Fireside Mine, Watson Lake, Liard Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Fireside Mine	Mine
Watson Lake	Lake
Liard Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

A barite mine owned by Fireside Minerals, Ltd.
This barite deposit, part of which was mined in the early 1980s, is situated in the Fireside property, 6 kilometres southeast of the eastern end of Hillgren Lakes, 11 kilometres north-northwest of the settlement of Fireside on the Alaska Highway (Assessment Report 9052).

Barite is present in a number of zones, known as the Bear, Moose, Beaver and Wolf zones. Formerly the largest, before it was mined, is the Moose zone where a system of barite veins occur within a north-striking, steeply dipping, anastomosing fault zone (Assessment Report 9052). Barite pinches and swells along the structure and rarely exceeds 3.5 metres in width. The barite is white to creamy white, coarsely crystalline, commonly iron stained, and locally banded. It is associated with secondary sideritic dolomite. A grab sample returned an analysis of 58.26 per cent barium, with neglible base metal values; its specific gravity was 4.2 (Property File - Property description, circa 1988). The barite contains only 0.11 per cent strontium.

The Moose zone has been mined by open pit over a length of 400 metres (Property File - Property description, circa 1988; Assessment Report 9052). Records show that in 1984 and 1985, a total of 41,071 tonnes of barite ore was mined and milled by Dresser Industries Incorporated, presumably all from the Moose quarry (Mining in British Columbia 1981-1985). Reserves are virtually exhausted from this quarry, but substantial reserves of barite still exist at the Bear zone (Property File - Property description, circa 1988).

The Bear zone, on which the occurrence is centred, is situated 2.5 kilometres northeast of the Moose zone. Two main barite veins are exposed over a length of 130 metres and width of 20 metres, striking northeast with subvertical dips. The south vein is 3 metres wide and the north vein is 1 metre wide. The barite veins are very similar in appearance and composition to that at the Moose zone. They are streaked grey and white and cut by fractures parallel to the length of the veins. Galena and minor sphalerite are present in irregular patches along some fractures (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1965). Other fractures are open and have vuggy pockets of barite crystals. A sample from the Bear zone was analysed at 57.04 per cent barium (Property File - Property description, circa 1988). There are a number of other smaller veins and lenses of barite in the area, and thin stringers of barite and quartz in the argillite and brecciated argillite host rocks.

The Beaver zone is about 700 metres northwest of the Moose zone. It is exposed over a length of 45 metres and across a width of 4 metres, and strikes north-northeast and dips vertically. Like the other zones, the barite is coarsely crystalline, cream or white to very pale grey in colour, with some limonite staining. A sample was analysed at 58.14 barium (Property File - Property description, circa 1988).

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References