Chalcopyrite Quartz

Specimen Summary

This specimen contains the minerals chalcopyrite and quartz. Since quartz is a common rock forming mineral without significant economic value, this description will focus on chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite is a bright yellow copper sulphide mineral often mistaken for gold, and it is the most common ore mineral for copper. The mineral, while known for its copper is a blend of copper, iron, and sulphur. This rock has some oxidation of the iron that it contains, as you can see by the red staining.

The origin of this specimen lies within the Copper King Property near Finlay River, British Columbia. It is a copper project that was first starting to be explored in the 1930's by prospectors. In the 1960's a small drill program was performed on site with inconclusive results. Upon further investigation, the claim area drilled didn’t host the full structure It is only 45 km away from the well-known copper mine called Kemess. Since then, numerous rounds of exploration on the property have occurred.

Specimen Data

 

The information listed below relates to the current holding location or collection that the sample is from, and whether the item is viewable at that location or is part of a private collection. Coordinates are given as guides, and we remind you that collecting specimens from these locations is not allowed. Caution is advised visiting such sites and Below BC assumes no responsibility for any injuries or trespassing charges that may occur as a result of the viewer entering these sites.

Collection Details

Original Collection:

Association for Mineral Exploration (AME)

Sub Collection:

-

Collection ID:

AME-435

Virtual Museum ID:

19-AME435

Accessibility:

Date Added to VM:

2018-02-08

Location Information

Sample Origin:

Pesika Creek, Finlay River, B.C.

Specific Site:

Wedge Group (Copper King)

UTM Easting:

402829

UTM Northing:

6323720

Datum:

10 (NAD 83)

Coordinate Accuracy:

Approximate

Specimen Details

VM Category:

Mineral

Primary Features:

Chalcopyrite Quartz

Primary Mineral Formula:

CuFeS2, SiO2

Primary Category:

sulphide oxide

Secondary Features:

Advanced Geological Information

 

The following section provides geological data relating to the specimen or the site it was collected from, when available. Information has been obtained from various sources including private and government datasets but may not be up to date. Any geological time periods or ages listed often relate to the primary geology of the area, and may not be the actual date of an event such as mineral formation.

Geological Formation:

Wedge

Geological Period:

Lower Cambrian

Stratigraphic Age:

510 to 541 Million Years Ago

Geological Belt:

Foreland

Geological Terrane:

Ancestral North America

Minfile ID:

094F 002

Minfile Link:

https://minfile.gov.bc.ca/Summary.aspx?minfilno=094F%20%20002

Site Details:

The Wedge copper showing occurs along Pesika Creek, an area of geologically complex faulted terrane. A succession of Lower Cambrian orthoquartzite, quartzose dolomite, dolomite, and shale are unconformably overlain by uniformly-bedded, grey weathering, nodular limestone of Upper Cambrian Lynx Formation. Cambrian to Ordovician Kechika Group argillaceous limestone conformably overlies the Lynx Formation.

The Wedge showing consists of a large quartz vein hosting variable amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite and malachite. The vein is over 1525 metres long, and in places is over 30 metres in width. Over much of the strike length, the vein occurs as a series of narrow reticulating veins that have completely or partly silicified the surrounding rock. Occasional ankerite veins have also been noted in association with narrow quartz veins. The host rock is reported to be fine-grained, grey limestone, probably part of the Lynx Formation.

WORK HISTORY

The Wedge and Protection groups of claims were located on the showings in about 1930 by Mort Teare and Associates of Prince George. The showings were prospected for several years by means of open cuts and short adits. The showings were restaked in 1941 by E.F. Williams, Mort Teare, and associates as the Copper King group of 6 claims. In 1951 the property consisted of the Copper King Nos. 1 to 8 claims held by Carl Noel, and the Extension Nos. 1 and 2 claims held by Mort Teare. Exploration work to this date consisted of open cuts, and some 36.6 metres of drifts and crosscuts in 3 adits.

In 2003, Mr. Benjamin Ainsworth completed a technical report in the deposit for Pursuit Pty Ltd (Pursuit). This involved a site visit and the collection and analysis of two stream sediment samples and eight rock chip samples. This resulted in a NI43-101 technical report for the “Copper King” property.

In 2005, Derek Moore completed minor rock sampling and prospecting on the Copper King property which contained the Wedge vein.

In 2008, Wedge Resources Limited held an option on the Wedge Pesika claims of the Wedge property, owned by Derek Moore. The collected 59 rock samples and conducted geological mapping. The historic trenches and adit were located and mapped first, identifying the major contacts which were then followed by locating natural outcrops and clearing the thin soils and moss for exposure. The sampling consisted of 1 metre channel/chip sampling at a uniform height and where possible in 1 metre lengths. During this year the Wedge prospect was described as a large structure cutting through phyllitic rocks, occurring as a composite mesothermal to epithermal quartz vein deposit surrounded by hydrothermal brecciation and laminated veining. The Wedge structure was mapped for just over 1km and is open to the north and south. To the north it can clearly be seen to continue, outlined by a strong vegetation anomaly. The Wedge structure strikes approximately 350 degrees and is sub parallel to the phyllitic cleavage. The structure is not exposed at every location however it is exposed for about 80 per cent of the mapped length and appears to be very continuous. The massive quartz zone pinches and swells between about 5 metres to an approximately 20 metres wide. Within the massive quartz there is little or no copper and iron sulfide mineralization. The main zone of mineralisation is the strongly altered, brecciated and veined domains along the western side of the main quartz structure.

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