Al4 Terrace Review —— Wednesday, September 4, 1991

by Michael Kelly

Along with mining exploration crews, mine development experts, prospectors and sundry other types of people interested more in what lies under the earth than above it, ‘the Eskay Creek gold fields north of Stewart are populated this sum- mer with a group of about 20 scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada.

Dr. Bob Anderson heads the crew, who are based out of Stewart for the summer but reside and work for the remainder of the year in Vancouver and other places closer to what is widely considered civilization than the mountains of the Northwest.

In an interview from Stewart last month Anderson said the geolo-

gists’ main job is creating accurate geological and topographical maps. His project this year is the Iskut area, a tough and remote assign- ment in a region that has come to national prominence over the past five years with a series of spec- tacular gold discoveries.

It isn’t the first time area has been mapped for geology. Anderson says maps for the Iskut region go back to 1915, but as techniques for analyzing in geol- ogy evolve the maps are revised. "I know rocks don’t move," Anderson said, “but the isotopic data is crucial. It can change the interpretation."

Isotopic data is obtained by ana- lyzing crystalline rock, yielding its age and content. "The field work is necessary," Anderson said. "We

plot the data — the distribution of rock types, an analysis of their contents — and in drawing the maps we hope to see patterns in omer to interpret the geological

history of the area. It’s like a big data base."

In the Iskut area, Anderson says, there are "packages" of rocks. There are Devonian age rocks, over 370 million years old. There are also Paleozoic rocks, what Anderson terms the “Club Med" rock package: they are mainly limestone formed by corals in ancient sea beds in warm water conditions between 250 million

and 370 million years ago. Ironi-

cally, one of the most prominent outcroppings of these tropical rocks was found on a mountaintop

Now fF Know why yoty- bumper sticker says

—"Z BUIT IN FOR

THE #8 Mf ns OF

END OF THE SEASON. The Terrace Stock Car Association is urging everyone in the community to come out this weekend to the last race of the season at the Terrace Speedway. One of the featured events will involve cars piloted by Stephanie Wiebe and Carrie Olson of the Terrace

Review.

Registration begins next week for Terrace scouting groups

One week from today it will be time for registration in Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Venturers or Rovers. Registration will take place at E.T. Kenney Elementary School from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 and whether you are a youngster look- ing for a challenge or an adult who would like to help there is a good variety of groups to join.

There are five Beaver Colonies in the area which meet at Thornhill Primary, Parkside and Uplands schools as well as the Scout Hall

~” HELMUT GEISBRECHT

Skeena New | Democrat for Open and Balanced -Government

FATES TELUYLILETITL Eee

and the Kermode Friendship Centre. There are also five Cub Packs which meet at E.T. Kenney, Thornhill Elementary, Uplands and Parkside schools as well as the Scout Hall.

There will be between two and four Scout Troops, depending on the demand, and their meetings will most likely be held at E.T. Kenney and Uplands schools. Venturers will be meeting in the Scout Hall in the coming season and Rovers will meet in a variety of locations. There are no formal meetings for Rovers and gatherings

are normally held in private homes

in the area. The 1991-92 season offers a

wide variety of activities. On Sept. 12 there is the Annual General Meeting which will be held at the Knox United Church at 7 p.m. In October there is the 75th Anniver- sary Cub Campfire at a location yet to be announced. In November there’s Remembrance Day, and in December Christmas tree cutting and sales.

Next year, Scout-Guide week will feature a mall display and Scout-Guide campfire in February. There will be a Kub Kar Raily in April, Trees for Canada in May,

and the Totem Trails Scout Camp —

and Camp Kik-a-tee Cub Camp.

City, Safeway agree

on Ottawa

The City of Terrace and Canada Safeway have entered into an road exchange agreement which outlines the terms and conditions for the relocation of Ottawa St.

The relocation of Ottawa St. will allow Safeway to add 86 new parking spaces, increase their staff from 100 to 120, and increase the available floor space in their store to 42,000 square feet by adding 12,800 square feet on a portion of what is now Ottawa St.

St. move

The new Ottawa St. which will be located about 30 metres further west and intersect Lakelse Ave. near Sparks St., will be completed

. before the closure of the existing

Ottawa St. According to the con- tract, the relocation of the roadway and underground services will be completed by Canada Safeway before Dec. 31, 1991. Safeway will pay all cosis of the relocation, including $3,000 to cover the

ice field.

The package of rocks getting all the attention from miners is the Mesozoic package, volcanic rocks from 180-250 million years ago.

These are quartz veins formed

from the throats of ancient vol- canoes and are the rocks that host most of the precious metal deposits. Anderson’s crew is Ie- cording the location of the ‘old volcanoes, some of which were tipped on their sides when the _coast mountains formed. "It’s a unique opportunity to examine volcanic plumbing," he said.

Sedimentary rocks, 150-180 million years old, are apparent on the Spatzizi plateau, particularly in the near-surface Mount Klappan coal deposit.

Granitic rocks are the youngest — 150 million years or less — and most prevalent in the area. They are the dominant rock type, making up most of the coast mountains, -but unfortunately for miners they host no important minerals.

The maps created from the GSC research, most of them scaled four miles to the inch, are used mainly by people associated with the mineral industry. "The exploration companies need better and more detailed maps. The mapping helps economic development by making exploration faster and more exact,"

Anderson says. The GSC’s indica- tions of where and how deep rock types and strata occur are invalu- able for mineral exploration. But Anderson says the data flows both ways.

The intense exploration and mining activity in the Iskut area, particularly around Eskay Creek, has proven invaluable to the GSC. "When you’re in the mountains you can’t get everything the first

Adrian has 5,700 acres.

Gold fields update -

- Westmin and Tenajon are both pleased with the results from the first run of ore milled out the joint venture SB property near Stewart, according to an Aug. 1 press release. Gold production for the five-day run was 2,025 ounces, a 91.6 percent recovery rate from 7,585 short tons of ore. The next run, 20,000 tons, is scheduled for late August. The partners plan to run 100,000 tons through the mill before the end of 1991. .

Survey mines mountains for information

time," he said, referring to previ-

_ous mapping efforts. With the

exploration and mining action in the aréa, access is now easier and the geologists are receiving with interest drilling results from the explorationists — they normally have to draw their conclusions on the structure of underground strata by careful examination of rock samples from the surface. "This is changing our concepts about how the strata are grouped," Anderson remarked.

_ As an example, the zones of real geological interest in the Eskay area, he added, show very little on the surface.

Miners aren't the only pro- fessionals that use the GSC maps, and geologists aren’t the only people clambering around in the mountains with the GSC crew, The GSC data is used by B.C. Hydro in dam engineering to locate fault zones in potential reservoirs and it provides a base for more detailed maps created by the Mining De- partment research unit at UBC. The B.C. provincial government survey also uses the data for pro- duction of their maps. :

In addition to scrutiny by geol- ogists, the rocks in the Iskut area are also being examined by two paleontologists looking for rem- nants of ancient life —- fossils. One of them is analyzing outcroppings of Jurassic rocks, the other is doing a general examin- ation of rocks in the Eskay area.

The new techniques and added data haven’t taken the mystique

_ out of geology, however. Anderson

says mapping the strata beneath the earth’s surface is still as much an art as it is a science. "If you send 10 geologists out to the same area, chances ate you'll get 10 different maps," he says.

Newhawk Gold Mines plans to have spent $1.5 million exploring the Sulphurets gold property north of Stewart by the end of this year’s exploration season. The work includes drilling on several areas of the property not explored to date. Earlier this year Newhawk shied away from a production decision on Sulphurets and is now involved in attempting to increase reserves on it. The property is a joint venture with Granduc.

Over the past two years the number gold projects In the development stage in Canada has dropped by 66 percent, according to a report released last month by the Metal Economics Group. The report, described in the Aug. 12 Northern Miner, says there are 51 projects in that category this summer, compared to 150 in the summer of 1989. Two of the seven new gold mines being started up in Canada this year are in B.C.: Dome Mountain, scheduled to start in the third quarter, and Westmin-Tenajon’s SB project near Stewart, which began producing in May.

Skyline Gold has farmed out it’s Johnny Mountain gold property in the Iskut River valley to Placer Dome Inc. and Adrian Resources. The companies are currently evaluating surface drilling results from several locations. Johnny Mountain, the first mine put into production in the "golden triangle" area, closed last year when ore grades proved to be below a profitable gold content. Placer Dome is exploring 1,800 acres under the farm-out arrangement and