Providence Mine, Greenwood Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Providence Mine	Mine
Greenwood Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

2.5 kilometres north of Greenwood post office, British Columbia, immediately north of Providence Creek; Greenwood Mining Division.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 082ESE 001:
“The Providence claim is almost entirely underlain at surface by greenish grey quartz chlorite schists of the Knob Hill Group at the northern boundary of the Greenwood granodiorite stock. The schists dip 30 to 70 degrees northeast and are cut by a northeast-trending Tertiary Coryell-related feldspar porphyry dike, which is exposed between the two main shafts. The granodiorite is encountered in the southwest part of the mine below the fifth level.
The workings mostly follow ore shoots within a narrow quartz vein. The ore minerals consist of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, proustite, native silver and free gold, in quartz carbonate gangue.
The vein strikes 050 degrees and dips 40 to 60 degrees southeast. It has been traced underground for more than 370 metres, and ranges from a fraction of a centimetre to 0.75 metre in width. Unbroken quartz rarely extends from wall to wall, and more commonly strands of quartz are separated by thin, lenticular bands of altered country rock. The vein is irregular in size and attitude on the lower levels. In a few places these changes can be correlated with the passage of the vein from one rock to another. Thus, in the northeast part of the fourth level the vein pinches to a gouge- filled fissure on passing from the relatively hard silicified rocks to soft chloritic schists. On the No. 5 level the vein appears to be more persistent in the silicified rocks than in the granodiorite.
Faults of at least two ages displace the mineral bearing fissure. The older group, which is pre-mineral in age, strikes north 30 to 50 degrees east and dips gently northwest. Local dip reversals were seen along several low angle faults, and rolls in the fault plane were noted in every case where an individual fault could be traced for any distance. In each case the hanging wall has moved down with reference to the footwall, thus indicating normal faulting. Offsets along these faults range from 1 to 24 metres. The maximum offset was measured along a fault that is now occupied by a post-mineral feldspar porphyry dike.
Veins are, in places, slightly enlarged where they intersect these pre-mineral faults; at other places narrow quartz stringers may follow the fault plane. The younger group of faults strikes north 30 degrees west to north 10 degrees east and dips at high angles. Displacements along these faults are small. They are post mineral and offset the vein as well as the older group of faults.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding minerals reported:
Acanthite: Several authors have reported small amounts of “argentite”. This is more correctly known as acanthite, the low temperature form of silver sulfide stable at room temperature.
Arsenopyrite: This mineral was reported only by Hopkins (1955), who showed it in a photomicrograph of a polished section.
Bornite: This mineral was reported only by Hopkins (1955) who described it as occurring in hand specimens with chalcopyrite.
Chalcocite: This was reported by Brock (1906), and by McNaughton (1945) who says it was common in the upper levels. No other workers have mentioned it, and I regard it as questionable.
Proustite: This was reported by Church (1986), who probably derived his information from Johnston (1915, p. 184), who in turn got it from a personal communication from the well-known Canadian mineralogist T.L. Walker. Johnston lists it as occurring at the Elkhorn Mine (Minfile No. 082ESE 002), which has a vein that is the continuation of that at the Providence Mine. See also comment regarding “ruby silver” below.
Pyrargyrite: This was originally reported by Johnston (1915) from the Providence Mine, and confirmed by several later workers.
“Ruby Silver”: Ruby silver was reported by Brock (1906), by Watson (1937) and by Warren and Watson (1937). It is not clear whether they are referring to proustite or pyrargyrite.
Stephanite: This was described by Street (undated, probably 1950’s) as occurring in hand specimens, smeared on some fracture surfaces. Street did not think its properties indicated argentite (acanthite), and so the mineral was X-rayed, yielding a powder pattern very close to that given in Berry and Thompson (1962) for stephanite. It should be accepted as valid.
Stromeyerite: This was reported only by Hopkins (1955), whose description of the mineral in hand specimen is very much like that of Street for stephanite. Hopkins reported that the mineral was X-rayed and yielded a pattern for stromeyerite. Unfortunately he did not include the actual X-ray data. He also was unable to obtain a microchemical test for copper, which he should have gotten had the mineral been stromeyerite. I am inclined to think, on the basis of the physical and chemical characteristics, that the X-ray pattern was not definitive – was there possibly a mix-up of powder films? I am not prepared to list stromeyerite, until someone else comes up with more definitive data.

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Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082ESE001

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