CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-03
   
Deposit name(s): Yellow Kid; Midway; Le Roi; Texada Mines-Yellow Kid
Longitude / Latitude: -124.54639 / 49.70556
Political location(s): Canada; Province or state: British Columbia; Nearest community: Vancouver (115 km NW)
NTS map data: 092F10 (Comox)
Deposit clan (type): Iron Skarn-type
Deposit (sub) types: massive magnetite ore body hosted by limestone is a classic contact metasomatic replacement iron deposit; medium grained magnetite with network of calcite veins and pods, with sulphide-rich extensions; 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.
unreplaced limestone blocks occur throughout the deposit, commonly enclosed by magnetite aand apparently unrotated from their original position; locally skarn-free magnetite occurs in bedded limestone; 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.
mineralogical zoning is recognized; where fully developed, it comprises barren skarn close to the intrusion, grading outwards to magnetite-rich skarn and then into marble; sulphides regarded as coeval
Deposit status: past producer; Size category: 18 Mt; Status comments:
Geologic province: Cordilleran Orogen
Geologic subprovince: Insular Belt
Geologic district: Wrangell Terrane
Deposit object located: open pit
Commodities: Fe
Mineralization styles: massive; veinlets
Geological ages: Late Triassic - Early Jurassic (host rocks)
Early Jurassic - Middle Jurassic (mineralization)
Tectonic setting: continental marginal arc-fold belt; transpressive; Formal name: Bonanza magmatic arc (mineralization)
Coincident features: intrusive contact (ore body in limestone adjacent to steep intrusive contact; replacement of limestone 'in situ' by skarn and magnetite); Coincident feature name: Gillies Intrusion/Stock
Regional tectonic structure: northwest-trending open folds (early Jurassic to late Cretaceous; limestone and underlying volcanics folded into north plunging folds) Tectonic structure name: Coast Range orogeny
northwest-trending major faults (the faults controlled the emplacement of some Jurassic intrusions and the associated skarn mineralization) Tectonic structure name: Ideal and Holly faults
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 quartz monzonitic Gillies stock )
Host rock stratigraphy:Quatsino/Marble Bay Formation

(3) intrusive; quartz monzonite-monzogabbro suite (iron skarns located at intrusive contact); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: hypabyssal; Metamorphic grade: unmetamorphosed
External host rock forms:crystalline, coarse
Host rock protoliths:intermediate intrusive rocks (older phase massive grey, younger phase massive to porphyritic, and the youngest aplitic dykes); Host rock protolith name: Gillies Intrusion/Stock
Internal host rock structures:massive to porphyritic
Individual lithologies:quartz monzonite (modal composition: plagioclase (An47) 29 %, K-feldspar 14 %, quartz 16 %, augite 8 %, biotite 19 %, opacite 5 %, and accesories 10 %)
Host rock stratigraphy:Gillies Intrusion/Stock
Related igneous rocks: (1) intrusive; gabbro-diorite suite (post-ore dyke, ESE trend, up to 15 m wide); Initials: Yellow Kid dyke; Magma series: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: continental
Individual lithologies:porphyritic diorite (phenocrysts of plagioclase, 15 -20 %, and pyroxene, 2 %, in groundmass of plagioclase, hornblende, apatite, sericite and epidote)
Metallogenic signatures: Fe-Cu-Au-Ag
Alteration signatures: skarn: garnet-pyroxene-actinolite-epidote; What was altered: limestone
carbonatization: calcite; What was altered: limestone
Mineralogy: (alteration): garnet, diopside-hedenbergite, actinolite, epidote, serpentine
(gangue): calcite
(mineralization): magnetite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite
Radiometric ages: Object dated: Related igneous rocks(1); Age - Ma: 176; +2; -2; Dating method: U-Pb; Concentrate: zircon; Source rock: quartz monzodiorite; Formal name: Gillies Intrusion; Event dated: intrusive event; Interpretive comment: age marks time of formation of Fe skarns at contact of the intrusion with limestone and volcanics; 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 shape: lensoid
Deposit dimensions:strike length: 225 metres
width: 40 metres
depth: 210 metres
Qualified comments: (Applies to: discovery and development) Discovery in 1953; open pit+underground production during 1955-1976: 18 181 433 t mined, 18 946 947 t milled, with recovery of 23 645 219 g Ag, 887 401 g Au, 25 432 020 kg Fe and 7 989 280 251 kg Cu. Underground exploration near Yellow Kid pit discovered two ore bodies: Midway to the west in 1959 and Le Roi to the east in 1964; production from them started in 1964 and was included with Yellow Kid.
Links to other databases: BC MINFILE; Key value: 092F 258
References:
British Columbia Mines and Energy, 2001
British Columbia MINFILE Database
Government of British Columbia, MINFILE Mineral Inventory, Internet

Carson, D. J. T.; Muller, J. E.; Wanless, R. K.; Stevens, R. D., 1971
Age of the Contact Metasomatic Copper and Iron Deposits, Vancouver and Texada Islands, British Columbia
Paper, Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Canada, Publication code 71-36, 9 p.

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.

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.

Webster, I. C. L..; Ray, G. E., 1990
Geology and Mineral Deposits of Northern Texada Island (92F/9, 10 and 15)
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. 257 - 265


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