Details have been made available of a geological symposium held in Whitefish, Mont. last summer.
More than 100 geologists convened at the northwestern lake resort to share information on exploration opportunities in the Purcell Basin, an area encompassing portions of southern British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington state.
The symposium, held every 10 years since 1973, allows American and Canadian geologists to exchange information on a decade of work in the Middle Proterozoic Belt-Purcell Basin region.
The Basin hosts such well-known deposits as the Sullivan zinc-lead-silver mine near Cranbrook, B.C. The mine has been worked since 1900 and is one of the largest base metal massive sulphide deposits in the world. Geologists visted the mine and heard details of the Sullivan-Aldridge research project, which is focusing on Sullivan’s geology and the metallogeny of the Purcell Basin. The project involves geoscientists from the federal and provincial governments, universities and industry.
During the symposium, the British Columbia Geological Survey released Bulletin 84, in which Trygve Hoy describes Purcell Supergroup rocks and deposits in the Sullivan-Cranbrook area. The ministry is continuing to map an area southwest of Sullivan and north of Troy, in the Yahk-Creston area. Also highlighted were studies of stratabound copper-silver deposits in the Western Montana Copper Belt, including Spar Lake (Troy), Montanore and the Rock Creek deposits. While all three are considered significant, only Troy has been mined to date.
Delegates heard details of the syn-sedimentary Sheep Creek copper deposit in Montana. Reserves there are reported to be 4.5 million tonnes of 2.5% copper and 0.1% cobalt in an upper zone, and 4 million tonnes of 4% copper in a lower zone.
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