Structural character of en echelon polymetallic veins at the Silver Queen mine, British Columbia

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 955, 1991

C.H.B. Leitch, H.L. Cheng, C.T. Hood and A.J. Sinclair, Department of Geological Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia

Epithermal Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au quartz-carbonate-barite veins at the Silver Queen mine near Owen Lake, west-central British Columbia, are hosted by Late Cretaceous Tip Top Hill andesitic volcanic rocks. The veins form a rectilinear northwest-northeast pattern that differs slightly from regional structural trends. The main northwest-trending veins are oriented very close to the trend of regional northwest faults, but the crossing veins tend to be more east-northeasterly (070 degrees) compared to a regional northeasterly trend (040 degrees). The character of the veins suggests they are extensional features formed by dextral slip related to Paleogene oblique subduction, or intrusion of magma at depth, or both. In detailed exploration at the mine, the veins cannot be modelled as simple tabular sheet-like bodies. Instead, they are complex structures that divide and rejoin, forming multiple veins or stringers, or are found in shear zones as replacement features with quartz-sericite-clay-carbonate-pyrite alteration haloes of variable width that make definition of vein margins and correlation from hole to hole ambiguous. In addition, individual veins within each of the main structures have en echelon character both along strike and down dip. Geological and assay data must be carefully studied to define the margins of these complex veins before any estimation of ore reserves may be made. Where multiple veins occur in a section, ore/gangue mineralogy, assays, character of wallrock alteration, and thickness of vein and mineralized hangingwall, median and foot-wall zones must be used to evaluate continuity of mineralized structures. Well-defined sections are projected into areas of increasing complexity. Once the vein boundaries are defined, metal concentrations, important metal ratios (Au/Ag, Pb/Zn, Cu/Zn), and true thicknesses of the vein provide the basic data for reliable ore reserve estimation.