| Title | Glacial transport and physical partitioning of mercury and gold in till, central British Columbia |
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| Author | Plouffe, A |
| Source | Drift exploration in glaciated terrain: a short course presented during the 19th International Geochemical Exploration Symposium; by Averill, S; Batterson, M; Bobrowsky, P; Coker, B; Cook, S; Dunn, C; Earle, S; Harris, J; Klassen, R; Lett, R; Levson, V;
McClenaghan, B; McConnell, J; McMartin, I; Paulen, R; Plouffe, A; Stea, R; Thorleifson, H; 1999 p. 329-352 |
| Year | 1999 |
| Alt Series | Geological Survey of Canada, Contribution Series 1998275 |
| Publisher | Association of Exploration Geochemists |
| Meeting | Drift exploration in glaciated terrain: a short course presented during the 19th International Geochemical Exploration Symposium; Vancouver, BC; CA; April 10, 1999 |
| Document | book |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper |
| NTS | 93K; 93N |
| Area | Omineca River; Fort St James |
| Lat/Long WENS | -126.0000 -124.0000 56.0000 54.0000 |
| Subjects | sedimentology; surficial geology/geomorphology; transportation; sediment transport; transport mechanisms; glaciers; mercury; gold; tills; glacial deposits; mineral exploration; till
geochemistry |
| Illustrations | location maps; geological sketch maps; graphs; photomicrographs |
| Program | Canada-British Columbia Agreement on Mineral Development |
| Program | Nechako NATMAP Project |
| Abstract | Mercury glacial dispersal was measured in the clay-sized fraction (< 0.002 mm) and heavy mineral concentrate (0.063-0.250 mm, specific gravity > 3.3 g/cm 3) of till in a region of bedrock cinnabar
occurrences, in central British Columbia, Canada. Most of the Hg in till occurs as sand-sized cinnabar (HgS) grains. A longer dispersal train was measured with the heavy mineral concentrates because Hg concentrations in heavy minerals yielded a
higher ratio between anomalous and background concentrations when compared to the
clay-sized material. It is proposed that geochemical or mineralogical analyses on a specific grain size fraction or density fraction of till, where the desired metal
resides, result in a higher contrast between anomalous and background concentrations. Such a great contrast
translates into a longer detectable dispersal train and hence, a larger target for mineral exploration. Therefore, in drift exploration
programs, it is crucial to identify the mode of occurrence of a sought commodity in till; this can be achieved in part with a simple
partitioning study whereby metal concentrations are measured in specific grain size fractions of till. Physical
partitioning results for Au in the study area indicate that close to the bedrock source, large metal concentrations in some cases are present in the sand- (0.063-2 mm) and
granule-sized (2-4mm) fractions. Therefore, the significance of a regional
Au anomaly, commonly defined in the silt plus clay-sized fraction of till could be evaluated by further determining the Au content of coarser size fractions (sand and granule). |
| GEOSCAN ID | 210307 |
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