Spatsum claim, Cache Creek, Kamloops Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Spatsum claim	Claim
Cache Creek	Creek
Kamloops Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Spatsum property is located immediately west of Highway 1, across the Fraser River from the old Canadian Pacific Railway station of Spatsum, and the pumping station for water for the Highland Valley copper mine. It is about 26 kilometres south of Cache Creek, or 70 kilometres west of Kamloops, British Columbia, in the Kamloops Mining Division.
There is a description of the property, including regional geology, on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2014. Portions relative to geology are quoted below:
“The Spatsum property covers calcalkaline andesite to rhyolite metavolcanics and related chemical and clastic metasediments. They occur as a north to north-northwest striking, west dipping monoclinal sequence that has been metamorphosed to the mid-greenschist facies. The volcanics and sedimentary units have been locally intruded by diorite, granite, dacite and rhyolite plugs and dikes. Most of the intrusions are thought to be subvolcanic equivalents of the volcanic units. The metavolcanics include primarily andesite, dacite and rhyolite tuffs and tuff breccias and the metasediments consist of thin limestone and chert beds.”
“The most significant mineralization occurs where the rhyolite and locally the dacite units have been variably leached, silicified and pyritized and empregnated [sic - impregnated] with gypsum, trace talc and barite, and very small amounts of chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena. The mineralized and altered zones are heavily gossaned and pyrite concentrations are difficult to estimate due to the intense surface weathering and leaching. Gypsum occurs in significant concentrations in the zones as massive and/or disseminated clots commonly distributed throughout the altered rhyolite pyroclastics. Two mineralized gypsum-rich zones are about 600 metres apart and stand out prominently as large white masses. The larger and more southerly gypsum outcrop occurs over a strike length of 60 metres and a vertical height of 90 metres and strikes north-northeast with a moderate dip to the northwest. In 1913, an 8-metre exploratory adit was driven at the base of the southerly exposure; from the end of the adit a winze was sunk to a depth of 9 metres. The adit intersected a band of nearly pure white massive gypsum, 1.5 metres wide, which analysed 32.70 per cent CaO, 46.72 per cent SO3, 20.60 per cent H2O and 0.04 per cent insolubles (CANMET Report 714) [Coles, 1930]”.
“The alteration zones, because of the abundance of gypsum, are interpreted to represent a facies which commonly develops adjacent to many base metal-bearing Kuroko-type massive sulphide deposits. It is felt that base metal-bearing massive sulphide concentrations may exist along strike or downdip adjacent to these alteration zones. The only other mineralization observed on the property includes minor disseminated pyrite which occurs locally in some rhyolite units (Assessment Report 6918) [Casselman, 1978]”.

Giles Peatfield comments on History:
The Spatsum property has a long and interesting history. With each phase of work, different minerals were reported, as the thinking about the deposit changed, over almost a century. Hoffmann (1895) described alunogen as a coating on a “. . . somewhat pyritiferous quartzo-feldspathic rock, . . . .”, presumably when he examined specimens collected by G. M. Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada. Dawson (1896) had described these rocks in some detail, focusing interest on the occurrence of kaolinite, mentioning that the deposit had attracted attention for the occurrence of ‘china-stone’ or ‘china-clay’. In his opinion it was not likely that there would be any quantity of this material available free of iron stain. Dawson also noted gypsum, and in fact Government records note that the deposit was staked for gypsum in about 1896, but the claims were then dropped. The deposit was re-staked, probably in 1906, but no production resulted – see Cole (1913, 1930). Little was heard about the property until Jones (1972) described a small program of work, presumably to test the possibility of the occurrence of a copper deposit. The results were disappointing, and no further work was recommended. Following this, Cominco Ltd. explored the property as a potential ‘Kuroko-style’ volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect – see Casselman (1978, 1980). Several more minerals were noted, but the work did not discover a deposit and there was no further work by the company. Allen Ingelson, then at the Geology Department of the Alberta Provincial Museum in Edmonton made a brief visit to the property and collected a suite of secondary minerals, several of which were unusual – see Ingelson (1984). Of interest is a suspected location error for the occurrence in his paper. The main area of interest is immediately west of the Trans Canada Highway. Ingelson gave the location as being 0.8 km (800 metres) west of the Highway, whereas it is almost exactly 800 metres west of the Canadian Pacific Railway line on the opposite side of the Fraser River. I provide this information for the benefit of future mineral collectors. Finally, Dasler and Smith (1987) described a brief program designed to test the property for the presence of an epithermal precious metal deposit. The results of this work were disappointing and work was not continued.
Giles Peatfield comments on the minerals reported:
Given the number of different workers and the time frame involved, I have chosen to comment on all the minerals so far reported at this property.
Alunite: Reported only by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of ‘probably felsic igneous rocks’.
Alunogen: Described by Hoffmann (1895), who wrote that it “Has been found in the form of white and faintly yellowish, silky, delicate fibrous masses . . . .” Note that none of the other workers whose work I have studied reported alunogen.
Baryte: Casselman (1978, 1980) reported trace amounts of barite [sic].
Brochantite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as a ‘bright green crust grading to blue-green’.
Calcite: Reported only by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of a ‘probably more mafic’ rock.
Chalcoalumite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as a ‘light blue botryoidal crust’.
Chalcopyrite: Reported in trace amounts by Jones (1972) and Casselman (1978, 1980).
Chlorite: Reported only by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of a ‘probably more mafic’ rock.
Copiapite : Reported by Ingelson (1984) to be ‘yellow, crystalline, quite abundant’.
Coquimbite : Reported by Ingelson (1984) to be ‘mauve, crystalline, rare’.
Epidote: Reported by Casselman (1980) in percussion drill cuttings, and by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of a ‘probably more mafic’ rock.
Galena: Trace amounts were reported by Casselman (1980).
Gypsum: Reported by almost all workers. See especially Cole (1913). Ingelson (1984) reported that some of the gypsum is variety selenite.
Halotrichite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as a ‘white fibrous aggregate, quite abundant’.
Hematite: Reported only by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of various rocks.
Hexahydrite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as ‘amber, waxy, associated with rozenite’.
Jarosite: Reported only by McMullin (1987) in thin section examination of various rocks.
Kaolinite: Reported only by Dawson (1895), as possible ‘china-clay’.
Limonite: Cole (1913) noted ‘iron-oxide’, and McMullin (1987) described limonite in thin sections.
Magnetite: Casselman (1980) reported trace amounts of magnetite in percussion drill cuttings.
Pyrite: Reported by most workers, although not in large amounts.
Römerite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as a ‘reddish orange aggregate’.
Rozenite: Reported by Ingelson (1984) as ‘dull white nodules’.
Quartz: Reported by most workers.
Sericite: Reported by several workers, including Ingelson (1984).
Sphalerite: Reported in trace amounts by Casselamn (1978, 1980).
Sulfur: Reported as ‘common’ by Jones (1972) and by Casselman (1980).
Talc: Reported by Jones (1972) and by Casselman (1978, 1980).
Note also that McMullin (1987) reported ‘leuxocene’ in thin section, although this is not a valid
Giles Peatfield comments on the rock types reported:
All these rock types, based on field identifications, were reported by Casselman (1978).


Ref.: Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: 539.

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Link to British Columbia Minfile:	092INW054

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References