GEOLOGY OF THE NIFTY Zn-Pb-Ba PROSPECT, BELLA COOLA DISTRICT, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Nii Zn-Pb-Ag-Ba prospect is located in the headwaters of the Noosegolch River valley, approximately 23 kilometms north-east of Hagensborg in west-central British Columbia (Figure 1). The area lies within the Stikine Termne of the Coast Belt and is mostly underlain by various packages of matic to felsic volcanic, volcaniclastic and sedimentruy m&s @gore 1). Many of these packages are of uncertain age and they am intruded by, and form mof pendants within, plutons of the Coast Belt. The volcanic rocks host several mineral cccnrmnws, of which the Nifty prospect (B.C. Miniile number 093D) 006) is the most important and best explored. Other occurrences in the area include the Jamtart, Bella Coola Chief and Malachite clii owwrences as well as the Keen soil geochemical anomaly (Pigore 1). Despite exploration and drilling by various mining companies, the origin and age of the Nii prospect have remained uncertain, and little has been reported about the chemistry of either the h&m&s or the mineralization. This paper describes the geology of the Nifty prospect. It also presents chemical data on the hosting volcanic rocks, the mineralization and its associated alteration halo, as well as some other intrusive and volcanic rocks elsewhere in the district. U-Pb data for zircons from a suite of quartz porphyry dikes that cuts the Nii mineralization is also presented. The character and chemistry of the Nifty mineralization and its hostmcks suggest it represents a volcanogenic disseminated sulphide exhalite deposit, although an epigenetic origin has been also suggested (Mmtoa aad Birkland, 1993).