St. Paul Mine, Monashee Mountain, Vernon Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
St. Paul Mine	Mine
Monashee Mountain	Mountain
Vernon Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

From the Government of British Columbia Minstry of Energy Website:

Commodities: Silver, Gold, Lead, Zinc, Antimony, Copper

The St. Paul mine is located on the steep north face of Monashee Mountain, 60 kilometres east-southeast of Vernon and about 800 metres northwest of the Morgan (082LSE022) deposit.

Development work began on the Toughnut claim in 1913. In 1914, a tramline was constructed and a mill was installed on the Sheppard claim. The mill operated for short periods in 1914 and 1915, milling 200 tonnes. Four claims, the Black Bess, Minerva, Zilpah and Toughnut (Lots 4186 to 4189), were Crown granted in 1915. Development work, mainly on the Toughnut claim during the period 1914-1916, included 2 adits, 6.1 metres and 106.7 metres in length.

In 1927, St. Paul Mines Ltd. acquired the 4 Crown grants and 3 claims (which included the Morgan (082LSE022)). Intermittent development work continued into 1933. The workings in 1930 included 5 adits from 10.7 to 106.7 metres in length, 2 winzes and a number of trenches. The company reportedly carried out some work in 1949.

In 1962, a new adit begun in 1961 was extended to a total length of 61 metres. A shipment of 7.3 tonnes was reported in 1966. The property in 1971 included the 4 Crown grants and the Snow, Snowshoe and SKB claims. Work done during the period 1971-1973 included trenching and stripping. Some crude ore was shipped in 1971 and 1973 and 4.5 tonnes of concentrate were shipped in 1973. In 1973, Coast Interior Ventures Ltd. leased the properties and in 1974 carried out extensive road improvements, reopening and deepening of old trenches, opening and draining adits 4 and 5 at the St. Paul workings and a metallurgical study on a bulk sample from the St. Paul workings.

In 1982, Brican Resources conducted geochemical surveys and magnetometer survey on the St. Paul and Morgan deposits. In 1983, Brican Resources Ltd. conducted a geochemical survey and geological mapping on the two deposits. In 1990, Commonwealth Gold conducted a geochemical survey over this area. In 1992, Cameco Corp. conducted geochemical and geological surveys in this area.

The area is underlain by sedimentary rocks and greenish volcanics of the Devonian to Triassic Harper Ranch Group and the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Nicola Group. These are intruded by a Jurassic diorite sill of the Nelson Intrusions near the St. Paul workings. The sediments consist of black slate and argillite with lesser grey to black limestone, intermediate volcanic tuffs and quartzite. Minor greenstone or andesite tuff occurs near the St. Paul workings. The volcanics and sediments generally strike east and dip south. The intrusion is medium grained, dark grey and carries disseminated pyrite, locally in heavy concentrations. The diorite exhibits chlorite and carbonate alteration and has hornfelsed the surrounding rocks.

Mineralization at the St. Paul workings occurs as scattered to sub-massive sulphides in quartz veins within or adjacent to the diorite sill. Varying amounts of disseminated sulphides also occur in the diorite body and in certain of the surrounding hostrocks. There are 2 large quartz veins (61 to 182 centimetres wide), 10 to 15 narrower ones (1 to 15 centimetres wide) and one mineralized "silicified zone". Most of the veins strike northwest and dip moderately to shallowly southwest.

Mineralization in the large quartz veins consists of stringers, bunches and massive to sub-massive lenses of arsenopyrite with occasional massive lenses of jamesonite and stibnite. Minor amounts of the antimony minerals are found as small stringers and disseminated grains. Minor amounts of pyrite, tetrahedrite, sphalerite and chalcopyrite sometimes accompany the arsenopyrite. High silver values indicate the presence of some other sulphosalt, possibly freibergite. At the face of the No. 3 adit, the vein was 91 centimetres to 1.2 metres wide and composed of heavily mineralized diorite. The vein contains about 0.5 to 60 centimetres of nearly solid sulphides, principally a mixture of arsenical iron with streaks and small kidneys of antimony sulphides, mostly jamesonite.

The narrow quartz veins are mineralized with smaller quantities of the above minerals usually as small stringers or disseminated grains.

Other small quartz veins with northeast strikes and southeast dips may represent faulted segments of one vein. These veins are mainly quartz containing sulphides as disseminations or as streaks, bunches or small kidneys of nearly solid mineral. The sulphides are principally arsenopyrite, antimony sulphides, pyrite and pyrrhotite. Very small amounts of galena, sphalerite and copper pyrites are present and native silver occurs in microscopic specks.

A diffuse "silicified zone" occurs adjacent to the footwall or northern contact of the diorite sill. The zone is about 1.2 to 1.5 metres wide and contains scattered to sub-massive pyrite and arsenopyrite. The zone is exposed in a small creek above the portal of adit 4. A representative grab sample of this material assayed 66 grams per tonne silver and 5 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Report on the St. Paul Property, 1974).

The diorite sill commonly contains disseminated pyrite and arsenopyrite and locally these minerals may constitute 5 to 10 per cent of the intrusive rock. Disseminated pyrite and arsenopyrite were also noted in blue-grey limestone and in a feldspar porphyry dike (dacite porphyry) adjacent to the south contact of the diorite body.

A 1-metre chip sample from adit 1 across one of the massive sulphide lenses in a quartz vein assayed 1371 grams per tonne silver, 6.5 grams per tonne gold, 4.39 per cent lead, 0.03 per cent zinc and 3.8 per cent antimony (Property File - Report on the St. Paul Property, 1974). A grab sample, taken from a 1.2 metre quartz vein carrying scattered arsenopyrite, jamesonite and pyrite 12 metres from the portal of adit 1, assayed 381 grams per tonne silver and 3 grams per tonne gold (Property File - Report on the St. Paul Property, 1974).

Recorded production for the period 1914-1973 totals 392 tonnes producing 5630 grams of gold, 112,406 grams of silver, 3720 kilograms of lead and 1258 kilograms of zinc. These figures include production from the Morgan deposit.

Additional notes on mineralogy by Giles Peatfield:
Galena: This was reported by Cairnes (1931), and as “possible” by Campbell (1946). If it does occur here, it is rare.
Gold: Campbell (1946) was the only one of this group of workers who saw gold, even microscopically. He called it “electrum”, presumably based on colour.
Jamesonite: This mineral has been confirmed by X-ray analysis by Warren and Thompson (1945).
Unidentified mineral intimately associated with jamesonite: This has been a problem for several workers. Cairnes (1931) thought it was “probably” stibnite. Anon (1945?) proposed plagionite, based on microscopic examination, and remarked that “A powder has been sent away for an X-ray photograph to confirm this identification.”, but here the trail dies. Guoin (1946) proposed zinkenite, based on chemical analyses and microscopic properties. In my opinion, all three minerals should be regarded as tentative; this cries out for detailed work with modern laboratory equipment.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References