Basque No. 5 evaporite occurrence, Venables Valley, Ashcroft, Kamloops Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Basque No. 5 evaporite occurrence	Claim
Venables Valley	Valley
Ashcroft	Town
Kamloops Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Basque No. 5 evaporite occurrence is located in Venables Valley, 15 kilometres south-southwest of the village of Ashcroft, or about 72 kilometres west of Kamloops, British Columbia, in the Kamloops Mining Division. It is one of six evaporite ponds in a limited area of the Venables Valley, four of which (Basque No. 1 to No. 4) are British Columbia “Minfile” sites. A fifth (Basque No. 5) and sixth (Basque West) are nearby. I (Giles Peatfield) have prepared separate Mindat files for all of these occurrences, as they have slightly different characteristics. For more detail on the Basque area evaporites, refer to Goudge (1926), Cummings (1940) and Duffell and McTaggart (1952). Of some historical interest is the early paper on the deposits by Walker (1921).
There is no specific description of the geology of the Basque No. 5 occurrence. The following quote from the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2007, refers to the general area of the Basque epsomite deposits. A portion of this description is quoted below:
“The Basque salt deposits occur in four [see comment above] small basins or mud-filled ponds 2 kilometres west of Highway 1 and 15 kilometres south of the community of Ashcroft. . . . . The distance between the Basque No. 1 deposit in the north to the Basque No. 4 deposit in the south is about 1524 metres. The salts have accumulated in four small ponds that lie along a dry valley and are concentrated mainly in the two upper ponds (Basque Nos. 1, 2). Overburden is light or lacking, and in many places bare rock walls form part of the border of the ponds. These ponds are caused by dams of boulder clay and drift that cross the narrow valley.
A sequence of highly folded, metamorphosed, interbedded and nearly vertical dipping greenstone, argillite and argillaceous limestone of the Carboniferous to Jurassic Cache Creek Complex are exposed in the vicinity of the deposits. The Cache Creek rocks strike about 170 degrees.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
This occurrence is slightly different from the epsomite deposits of Basque No. 1 to No. 4. Goudge (1926) wrote that “In the prospectus of the Basque Chemical Co., Ltd., five deposits are mentioned. Basque No. 5 is a circular dried-up pond about 200 feet in diameter, containing no crystal.” by which one assumes he meant epsomite or blödite. Cummings (1940) did not mention the occurrence.
Comment on Minerals Reported:
Calcite: Renaut and Stead (1994) reported what they called Mg-calcite. This mineral was described from the Basque No. 2 deposit by Nesbitt (1990), who wrote that it was calcite with variable contents of MgCO3, ranging from 8 to 29 mole percent.
Hydromagnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no further data. Cummings (1940) reported “Another small area of white hydromagnesite occurs close to the Basque epsomite deposits, 12 miles from Ashcroft.” This may refer to Basque No. 5, but this is not certain.
Magnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no information regarding the method of identification.
Comment on Rock types Reported:
The rocks listed here are for the immediately surrounding area, as reported by Goudge (1926), or in the case of volcanic ash by Nesbitt (1990), who described this as 6,000 year old Mazama ash. This is common in southern British Columbia. Nesbitt’s report of volcanic ash refers to the entire group of occurrences, not just to Basque No. 2.


The Basque No. 5 evaporite occurrence is located in Venables Valley, 15 kilometres south-southwest of the village of Ashcroft, or about 72 kilometres west of Kamloops, British Columbia, in the Kamloops Mining Division. It is one of six evaporite ponds in a limited area of the Venables Valley, four of which (Basque No. 1 to No. 4) are British Columbia “Minfile” sites. A fifth (Basque No. 5) and sixth (Basque West) are nearby. I (Giles Peatfield) have prepared separate Mindat files for all of these occurrences, as they have slightly different characteristics. For more detail on the Basque area evaporites, refer to Goudge (1926), Cummings (1940) and Duffell and McTaggart (1952). Of some historical interest is the early paper on the deposits by Walker (1921).
There is no specific description of the geology of the Basque No. 5 occurrence. The following quote from the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2007, refers to the general area of the Basque epsomite deposits. A portion of this description is quoted below:
“The Basque salt deposits occur in four [see comment above] small basins or mud-filled ponds 2 kilometres west of Highway 1 and 15 kilometres south of the community of Ashcroft. . . . . The distance between the Basque No. 1 deposit in the north to the Basque No. 4 deposit in the south is about 1524 metres. The salts have accumulated in four small ponds that lie along a dry valley and are concentrated mainly in the two upper ponds (Basque Nos. 1, 2). Overburden is light or lacking, and in many places bare rock walls form part of the border of the ponds. These ponds are caused by dams of boulder clay and drift that cross the narrow valley.
A sequence of highly folded, metamorphosed, interbedded and nearly vertical dipping greenstone, argillite and argillaceous limestone of the Carboniferous to Jurassic Cache Creek Complex are exposed in the vicinity of the deposits. The Cache Creek rocks strike about 170 degrees.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
This occurrence is slightly different from the epsomite deposits of Basque No. 1 to No. 4. Goudge (1926) wrote that “In the prospectus of the Basque Chemical Co., Ltd., five deposits are mentioned. Basque No. 5 is a circular dried-up pond about 200 feet in diameter, containing no crystal.” by which one assumes he meant epsomite or blödite. Cummings (1940) did not mention the occurrence.
Comment on Minerals Reported:
Calcite: Renaut and Stead (1994) reported what they called Mg-calcite. This mineral was described from the Basque No. 2 deposit by Nesbitt (1990), who wrote that it was calcite with variable contents of MgCO3, ranging from 8 to 29 mole percent.
Hydromagnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no further data. Cummings (1940) reported “Another small area of white hydromagnesite occurs close to the Basque epsomite deposits, 12 miles from Ashcroft.” This may refer to Basque No. 5, but this is not certain.
Magnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no information regarding the method of identification.
Comment on Rock types Reported:
The rocks listed here are for the immediately surrounding area, as reported by Goudge (1926), or in the case of volcanic ash by Nesbitt (1990), who described this as 6,000 year old Mazama ash. This is common in southern British Columbia. Nesbitt’s report of volcanic ash refers to the entire group of occurrences, not just to Basque No. 2.


The Basque No. 5 evaporite occurrence is located in Venables Valley, 15 kilometres south-southwest of the village of Ashcroft, or about 72 kilometres west of Kamloops, British Columbia, in the Kamloops Mining Division. It is one of six evaporite ponds in a limited area of the Venables Valley, four of which (Basque No. 1 to No. 4) are British Columbia “Minfile” sites. A fifth (Basque No. 5) and sixth (Basque West) are nearby. I (Giles Peatfield) have prepared separate Mindat files for all of these occurrences, as they have slightly different characteristics. For more detail on the Basque area evaporites, refer to Goudge (1926), Cummings (1940) and Duffell and McTaggart (1952). Of some historical interest is the early paper on the deposits by Walker (1921).
There is no specific description of the geology of the Basque No. 5 occurrence. The following quote from the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2007, refers to the general area of the Basque epsomite deposits. A portion of this description is quoted below:
“The Basque salt deposits occur in four [see comment above] small basins or mud-filled ponds 2 kilometres west of Highway 1 and 15 kilometres south of the community of Ashcroft. . . . . The distance between the Basque No. 1 deposit in the north to the Basque No. 4 deposit in the south is about 1524 metres. The salts have accumulated in four small ponds that lie along a dry valley and are concentrated mainly in the two upper ponds (Basque Nos. 1, 2). Overburden is light or lacking, and in many places bare rock walls form part of the border of the ponds. These ponds are caused by dams of boulder clay and drift that cross the narrow valley.
A sequence of highly folded, metamorphosed, interbedded and nearly vertical dipping greenstone, argillite and argillaceous limestone of the Carboniferous to Jurassic Cache Creek Complex are exposed in the vicinity of the deposits. The Cache Creek rocks strike about 170 degrees.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
This occurrence is slightly different from the epsomite deposits of Basque No. 1 to No. 4. Goudge (1926) wrote that “In the prospectus of the Basque Chemical Co., Ltd., five deposits are mentioned. Basque No. 5 is a circular dried-up pond about 200 feet in diameter, containing no crystal.” by which one assumes he meant epsomite or blödite. Cummings (1940) did not mention the occurrence.
Comment on Minerals Reported:
Calcite: Renaut and Stead (1994) reported what they called Mg-calcite. This mineral was described from the Basque No. 2 deposit by Nesbitt (1990), who wrote that it was calcite with variable contents of MgCO3, ranging from 8 to 29 mole percent.
Hydromagnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no further data. Cummings (1940) reported “Another small area of white hydromagnesite occurs close to the Basque epsomite deposits, 12 miles from Ashcroft.” This may refer to Basque No. 5, but this is not certain.
Magnesite: Reported by Renaut and Stead (1994) but with no information regarding the method of identification.
Comment on Rock types Reported:
The rocks listed here are for the immediately surrounding area, as reported by Goudge (1926), or in the case of volcanic ash by Nesbitt (1990), who described this as 6,000 year old Mazama ash. This is common in southern British Columbia. Nesbitt’s report of volcanic ash refers to the entire group of occurrences, not just to Basque No. 2.

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References