CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


Deposit number Country Location Names Commodities
799 Canada (British Columbia) 50.22.57 N -- 127.15.07 W Old Sport; Coast Copper Cu; Au; Ag; Fe
 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-04
   
Deposit name(s): Old Sport; Coast Copper
Political location(s): Canada; Province or state: British Columbia; Nearest community: Port McNeil (32 km SW)
NTS map data: 092L06 (Alice Lake)
Deposit clan (type): Iron Skarn-type
Deposit (sub) types: most of the ore is stratiform along thin limestone between underlying andesite and an interbedded flow within Quatsino limestone; the ore and skarn are strikingly banded; bands are 0.5 to 2.5 cm thick; Reference: Sangster, D. F., 1969: The Contact Metasomatic Magnetite deposits of Southwestern British Columbia; Bulletin, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, Publication code 172, 85 p., 9 maps.
possible Cu-rich member of Fe-Cu skarn zonation in Benson Lake district; deposit rich in chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite; contains fibrous magnetite after hematite; may be Cloncurry-type; Reference: Ettlinger, A. D.; Ray, G. E., 1990: Precious Metal Enriched Skarns in British Columbia: An Overview and Geological Study; Paper, Geological Survey Branch, Mineral Resources Division, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Province of British Columbia, Canada, Publication code 1989-3, 128 p., 1 maps.
Deposit status: past producer; Size category: 2.6 Mt
Geologic province: Cordilleran Orogen
Geologic subprovince: Insular Belt
Geologic district: Wrangell Terrane
Deposit object located: open pit
Commodities: Cu; Au; Ag; Fe
Mineralization styles: stratiform; replacement of carbonate matrix ; disseminated
Geological ages: Late Triassic - Early Jurassic (host rocks)
Middle Jurassic (related magmatics)
Middle Jurassic (mineralization)
Tectonic setting: continental marginal arc-fold belt; transpressive; Formal name: Bonanza magmatic arc (mineralization)
Coincident features: carbonate horizon (host carbonate unit between flows at the boundary of Karmutsen and Quatsino formations); Coincident feature name: Old Sport horizon
bedding in host strata (banding in ore is parallel to the host strata; indicative of replacement of favourable beds); Coincident feature name: Old Sport horizon
Regional tectonic structure: broad open syncline, plunging southwest toward a monzogabbro intrusive (the Coast Copper stock intruded at the nose of the syncline; the Old Sport horizon dips 35° southwest toward the intrusive contact, which dips 70° out) Tectonic structure name: Coast Copper stock margin
Host rocks: (1) volcanic; intermediate volcanic rocks (Flows and tuffs); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: arc-back arc basin; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
External host rock forms:massive, porphyritic to equigranular
Host rock protoliths:andesite; Host rock protolith name: Karmutsen Formation of Vancouver Group
Internal host rock structures:fine grained to porphyritic
Individual lithologies:andesite (altered andesite near the ore body contains chlorite, albite, sericite and albite)
Host rock stratigraphy:Karmutsen Formation of Vancouver Group

(2) sedimentary; carbonate (thin ore-bearing 'Old Sport' interflow horizon near top of volcanics); Depositional setting: arc-back arc basin; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
External host rock forms:well bedded
Host rock protoliths:carbonate (located at boundary of Karmutsen and Quatsino formations, which is locally referred to as 'Old Sport' horizon); Host rock protolith name: Old Sport horizon
Internal host rock structures:banding
Individual lithologies:skarn (ore and skarn are strikingly well banded at several places; pods of calcite may be remnants of original limestone)
Host rock stratigraphy:Karmutsen Formation

(3) volcanic; intermediate volcanic rocks (tabular body of fine grained volcanic rock); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: arc-back arc basin; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Host rock protoliths:andesites (uppermost flow of Karmutsen Formation or interbedded lava flow near the base of Quatsino Formation); Host rock protolith name: Karmutsen Formation of Vancouver Group
Host rock stratigraphy:Karmutsen Formation
Related igneous rocks: (1) intrusive; quartz monzonite-monzogabbro suite (Early to Middle Jurassic Island Plutonic Suite); Initials: Coast Copper or Benson Lake stock ; Magma series: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: hypabyssal
Individual lithologies:gabbro-diorite-quartz monzonite (eastern part of the stock near iron deposits is gabbroic, the western part is quartz monzonitic)
Metallogenic signatures: Cu-Au-Ag-Fe
Alteration signatures: skarn: garnet, epidote, calcite; What was altered: host limestone and adjacent volcanic rocks
chloritization: chlorite; What was altered: volcanic rocks
albitization: albite; What was altered: volcanic rocks
sericitization: sericite; What was altered: feldspar in volcanic rocks
carbonatization: coarse calcite pods and irregular veins carrying s; What was altered: ore body
Mineralogy: (alteration): garnet, pyroxene, amphibole, epidote
(gangue): calcite
(mineralization): chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite, hematite
Radiometric ages: Object dated: Alteration Signature; Age - Ma: 179.5; +8; -8; Dating method: K-Ar; Concentrate: phlogopite; Source rock: skarn; Formal name: skarnification; Event dated: contact metasomatism; Interpretive comment: skarn related to Coast Copper stock at Merry Widow deposit 3 km to SE; 2 runs: 181 and 178 Ma; Reference: Carson, D. J. T., 1973: The Plutonic Rocks of Vancouver Island, British Columbia: Their Petrography, Chemistry, Age and Emplacement; Paper, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, Publication code 72-44, 70 p.
Deposit shape: tabular
Qualified comments: (Applies to: discovery and development) Deposit was originally exploited for its copper content, which averaged 2 %; magnetite recovered in milling was later shipped; deposit averaged 15 % Fe; contained notable amounts of Au, Ag, Co and Zn; production: 2657593 tonnes of ore, 3869 kg Au, 11731 kg Ag, 41 193 t Cu and unknown t Fe;

(Applies to: location and access) Near Merry Widow Mine
Links to other databases: BC MINFILE; Key value: 092L 035
References:
British Columbia Mines and Energy, 2001
British Columbia MINFILE Database
Government of British Columbia, MINFILE Mineral Inventory, Internet

Carson, D. J. T., 1973
The Plutonic Rocks of Vancouver Island, British Columbia: Their Petrography, Chemistry, Age and Emplacement
Paper, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, Publication code 72-44, 70 p.

Eastwood, G. E. P., 1965
Replacement Magnetite on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Economic Geology, Volume 60, p. 124 - 148

Ettlinger, A. D.; Ray, G. E., 1990
Precious Metal Enriched Skarns in British Columbia: An Overview and Geological Study
Paper, Geological Survey Branch, Mineral Resources Division, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Province of British Columbia, Canada, Publication code 1989-3, 128 p., 1 maps.

Gross, G. A., 1996
Skarn Iron
20. Skarn Deposits, Section 20.4 Skarn Iron, in Geology of Canadian Mineral Deposit Types, Edited by Eckstrand, O. R.; Sinclair, W. D.; Thorpe, R. I., Geology of Canada, Decade of North American Geology (DNAG), Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Society of America, Volume 8, 640 p, p. 489 - 495

Hudson, R., 1997
A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstones and Mineral Sites of British Columbia, Volume I, Vancouver Island
Orca Book Publishers, PO Box 5626, Station B, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 214 p.

Meinert, L. D., 1984
Mineralogy and Petrology of Iron Skarns in Western British Columbia, Canada
Economic Geology, Volume 79, p. 869 - 882

Meinert, L. D., 1992
Skarns and Skarn Deposits
Geoscience Canada, Volume 19, p. 145 - 162

Muller, J. E., 1977
Geology of Vancouver Island
Open File Report, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Publication code 463, 1 maps.

Sangster, D. F., 1969
The Contact Metasomatic Magnetite deposits of Southwestern British Columbia
Bulletin, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, Publication code 172, 85 p., 9 maps.

Southerland-Brown, A., 1966
Tectonic History of the Insular Belt of British Columbia
in A Symposium on the Tectonic History and Mineral Deposits of the Western Cordillera in British Columbia and Neighbouring Parts of the United States, Edited by Anonymous, Special Volume, Geological Society, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 8, 353 p, p. 83 - 100


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