Tracking the Eskay Rift through Northern British Columbia - Geology and Mineral Occurrences of the Upper Iskut River Area

The Eskay Creek gold-silver mine, located in northwest British Columbia, is an unusually high-grade ore deposit. The mining industry continues to spend more than $2 million each year on exploration for similar deposits in the area. The geologic setting at the minesite is well studied, but large tracts in north-central British Columbia require more detailed surveys to determine if favourable sites exist for formation and preservation of additional deposits. The British Columbia Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada have launched a two-year mapping program to delineate the critical ore horizon through the region north of the mine and to assess potential for additional Eskay Creek type deposits. This horizon lies within Lower to Middle Jurassic, arc-related, rift sequence rocks along the northwest perimeter of the Bowser Basin, a large (48,000 km), Middle to Upper Jurassic sedimentary basin (Figure 1).