CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


Deposit number Country Location Names Commodities
771 Canada (British Columbia) 49.51.45 N -- 125.32.40 W Iron Hill; Argonaut Fe
 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-04
   
Deposit name(s): Iron Hill; Argonaut
Political location(s): Canada; Province or state: British Columbia; Nearest community: Campbell River (20 km SW)
NTS map data: 092F13 (Upper Campbell Lake)
Deposit clan (type): Iron Skarn-type
Deposit (sub) types: corse massive magnetite at core; grades into a mixed, crystalline magnetite/garnetite near the margin with a boundary phase of pure crystalline garnetite; sharp contact of skarn with host rock; 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.
Deposit status: past producer; Size category: 3.66 Mt
Geologic province: Cordilleran Orogen
Geologic subprovince: Insular Belt
Geologic district: Wrangell Terrane
Deposit object located: open pit
Commodities: Fe
Mineralization styles: magnetite lenses, stratabound
Geological ages: Early Jurassic - Middle Jurassic (mineralization)
Late Triassic - Early Jurassic (host rocks)
Early Jurassic - Middle Jurassic (related magmatics)
Tectonic setting: continental marginal arc-fold belt; transpressive; Formal name: Bonanza magmatic arc (mineralization)
Coincident features: limestone-mafic volcanic contact (skarn mineralization occurs along the contact between limestone and pillowed basalts ); Coincident feature name: Quatsino Formation-Karmutsen volcanic boundary
folding (axial plane strike NW; dip 45-80° to NE; deposit at keel of the syncline; granodiorite emplacement controlled by the synclinal structure); Coincident feature name: Syncline, overturned
host lithology (skarnification and iron deposition preferentially in volcanics at boundary with carbonate unit); Coincident feature name: Karmutsen Volcanics
Regional tectonic structure: synclinal structure (an overturned syncline surrounded by granodiorite intrusion below) Tectonic structure name: Iron Hill syncline
Host rocks: (1) volcanic; mafic-intermediate volcanic rocks (basaltic to andesitic flows); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: shallow marine; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
External host rock forms:flows, tuffs and agglomerate
Host rock protoliths:basalt-andesite (flows, some pillowed; folded and altered near the desposit); Host rock protolith name: Karmutsen Group
Internal host rock structures:massive to porphyritic
Individual lithologies:basalt-andesitic basalt (faint bedding in tuffaceous beds; clouding of plagioclase and growth of actinolite in hornblende)
Host rock stratigraphy:Karmutsen Group

(2) sedimentary; carbonate (limestone completely recrystallized to medium grained marble); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: carbonate; Depositional setting: shallow marine; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
External host rock forms:well bedded
Host rock protoliths:limestone (conformably overlies mafic flows of the Karmutsen Group that forms lower part of the Vancouver Group); Host rock protolith name: Quatsino Formation of Vancouver Group
Internal host rock structures:white and grey beds; some thin dark grey beds
Individual lithologies:marble (medium grained; folded, recrystallized and intruded by granodioritic pluton )
Host rock stratigraphy:Quatsino Formation of Vancouver Group
Related igneous rocks: (1) intrusive; granodiorite-tonalite-diorite suite (Early to Middle Jurassic Quinsam intrusions); Initials: Quinsam Intrusion; Magma series: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: continental
Individual lithologies:granodiorite (medium grained, massive; with euhedral plagioclase and hornblende crystals; one of Island Intrusions )

(2) intrusive; gabbro-diorite suite (altered diabasic dykes); Initials: Diabase dykes; Magma series: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: hypabyssal
Individual lithologies:diabase (highly altered green dyskes composed of laumontite and calcite with scattered diopside; probably related to Karmutsen volcanics)
Country rocks: (1) mafic volcanics; (basaltic volcanics); Country rock name: Karmutsen Group; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Country rock protoliths:basalt-andesite (flows with some tuffs and agglomerate; more than 3 km thick group); Country rock protolith name: Karmutsen Group
Individual lithologies:basalt-andesite (massive and pillowed flows; commonly porphyritic)

(2) carbonate; (overlying Karmutsen volcanics); Country rock name: Quatsino Formation; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Country rock protoliths:marble (mainly pure limestone; some argillaceous beds; fossils poorly preserved due to recrystallization); Country rock protolith name: Quatsino Formation
Individual lithologies:marble (medium grained marble; bedding well preserved despite complete recrystallization; 99 % CaCO3)

(3) granite suite; (granodioritic plutons of Coast Range orogen); Country rock name: Island Intrusions/Coast Range complex; Metamorphic grade: none
Country rock protoliths:granodiorite (granodiorite-quartz diorite plutons of early to middle Jurassic age); Country rock protolith name: Island Intrusions/Coast Range complex
Individual lithologies:granodiorite-quartz diorite (mostly massive, post-tectonic calc-alkaline plutons of the late stage of Coast Range orogeny)
Metallogenic signatures: Fe
Alteration signatures: skarn: garnet, epidote; What was altered: basaltic volcanics adjacent to limestone
Mineralogy: (alteration): garnet, epidote
(gangue): calcite
(mineralization): magnetite, pyrite
Radiometric ages: Object dated: Country Rocks(1); Age - Ma: 219.5; +2.5; -2.5; Dating method: U-Pb; Concentrate: zircon; Source rock: mafic flow and sill; Formal name: volcanic activity; Event dated: Karmutsen Formation; Interpretive comment: Mt Hall samples; location 49.33° N, 124.78° W; early Triassic age; older than the geological age; Reference: Isachsen, C.; Armstrong, R. L.; Parrish, R. R., 1985: U-Pb, Rb-Sr, and K-Ar geochronometry of Vancouver Island Igneous Rocks; in A Symposium on Deep Structure of Southern Vancouver Island: Results of Lithoprobe Phase I, Edited by Isachsen, C.; Armstrong, R. L.; Parrish, R. R., Programme and Abstracts, Geological Association of Canada, Geological Association of Canada, Victoria Section, p. 21 - 22
Deposit shape: zone of lensoid and irregular bodies
Deposit dimensions:length: 400 metres
width: 150 metres
depth: 120 metres
Qualified comments: (Applies to: discovery and development) Magnetite discovery on the hill early in 20th century; drilling and small shipment of ore in 1948; open pit production from 1951 to 1957: 3.657 Mt of ore from which 1.99 Mt of concentrate were shipped.
Links to other databases: BC MINFILE; Key value: 092F 075
References:
British Columbia Mines and Energy, 2001
British Columbia MINFILE Database
Government of British Columbia, MINFILE Mineral Inventory, Internet

Ray, G. E.; Ettlinger, A. D.; Meinert, L. D., 1990
Gold Skarns: Their Distribution, Characteristics and Problems in Classification
Section Mineral Deposit Studies, in Geological Fieldwork 1989: A Summary of Field Activities and Current Research, Edited by Anonymous, Paper, Geological Survey Branch, Mineral Resources Division, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Province of British Columbia, Canada, 1990-1, 535 p, p. 237 - 246

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.


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