis during the four and a half
months of operation. The limestone shipped amounted to 23,433 tons.
Agassiz Lime Quarry.t—Agassiz (49° 121 ° S.W.). Hiram Cutler, owner. Limestone is quarried to produce agricultural limestone, crushed rock, and chicken grit.
Limestone is blasted from a low quarry face and is transported by a Va -cubic-yard loader
from the quarry to the crushing plant. Three men were employed.
Popkum (49° 121° S.W.). Thomas Mairs, manager; Arthur Isaacs,
Fraser Valley superintendent. Limestone is quarried to produce agricultural
Lime Suppliest limestone and industrial filler. The quarry is being worked in
benches nearly 25 feet high. Rock is blasted from the quarry face,
loaded into trucks by a 1-cubic-yard front-end loader and transported to the crushing
plant. About 5,000 tons of limestone was quarried during 1957. Six men were employed.
Vananda (49° 124° N.W.). Head office, 744 West Hastings Street,
Beale Quarries Vancouver; quarry office, Vananda. Lafarge Cement of North
Limitedt America Ltd., owner; W. D. Webster, superintendent. Limestone
is quarried to produce pulp rock for paper mills, agricultural limestone, crushed limestone, and cement rock. The quarry is worked on levels with faces
about 40 feet high. Vertical blast-holes are drilled with a Joy Heavy-weight Champion
drill. Broken rock is loaded by a 3-cubic-yard Bucyrus shovel into Euclid 63T trucks and
transported to a new crushing plant. This plant is equipped with an Allis-Chalmers 60-
by 48-inch primary jaw crusher, an Allis-Chalmers 36- by 48-inch secondary jaw crusher,
and a Pennsylvania impactor. Screens and belt-conveyors are installed to accommodate
two main sizes of rock—pulp rock from 6 to 12 inches and cement rock which is minus
three-quarters of an inch.
A loading-dock has been built which will load limestone on scows at the rate of
1,000 tons an hour.
Vananda (49° 124° N.W.). Office and quarry, Vananda. Stanley
W. S. Beale Beale, manager. This quarry is at Marble Bay near Vananda.
(1955) Ltd.t Limestone is quarried to produce pulp rock and cement rock. The
quarry is worked with one face nearly 80 feet high and sloping
45 degrees to the horizontal. Horizontal blast-holes are drilled parallel to the quarry
face by air-leg machines. Blasted rock is loaded by a Vi -cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel
and transported by trucks to a coarse scalping screen. Large sizes of rock are loaded on
to scows and sold as pulp rock; smaller sizes are stockpiled and sold as cement rock.
Seven men were employed.
* By A. R. C. James.
t By R. B. King. 88 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES. 1957
Vananda (49° 124° N.W.). Don McKay, owner. This quarry
McKay Quarry* is on the main road about 2 miles south of Vananda. White limestone is mined and sold for stucco dash and whiting. The white,
bleached limestone occurs as irregular masses in a blue-grey limestone. Open-pit mining
with low benches allows a selective recovery of the white limestone. Grey limestone is
sold for pulp rock and also exported for use in the glass industry.
During 1957, 2,400 tons of white limestone and 5,000 tons of blue-grey limestone
were produced. Three men were employed.
Blubber Bay (49° 124° N.W.). Head office, 50 Maitland Street,
Gypsum Lime Toronto 5; British Columbia office, 1105 West Pender Street, Van-
and Alabastine, couver; quarry office, Blubber Bay; lime plants, Blubber Bay and
Canada, Limited* Vancouver. W. M. Tully, British Columbia area manager; Arthur
Pitt, Blubber Bay, plant manager. Limestone is quarried approximately 2 miles from the Blubber Bay plant. The quarry is worked in benches with faces
nearly 25 feet high. Horizontal and vertical blast-holes are drilled with wagon drills and
Gardner-Denver rotary drills. Broken rock is loaded by diesel-driven shovels on to trucks
and hauled to the Blubber Bay plant. There limestone is crushed, sized, and stockpiled
for use in lime-burning facilities at Blubber Bay and Vancouver, and also for sale.
Products are crushed stone, including sized rock, spalls, and fines or screenings,
quicklime (lump, crushed, and pulverized), and hydrated lime. Stone is supplied to such
industries as pulp and paper, cement, smelting and refining, iron and steel, agriculture,
etc. Lime is supplied for building, mining, pulp and paper, chemicals, agriculture, steel
and sugar industries.
The total number of men employed at Blubber Bay in 1957 was sixty.
Koeye River (51° 127° N.W.). P. O. Christensen, president; A. A.
Koeye Limestone Christensen, secretary-treasurer. This company operates a lime-
Co. Ltd.* stone quarry on Koeye River, less than a mile from its mouth on
Fitzhugh Sound, 6 miles south of Namu. The limestone is mined
by drilling vertical holes with a small portable drill. The broken rock is hand-loaded into
narrow-gauge cars and hand-trammed to a scow-loading ramp. The 1957 production
was 12,500 tons, all of which was shipped to Ocean Falls pulp plant of Crown-Zellerbach
Canada Ltd.
Jeune Landing (50° 127° S.W.). Head office, 1111 West Georgia
Alaska Pine Street, Vancouver. Nils Erickson, quarry superintendent. This
& Cellulose quarry is on the east shore of Neroutsos Inlet about 1 V\ miles north
Limited* of Jeune Landing. Limestone is quarried for pulp rock for the Port
Alice pulp plant. The quarry is worked by advancing a low face
and using an air-leg type of drill for drilling horizontal blast-holes. Broken rock is loaded
by a Vi-cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel and transported by truck to a ramp, where it is
dumped over a scalping grizzly. The coarse material is loaded on scows and fine material
is trucked to a stockpile. Three men were employed.
Head office, 500 Fort Street, Victoria. Gordon Farrell, president;
British Columbia B. Franklin Cox, vice-president and general manager; R. E. Has-
Cement Company kins, general superintendent. Gordon Farrell became president in
Limited* September, 1957, and B. Franklin Cox became vice-president and
general manager in December, 1957. British Columbia Cement
Company Limited was incorporated August 1st, 1957, taking over all assets and business
from the original British Columbia Cement Company Limited, which changed its name
to Ocean Cement and Supplies Ltd., and is now a holding company.
* By R. B. King. Cement works at Bamberton, under construction in 1912.
British Columbia Cement Company Limited plant at Bamberton to-day. 90
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Quarries are operated at Bamberton (48° 123° N.W.) and Cobble Hill (48° 123°
N.W.) on Vancouver Island. At Bamberton, limestone is mined by drilling horizontal
holes with wagon drills. Broken rock is loaded by electric and diesel-driven shovels and
transported to the crushing plant by trucks.
At Cobble Hill the quarry face is about 80 feet high. Churn drills are used to drill
vertical blast-holes which have a 26-foot spacing and burden. Broken rock is loaded by
diesel-driven shovels into 15- and 30-cubic-yard-capacity trucks and transported over
7 miles of private road to the plant at Bamberton.
At Blubber Bay (49° 124° N.W.) a quarry was worked until May, 1957, and then
discontinued.
A new kiln, capable of producing cement at a daily rate of 3,000 barrels, was
installed at the Bamberton plant and commenced production in June, 1957.
In 1957, 685,119 tons of rock was mined. Of this, 501,743 tons of limestone was
quarried at Cobble Hill, 161,638 tons of rock was quarried at Bamberton, and 21,738
tons of rock was quarried at Blubber Bay. The production of cement was 2,652,000
barrels.
MARL
Popkum (49° 121° S.W.). Office, Chilliwack. A. M. Davidson,
Cheam Marl manager. Marl and overlying humus are mined from a post-Glacial
Products Ltd.* deposit which has accumulated on the floor of Cheam Lake. This
material, on the north shore of the lake, is as much as 12 feet thick
and is dug by dragline and loaded on to trucks. Wet and semi-dry humus and marl are
produced for agricultural purposes. Two men were employed.
Popkum (49° 121° S.W.). W. A. Munro, manager. Marl and
Popkum Marl humus are mined from a post-Glacial deposit on the east shore of
Products Cheam Lake. Draglines are used to dig marl and humus. Some
Limited* of the material is dried in an oil-fired rotary kiln. Wet, semi-dry,
and dry humus and marl are produced for agricultural purposes.
Three men were employed.
SAND AND GRAVELf
Wynndel (49° 116° S.W.) and Creston (49° 116° S.E.). The
Wynndel pit is at the north end of Duck Creek road adjoining
Seaman's pit. Gravel was mined from low faces using a loader and
was screened and crushed when necessary. The production was
used principally in road construction. In July the crushing and screening plant was moved
to a gravel bench on Goat River, 2 miles east of the Creston-Rykerts Highway.
Wynndel (49° 116° S.W.). F. Merriam and J. Werner, owners.
Merriam and This pit is on the Creston-Kootenay Bay Highway 4Vi miles north
Werner! of Wynndel. Gravel is mined from a steep face by angle bull
dozing and is pushed over a coarse grizzly to remove large rocks.
Approximately 4,200 cubic yards was produced for building and road construction and
for dyke riprap.
Seaman's Gravel Pit4—Wynndel (49° 116° S.W.). G. Seaman, Creston, owner.
This pit is at the north end of Duck Creek road, 3 miles north of Wynndel. Approximately 400 cubic yards of road gravel is produced annually. The gravel is mined from
low faces by a front-end loader.
* By R. B. King.
t By R. B. King, except as noted.
t By J. E. Merrett.
Louis Salvador
and Son! STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 91
Company office, Box 461, Nelson. C. Ross, president; R. Bain
Premier Sand and Oliver, manager. Capital: 10,000 shares, $1 par value. This
Gravel Company company operates a gravel pit on the outskirts of Nelson, part of
Limited* which was formerly owned by the city. Work in the past has been
intermittent, but a modern plant was installed about two years ago
and has operated steadily since then. The gravel is removed by dragline and then crushed
and sized. Production in 1956 was 42,700 yards; in 1957, 42,500 yards. Seven men
were employed.
Abbotsford (49° 122° S.E.). This pit is 7 miles west and 6 miles
Abbotsford Gravel south of Abbotsford. Gravel is mined by shovel and scraper.
Sales Ltd. A plant, adjacent to the pit, crushes, washes, and sizes the gravel.
The products are used as aggregate in a ready-mix concrete plant
or are sold locally. Four men were employed.
Clearbrooke (49° 122° S.E.). Dueck Building Supplies Ltd.,
Dueck's Gravel Pit owner. This pit is about 1 mile north of Clearbrooke. Sand and
gravel are dug from low gravel faces by an overhead loader and
transported to a bucket elevator, by which they are elevated to a crushing, washing, and
sizing plant. Pit-run, washed, and sized gravel are produced. A ready-mix plant furnishes concrete for local sales. Seven men were employed.
Aldergrove (49° 122° S.E.). C. N. Foster, owner. This pit is
Foster's Gravel Pit about 3 miles south of Aldergrove. Sand and gravel are mined
from low faces by a front-end loader. Pit-run gravel is sold locally.
The production in 1957 was 4,084 cubic yards. One man was employed.
Border Sand and Gravel Company.—White Rock (49° 122° S. W.). Office and
plant, Boundary Road, R.R. 4, White Rock. T. Lapierre, manager. Gravel is dug from
low faces by an overhead loader. It is transported for washing and sizing to a plant or is
sold as pit-run gravel. Three men were employed.
Colebrook Sand & Gravel Company Limited. — Cloverdale (49° 122° S.W.).
Office and plant, Bay view Road, R.R. 1, Cloverdale. F. Bray and J. Bray, owners and
operators. Sand and gravel are mined by an overhead loader, loaded on to trucks and
hauled to a semi-portable washing and screening plant. Washed and sized products or
pit-run gravel are sold locally. Two men were employed.
Sunshine Properties Ltd.—Newton (49° 122° S.W.). This pit is about 1 mile
south and 3 miles west of Newton on the British Columbia Electric Railway. Gravel is
mined from a low face by a diesel-driven shovel. Pit-run gravel is sold locally.
Corporation of the District of Surrey.—Cloverdale (49° 122° S.W.). Several
gravel pits are operated within the township for the purpose of road maintenance and
construction. Gravel is mined by diesel-driven shovels or by scrapers and is crushed in
portable crushers or used as pit-run gravel.
Corporation of the Township of Langley.—Murrayville (49° 122° S.W.). Several gravel pits are operated within the township for the purpose of road maintenance and
construction. Gravel is mined by diesel-driven shovels and is transported to crushers by
trucks or is used directly as pit-run gravel.
Hornby General Machinery Company.—Langley Municipality (49° 122° S.W.).
Office, Cloverdale; pit, Gobsell Road. Harry Hornby, owner. Run-of-pit gravel is
mined by a small diesel shovel from low pit faces. The pit is operated intermittently.
Gravel is sold locally.
S.U.B. Quarries Ltd.—Port Mann (49° 122° S.W.). Office, 611 No. 3 Road,
Brighouse. This company also operates the Richmond Bulldozing Co. Ltd. pit. Gravel
* By J. W. Peck. 92 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
is mined by digging low gravel faces with diesel-driven shovels. Most of the production
is supplied as pit-run gravel to a crushing plant and ready-mix plant adjacent to the pit.
Five men were employed.
Corporation of the District of Coquitlam.—Coquitlam (49° 122° S.W.). Several
gravel pits are operated within the township for the purpose of road maintenance and
construction. Gravel is mined by a small diesel shovel. Gravel is either crushed in
a portable crusher or used as pit run. In 1957 the production from all pits was 20,773
cubic yards.
Coquitlam (49° 122° S.W.). Jack Cewe, manager. This pit is
Jack Cewe about 3 miles north of Coquitlam on Pipe Line Road Gravel is
Blacktop Ltd. mined from low gravel faces by a diesel-driven shovel and is
trucked to a portable crusher. Run-of-pit gravel and crushed
products are sold locally or used by an adjacent asphalt road-materials plant. Six men
were employed.
Coquitlam (49° 122° S.W.). Company office, 902 Columbia
Gilley Bros. Street, New Westminster. J. H. Gilley, general manager; E.
Limited (Maryhill Johnston, superintendent. This pit and plant is on the Fraser River
Division) near Coquitlam. Sand and gravel are mined from 30-foot faces by
a 2Vz -cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel and trucked by 12-cubic-
yard trucks to a crushing plant. Crushed rock is distributed to two washing plants. Sand,
gravel, and crushed products produced from this property are transported by scows to
markets. Forty-five men were employed.
Coquitlam (49° 122° S.W.). N. P. Stromgren and C. B. Scott,
S. and S. Gravel Pit owners. This pit is on Pipe Line Road north of Coquitlam. Gravel
is mined from gravel faces 50 feet high by digging with a diesel-
driven shovel or an overhead loader and is either crushed in a portable crusher or sold
locally as run of pit. Four men were employed.
Corporation of the Municipality of Burnaby.—Burnaby (49° 122° S.W.). S.
Thompson, works superintendent. The pit, on Stride Avenue, is operated by E. R. Taylor
Construction Co. Ltd. for the Municipality of Burnaby. Gravel is mined by digging with
a 1-cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel. It is loaded into trucks and transported to a portable
crusher or is used as run-of-pit gravel.
Company office, 1051 Main Street, Vancouver. J. W. Sharpe,
Deeks-McBride general manager. Two gravel pits and crushing plants were oper-
Ltd. ated during 1957 by this company. One pit is near Coquitlam
(49° 122° S.W.) and the other is near the mouth of Seymour
Creek (49° 123° S.E.). At the Coquitlam pit, gravel is dug with a 1-cubic-yard-capacity
dragline and is transported by a conveyor belt to a jaw crusher and then to the washing
plant. The washed and sized gravel is stored in steel bunkers and is sold locally or used
in a ready-mix cement plant. Ten men were employed.
At the Seymour plant, gravel is mined by a %-cubic-yard dragline at the edge of
Burrard Inlet. Gravel is transported by conveyor to the washing plant. Crushed,
washed, and sized gravel is shipped by scow or truck. Thirty men were employed.
Lynnmour (49° 123° S.E.). Company office, Lynnmour. W. J.
Highland Sand Barrett-Leonard, manager. D. F. Spankie, director. This com-
and Gravel pany operates two plants—one on East Keith Road, Lynnmour,
Company Limited and one at 2962 Lambert Road, Langley Municipality. At the
Lynnmour plant, sand, gravel, crushed products, and road materials
are produced. Material is mined from low gravel faces by a %-cubic-yard diesel-driven
. STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 93
shovel and is transported to a crushing, screening, and washing plant. Gravel purchased
from local supplies is also prepared in this plant.
At the Langley plant, gravel is mined by scraping, using two IVi-cubic-yard crescent
scrapers driven by an electrically powered double-drum donkey engine. Gravel is conveyed to the plant, where it is washed, crushed, and sized.
During 1957, 216,471 cubic yards of material was handled by these plants, which
involved the following products: Crushed rock, 37,494 cubic yards; sand and gravel,
46,246 cubic yards; crushed fills, 83,741 cubic yards; bank-run fill, 48,990 cubic yards.
Maclynn Gravel Co. Ltd.—Lynnmour (49° 123° S.E.). Company office, Keith
Road, Lynnmour. A. D. MacMillan, owner and operator. Gravel is dug by dragline
from the bottom of Lynn Creek. The run-of-pit gravel is sold locally. Three men were
employed.
West Vancouver (49° 123° S.E.). C. W. Bridge, general manager.
Capilano Crushing This company operated two crushing and washing plants in 1957—
Co. Ltd. plant No. 1 at 606 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, and plant No.
2 at 33 East First Avenue, Vancouver. Gravel is mined by dredging the foreshore near the mouth of the Capilano River. Two diesel-driven draglines are
used to remove the gravel. One of these loads gravel on trucks for transport to plant No.
1; the other loads gravel on scows for transport to plant No. 2. Total 1957 production
from both plants was approximately 330,000 cubic yards.
West Vancouver (49° 123° S.E.). Office, Lower Capilano Post
Routledge Office. T. C. Routledge, president. This company operates two
Gravel Ltd. pits—No. 1 on the Indian reservation at the lower end of Lower
Capilano Road and No. 2 at the mouth of Lynn Creek at the lower
end of Brooksbank Avenue, North Vancouver. In both pits, gravel is scraped by a
7-cubic-yard scraper from underwater deposits and is conveyed to crushing, screening,
and washing plants. The production in 1957 was 213,000 cubic yards from plant No. 1
and 55,000 cubic yards from plant No. 2.
Britannia Beach (49° 123° N.E.). Company office, 628 Carnar-
Construction von Street, New Westminster. Production from this pit started in
Aggregates Ltd. 1957. Gravel is mined by scraping material from a high bank into
a large hopper. The oversize rock is removed and the finer sizes of
gravel are conveyed by an inclined belt to a washing and screening plant. The fine sand
is treated in an Aitkens classifier to remove fine deleterious material. The sand and gravel
are shipped by scow or railroad to markets. Ten men were employed.
Hillside (49° 123° S.E.). Company office, 1075 Main Street,
Hillside Sand & Vancouver; plant, Hillside. J. E. Buerk, manager; Ray Kehoe,
Gravel Limited superintendent. This pit is on the west shore of Howe Sound and
is accessible by road by Gibsons Landing. Gravel is mined by
washing with a constant flow of water cascading over the high pit face. Gravel is loaded
by a % -cubic-yard diesel-driven shovel into 15-cubic-yard Euclid trucks and transported
to a crushing and washing plant. Washed and sized gravel is loaded on to scows for
transportation. The 1957 production from this pit was 320,000 cubic yards.
Royal Oak (48° 123° S.E.). Office and plant, Keating Cross-
Butler Brothers road. Claude Butler, manager. Gravel is blasted or dug from
Supplies Ltd. gravel faces by diesel-driven shovels and an overhead loader. It
is transported to a washing and sizing plant or is sold as pit run.
A ready-mix plant furnishes concrete for local sales. In 1957, 154,000 cubic yards of
gravel was mined. Five men were employed. 94 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Saanich (48° 123° N.E.). Company office and plant, Royal Oak
Mclntyre & Harding Post Office, Saanich. Gravel is dug from gravel faces by Vi-cubic-
Gravel Company yard diesel-driven shovels and is transported by trucks to a chute
Limited and grizzly. It is then conveyed to a washing and screening plant.
Sand, gravel, and washed and sized products are produced. A concrete plant for making concrete bricks, building-blocks, and drain-tile is also operated.
In 1957, 47,673 cubic yards of gravel was produced. Twenty-five men were employed.
Albert Head (48° 123° S.E.). Company office, 900 Wharf Street,
Evans, Coleman Victoria; plant, Royal Bay. D. E. Smith, manager; A. Parker,
& Johnson Bros, plant superintendent. Two plants are operated by this company,
Ltd. both of which are in the vicinity of Royal Bay. At plant No. 1,
sand and gravel are mined by using a scraper on a slack-line cable-
way to loosen packed gravel from the high face. Gravel is loaded by a 1 Vi -cubic-yard
shovel into a hopper, where it discharges on a conveyor belt and is conveyed to the plant.
Gravel is crushed, screened, washed, and classified, and the products are shipped by
scow to markets.
At plant No. 2, gravel is dug by a diesel-driven shovel from a low face, loaded on
to trucks and transported to a washing and screening plant.
Sand, gravel, and crushed products are sold locally. The production from both pits
was 425,000 cubic yards in 1957.
Duncan (48° 123° N.W.). Company office, Duncan. In Octo-
A. V. Richardson ber, Butler Brothers Supplies Ltd. purchased this company and
Ltd. continued to operate it under the same name. The pit is 4 miles
from Duncan on the Lake Cowichan Road. Pit-run gravel and
washed and screened sand, gravel, and rock are produced. Gravel is mined by an overhead loading machine and also by scraping. Pit-run gravel that is not used directly as
fill or road dressing is washed and sized in an adjoining plant. A ready-mix plant uses
the washed products as aggregate in concrete for local sales. During the year 30,000
cubic yards of gravel was produced. Three men were employed.
SILICA
Cranbrook (49° 115° S.W.). Registered office, 530 Rogers Build-
Rimrock Mining ing, Vancouver; general office, 809 Eighth Avenue West, Calgary,
Corporation Alta.; mine office, Cranbrook. D. J. Fulton, president. The prop-
Limited* erty is at the south end of a ridge between Kiakho and Jim Smith
Lakes and is reached by 5 miles of road west of Cranbrook.
A bulldozer was used to complete 450 feet of surface stripping, and fourteen diamond-
drill holes, averaging 100 feet deep, were drilled at different locations on the property.
A crew of four men was employed.
Oliver (49° 119° S.W.). Pacific Silica Limited. Registered
Oliver Silica office, 717 West Pender Street, Vancouver; quarry office, Box 397,
Quarryt Oliver. W. M. Hemphill, president; Ivan A. Hunter, manager,
Oliver. This silica quarry is on the Gypo mineral claim, owned by
The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, and is 1 mile north
of the village of Oliver and from 800 to 1,200 feet west of the main highway.
The silica is blasted from the quarry face and is loaded into trucks by a diesel-driven
shovel. There are two crushing and screening plants. Selected white rock is treated at
No. 1 plant, where it is crushed, screened, and sacked, and is shipped for sale as stucco
* By J. E. Merrett.
f By A. R. C. James. STRUCTURAL MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL MINERALS 95
dash, roofing rock, poultry grit, and other silica products. The No. 2 plant, consisting
of a crushing and screening plant, was built in 1956 for the purpose of processing rock for
bulk shipments. The product is trucked from the plant to the Great Northern Railway
at Oroville, Wash., and from there is shipped to metallurgical plants in Washington and
Oregon.
Throughout the greater part of 1957 the No. 1 plant was operated by Pacific Silica
Limited, while the quarrying and operation of No. 2 plant was by the Interior Contracting Company Limited on contract. At the end of September this contract was
terminated by mutual consent, and since then Pacific Silica Limited has been operating
both plants and the quarry. Bulk shipments of rock have, however, been substantially
reduced in the last quarter of the year due to customers holding large stockpiles. To the
end of September a total crew of seventeen men was employed by both companies. From
then until the end of 1957 approximately eight men were employed. A total of 7,486
tons of silica products was snipped from No. 1 plant. Bulk shipments of rock totalled
62,470 tons, and a stockpile of approximately 25,000 tons of rock was on the ground at
the end of the year; thus total production in 1957 was approximately 95,000 tons. Petroleum and Natural Gas
By S. S. Cosburn
CONTENTS
Production.
Pace
. 96
Pipe-line System 97
Refinery Installations 97
Exploration 97
Well Samples 99
PRODUCTION
At the end of 1957 twenty-two oil wells and 130 gas wells, all in northeastern British
Columbia, were capable of producing from one or more zones in the Lower Cretaceous,
Triassic, Permo-Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, or Devonian formations. Because of market limitations, not all of these wells produced commercially during the year.
Oil was produced from the Boundary Lake, West Buick Creek, and Fort St. John
fields. Gas was produced from the Fort St. John, Southeast Fort St. John, West Buick
Creek, Montney, Kiskatinaw, and West Kiskatinaw fields. Field production figures for
1957, by formations, are shown in the following table. Previous production data are
included where applicable.
Oil Production (in Barrels)
Field
Pool
Year
1955
1956
1957
Cumulative
(Pool)
Boundary Lake-
Fort St. John.
West Buick Creek-
Totals _
Triassic Schooler Creek Boundary-
Basal Gething
Triassic " C '.'
Permo-Pennsylvanian..
Nikanassin
5821
107,439
31,919
9,096
199,220
3,997
126,776
7,866
3,086
307,241
3,997
158,695
16,962
3,086
582
148,454 | 340,945 | 489,981
Test.
Gas Production (M S.C.F.)*
Field
Pool
Year
I
1954 1955
1956
1957
(Pool)
Fort St. John -
18,362
150,289
25,330
162,516
69,493
543,850
1,142,154
1,931,032
713,327
13,046
185,208
351,101
1,361,374
629,522
1,234
94,117
448,851
623,544
167,089
113,185
917,538
1,142,154
1,931,032
713,327
13,046
185,208
351 101
Triassic "A" —
Triassic "A" and " B "
60,883
Permo-Pennsylvanian
Cadomin
Triassic "A"
1,361,374
629,522
1 234
-
Triassic " D "
94,117
448 851
Permo-Pennsylvanian
623,544
167,089
Triassic " C " -
Totals
60,883 I 168,651
187,846
8,274,942
8,692,322
1 M S.C.F.=thousands of standard cubic feet,
square inch and a temperature of 60° F.
A standard cubic foot is measured at a pressure of 14.4 pounds per
96 petroleum and natural gas 97
Pipe-line System
At the end of 1957 the 650-mile 30-inch pipe-line of Westcoast Transmission
Company Limited was completed, and approximately 300 million cubic feet of gas per
day was being transported from Taylor. At Kamloops gas is supplied to Inland Natural
Gas Co. Ltd. for distribution through the Okanagan and to Trail and Nelson; at Sumas
gas is delivered to B.C. Electric Co. Ltd. for distribution and is exported to Pacific
Northwest Pipeline Corporation. Construction started in the fall of 1955 and the system
was opened on October 7th, 1957.
A 26-inch trunk line extends 83 miles along the Alaska Highway north from Taylor
and gathering lines branch from it. Pipe-line gas is brought from Alberta to the compressor station at Taylor as well as sweet gas from British Columbia fields south and
east of Taylor. Gas from the Fort St. John field and northern fields is sour and is treated
in the absorption plant.
Refinery Installations
At Fort St. John a small absorption plant is operated by Plains Western Gas Company to remove from fuel gas hydrogen sulphide and other by-products.
The XL Refinery at Dawson Creek has a nominal design capacity of 1,700 barrels
of crude oil per day. This will be increased to 2,500 barrels per day by the end of 1958
and to 3,500 barrels per day by the end of 1959. The petroleum products from this
refinery are finding a local market.
The McMahon plant at Taylor includes a scrubbing plant, jointly owned by West-
coast Transmission Company Limited and Pacific Petroleums Ltd.; a refinery jointly
owned by Pacific Petroleums Ltd. and Phillips Petroleum Company; and a sulphur plant
owned by Jefferson Lake Sulphur Company. Pipe-line gas from the scrubbing plant is
delivered to the No. 1 compressor station of the Westcoast pipe-line.
EXPLORATION
During 1957 seismic surveys were conducted by at least thirty-five crews and core-
hole drilling was done in two areas in northeastern British Columbia. Surface geological
and photogeological studies were continued in the same region and in the Fernie area and
the Nanaimo basin.
Footage drilled increased 24.7 per cent over the 1956 total to 495,885 feet. One
hundred and eighteen wells were drilled or worked on during 1957, of which twelve were
completed as oil wells, forty-two were completed as gas wells (including one in process of
completion at the end of the year), two wells were deepened, three wells were suspended,
and forty wells were abandoned; two wells were being abandoned and eighteen were
being drilled at the end of 1957. These wells were all in northeastern British Columbia,
except two in the Vancouver area and one in the Victoria area. The table on page 100
lists all wells operated in 1957.
Oil was found in commercial quantities in the basal Gething of the Fort St. John
field, the Nikanassin of the Buick Creek field, and the Mississippian of the Blueberry field.
These formations previously had produced only gas. The proven limits of the Boundary
Lake field were extended to the south and west.
Favourable structural and depositional conditions and the existence of many reservoir horizons have resulted in an exceedingly high rate of gas and oil discovery. Of 308
wells drilled from 1942 to the end of 1957, 152 were completed as oil or gas wells.
The following table lists the status and footage of wells drilled from 1942 to the
end of 1957:— The McMahon plant at Taylor and Westcoast Transmission Company Limited
pipe-line right of centre. (Bilvic Studio, Dawson Creek.)
t.?;vM^r-^0;;;;-;---1^:l^-^^.^
Huntingdon metering station, the southern end of the Westcoast natural-gas pipe-line
(Abbotsford, Sumas and Matsqui News.) PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
99
Record of Wells Drilled since 1942
Year
Comp.
Oil
Wells
Cum.
Comp.
Oil
Wells
Comp.
Gas
Wells
Cum.
Comp.
Gas
Wells
Wells
Abandoned
Cum.
Wells
Abandoned
Total
Wells
Drilled
Cum.
Total
Wells
Drilled
Yearly
Footage
Cum.
Footage
1942
1947
(1_)
1
1
-3
3
10
17
15
8
35
40
3"
3
3
6
16
33
48
56
90
130
1
5
6
6
12
5
20
9
24
15
41
1
6
12
18
30
35
55
64
88
103
144
1
8
6
7
16
16
39
28
37
58
93
1
9
15
22
38
53
92
120
157
215
308
6,940
3,893
17,250
11,289
32,664
56,062
140,028
193,225
147,895
231,836
397,817
495,885
6,940
10,833
1948
1949 —
1950 -
1951
28,083
39,372
72,036
128,098
1952 - -
268,126
1953
461,351
1954 -
609,246
1955
841,082
1956
8 10
12 22
1,238,899
1957
1,734,784
1 No completions.
Note.—Because of reclassifications of some wells, these columns may not balance.
Oil and Gas Wells Producing and Capable of Producing
Year
Oil Wells
Producing
Oil Wells
Capable of
Producing
Gas Wells
Producing
Gas Wells
Capable of
Producing
1953..
1954.
1955.
1956.
1957-
1
9 I
19
1
10
22
2
3
3
46
33
48
56
90
130
WELL SAMPLES
Unless otherwise directed, any operator who drills a well for petroleum or natural
gas is required to take samples of the bit cuttings representing interval depths of 10 feet
or lesser intervals.
The operator may be required to take samples by means of a core barrel. All cores
taken must be put in suitable boxes, not more than 36 inches long, which must be accurately labelled, properly protected and stored, and must be delivered as required.
So far as possible, cores taken in 1957 were examined and logged in the field.
All core from wells drilled in northeastern British Columbia is being stored in the
Dawson Creek area. Those companies without core-storage facilities in the Dawson
Creek area stored their core in the Department of Mines core-storage depot (Pan-Abode
building) in Pouce Coupe until September, 1957, when all core-storage space in that
building became filled. For the remainder of the year, and until more storage facilities
may be provided by the Department, the operators were notified to provide their own
core storage.
Samples of well cuttings are received at the Stratigraphic Laboratory in Victoria
during the drilling of each well. A part of each 10-foot sample is washed, dried, and
stored in a labelled glass bottle in sequence with other samples from the same well so
that a complete set of samples from each well is available for examination. A duplicate
set of samples is bottled and sent to the laboratory of the Geological Survey of Canada
at Calgary. During 1957, 26,678 samples were washed and bottled in Victoria. 100
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
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XPt Inspection of Lode Mines, Placer Mines, and Quarries
By H. C. Hughes, Chief Inspector of Mines
CONTENTS
Page
Production 103
Fatal Accidents 103
Fatal Accidents and Accidents Involving Loss of Time 109
Dangerous Occurrences 111
Prosecutions 113
Explosives Used in Mines 113
Underground Diesel Equipment 113
Dust Control and Ventilation 113
Mine-rescue, Safety, and First Aid 115
John T. Ryan Trophy 118
West Kootenay Mine Safety Association Trophy 118
PRODUCTION
The output of metal mines for 1957 was 7,282,436 tons. This tonnage was produced from fifty-nine mines, of which forty produced 100 tons or more.
FATAL ACCIDENTS
During 1957 there were eight fatal accidents connected with actual mining operations in metal mines and quarries. This was six less than in 1956. There were 4,840
persons employed below and above ground in metal mines, and 838 persons employed in
concentrators in 1957.
The ratio of fatal accidents per 1,000 persons employed in mines and concentrators
was 1.41, as compared with 2.15 in 1956.
Tonnage mined per fatal accident during the last ten-year period was 663,116 tons.
The following table shows the mines at which fatal accidents occurred during 1957,
with comparative figures for 1956:—
Mine
Mining Division
Number of Fatal Accidents
I
1957 1 1956
1
3
1
1
2
1
3
2
Nelson ,,
1
Yreka -
Nanaimo .
1
1
Atlin
2
Atlin.
1
Skeena
2
Totals
8
14
103 104 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The following table classifies fatal accidents as to cause and location:—
Cause Number Location
Run of muck 3 Underground.
Crushed by mucking-machine
Fell down shaft
Gassed
Struck by falling rock
Returned too soon to scene of blast
Underground.
Underground.
Underground.
Underground.
Underground.
Total
A description of all fatal accidents follows.
Kenneth Irvin Van Buskirk, aged 38, Canadian, married, and employed as a shaft
captain by the Pogue Exploration and Mine Development Co. Ltd., shaft contractors at
the Granduc mine, was instantly killed when he fell about 40 feet down the Granduc shaft
on January 15th, 1957, at 3.30 p.m. He was a man with very extensive shaft experience,
having worked for the Pogue Company for the past seven years.
The Granduc shaft is a vertical, three-compartment, internal shaft collared at the
3250 level. The over-all dimensions are 8 by 22 feet and each compartment is 6 by
6 feet inside the timbers. The shaft had been sunk to a depth of 400 feet below the
collar, with stations cut at the 150- and 300-foot levels. A Cryderman shaft mucker
was used for excavating the broken rock. Conventional shaft timbers with a blasting
set were installed to within 20 feet of the shaft bottom. The sinking-bucket was in the
centre compartment. A great deal of difficulty was being experienced with water, and in
recent weeks a flow of over 100 gallons per minute had been tapped. This necessitated
putting in cement plugs and drilling holes in advance, and grouting under pressure to
seal off the fissures.
Shortly before the accident, a heavy flow of water had been struck in one corner
of the shaft bottom, necessitating putting in a cement plug. Two men, Harold Odne and
Albert Deschamps, were working in the shaft bottom pumping the water into the shaft
bucket. Two buckets were being used for the job. About 3.20 p.m. Van Buskirk
descended the shaft in the other bucket with W. Tinker, an engineer on loan, who was
advising on shaft-sinking problems. Van Buskirk got off at the blasting set (sixty-fourth
set) 20 feet above the shaft bottom. It was his announced intention to connect up,
through the manway compartment, a hose-line to a tank on the sixty-first set, 38 feet
above the shaft bottom, so that water could be pumped from the bottom to this tank
and thence to the collar in stages, thus freeing the bucket for bringing down sand and
cement for the plug. After Van Buskirk got off the bucket, Tinker continued to descend
to the shaft bottom and joined the two men there. About ten minutes after Tinker
arrived at the bottom a hat fell down the shaft and twenty to thirty seconds later Van
Buskirk himself fell, his body striking the lip of the water-filled bucket and then falling
into it. He was immediately pulled out, but was apparently dead. He was taken out
of the mine and death was later confirmed by a doctor, Dr. B. Firsckse, of Stewart, who
was flown into the mine camp from Stewart. It would appear that he slipped or lost
his footing from the sixty-first or sixty-second set and fell into the shaft.
An inquest was held in Stewart on January 19th, and the Coroner's jury returned
the following verdict:—
" We, the jury, find that the deceased, Kenneth Van Buskirk, came to his death
by accident from falling from an unknown height into the shaft at the Granduc mine."
This accident does not appear to be due to any specific unsafe condition, apart from
the ordinary hazards of shaft sinking. The conditions at the shaft bottom were certainly
difficult due to the large amount of water.
Felix Heron, aged 24, Irish, single, and John Ivan Rukli, aged 26, Yugoslavian,
single, both employed as miners by Tulsequah Mines, Limited, Tulsequah, were instantly INSPECTION OF MINES 105
killed when they were caught in a run of muck in 6246 No. 3 Boxhole raise in the Tulsequah Chief mine on January 22nd, 1957, at about 10.30 p.m.
The 6246 No. 3 Boxhole raise is a 6- by 6-foot raise which was being driven from
6204 drift to connect with 6246 stope at a point where the stope was filled with about 15
feet of broken ore. The raise was driven as a knuckleback. It was driven in a westerly
direction at a slope of 50 degrees, and at a point about 20 feet from the collar was turned
back in an easterly direction to connect with 6246 stope. The length of the knuckleback
portion was about 18 feet.
The raise was being driven on two shifts, and on the night of January 19th the
drilling of the last round was started. Five 5-foot holes were drilled on that shift, eleven
7-foot holes on the day shift of January 20th, and on the night shift of January 21st
six additional 6-foot holes were drilled and the round was loaded and blasted. The
round failed to break through to the stope, although it was reported that one of the last
six holes had broken into the stope, after being drilled 5 feet.
On the morning of January 22nd, the raise was inspected by the mine foreman,
P. Badyk, and the day shiftboss, J. Kerush. They found the face still intact except for
a hole 8 inches to 1 foot in diameter on the right side, which was blocked by a large
rock. There appeared to be no misfires or bootlegs. It was estimated that the remaining
shell of solid rock was about a foot thick. After some discussion, it was decided that,
as there was no movement, it would be safe to place a heavy concussion charge close
to the face. Preparations were made to do this. The day-shift men, J. Kubiak and
J. Jagozinski, were instructed to go into the raise and set a sprag just above the knuckleback, and to put a staging there. Kubiak went into the raise but came down a short
time afterward and told Kerush that he was afraid to work there, and asked to be transferred to another job. The shiftboss then transferred him to some other work.
On the night shift of January 22nd, F. Southam, the night shiftboss, instructed
Rukli and Heron to go and wait in the drift at the foot of the raise until he arrived. He
came there about 9 p.m. and went up into the raise to within about 5 feet of the breakthrough. The conditions were the same as in the morning when the foreman examined
the place. There was no movement and he was of the opinion that it was safe to go ahead
with preparations to fire the concussion charge. He and Rukli set a steel sprag at the
knuckle of the raise. He then instructed the men to prepare a charge of thirty to forty
sticks of powder and lay it on the footwall 2 or 3 feet back from the face, with a 12-foot
bulldoze stick. The charge was to be fired by an electric detonator. Rukli was instructed
to place the charge and Heron was to wait on the platform and pay out the lead wire as
it was needed. Southam spent about an hour with the men until he was satisfied they
knew exactly what to do. He left them about 10.15 p.m.
Arrangements were made to inform J. Walejna and his partner, working in the
near-by 6145 stope, when the charge was to be fired. However, when these two men
came out to the lunchroom on the 6200 level at 11.15 p.m. there was no sign of Rukli
or Heron, and they decided to investigate. On arriving at the bottom of the raise they
saw Heron's body in the muck at the back of the chute gate. Help was summoned and
Heron's body was recovered a short time later. There was no sign of life and he was
taken out of the mine, where death was confirmed by the mine doctor. The body of
Rukli was not recovered until some hours later after 216 tons of muck had been drawn
from the chute. Both men died of asphyxia, concussion, and fracturing.
The concussion charge had apparently not been fired. It was evident that, while
both men were in the raise, a break-through occurred and the men were buried in the
muck before they had a chance to escape.
An inquest was held at Tulsequah on January 26th. The Coroner's jury returned
the following verdict:—
" We, the jury, find that Felix Heron and John Rukli came to their death as a result
of accidental death on January 22nd at approximately 11.15 p.m. We, the jury, would 106 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
recommend that the CM. & S. Co. at Tulsequah put all their new employees through
a stricter mining test."
The judgment of the mine foreman and two shiftbosses as to conditions in the raise
was at fault. However, there is no doubt that these men were sincere in their opinion, as
all were in the raise at one time or another and for a considerable period of time.
Matthew Henry Henderson, aged 24 years, Canadian, single, and employed as a
mucker by Britannia Mining and Smelting Co. Limited, was killed when he was covered
by a run of wet muck at the 35-25 control chute on the 3500 level of the Britannia mine
at 4.25 p.m. on July 6th, 1957.
The 35-25 control chute is at the lower end of the 35-26 transfer raise system,
through which ore is passed from the Bluff and Jane sections of the mine. The chute is
4 feet 10 inches wide and is controlled by three heavy steel fingers, each of which is
actuated by a separate 12-inch-diameter air cylinder. A safety cable, anchored to the
solid rock on one side and operated by an air cylinder on the other, is available to hold
down the fingers. In addition, there is a down-cutting sand board at the lip of the chute
controlled by a 10-inch-diameter air cylinder. The operation of the chute is controlled
from a platform 7 feet above the track. A substantial steel plate set vertically at the
side of the chute gives protection to the man at the control valves. Normally one man
operates the chute from the platform, while the other operates the locomotive, moving
the cars, etc.
For many years, difficulty has been experienced in handling very wet muck in the
transfer system and occasionally very large spills have occurred. This danger has been
largely overcome by various precautions which are now taken. When muck is very wet,
only small quantities are passed through the transfer raise at a time. Arrangements have
been made to drain as much water as possible from the muck at by-pass points. Chute
punchers at by-pass points make a daily written report of the condition of the muck for
the guidance of the following shift. Finally, if the muck appears to be very wet, the
chute puncher at the by-pass warns the man on the next chute by phone to sprag the
chute fingers so there will be no danger of a spill.
Henderson and his partner, William Duchesne, found a small spill at 35-25 chute
when they came on shift. They started to clean this up. As the muck looked wet,
Duchesne said later that he intended to keep two of the fingers closed and bring muck
down through one finger only. Meanwhile, as they were cleaning up the spill, Henderson went down to the level. While there, he apparently answered a phone call from
R. M. Matson, the chute puncher at the by-pass on the 3100 level above. Matson says
he phoned and told Henderson that he was letting down some muck, and, as it was wet,
advised him to sprag the chute fingers. Henderson returned to the platform, but did not
deliver the message or say anything about the call he had just received. After the spill
was cleaned up, Duchesne decided to draw the chute through one finger. While he was
doing this, he saw all three fingers being lifted by the pressure of the wet muck. Realizing
that a spill was coming, he called to Henderson, who was ahead of him on the chute platform near the stairway, to run. Duchesne ran to the stairway and down to the level, but
Henderson turned aside, apparently trying to set the safety cable valve. Duchesne was
now ahead of Henderson and did not see him alive again.
When Duchesne returned, he found some 60 to 70 tons of wet muck spilled out. He
probed in the muck to see if he could locate Henderson, without success. Help was summoned and the body was finally recovered near the bottom of the chute platform about
6.45 p.m., about two and one-quarter hours after the accident. It was covered by about
3 feet of wet muck.
It would appear that this accident was caused by failure in the system of precautions
established for the safety of this type of work. The spill was not extensive, and undoubtedly the deceased could have saved himself had he not delayed after receiving the warning
from his partner.
. INSPECTION OF MINES 107
An inquest was held at Mount Sheer on Monday, July 9th. The jury returned the
following verdict:—
" We, the jury, find that Matthew Henry Henderson came to his death accidentally
due to suffocation as the result of being buried in spill muck at the approximate time of
4.25 p.m. on July 6th, 1957, at 35-25 chute on 3500 level at Britannia Mine.
" The jury attach no blame to any person or persons."
Raymond Albert Lank, aged 40 years, Canadian, single, and employed as a miner
by Western Nickel Limited, died as a result of injuries received when he was crushed
between a mucking-machine and the side of a crosscut on the 3550 level of the Western
Nickel mine on September 7th, 1957, at about 4.15 a.m.
The accident occurred at the Pride of Emory ore-pass on the 3350 level, where the
crosscut was being enlarged to make room for a control chute. It had been slashed out
to the required width, and was being mucked out by a track-mounted Eimco 630 overhead
loader operated by Lank.
Three men were working with Lank, and one, Edward Harold Partridge, a mucker
boss, was an eyewitness to the accident. The others, Olaf Gunderson and Russel McLean,
were miners, and were engaged in scaling above the muck pile which Lank was cleaning
up. According to Partridge, Lank had been warned three times to stay away from the
wall, and Partridge was on the point of warning him again when the accident occurred.
The step of the mucking-machine fitted into a recess in the wall as it was being backed up,
and Lank was crushed between the wall and the body of the machine. Assistance was
obtained immediately, and Lank was taken to the Chilliwack Hospital, where he died at
9.10 a.m. Death was attributed to brain haemorrhage, with antecedent conditions of
ruptured spleen, liver, and kidneys.
The Coroner's inquest was held in Hope on September 16th and the jury returned
the following verdict:—
" We, the jury, empanelled to enquire into the death of Raymond Albert Lank, find
that he came to his death accidentally on the 7th day of Septmber, 1957, at Western
Nickel Limited while operating a mucking machine in reverse, backing the machine into
a rock face. The deceased was crushed between the machine and rock face, receiving
internal injuries causing death, as per doctor's autopsy report. Death was accidental and
no blame attached to anyone."
Anders Marius Karsten Anderson, aged 43, Canadian, married, and employed as a
diamond driller by Violamac Mines Limited, died as a result of being overcome by gas
in a stub crosscut off 7-54 raise in the Victor mine on November 26th, 1957, at about
8.30 a.m.
The working place was about 2,100 feet from the portal of No. 7 level. The 7-54
raise had been driven about 25 feet above the No. 7 south drift, which was parallel to
and about 40 feet south of the main No. 7 level. From this a subdrift had been driven
about 40 feet in an easterly direction to where a 25-foot raise was driven. A diamond-
drill station about 15 feet long had been cut at the top of this second raise. The 7-54 raise
is about 40 feet off the main ventilating current. Ventilation for this raise, the sublevel,
and the raise to the diamond-drill station was provided by compressed air. No ventilation
difficulties had been experienced in driving these workings and all appeared normal on
the shifts preceding the accident. Only a day shift was employed. The diamond-drill
hole was 72 feet long.
On November 26th Anderson evidently reached his drilling site about 8.15 a.m. At
11.30 a.m. the mine geologist visited the drill to check core and found him lying face
down near the machine. The geologist nearly collapsed himself, but was able to retreat
and to obtain help near by on No. 7 level. The rescuers used compressed-air hoses to
reach Anderson, who was then lowered to the sublevel. Artificial respiration was started
at once and continued until 2 p.m., when the doctor arrived and pronounced the man dead. 108 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
An autopsy was held, and the man was found to have died from asphyxia. As there
was no indication of carbon monoxide, death must have resulted from lack of oxygen.
An inquest was held on December 12th, 1957, and the Coroner's jury returned the
following verdict:—
"Anders Marius Karsten Anderson, on November twenty-sixth (26th), nineteen
hundred and fifty-seven (1957), between the hours of 8.15 a.m. and 2.00 o'clock p.m.,
met his death by accident at his diamond drill station at the top of the box-hole off seven
hundred and fifty-four (754) raise in the number seven (7) tunnel of the Victor mine
(Violamac Mines Ltd.) near Sandon, B.C.
" From the evidence produced we deduce that the cause of death was the result of
asphyxia, due to the reduction of the oxygen content of the air below the point necessary
to sustain life."
It is difficult to reconcile the facts that the working place was safe one day and fatal
the next. Two air samples were taken the day after the accident—one in the 7-54 raise
and one at the drill set-up. The first contained 0.39 per cent carbon dioxide and 20.00
per cent oxygen, and the second 0.52 per cent carbon dioxide and 19.62 per cent oxygen.
Carbon monoxide and other gases were nil in both samples. On December 12th the scene
was again visited, after similar conditions had been simulated. The safety lamp went out
in the raise from the sublevel, indicating less than 16.5 per cent oxygen. The working
place was wet, which may have been a factor in depleting the air of oxygen. A suggested
explanation is that the drill on the previous shift might have encountered a pocket of gas
high in nitrogen which was under sufficient pressure and in a large enough quantity to
flood the small working place.
A letter was sent to all mines in which similar conditions might exist, requiring them
to ventilate all working places before a shift is allowed to enter.
Albert Jackson, aged 49, Canadian, married, and employed as a miner at Britannia
mine, was instantly killed by a blast in the 49-017 stope, No. 8 mine, on December 3rd,
1957, at about 11 a.m.
The 49-017 stope is a square-set stope being worked from the 4900 to the 4800
level. It is about 70 feet long and 30 feet wide, the greater dimension being east and
west. A manway from the east end of the stope connects with the 4800 level. The stope
had been advanced eleven floors above the 4900 level and a grizzly and scraper hoist
installed on the ninth floor at the east end near the manway.
Jackson and his partner, Bryan Worthington, were working in the stope. Jackson
was scraping muck on the ninth floor and Worthington was working on the eleventh
floor, which was the mining floor. Just before 11 a.m. the men decided to blast four
bulldoze charges—one on the eleventh floor (mining floor) and three on the ninth floor
(scraping floor). Five-foot fuses and two sticks of powder were used for each shot.
Worthington, in the presence of Jackson, placed one bulldoze on the eleventh floor and
trimmed off 1 inch of fuse, preparing it for lighting. Both men then descended to the
ninth floor, where Jackson placed three bulldozes near the manway and prepared them
for fighting. Both lit hot-wire lighters at the same time. Jackson went to his bulldozes
on the ninth floor and Worthington climbed to the eleventh floor to light his shot. He
looked down the manway and saw Jackson on his way down below the ninth floor.
Worthington lit his shot and went up the manway to the thirteenth floor. He heard three
shots go off close together and the fourth two or three minutes later. Afer waiting several
minutes for the smoke to clear and having received no all-clear signal from Jackson, he
went down to investigate. He found Jackson lying on the muck pile badly blasted.
Assistance was obtained immediately and Jackson's body removed. The doctor stated
that the top part of the body was severely lacerated and that the injuries were comparable
to those resulting from a blast.
An inquest was held at Britannia Beach on December 4th, 1957, and the Coroner's
jury returned the following verdict:—
1 INSPECTION OF MINES 109
"After hearing the evidence of witnesses at an inquest regarding the death of Albert
Jackson, who was killed in a blasting accident in 49-017 stope No. 8 mine, Britannia
Beach, B.C., on December 3rd, 1957, at 11.20 a.m., we find that Albert Jackson for some
reason not disclosed in the evidence returned to the scene of the blast too soon after the
last shot and walked back into a delayed shot. We believe he miscounted the number of
shots. We return a verdict of accidental death with no blame attached to any person or
persons. As a rider we remind those concerned that the rule calls for a 30-minute interval
before returning to a misfire."
It seems obvious that Jackson returned too soon to the scene of the blast and was
caught by the fourth shot.
Piotr Orlowski, aged about 40, Polish, single, and employed as a miner by Britannia
Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd., died as a result of injuries received when he fell in a chute
from the 31-227A cut-and-fill stope in the Victoria mine on December 19th, 1957, at
about 5 a.m.
The 31-227A stope is a cut-and-fill stope which has been worked to within about
25 feet of the 2950 level. It is about 100 feet long in an east-west direction and is 8 to
12 feet wide. A cribbed ore-chute and manway lead to the 3150 level below at the east
end, and the west end is connected to the 2950 level by a short, steep raise with a service
chute and ladder. At the time of the accident there was 8 to 10 feet of broken ore on top
of the fill in the stope, the top of this ore being 6V2 feet below the back. The cribbed
chute at the east end had been drawn until the ore in it was about 4 feet below the top of
the cribbing. Previous to the ore being blasted, a bulkhead had been put over the top of
the manway to the 3150 level.
At the beginning of the shift, Orlowski and his partner, Frank Markovich, drew ore
from the chute on the 3150 level until lunch time, about 3 a.m. After lunch they entered
the stope from the 2950 level and began washing down the muck pile and barring. When
the muck pile was sloped off to the chute, both men started to clean off the bulkhead over
the manway. Orlowski was working on the north side of the stope and was barring loose
from over the chute. Markovich was on the south side. Markovich heard a crash and
on turning around saw Orlowski in the chute. Help was obtained immediately but Orlowski died on the way to the hospital.
An inquest was held at Mount Sheer on December 27th.
Dr. E. A. Jarman, medical practitioner, read the report of the autopsy, which was
as follows:-—
"Death was due to ruptured liver and fractured sternum."
The Coroner's jury brought in the following verdict:—
" We, the jury, find Piotr Orlowski came to his death accidentally in 227A stope,
3150 level, Victoria mine, Britannia Beach, B.C., on December 19th, 1957, at approximately 5.00 a.m., with no blame attached to any person or persons."
From the findings, it appears that Orlowski was struck in the abdomen by a rock
or rocks falling from the back and footwall of the stope from a height of about 8 to 10
feet. He may have slid down the bulkhead and was under the rock as it fell. In any case
he slid down the muck on the bulkhead into the chute. The severe damage to his liver
could only have been done by falling rock.
FATAL ACCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS INVOLVING LOSS OF TIME
Eight fatal accidents and 182 accidents involving a loss of time of seven days or
more were reported to the Department. These were investigated and reported on by the
Inspectors of Mines.
The following three tables classify these accidents as to cause, occupation, and as
to the parts of the body injured. 110 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Accidents Causing Death or Injury Classified as to Cause
Number of Percentage
Cause Accidents of Total
Blasting 7 3.7
Falls of ground 35 18.4
Falls of material and flying material 16 8.4
Falls from ladders, staging, etc 1 0.5
Slipping and falling 33 17.4
Lifting and handling material, etc 50 26.3
Machinery and tools 34 17.9
Run of ore or waste 5 2.6
Burns and shock 6 3.2
Gassed 1 0.5
Miscellaneous 2 1.1
Totals 190 100.0
Accidents Causing Death or Injury Classified as to the Occupation
of Those Injured
Number of Percentage
Occupation Accidents of Total
Underground—
Barmen 2 1.1
Chutemen 5 2.6
Haulagemen •__.. 19 10.0
Miners 96 50.7
Muckers 12 6.4
Timbermen 13 6.7
Repairmen 3 1.6
Trackmen and pipe-fitters 4 2.1
Skip-tenders 1 0.5
Miscellaneous 9 4.7
Supervisors and staff 4 2.1
Surface—
Shops 2 1.1
Mill 7 3.7
Surface, general 13 6.7
Totals 190 100.0
Accidents Causing Injury Classified as to Parts of the Body Injured
Number of Percentage
Location Accidents of Total
Head and neck 15 7.9
Eyes 5 2.6
Trunk 14 7.4
Back (including shoulders) 42 22.1
Arms (including wrists) 10 5.3
Hands and fingers 35 18.4
Legs and ankles 34 17.9
Feet 25 13.1
Shock 2 1.1
Fatal 8 4.2
Totals 190 100.0
. INSPECTION OF MINES 111
DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES
Eighteen dangerous occurrences were reported as required by section 9 of the
"Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act" and investigated by the Inspectors of Mines.
This represents a decrease of 47 per cent from the thirty-four reported for 1956.
Of these occurrences, three were connected with hoisting, six with explosives, three
with fires (two underground), two with scraping operations, two with hung-up ore-passes,
one with caves, and one with machinery failure.
On January 12th, 1957, a hang-up in an abandoned transfer raise on the 1600 level
of Britannia mine released itself and allowed a large amount of water to flow along the
level and down No. 1 shaft. No serious damage resulted.
On January 22nd, 1957, a rubber-lined sand-pump in the lead-zinc concentrator of
Canadian Exploration Limited flew apart with a loud report. This pump handles sands
from the classifier next to the rod mill and pumps them to the ball mill. No one was
injured, although the force of the explosion moved the 500-pound pump a distance of 4
feet. The cause of the explosion could not be determined.
On January 31st, 1957, two miners were lighting a drift round of twenty-five holes
in the Duthie mine. Ten-foot fuse and hot-wire lighters were used. Some difficulty was
experienced in lighting the last five holes. One miner insisted it was time to leave and
urged his partner to follow him. The first holes detonated when one man was near the
face and the other 60 feet away. The men suffered severe injuries for their disregard of
elementary safety precautions.
On February 5th, 1957, a Koehring Dumptor used in the Dodger mine of Canadian
Exploration Limited caught fire. The vehicle was being used when the battery box
dropped down, causing the insulation of the battery cables to be stripped off against the
jagged edges of the battery box. A short circuit started the insulation smouldering. The
fire was put out with the carbon dioxide extinguisher which is carried on all vehicles.
On March 5th, 1957, the cage-tender was unloading material at the 3300 level of
the H.B. interior shaft when a hoisting signal was given from another level. The cage was
stopped in time, but the one responsible for giving the signal could not be located.
A stricter compliance with hoisting procedure was instituted.
On March 7th, 1957, a foreman at the Sullivan mine received minor superficial
injuries when he walked into a reblast of two holes. There were five entrances to the
blast to be guarded. The instructions to the guards at one entrance were not specific as
to time, and they allowed the foreman to proceed into the blast area. A revision of
operational instructions was made to prevent a recurrence of this type of accident.
On March 7th, 1957, in the Sullivan mine a miner was standing near the top of the
muck-raise in a scraper drift while the scraper was in operation. When the slusher caught
on an obstacle, the haul-back cable flipped across the miner's neck, causing him to fall
into the raise. He fell 8 feet and received superficial injuries.
On March 28th, 1957, two experienced miners were loading a 3-inch-diameter 36-
foot vertical hole in an open pit at Copper Mountain mine. There was an obstruction in
the hole about 8 feet from the collar. The men were attempting to push 1 ^-inch-diameter
cartridges of 75 per cent Dygel powder past the obstruction when an explosion occurred.
Both men were peppered with fine rock and suffered numerous small puncture wounds
about the face and neck. The most reasonable explanation for this incident was that the
tamping had been done with unnecessary vigour.
On April 17th, 1957, a fire occurred in a timbered drawhole of a scraper drift in
No. 8 section of Britannia mine. The fire was brought under control by mine-rescue men
using self-contained apparatus. Carbon monoxide contaminated the ventilation system,
and all men were evacuated from the section until the air was cleared. The fire was
caused by the use of an acetylene torch to remove steel plates from damaged timber in
. 112 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
the drawhole. The mechanic had left without wetting down the timber, which smouldered
and eventually flamed sufficiently to burn almost completely several 12- by 18-inch
timbers.
On May 1st, 1957, at the fireclay mine of Clayburn Company Limited a subsidence
occurred measuring about 450 by 550 feet which affected most of the mine. The mine
is worked by room and pillar. All men were prohibited from entering this area.
On June 5th, 1957, two miners were preparing to blast seven short holes to " square
up " a drift face in Britannia mine. Only 4-foot fuses were used, the working place was
damp, and two hot-wire lighters were required. When the first hole detonated, the men
had only retreated a short distance and one man was injured slightly by flying rock. The
blasting certificates of both miners were suspended.
In September, 1957, the combination lunchroom and drill-shop of Cassiar Asbestos
Corporation Limited was completely destroyed by fire. It was suspected the oil stove
had become overheated.
On October 4th, 1957, a miner in the Sullivan mine was caught by the blast effect
of the detonation of two cases of explosives. The miner and a partner had been instructed
to destroy the two cases, which had been declared defective. They were placed on end
with their open faces toward one another. Two 3-foot fuses with 1-inch trim were used
to fire the shot. While spitting the fuses some trouble was encountered, and, after walking
50 feet, one of the miners was knocked to the ground by the force of the exploding
powder. His hat was broken and lamp cord severed. It is presumed that there was too
much delay in igniting the fuse or that a side spit of the fuse may have impinged on the
old powder, causing an early detonation.
On November 12th, 1957, the cage and shaft timbers at No. 3 shaft of Pioneer mine
were damaged when the cage came in contact with the sheave bearing-timber. The hoist-
man answered a telephone call during hoisting and did not slow the hoist when the cage
passed the upper warning signal. The cam on the Lilly control had been moved from its
normal position so that the automatic stopping of the hoist could not take place before
the cage reached the sheave bearing-timbers. The Lilly controls have been sealed to
prevent adjustments by unauthorized persons.
On November 27th, 1957, a miner was injured in the Sullivan mine while operating
a scraper hoist. The scraper became jammed on a large rock, and this caused the haul-
back cable to whip back toward the hoist. A loop formed in the cable, passed around
the hoist operator and drew him into the hoist. The operator's partner quickly stopped
the hoist, but not before the operator had received some injury. All scraper hoists should
have adequate cable guards to prevent this type of accident.
On November 27th, 1957, a workman in the Jersey mine of Canadian Exploration
Limited was repairing a scraper cable while knowingly standing on the muck pile over
a drawhole. The muck subsided suddenly when a train crew operated the chute on the
level below. The workman was trapped and it took four hours to extricate him. He
suffered injury to his right arm.
On December 6th, 1957, at the Reeves MacDonald mine, three holes, 40 feet long
and drilled through to the level below, were being cleared by the detonation of light
charges of explosives. The mine foreman was in the vicinity of the bottom of these holes
when the charges exploded. His lamp was broken, but no injuries were received. The
miners responsible for the blast had their blasting certificates suspended for six months
for failing to guard the blast. One week's suspension from work was given by the
employer.
On December 13th, 1957, the hoisting-rope in the east side compartment of No. 2
shaft of Pioneer mine was found to be kinked and was removed. Hoisting of muck is
done in the west compartment, and whenever this is done a counterbalance weight is
placed in the east side cage. On December 12th the cage had been repaired but the
counterbalance weight was not replaced. When hoisting was done, the hoist circuit-
. INSPECTION OF MINES
113
breaker tripped several times due to hoisting at excessive speed when the skip was
approaching the dump. The sudden stopping is thought to have caused the east cage to
bounce, allowing the safety dogs to catch. The kink in the rope is attributed to lowering
the rope while the cage was hung up on the dogs.
PROSECUTIONS
There were no prosecutions in metalliferous mines and quarries in 1957.
There were violations of the provisions of the " Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act"
in regard to the use of explosives and blasting procedure. Five offenders had their blasting
certificates suspended from three to six months, according to the type of offence.
EXPLOSIVES USED IN MINES
The table below shows the quantities of explosives and blasting accessories used in
metal mines and quarries in British Columbia in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957:—
1953 Total
1954 Total
1955 Total
1956 Total
1957 Total
1957
Mines Quarries
High explosives (lb.)
Blasting-caps -_
Electric blasting-caps
Delay electric blasting-caps (short
period)
Delay electric blasting-caps (surefire delays and X107 delays)
Primacord (ft.)
B-line detonating fuse (ft.) _..
Safety fuse (ft.)_
Ignitercord (ft.) _
Ignitercord connectors
Amonium nitrate
9,237,700
1,890,000
141,000
182,771
138,055
647,000
7,652,574
1,815,250
232,270
191,513
70,300
824,000
8,420,791
1,982,900
151,685
283,000
144,875
399,000
17,679,000
142,000
114,000 |
13,429,800 17,744,900
206,180 I 418,800
160,501 | 371,000
— I - -
8,560,000
2,184,000
52,000
205,000
263,000
226,000
2,436,000
17,218,000
498,000
563,000 |
7,103,000
1,676,000
64,000
160,000
127,000
261,000
2.049,000
13,367,000
639,000
750,000
5,000
6,736,000
1,567,000
56,000
150,000
127,000
202,000
1,690,000
12,845,000
639,000
750,000
1,000
367,000
109,000
8,000
10,000
59,000
359,000
522,000
4,000
An innovation in blasting was the use of ammonium nitrate. This compound, when
sensitized with a hydrocarbon such as fuel oil, constitutes a powerful explosive. As such,
the preparation comes under the control of the Chief Inspector of Explosives at Ottawa.
Written permission must first be obtained from him before the blasting agent can be mixed
or used. Permission must also be obtained from the Chief Inspector of Mines, Victoria,
when the blasting agent is used in mines and quarries in British Columbia. Two permits
were granted in 1957—one to an open-pit mine and one to a quarry. The main condition of the permits was that the blending of " prilled " ammonium nitrate with fuel oil
take place on site as it is being loaded into the bore-hole.
UNDERGROUND DIESEL EQUIPMENT
The use of underground diesel equipment remained fairly constant in 1957. Locomotives in use amounted to sixteen, and miscellaneous pieces of equipment, such as trucks,
loaders, bulldozers, etc., totalled thirty. Three of the locomotives were used in coal
mines; the remainder of the equipment was used in metal mines.
DUST CONTROL AND VENTILATION
Problems in dust control and ventilation have continued to receive the attention of
mine operators and Government departments. Dust counts and ventilation surveys were
made by the staff of the Chief Inspector, Silicosis Branch of the Workmen's Compensation
Board, and the results of these surveys made available to the Inspectors of Mines. The
following information is taken from his report, " Summary of Dust Conditions at British
Columbia Metalliferous Mines during the Year 1957 ":— 114
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
2000
1500
6
rr
ui
a
</>
UJ
-I
O
\-
rr
<
a
u.
O
rr
Ul
CQ
2
3
1000
500
300
TT
TTTT
I I I I
LEGEND
5T0PER DRILLING
LEYNER DRILLING
ALL OTHERS UNDERGROUND
CRUSHING PLANTS
ASSAY GRINDING ROOMS
I 1 I I
111
TT
MM
1937 40
45
YEAR
50
1955
Figure 4. Average dust counts obtained each year since 1937.
" 1. During the year 1957, seventy-seven ventilation and dust-control surveys were
made at the metalliferous mines of British Columbia. These were made at fifty-one
mining operations, twenty-six of which were inspected for the second time.
" 2. The main object of this inspection work is to lower the amount of dust breathed
by the workmen as much as possible. It is not known what concentration of silica dust
is considered safe to breathe without producing silicosis as several other factors besides
the dust concentration must be taken into consideration. The figure of 300 particles per
cc. of air has been chosen as an objective to work towards. When this figure is attained,
it indicates a very great improvement over conditions existing several years ago. INSPECTION OF MINES 115
" 3. Blasting operations produce dense concentrations of dust, but the workmen are
generally not subjected to this dust or subjected to it for short periods of time only.
Most of the blasting operations can be arranged to occur at the ends of the shifts and allow
sufficient time for ventilation to remove the dust from the workings before the following
shift goes to work. A certain amount of blasting operations, such as in chutes, may be
considered necessary so that the production of ore may not be interfered with, but this
should be reduced to the very minimum.
" 4. Stoper drilling operations consistently produce the highest concentrations of
dust during the time the men are working. The dust counts used to be 2,000 or more
particles per cc. of air at these operations. Seventy per cent of the surveys made in 1957
gave averages of less than 1,000 particles.
" 5. At leyner, jackleg, and plugger drilling operations the dust concentrations are
not as high as at stoper drilling operations. Ninety-two per cent of the surveys gave
averages of less than 1,000 particles per cc. of air. Since most of the surveys gave less
than 1,000 particles, it is probably better to adopt the figure of 500 particles for the
purpose of comparison. Sixty-seven per cent of the surveys gave averages of less than
500 particles per cc of air.
" 6. The averages for 'All Other Underground Locations' are very satisfactory.
Seventy-seven per cent of the surveys made during 1957 gave averages of less than 300
particles. The percentages for the past eight years have remained fairly constant, varying
between 76 and 83 per cent. This condition is particularly satisfactory when considering
the fact that the great majority of the men work in this lower dust concentration.
" 7. The dust concentrations in the crushing plants during 1952 were not satisfactory. During 1953 and subsequent years, a special effort was made to control the dust
in these plants and satisfactory results have been obtained. Sixty-two per cent of the
surveys made in 1957 gave averages of less than 300 particles per cc of air.
" 8. Seventy-seven per cent of the surveys made in assay grinding-rooms gave averages of less than 300 particles. This is very satisfactory, as it is the second highest
percentage that has been obtained during the past eight years.
" 9. The percentage of certificates of fitness held by the employers for their workmen
who require a medical examination has steadily increased during the past four years.
In 1957, certificates in good standing for 96.2 per cent of the workmen who require same
were held by the employers. This is a very satisfactory condition as there are numerous
difficulties to overcome.
" 10. Aluminium-powder prophylaxis treatments for the prevention of silicosis were
given at eight mines during the year. One mine discontinued operations during the year
so there were seven mines that were dispersing the powder at the end of 1957. No
aluminium-therapy treatments were given at the Rehabilitation Clinic of the Workmen's
Compensation Board in Vancouver to men who have silicosis.
"11. The main measures for dust prevention, suppression, and elimination are
receiving good attention at the mines. The more important of these are good ventilation,
thorough wetting of the rock before it is handled in any manner, not subjecting the workmen to dust and fumes from blasting operations, using good exhaust systems in crushing
plants and assay grinding-rooms, etc. Full application of all these measures at all times
has not been obtained but the results obtained have been quite satisfactory.
"12. The accompanying graph (Fig. 4) shows the median of all the averages
obtained each year since 1937."
MINE-RESCUE, SAFETY, AND FIRST AID
During 1957 the mine-rescue stations at Cumberland and Fernie were fully maintained and an instructor, qualified in mine-rescue and first aid, was on duty at each station.
Each station is equipped with several sets of McCaa 2-hour self-contained oxygen breathing apparatus, at least one set of Chemox % -hour self-contained breathing apparatus, all- 116
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
service gas masks, self-rescuers, methane and carbon monoxide detectors of the latest
type, one or more H.H. inhalators, and a complete supply of first-aid equipment. Supplies
and facilities for charging and servicing all this equipment are maintained.
In the latter half of 1957 the mine-rescue station at Princeton was converted to
a mobile unit. A large panel truck was purchased and cupboards were custom fitted to
hold the rescue equipment. Ambulance facilities were also installed. The mine-rescue
building continued to be used as an office and repair base.
The mobile mine-rescue unit stationed at Nelson in 1950 continued to be of great
assistance in promoting and giving instruction in mine-rescue and first aid at mines in
the East and West Kootenay areas.
In addition to courses in mine-rescue given at the Cumberland and Fernie stations,
the following centres received help in instruction, checking of equipment, and training of
teams: Remac, Yale Lead & Zinc mine, Canadian Exploration, H.B. mine, Riondel,
Highland-Bell mine, Wells, and Western Nickel mine.
Classes in first aid were held at the following mines and localities: New Denver,
Kaslo, Remac, Salmo, Fernie, Princeton, Hedley, and Oliver. A number of candidates
for industrial certificates were given assistance.
Two emergency calls for oxygen breathing apparatus were handled by the Cumberland station. Both were necessitated by underground heating at the Tsable River mine.
Equipment from the Nelson mobile unit was used to help rescue a mining engineer
who got into difficulties while inspecting mineral claims in the Crawford Bay area.
The Princeton mine-rescue building was made available to the St. John Ambulance
Association for lectures and instruction in first aid. The building was also used by the
Motor-vehicle Branch for the purpose of giving drivers' examinations.
In addition to the mine-rescue equipment maintained at the Government mine-rescue
stations, there are several complete sets of McCaa and Chemox apparatus at the Sullivan
mine, a set of McCaa at Canadian Exploration and Michel mines, miscellaneous rescue
equipment at the Trail smelter, and complete sets of Chemox at Wells, the Bridge River
camp, Britannia, H.B. mine, and Riondel. Minor amounts of mine-rescue equipment
are kept at the Yale Lead & Zinc mine at Ainsworth, the Mineral King mine at Toby
Creek, and the Toric mine at Alice Arm.
A certificate of competency in mine-rescue work is granted to each man who takes
the full training course and passes the examination set by the Department of Mines.
During 1957, in addition to the regular teams in training, eighty-one men took the full
course and were granted certificates, as follows:-—
Certificate No.
Name
Where
Trained
Certificate No
Name
Where
Trained
2934
2935
2936
2937
2938
2939
2940
2941
2942
2943
2944
2945
2946
2947
2948
2949
2950
2951
2952
Joseph Tomasi .
Robert Holmes
Alexander R. Bell
Clarence Verne Stockand
Albert William Stockand-
Frederick R. Polkinghorne-
John Halten Miller
Clarence Farramond Littler
Kenneth Wilson Bassett
William Dextor McArthur...
Frederick Aldred Pearson
Robert Lorne Ralph
James O'Donnell Quinn
Ronald Eugene Olson
Arthur Ernest Ball
Ian Fairlie Morton
Leonard Elmer Cox
Robert Alan Dunsworth
John Alvin Demers
Cumberland.
Cumberland.
Cumberland.
Cumberland.
Cumberland.
Cumberland.
Garison, Mont.
Yellowknife,
N.W.T.
Calgary, Alta.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
2953
2954
2955
2956
2957
2958
2959
2960
2961
2962
2963
2964
2965
2966
2967
2968
2969
2970
2971
2972
Charles Stanley Kinrade -
Kenneth Richard Graham
Harold Dean Johnscn
Eric William Erickson
Raymond William Serediak.... -
William Muir, Jr I ._
Rudolf Iskra _
Ambjorn James Hallgren -
Frederick Charles McDonald Ross
Arthur Lawrence Phenuff _
Percy Moody _ _ -
Louis Luini __
Boyd Dalton Corrigan _
Phillip Lloyd Broster
George Archibald Price
Joseph Roger Sirianni
Roy Dennis Eckersley
John Henry Hartley _
George Michael Hryciuk -
Emil Bourree _
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Kimberley.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Fernie.
Pioneer Mine. INSPECTION OF MINES
117
Certificate No.
Name
Where
Trained
Certificate No.
Name
Where
Trained
2973
2974
Allan David Stanley —
Pioneer Mine.
Pioneer Mine.
Pioneer Mine.
Natal.
Natal.
Natal.
2994
2995
2996
2997
2998
2999
3000
3001
3002
3003
3004
3005
3006
3007
3008
3009
3010
3011
3012
3013
3014
James H. Steele ...
Donald Charles Plecash : .
Remac.
Remac.
2975
2976
2977
Geno Volpatti __
Nillo Quarin
David John Hughes
Salmo.
2978
2979
2980
2981
2982
Andrew Huryn.__„„.
Joseph Paniec
Thomas Matthew Murphy
Natal.
Natal.
Riondel.
Riondel.
Gray Creek.
Riondel.
Riondel.
Riondel.
Riondel.
Salmo.
Salmo.
Remac.
Remac.
Remac.
Remac.
A. J. H. Hewitt
Edward Hedley
J. F. Rex Muise
Wells.
Wells.
Wells.
2983
Edward Carl Ingham
2984
Peter Stiles
2985
2986
2987
Kenneth Paul Munro
Alexander Robert Schram -
Johannes Christian Schultz
George Arthur Sutherland.
William Seminoff-
Albert Malvern Heath
Lawrence Olson. ,.
Ainsworth.
Ainsworth.
2988
2989
Leo Paul Poupart -
Fernie.
2990
Silvio Maio
Fernie.
2991
Robert Ruthuan MacD^nald
Robert Archibald Gibson-
Ordie A. Jones .__.
2992
2993
Frances Henry Webster -
Stanley Williams .„
Salmo.
Wells.
The Mine Safety Associations in different centres of the Province, sponsored by the
Department of Mines and aided by company officials, safety supervisors, Inspectors of
Mines, and mine-rescue instructors, continued to promote mine-rescue, first aid, and safety
education in their respective districts.
The Similkameen Valley Mine Safety Association did not hold its annual competition at Princeton because of the closure of the near-by Copper Mountain mine. From
the time the association was formed in 1930, twenty-seven annual competitions have been
held.
The Vancouver Island Mine Safety Association held its annual competition in Cumberland on June 1st, 1957. Three teams competed—two from Tsable River and a visiting
team from Britannia mine. The winning team was from Tsable River and was captained
by J. Thomson.
The Central British Columbia Mine Safety Association held its annual competition
at Pioneer Mine on June 8th, 1957. Five teams took part in this competition. They
represented Britannia, Bralorne, Cariboo Gold Quartz, and Pioneer mines. The Cariboo
Gold Quartz team, captained by J. E. White, took first place.
The West Kootenay Mine Safety Association held its annual competition at Salmo
on June 15th, 1957. Six teams took part in this competition—two from the Bluebell
mine, one from Canadian Exploration Limited, one from the H.B. mine, one from the
Yale Lead & Zinc mine, and one from the Reeves MacDonald mine. A Bluebell team,
captained by J. D. McDonald, took first place.
The East Kootenay Mine Safety Association held its annual competition at Fernie
on June 22nd, 1957. Six teams took part in this competition—two from Michel, two
from Kimberley, one from Coal Creek, and one from Fernie. First place was won by
a Kimberley team captained by T. O. Bloomer.
At all meets, competitions were held in first aid as well as mine-rescue work. In all
these competitions, events were held for women and juniors. Representatives from other
industries and organizations not necessarily directly connected with mining also participated.
Two mine-rescue competitions were sponsored by mining companies. One was held
at Chapman Camp on May 25th, 1957, and was confined to employees of The Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company, Limited. The other was held at Michel on June
1st, 1957, and was confined to employees of The Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company
Limited. 118 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The second Provincial mine-rescue competition was held at Nelson on September
7th, 1957. The winning teams from the Cumberland, Pioneer, Nelson, and Fernie events
competed for a trophy and medals. The event was won by the Bluebell team, captained
by J. D. McDonald. In conjunction with the competition the Workmen's Compensation
Board sponsored the first Provincial first-aid competition. Teams competed which had
won local events at Cumberland, Pioneer Mine, Nelson, Fernie, Victoria, and Powell
River. The winning team was from Trail and was captained by K. H. Hill.
JOHN T. RYAN TROPHY
The John T. Ryan Regional Safety Award for the metal mine with the lowest
accident-frequency record for 1957 was won by the Bluebell mine of The Consolidated
Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, at Riondel. To win this trophy, the
Bluebell mine completed the year without a lost-time accident. This record also won the
Dominion Ryan Trophy, which has never before been won by a mine in British Columbia.
The company's safety organization, officials, and employees are to be highly commended.
The 1957 regional safety award for coal mines was won by the Tsable River mine
of Canadian Collieries Resources Limited, near Cumberland. This is the third year in
succession that this mine has won the award. The company's safety programme has thus
been quite effective.
WEST KOOTENAY MINE SAFETY ASSOCIATION TROPHY
Because the West Kootenay District contains many small mines not eligible for the
John T. Ryan awards, and in order to encourage and promote safety in these operations,
the West Kootenay Mine Safety Association in 1951 donated a safety trophy for annual
competition. In 1955 the area covered by this award was extended to take in all southern
British Columbia, and further extended in 1956 to include the whole Province.
The award is made to the mine having the lowest accident rate and working a total
of from 2,500 to 30,000 shifts per year, one-third of these having been worked underground. An accident is taken as one which involves more than three days' loss of time.
In 1957 the award was won by the Mineral King mine of Sheep Creek Mines
Limited near Athalmere and was presented at a joint meeting of the West Kootenay Mine
Safety Association and the Nelson Branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy held in Nelson on February 8th, 1958. Coal
By Robert B. Bonar, Senior Inspector of Coal Mines.
CONTENTS
Page
Production 119
Labour and Employment 123
Competition from Coal Produced outside British Columbia 123
Accidents in and around Coal Mines 123
Explosives 126
Safety Lamps 128
Inspection Committees 128
Coal Dust 128
Dangerous Occurrences 129
Board of Examiners for Coal-mine Officials 130
Notes on Coal Mines—
Vancouver Island Inspection District 131
Nicola-Princeton Inspection District 135
East Kootenay Inspection District 136
Northern Inspection District 144
PRODUCTION
The gross output in short tons of the coal mines of the Province for 1957 was
1,221,766 tons, a decrease of 367,632 tons or 23.1 per cent from 1956. A total of
275,918 tons came from strip mines at Michel, Tent Mountain (near Corbin), and
Blakeburn.
The Vancouver Island District produced 200,205 tons, a decrease of 142 tons or
0.07 per cent from 1956.
The Northern District production was 8,149 tons, a decrease of 5,046 tons or
38.2 per cent from 1956.
The Nicola-Princeton District production was 18,777 tons, a decrease of 54,494
tons or 74.4 per cent from 1956.
The East Kootenay District production was 994,635 tons, a decrease of 307,949
tons or 23.6 per cent from 1956.
119 120
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Output and per Capita Production, 1957
Colliery and Mine
Gross
Output
Mined
during
Year
(Tons)
Total
Days
Number
Worked
of Em
ployees
239
312
142
5
198
3
196
3
157
2
151
2
140
2
18
2
160
2
51
2
10
1
203
4
291
3
74
12
100
17
143
6
126
7
188
311
183
647
183
21
16
Daily
Output
per Employee
(Tons)
Yearly
Number
Output
of Em
per Em
ployees
ployee
Under
(Tons)
ground
626
223
266
4
334
2
283
3
237
2
154
2
269
2
2
96
2
30
2
1
400
4
360
3
1,341
294
16
217
4
265
6
763
239
769
503
7,128
6,884
1
Daily
Output
per
Underground
Employee
(Tons)
Yearly
Output
per
Underground
' Employee
(Tons)
Tsable River Colliery -
Chambers No. 5 mine.
Loudon No. 6 mine
Lewis mine (Timberlands)-—
Carruthers and Wakelam No. 3.
Stronach No. 2 mine
Undun mine
Big Flame mine
Extension mine (Brodrick)
White mine
Wellington Blue Flame No. 2
Taylor Burson (Blue Flame)-
Coldwater Coal mine —
Mullin's strip mine (Blakeburn)
Bulkley Valley Collieries
Reschke mine _ - -
Gething No. 3 mine.-—
Elk River Colliery —
Michel Colliery (underground)..
Michel Colliery (strip)
Coleman Collieries (strip) —
195,442
1,332
1,001
850
474
308
538
7
191
60
2
1,601
1,081
16,095
4,991
1,300
1,858
237,162
497,650
149,680
110,143
2.62
1.87
1.69
1.44
1.51
1.02
1.92
0.53
0.60
1.97
1.24
18.12
2.94
1.51
2.10
4.06
4.20
38.95
3.67
2.34
2.52
1.44
1.51
1.02
1.92
0.53
0.60
1.97
1.24
3.12
2.27
2.46
5.28
5.40
876
333
500
283
237
154
269
~96
30
400
360
312
325
310
992
989
District Output and per Capita Production, Underground Mines, 1957
District
Gross Output
Mined during
Year (Tons)
Total Number
of Employees
at Producing
Collieries
Yearly Output
per Employee
(Tons)
Number of
Men Employed
Underground
in Producing
Collieries
Yearly Output
per
Underground
Employee
(Tons)
200,205
2,682
8,149
734,812
336
7
30
958
596
383
272
767
245
7
26
742
817
383
313
990
945,848
1,331
711
1,020
927
Output per Man-shift, Underground Mines, 1948-57
Year
Man-shifts1
Tonnage
Average per
Man-shift
(Tons)
1948.
1949..
1950.
1951 _
1952.
1953.
1954.
1955 .
1956.
1957...
434,074
520,188
460,159
442,170
383,422
333,922
280,353
304.139
307,821
226,536
1,281,530
1,589,131
1,481,813
1,434,974
1,388,732
1,171,932
1,064,023
1,157,813
1,100,434
945,848
2.95
3.05
3.22
3.24
3.62
3.51
3.79
3.86
3.57
4.17
1 Includes both surface and underground workers. COAL
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<5 COAL 123
COAL-PREPARATION PLANTS
There were no additions or extensive alterations made to existing plants in 1957.
For full details of plants see 1954 Annual Report.
Coke-making
Coke is made at only one plant in the Province, that of the Michel Colliery, The
Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company Limited, Fernie. There were no alterations or extensions made at this plant during the year. For full details see 1954 Annual Report.
Briquetting
Briquettes are made at only one plant in the Province, that of the Michel Colliery,
The Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company Limited, Fernie. There were no alterations or
extensions made at this plant during the year. For full details of this plant see 1954
Annual Report.
LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
In 1957, 1,380 persons were employed in and about the coal mines of the Province,
an increase of fourteen over 1956.
Because of the five-day week in force throughout the Province at the larger mines,
and the legal holidays, the maximum number of working-days was 241. In the Vancouver Island District the one large mine, the Tsable River mine, worked 239 days. In the
East Kootenay District the Michel and Elk River Collieries worked 188 and 183 days
respectively.
COMPETITION FROM COAL PRODUCED OUTSIDE
OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
In 1957 the shipment of Alberta coal and briquettes to British Columbia totalled
672,527 and 24,834 tons respectively. The following table shows the amount of Alberta
coal brought into British Columbia during the past ten years:—
Year Short Tons Year Short Tons
1948 945,700 1953 859,385
1949 891,132 1954 891,194
1950 873,558 1955 932,764
1951 898,533 1956 860,329
1952 1,021,484 1957 672,527
Of the 867,634 tons of British Columbia coal marketed, 306,473 tons was sold for
domestic and industrial use in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Yukon
Territory; 148,427 tons was sold for railroad use in Canada; 92,067 tons was exported
to the United States; and 4,737 tons was sold for ships' bunkers.
The amount sold for domestic and industrial use in the Province was 275,999 tons.
ACCIDENTS IN AND AROUND COAL MINES
In 1957 two fatal accidents occurred, as compared with six in 1956. The number
of fatal accidents per 1,000 persons (underground and strip-mine personnel) employed
was 1.45, compared with 4.39 in 1956, 3.38 in 1955, 0.69 in 1954, 3.22 in 1953, 1.78
in 1952, 3.11 in 1951, 2.21 in 1950, 0.43 in 1949, and 2.04 in 1948. The average for
the ten-year period was 2.18.
The number of fatal accidents per 1,000,000 gross tons of coal (underground and
strip-mine coal) produced in 1957 was 1.63, compared with 3.77 in 1956. 124
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The following table shows the collieries at which fatal accidents occurred in 1957,
with comparative figures for 1956:—
Company
Colliery
1957 1 1956
The Crow's Nest Pass Coal Co. Ltd.
Elk River Colliery
1 2
1 2
Totals
2 | 6
The following two tables classify the fatal accidents in coal mines as to cause and
quantity of coal per accident:—
Fatal Accidents Classified as to Cause
Cause
1957
1956
Number
Per Cent
Number
Vsr Cent
i
1 5000
1
2
1
2
16 67
Collapse of roof supports , _
33.33
16 67
33.33
1 50.00
2
100.00
6
100 00
Fatal Accidents, Underground Mines, Classified as to
Quantity of Coal Mined
1957
1956
Cause
Number
of Fatal
Accidents
Coal Mined
per Fatal
Accident
Number
of Fatal
Accidents
Coal Mined
per Fatal
Accident
1
1
Tons
945,848
1
2
1
2
Tons
1,100,434
550,217
1,100,434
Switching railroad cars. -
Rolling coal or rock -
945,848
550,217
Totals
2
472,924
6
183,406
Note.—There were no fatal accidents in strip-mining operations during 1957.
Ratio of Fatal Accidents, Underground Mines
Accident Death Rate
District
Per 1,000 Persons
Employed
Per 1,000,000 Tons of
Coal Mined
1957
1956
1957
1956
2.09
8.03
4.05
2.72
9.98
4.53
Province, 1957
1.50
4.65
2.11
5.43 COAL 125
In 1957 there were two fatal accidents at the mines in the Province, both of which
occurred underground.
On April 16th, 1957, at about 1 p.m., John Baher, aged 53, Czechoslovakian, single,
and employed as a miner in No. 3 mine, Elk River Colliery, was killed by a fall of ground.
The accident occurred in No. 3 split off No. 2 Left roadway off No. 5 incline. No. 3
split is driven 12 feet wide and high up the pitch along an old roadway in order to extract
the pillar on the left side of that roadway. The split is supported by four rows of posts,
two on each side of a shaker-conveyor used for advancing the split. There was a 6-foot
downthrow fault showing at the face of the split. The fall of ground came from the roof
where it was cut by the fault. It fell between the front row of posts, which were 4 to 5
feet from the face, and the fault.
Baher and his partner, Horst Otto, were working at the face when the accident
occurred. Baher was digging a hole for another post when a rock 8 feet by 4 feet by 20
inches thick, weighing 4 to 5 tons, fell, almost covering him. Help was obtained immediately and Baher's body removed.
The face had been examined the day before the accident by the fireboss and overman, who both recognized the hazardous situation caused by the fault but apparently
were satisfied that the ground was in a safe condition.
On June 20th, 1957, at about 11.45 a.m., Jacob Manser, aged 52, Swiss, married,
and employed as a miner in "A" West mine, Michel Colliery, was killed when he was
struck on the head by a piece of rock or coal while pushing coal down a chute in No. 2
raise off No. 9 belt-road.
No. 2 raise is an ordinary roadway driven on an incline of about 30 degrees. A chute
which serves several working-places off the raise is on the left-hand side. It is 4 feet wide,
with sheet-metal bottom and 2-inch planked sides about 3 feet high. Barricades have
been built at points on the chutes where roadways have been driven from the raise. The
lower end of the chute discharges on to a short chain conveyor which carries the coal to
the No. 9 belt. Usually the coal runs down such a chute freely but, when slightly damp,
sometimes hangs up and has to be started again by pushing it with a short stick from the
side of the chute. These conditions existed at the time of the accident, and Manser was
engaged in this work.
There were no witnesses. Steve Vasek, conveyor loader, and Manser were attending to the chute on No. 2 raise. They had just eaten their lunch, and Vasek went to
start the chain conveyor while Manser went up the chute to keep the coal coming down.
Vasek unloaded coal for about ten minutes, when it stopped coming down the chute.
He went up the raise to investigate and found his partner 200 feet up the raise in a kneeling position against the side of the chute, his head resting against a post. He had a large
wound on the right side of his head just below the ear, was bleeding profusely from the
mouth and nose, and there was no sign of life. Apparently a piece of rock or coal had
come rolling down the chute and was deflected in such a manner that it struck Manser
on the head.
Including the foregoing fatal accidents, 259 accidents involving loss of seven days or
more were reported to the Department by the management of the various mines. All these
accidents were investigated and reported on by the District Inspectors of Mines.
The following three tables classify the accidents in coal mines in 1957 as to occupation of the men involved, as to cause, and as to injury. The fatal accidents are included
in the totals:— 126
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Accidents Classified as to Occupation
Number of
Occupation Accidents
Underground—
Miners 137
Drillers and facemen
Haulage and conveyor men 40
Trackmen and mechanics 6
Supervisors 6
Timbermen 12
Coal-cutters
Miscellaneous 16
Surface—
Shops 11
Surface 12
Preparation and coke-ovens 14
Miscellaneous 5
Totals 259
Accidents Classified as to Cause
Cause
Number of
Accidents
Fall of ground 68
Fall of material and flying material 16
Lifting and handling equipment and material 74
Machinery and tools 35
Slipped and tripped 46
Falling off staging and platforms 7
Miscellaneous 13
Totals 259
Percentage of
Accidents
52.90
15.44
2.32
2.32
4.63
6.18
4.25
4.63
5.40
1.93
100.00
Percentage of
Accidents
26.25
6.19
28.57
13.51
17.76
2.70
5.02
100.00
Accidents Classified as to Injury
Number of
Injury Accidents
Head and neck 17
Eyes 5
Trunk 54
Back 41
Arms 12
Hands and fingers 50
Legs 54
Feet 20
Toes 6
Totals 259
Percentage of
Accidents
6.56
1.93
20.85
15.83
4.63
19.31
20.85
7.72
2.32
100.00
EXPLOSIVES
The following table shows the quantity of explosives used in underground coal mines
in 1957, together with the number of shots fired, tons of coal produced per pound of
explosive used, and the average number of pounds of explosive per shot fired (these
quantities include all the explosives used for breaking coal and rock work in coal
mines) :•—• COAL
Vancouver Island District
127
Colliery
Quantity of
Explosives
Used
(Pounds)
Coal
Mined
(Tons)
Total
Number
of Shots
Fired
Average
Tons of
Coal per
Pound of
Explosive
Used
Average
Pounds of
Explosive
per Shot
Fired
Tsable River Colliery-
Chambers No. 5 mine..
Loudon No. 6 mine
Lewis mine (Timberlands)
Carruthers and Wakelam No. 3~
Stronach No. 2 mine
Wellington Blue Flame No. 2..
Undun mine
Big Flame mine-
Extension mine (Brodrick).
White mine
100,405
900
1,700
1,150
450
250
4
200
50
150
25
Totals for district.
105,284
195,442
1,332
1,001
850
474
308
2
538
7
191
60
200,205
138,100
650
1,830
900
894
300
18
300
45
90
40
1.95
1.48
0.59
0.74
1.05
1.23
0.50
2.19
0.14
1.27
2.40
143,167 1.90
0.73
1.38
0.93
1.28
0.50
0.83
0.22
0.67
1.11
1.67
0.62
0.73
Nicola-Princeton District
Taylor Burson (Blue Flame)
1,200
350
1,601
1,081
|
1,200
600
1.33
3.09
1.00
Coldwater Coal mine ■
0.58
Totals for district.
1,550
2,682 |
1
1,800
1
1.73
0.86
Northern District
Bulkley Valley Collieries
4,090
1,500
1,250
4,991
1,300
1,858
1
3,650
2,000
1,858
1.22
0.87
1.47
1.12
0 75
Gething No. 3 mine— _
0.68
Totals for district . . .
6,840
8,149
7,508 |
1.19
0.91
East Kootenay District
Elk River Colliery
Michel Colliery (underground)..
Totals for district
9,342
108,500
I
237,162
497,650
11,598
93,370
25.39
4.59
117,842
734,812 104,968
0.80
1.16
1.12
1
1
Province
Totals for Province
1
231,516 |
1
945,848
1
257,443
1
4.08
1
| 0.90
1
Quantity of Different Explosives Used
Lb.
Monobel of different grades 219,593
Permissible rock powder 11,923
Total 231,516
MACHINE-MINED COAL
In 1957, mining-machines produced approximately 24,791 tons or 2.6 per cent of the
total output from underground mining. A total of 275,918 tons of strip-mined coal was
removed by mechanical means. 128
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
Machines Driven by—
Type of Machine Used
District
Electricity
Compressed
Air
Chain p.ntarv
Cutting | Kotary
Vancouver Island
1
1
2
1
East Kootenay .
2 i 1
Totals.
2
2
3 I 1
SAFETY LAMPS
There were 1,285 safety lamps in use in the mines of the Province. Of this number,
eighty-nine were flame safety and 1,196 were approved electric lamps, mostly of the
Edison type.
Approved Safety Lamps—Electric and Flame
The following is a list of approved safety lamps, electric and flame:—
The Wolf lamp, flame type.
The Koehler lamp, flame type.
The Edison electric lamp (cap) as Approval No. 18 of the United States Bureau
of Mines, and all Edison lamps up to and including Model P, carrying the
Approval Certificate No. 26 of the United States Bureau of Mines, Model
R-4, Approval No. 29.
The Wheat electric lamp and having Approval No. 20, as issued by the United
States Bureau of Mines.
The Wolf electric lamp, No. 830c
The electric lamp manufactured by the Portable Lamp and Equipment Company, under Approval No. 27 of United States Bureau of Mines.
M.S.A. single-cell trip lamp, carrying United States Bureau of Mines Approval
No. 1009, approved for use on haulage trips in mines.
The Davis ML. model pneumatic electric lamp.
ELECTRICITY
Electricity is used for various purposes on the surface and underground at five
collieries. A total of 15,782 horsepower was used in and about these mines. Detailed
information as to how and where this power was used is given in the report of the Electrical Inspector of Mines.
INSPECTION COMMITTEES
The provisions of the " Coal-mines Regulation Act," section 65, General Rule 19,
require that an inspection committee of workmen shall inspect the mine regularly on
behalf of the workmen and make a true report of the conditions found. In all the larger
mines of the Province this rule is fully observed, and copies of the report are sent to the
Inspectors for the district. The work of these committees is valuable and assists in
furthering the interests of safety at the various mines.
COAL DUST
The danger of accumulations of coal dust on the roadways and in the working-
places is fully realized, and as a rule the regulations regarding the control of coal dust are
adequately carried out. Large quantities of limestone dust are used continually in the
larger mines to combat this hazard. It is used in the roadways, working-places, and for
the tamping of shots. COAL 129
Dust samples are taken regularly from roof, sides, and floor of mine roadways and
analysed. The reports of the analyses are forwarded to the District Inspector each
month.
DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES
Early in August, 1950, the first diesel underground locomotive to be used in any
mine in British Columbia made its trial runs in No. 9 mine, Elk River Colliery, The
Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company Limited.
The locomotive is a 15-ton 100-horsepower North British type and is fully permissible for use in coal mines. This locomotive is still in use at the Elk River Colliery.
Two 75-horsepower diesel locomotives were purchased in 1956 for use in hauling the
output from the "A" North mine to the tipple at the Michel Colliery.
MILLISECOND DELAY DETONATORS
In February, 1951, an amendment to the "Coal-mines Regulation Act" was
passed to allow, with the permission of the Chief Inspector of Mines, more than one
shot to be fired at a time in any coal mine or district of a mine. For further details see
1954 Annual Report.
DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES
On Februrary 5th, 1957, two premature blasts occurred during shot-firing operations at Tent Mountain strip mine, Coleman Collieries Limited, when three charged
holes in the coal detonated during a severe wind-storm. The holes were part of a total
of sixty holes which had been drilled and charged. The first incident occurred when
the detonator wires were being connected preparatory to blasting, when two loaded
holes detonated simultaneously. A single shot exploded two hours later, after the area
had been fenced off and no one was in the immediate vicinity. No one was injured in
either instance.
A thorough investigation indicated that the blasts were caused by charges of static
electricity being developed when particles of dust and frozen snow were being blown
across the area.
On June 25th, 1957, a dense atmosphere consisting of haze and smoke was discovered in some idle workings in No. 6 Right section, Tsable River mine, Canadian
Collieries Resources Limited. A search by members of the colliery mine-rescue squad,
equipped with all-service breathing apparatus, located the fire at the face of a crosscut
off No. 6 Right entry. A quantity of fine coal, estimated at about 20 tons, was found
to be in the later stages of heating, with considerable smoke issuing. The pile of coal
was very liberally covered with limestone dust and sealed off by erecting two stoppings
about 1 foot apart, close to the pile. The interval between the stoppings was filled with
limestone dust.
At a later date the seals were removed and the pile of coal, now cooled, was
loaded out.
On July 17th, 1957, a 600-horsepower electric motor, used for driving a compressor
on the surface of Elk River Colliery, caught fire and the stator coils suffered extensive
damage. A severe electrical storm in progress at the time of the fire is thought to have
contributed to the incident by overloading the electrical system.
On August 23rd, 1957, in "A" North mine, Michel Colliery, The Crow's Nest
Pass Coal Company Limited, the rear end of the borecat continuous-mining machine
skidded on the inclined footwall at the face of the drainage level and jammed a rubber-
insulated electric cable against a lagging on the low-side rib. A severe flash occurred
and the cable was later found to have been punctured. No one was injured.
On September 16th, 1957, in No. 1 East mine, Elk River Colliery, The Crow's Nest
Pass Coal Company Limited, four loaded cars of coal broke away from a seven-car trip 130
REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
being lowered on No. 1 Incline. No one was injured but the cars were extensively
damaged. Investigation disclosed that a coupling pin had worked loose.
On November 22nd, 1957, in No. 9 mine, Elk River Colliery, The Crow's Nest
Pass Coal Company Limited, the eye of a socket on the No. 1 Slope rope broke while
two loaded 10-ton-capacity cars were being hoisted. Although the last car was derailed
by the drag, the two cars ran back about 700 feet. Three sets of timbers were dislodged
and a 6-inch compressed-air line was broken in three places.
BUMPS AND OUTBURSTS
There were no bumps or outbursts of gas in the mines of the Province.
PROSECUTIONS
Mihaly Takago, supplyman, Michel Colliery, was prosecuted on October 25th,
1957, under Rule 112 of the Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company's "Special Rules " for
subjecting himself to danger not necessary in the course of his occupation. He was
found guilty and fined $10 and costs.
SUPERVISION OF COAL MINES
During 1957 nineteen companies operated twenty-seven mines, employing 1,020
men underground. In the supervision of underground employees there were 4 managers,
11 overmen, 3 shiftbosses, and 63 firebosses, or approximately 1 official for every 13 men.
" COAL SALES ACT "
List of Registered Names of British Columbia Coals, Approved by the Chief
Inspector of Mines, in accordance with the Provisions of the " Coal
Sales Act."
Registered Name of Coal
Colliery and Location
Producing Company
Comox
Hi-Carbon
Old Wellington
Chambers-Extension.
Cassidy-Wellington
Taylor Burson
Hat Creek _
Bulkley Valley.
Crow's Nest, Elk River
Crow's Nest, Michel.....
Coldwater
Black Prince
Bowron River Coal
Comae
Tsable River mine, Comox Colliery (Cumberland).
Mixture of Canadian Collieries coal and B.C.
Electric coke
No. 9 mine (Wellington)
Chambers-Extension
Cassidy mine (Cassidy)-
Blue Flame No. 2 mine (Princeton).
Hat Creek (Lillooet)
Bulkley Valley (Telkwa)
Elk River (Coal Creek)
Michel (Michel)..
Coldwater No. 3 mine (Merritt) -
Black mine (Princeton)..
Bowron River mine (Prince George)
Tsable River Colliery (Cumberland) and McLeod
River Colliery (Alberta)
Canadian Collieries Resources Ltd.
Canadian Collieries Resources Ltd.
Canadian Collieries Resources Ltd.
R. H. Chambers.
A. H. Carroll.
Taylor Burson Coal Co. Ltd.
Canada Coal and Development Co. Ltd.
Bulkley Valley Collieries.
Crow's Nest Pass Coal Co. Ltd.
Crow's Nest Pass Coal Co. Ltd.
S. Gerrard.
R. B. Savage.
Central Industries Ltd.
Canadian Collieries Resources Ltd.
BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR COAL-MINE OFFICIALS
First-, Second-, and Third-class Certificates and Mine Surveyors'
Certificates
The Board of Examiners, formed on July 10th, 1919, consists at present of H. C.
Hughes, Chief Inspector of Mines, chairman; A. R. C. James, Inspector of Mines,
member; and Robert B. Bonar, Senior Inspector of Mines, secretary and member.
The meetings of the Board are held in the office of the Department of Mines in
Victoria. The examinations are held in accordance with the amended rules of the
Board of Examiners and approved by the Minister. The examinations are held at least COAL 131
once a year, and more often if necessary. Examinations were held in 1957 on the
following dates: May 15th, 16th, and 17th at the Fernie centre and at Cumberland
and Prince Rupert in November.
The total number of candidates at these examinations was as follows: For third-
class certificates, 1 (passed); Second-class certificates, 1 (failed); First-class certificates, 1 (passed); mine surveyors' certificates, 1 (passed).
The following were the successful candidates: Third class—George McDonald
Watson; first class—David Smith; mine surveyor—Allan W. Britton.
All officials, before engaging in multiple blasting with millisecond delay detonators,
are required to obtain a permit to do so from the Board of Examiners (Coal-mine
Officials). This permit is issued only after the applicant has successfully passed oral
and practical examinations in such work.
In addition to the examinations and certificates already specified as coming under
the Board of Examiners, the Act provides that every coal-miner shall be the holder of
a certificate of competency as such. Examinations are held regularly in coal-mining
districts, and no certificate is granted where the candidate has failed to satisfy the Board
as to his fitness, experience in a coal mine, and a general working knowledge of the
English language.
During 1957 there were sixty-nine candidates for coal-miners' certificates, two of
whom were unsuccessful. In addition to the certificates granted above, substitute certificates were issued to those who had lost their original certificates. Permits to act
as coal-miners, as provided by the Act, have been granted to younger men by Inspectors
in their respective districts. This method allows promising men with less than one year's
experience underground to work at the coal face as miners under the guidance of an
experienced miner.
The Board of Examiners desires to thank the different coal-mining companies for
the use of their premises for holding examinations where necessary.
NOTES ON COAL MINES
VANCOUVER ISLAND INSPECTION DISTRICT
By R. B. Bonar
The gross output of coal from the Vancouver Island Inspection District was 200,205
tons, a decrease of 142 tons or 0.07 per cent from the 1956 output. Only one large
coal mine, the Tsable River mine, is now in production on the Island. Operations in
the once important Nanaimo coalfield are now restricted to eight very small mines,
providing employment for no more than twenty-four men. These mines operate in
outcrop, pillars, and barriers left during earlier working.
The Island coal-mining industry has suffered a rapid decline in the past few years.
Production has declined by as much as 60 per cent since 1951. This condition has
resulted from loss of markets due to competition from other fuels, high costs of production, and from the depletion of reserves in the Nanaimo coalfield. However, indications
are that the bottom of the decline has been reached and that the present production will
be maintained for several years.
In 1957 there were two accidents classified as serious, both of which occurred
underground at the Tsable River mine.
In addition to these, forty-six minor accidents were reported and investigated.
There was one dangerous occurrence reported from the mines of the Island—a fire that
broke out in the Tsable River mine. This incident is reported fully under " Dangerous
Occurrences." 132 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
The annual mine-rescue and first-aid meet organized by the Vancouver Island Mine
Safety Association was held at Cumberland on Saturday, June 1st. Two teams from
Tsable River mine and a visiting team from Britannia mine participated in the mine-
rescue competition, and a very high standard of performance was maintained. The
winning team was the Tsable River team No. 1, captained by John Thomson.
Nanaimo (49° 123° S.W.)
R. H. Chambers and associates, operators; R. H. Chambers, man-
Chambers No. 5 ager. This mine is in Section 14, Range 7, in the Douglas district,
Mine, Extension near Extension. The area was first opened up as a stripping
operation in the latter part of 1952 and comprised a small section
of the Wellington seam lying close to the surface in the vicinity of the old Vancouver
slope workings. By the end of 1954 all available surface coal was depleted, and early
in January, 1955, the present slope was started to test the continuity of the seam underground. Early in 1957 the slope broke into the old Extension workings after being
driven well over 600 feet from the portal. The slope pillars and the room pillars are
now being mined on the retreat.
The coal is mined by picking out the middle band of carbonaceous shale with hand-
picks. It is then blasted and hand-loaded into cars which are hauled to the tipple by a
gasoline-driven hoist. A small shaker screen sorts the coal into over 2-inch, 1- to 2-inch,
and under 1-inch sizes.
Total production in 1957 was 1,332 tons over a working period of 142 days, with
a crew of five men. Working conditions were found to be satisfactory in the course of
inspections. No accidents were reported.
Glyn Lewis, operator and fireboss. This property comprises two
Lewis Mine small mines operating in the Wellington seam in a small area of
(Timberlands) outcrop coal that was left when No. 8 mine was abandoned by
Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir) Limited. The seam outcrops on
the side of a ridge parallel to and immediately south of the Nanaimo River valley at an
elevation of 540 feet above sea-level. The coal measures dip southward at 8 degrees.
The two mines are one-third of a mile apart.
The new mine, which commenced production in May, 1951, is in Range 1, Section
2, of the Cranberry district. It operates in an area of coal outcrop about 1 acre in extent,
which is bounded on the west by a thrust fault that also formed the western boundary of
the old No. 8 mine. The seam is 6 feet thick, including two thin rock bands.
The coal is blasted off the solid and hand-loaded into cars which are hauled to the
surface up the slope by a small gasoline-driven hoist. A shaker screen sorts the coal
into lump, nut, and pea sizes. Total production in 1957 was 850 tons over a working
period of 196 days, with a crew of three men. Working conditions were found to be
satisfactory, and no accidents were reported.
F. Vlasich, operator and fireboss. This mine is about 500 feet
Blue Flame No. 2 southeast of the Blue Flame No. 1 mine, which is on Lot 194 in
Mine, Wellington the Bright district, about 600 feet west of the Timberlands road
(Timberlands) and 16 miles by road from Nanaimo. It is a prospect started in
a continuation of the outcrop from Blue Flame No. 1 mine. The
prospect was abandoned on January 9th, 1958, because shaly coal was encountered, the
quality of which did not improve as the measures were entered.
J. Unsworth and A. Dunn, operators; A. Dunn, fireboss. This
Undun Mine mine, which was brought into production in August, 1954, is
three-quarters of a mile northwest of the village of Extension. It COAL 133
operates in the Wellington seam, and the output comes from the mining of pillars and
small areas of coal left near the outcrop in the workings of the old Extension No. 6 mine.
The Wellington seam is variable in thickness, but the coal is of excellent quality. The
measures dip about 10 degrees southwest. The roof is strong conglomerate.
The coal is blasted off the solid and hand-loaded into cars which are hauled via
the slope to the surface by a small gasoline-driven hoist. Production in 1957 amounted
to 538 tons over a working period of 140 days, with a crew of two men. Working conditions were found to be satisfactory in the course of inspections, and no accidents were
reported.
Albert Addison, operator. This mine is in Range 5, Section 13, of
Big Flame Mine the Cranberry district. Reopening of this mine, formerly known
as the Clifford mine, was commenced early in 1955. During the
year, only prospecting was done in the mine in an attempt to find coal of economical
thickness and grade.
H. Brodrick and associates, operators; H. Brodrick, fireboss.
Extension Mine This mine is located partly on Lot 6, Douglas district, and on Section 12, Range 1, Cranberry district, and is about 2 miles west of
Extension village. The mine was started early in the year in outcrop coal near the portal
of the No. 2 slope, old Extension colliery.
The coal is blasted off the solid and hand-loaded into cars which are hauled to the
surface by a small gasoline-driven hoist. Production in 1957 amounted to 191 tons
over a working period of 160 days, with a crew of two men. Working conditions were
found to be satisfactory in the course of inspections, and no accidents were reported.
North Wellington (49° 124° S.E.)
W. Loudon and associates, operators; W. Loudon, fireboss. This
Loudon No. 6 mine is about 1 mile southeast of Wellington and has been opened
Mine up by a flat-dipping slope driven in a small area of outcrop coal in
the No. 2 Upper Wellington seam adjacent to the old No. 9 mine
workings. The top portion of the seam, varying from 2 to 3 feet and consisting of carbonaceous shale, is blasted off the solid and stowed. The bottom 20 inches to 2 feet of
coal is broken up with light shots and hand-loaded into cars which are hauled to the
surface by a small gasoline-driven hoist. Production in 1957 amounted to 1,001 tons
over a working period of 198 days, with a crew of three men. Working conditions were
found to be satisfactory during the course of inspections, and no accidents were reported.
R. B. Carruthers and W. Wakelam, operators; R. B. Carruthers,
Carruthers and fireboss. This mine, near the Loudon mine, is also in the No. 2
Wakelam No. 3 or Upper Wellington seam adjacent to the abandoned workings of
Mine the old No. 9 mine. Production in 1957 amounted to 474 tons
over a working period of 157 days, with a crew of two men.
Working conditions were found to be satisfactory in the course of inspections. No accidents were reported.
Charles Stronach, operator; H. Gilmour, fireboss. This mine is
Stronach No. 2 in a section of the No. 2 or Upper Wellington seam adjacent to
Mine the old No. 9 mine. All of the output comes from the mining of
pillars and small areas of coal left in the early workings. Production in 1957 amounted to 308 tons over a period of 151 days, with a crew of two men.
Working conditions were found to be satisfactory in the course of inspections. No accidents were reported. 134 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES. 1957
Joseph White, operator; John McArthur, fireboss. This mine is
White Mine about 200 feet south of Stronach No. 2 mine and was operated
as a prospect in search of pillars of coal thought to have been left
during the early working of the old Wellington slope and latterly the Pacific No. 2 mine.
These mines operated in the lower Wellington seam, which averages 6 to 8 feet in thickness and is of excellent quality. After considerable difficulty in passing through a gob
area, a small pillar of coal was located. About 60 tons of coal was mined from this
pillar when a cave-in occurred on December 20th, 1957, which will, in all probability,
permanently close the mine.
Comox (49° 124° N.W.)
Head office, 566 Hornby Street, Vancouver. F. Ronald Graham,
Canadian Collieries chairman of the board; N. R. Whittall, president; E. O. T. Simp-
Resources Limited son, vice-president, mining; W. W. Johnstone, district superintendent. The company name was changed from Canadian Collieries
(Dunsmuir) Limited on March 20th, 1957. In 1957 this company operated one mine
on Vancouver Island, the Tsable River mine.
Tsable River Mine.—S. J. Lawrence, manager; T. Ecclestone, overman; L. Cooper,
A. Cullen, and A. Somerville, shiftbosses; W. Bennie, J. Cochrane, M. Frobisher,
W. High, L. Hutchinson, C. Lewis, G. Nicholas, J. Thomson, and A. Maxwell, firebosses;
S. Gough, surface foreman.
The layout and method of operating this mine are fully described in the 1954
Annual Report. In 1957 production came from the extraction of pillars formed by
earlier development in the seam and from development work in the northeast section
beyond the second fault system. This latter section, which was penetrated by an inclined
rock tunnel near the end of 1955, is being rapidly expanded in spite of the difficulties
encountered when penetrating a downthrow fault of varying displacement that was met
by the two levels driven from the top of the rock tunnel.
The two slopes started from the levels, one on either side of the downthrow fault,
are still being advanced in virgin territory, and the seam at the face of the slopes is of
normal height and clean. The width of this section has not been limited, and the levels
driven to the left and right off the slopes are still advancing in coal, although thinning of
the seam has been encountered in certain levels. The immediate roof is composed of
thinly bedded sandstone which contains numerous slips and joints and requires closer
timbering than is usual. A rock tunnel started to the rise off No. 10 level parting will,
when completed, intersect the slope workings in this section and will greatly facilitate
haulage in the mine.
All the coal, both in development and pillar-extraction workings, is blasted off the
solid. Electrical multiple blasting with millisecond delay detonators is used throughout
the mine. Totals of 100,405 pounds of Monobel No. 4 explosive and 138,000 detonators were used during the year.
Total production in 1957 amounted to 195,442 tons over a working period of 239
days, with a crew averaging 223 men underground and eighty-nine on the surface.
Conditions at the mine were usually found to be satisfactory in the course of
inspections.
First-aid arrangements have been maintained at a satisfactory standard. A suitably
equipped first-aid room is provided on the surface, and an ambulance is held in readiness
for emergencies. Five employees hold industrial first-aid certificates, and twenty-four
employees hold other first-aid certificates. Two mine-rescue teams of six men each are
maintained, and these attend periodic practices at the Cumberland mine-rescue station.
Forty accidents occurring at or in the mine were reported and investigated, two of
which were classed as serious. This mine won the Ryan Trophy, emblematic of having
the lowest accident record in a British Columbia coal mine, in 1956, and has again won COAL 135
the award for 1957. This excellent record is due to the maintaining of the intensified
safety programme put into effect by the management and ably assisted and advised by the
Director of the Safety Division of the British Columbia Mining Association.
Regular inspections of the mine were made each month by the inspection committee
appointed by the workmen, and copies of its reports were forwarded to the office of the
District Inspector through the courtesy of the committee.
NICOLA-PRINCETON INSPECTION DISTRICT
By A. R. C. James
By the end of 1957, only two small coal mines were operating in this district. Total
production for the year was 18,771 tons, only a quarter of the 1956 production. The
greater part of this much-reduced output was from the Mullins strip mine at Blakeburn,
which was closed in April when the Granby steam-electric power plant was shut down
following cessation of operations at Copper Mountain.
The Coldwater mine at Merritt continued to be operated on a small scale and produced coal chiefly for local domestic use. The Blue Flame mine near Princeton, formerly
operated by the Taylor Burson Coal Company, continued to be worked by a group of
former employees. By the end of 1957, however, the last remaining pillars of coal were
being extracted at this mine.
Coal Licence No. 12, covering 640 acres in the Hat Creek area, was renewed in
favour of Inland Resources Company Ltd. In the latter half of the year some diamond
drilling was done on the lignite deposits in this area.
Coal Licence No. 17, covering 320 acres in the Blakeburn area, was renewed in
favour of Collins Gulch Collieries Ltd. Coal Lease No. 38, covering 630 acres southwest of Princeton, was renewed in favour of Wilson Mining Corporation. Coal Licence
No. 59, covering 80.9 acres near Grindrod, was renewed in favour of Edward Pechr.
No activity of any importance was reported from any of these properties.
No accidents were reported from any of the coal mines in 1957, nor were there any
prosecutions under the " Coal-mines Regulation Act."
For the first time in many years the Similkameen Valley Mine Safety Association
was unable to hold an annual field day in 1957. The closure of Copper Mountain made
it impossible to secure sufficient entries to permit the organizing of mine-rescue and first-
aid competitions.
Coalmont (49° 120° S.W.)
Mullin's Strip Mine Ltd.—Edward Mullin, manager, Princeton.
Blakeburn This company operated a strip mine at the site of the old Coalmont
Strip Mine Collieries Ltd. Nos. 3, 4, and 5 mines at Blakeburn. The property
is 5 miles by road from Coalmont. A D-8 bulldozer was used to
remove the overburden and a TD-14 2-yard loader was used to load the coal into trucks.
The entire production was trucked to the Granby steam-electric power plant near Princeton. This plant was closed down at the end of April, when the Granby company ceased
operations at Copper Mountain and Allenby. There were no other markets available for
the coal, and so the strip mine was also closed down. Total production since the strip
mine was started in 1954 was 163,439 tons. Production in 1957 was 16,095 tons.
A crew of five men was employed at the pit and ten men in trucking the coal to the power
plant.
Merritt (50° 120° S.W.)
This property, 1 mile south of Merritt, is operated by the owners,
Coldwater S. Gerrard and partners. Fireboss (on permit), S. Gerrard. Activi-
Coal Mines ties were again confined to the Coldwater No. 5 mine and consisted
of splitting pillars and extracting remnants of coal left between the 136 REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957
abandoned workings of the Middlesboro No. 5 mine and the surface, in the area adjacent
to and west of the old water-tank and about 250 feet west of the old Middlesboro No. 4
mine. The seam is from 4 to 5 feet thick and includes two partings consisting of 3 inches
of bone and 1 inch of hard shale. The coal is blasted from the solid and is hand-loaded
into cars which are hauled to the surface by a small gasoline-driven hoist. Total production in 1957 was 1,081 tons. The crew varied from two to three men. Working conditions
were usually found to be satisfactory in the course of inspections. No methane was
detected.
Princeton (49° 120° S.W.)
James Fairley, overman; Thomas Brydon, fireboss. This mine is
Blue Flame about 10 miles by road south of Princeton and about half a mile
Colliery west of the Hope-Princeton Highway. In 1957 mining operations
were confined to the extraction of pillars between No. 2 level and
the outcrop. By the end of the year the last remaining pillars were being mined. Production for 1957 was 1,601 tons, and a crew of three men was employed. Conditions
were usually found to be satisfactory in the course of inspection and no gas was found.
Hat Creek (50° 121° N.W.)
Company office, 602 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. R. R.
Inland Resources Wilson, president, Vancouver. This company holds Coal Licence
Limited No. 12, covering 640 acres in the Hat Creek area. The property
is at Upper Hat Creek, 30 miles from Ashcroft and 15 miles from
Pavilion. An unusually thick deposit of lignite coal occurs in a small basin of Tertiary
sedimentary rocks. Little is known of the structure of the coal measures, but near the
coal outcrop they appear to be steeply folded and to have undergone some faulting. The
Hat Creek coal deposit has been known of for many years and was reported on by
Dawson in 1877. Various early attempts were made to develop the property. In 1925
the Hat Creek Coal Company drilled seven drill-holes and drove an adit 100 feet in an
attempt to explore the property. Mining for local requirements on a very small scale was
carried on from 1933 to 1945. The property remained inactive from 1945 to 1957.
In 1957, under the technical direction of Victor Dolmage, eight holes totalling 5,700
feet were diamond drilled on the west side of the creek with the object of further exploring the extent and structure of the deposit. Drilling began about August 23rd and was
continued to the end of the year. A crew averaging eight men was employed and a camp
was established at the property. It is reported that further work is planned for 1958.
[Reference: Minister of Mines, B.C., Ann. Rept, 1925, pp. 305-333; Geol. Surv.,
Canada, Mem. 262, pp. 108-110.]
EAST KOOTENAY INSPECTION DISTRICT
By D. R. Morgan
The production of coal from the East Kootenay Inspection District in 1957 was
994,635 tons, a decline of 307,949 tons or 23.6 per cent less than the quantity produced
in 1956. There were two companies in operation, and their activities were confined to
the Crowsnest Pass area. The Crow's Nest Pass Coal Company Limited, with mines at
Michel and Coal Creek, produced 884,492 tons, a decrease of 303,642 tons from the
corresponding figure obtained in 1956, and Coleman Collieries Limited, operating a large
strip mine on the interprovincial boundary on Tent Mountain near Corbin, produced
110,143 tons, a decrease of 4,307 tons. Most of the mines were in operation throughout
the year, but their activities were curtailed considerably by the present state of the coal
market. COAL 137
The accident record in 1957 showed an improvement in both frequency and severity.
Ten serious acc- Library Home /
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Lode Metals British Columbia. Legislative Assembly 1959
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Page Metadata
Item Metadata
| Title | Lode Metals |
| Alternate Title | REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF MINES, 1957 |
| Creator |
British Columbia. Legislative Assembly |
| Publisher | Victoria, BC : Government Printer |
| Date Issued | [1959] |
| Genre |
Legislative proceedings |
| Type |
Text |
| File Format | application/pdf |
| Language | English |
| Identifier | J110.L5 S7 1959_A65_176 |
| Collection |
Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia |
| Source | Original Format: Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Library. Sessional Papers of the Province of British Columbia |
| Date Available | 2017-08-22 |
| Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library |
| Rights | Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy or otherwise distribute these images please contact the Legislative Library of British Columbia |
| Catalogue Record | http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1198198 |
| DOI | 10.14288/1.0355413 |
| Aggregated Source Repository | CONTENTdm |
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