Husselbee Uranium occurrence, Atlin Lake, Atlin Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Husselbee Uranium occurrence	Occurrence
Atlin Lake	Lake
Atlin Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Husselbee uranium occurrence is about 1.5 kilometres south of Deep Bay on the west side of Atlin Lake, approximately 17 kilometres north-west of the community of Atlin, British Columbia.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 104N 001, current to 2015:
“The original showing on Discovery Hill, and also one 400 metres to the west, is composed of dark green to black, fine-grained amphibolite consisting largely of bladed amphiboles which can be up to 5 centimetres long. Lighter grey-green varieties, forming rosettes, are dominantly actinolite as the major amphibole which form rosettes. Sparsely disseminated hematite can give the rock a reddish colour. Irregular masses or pods of jasper are also common and they are often mineralized with pyrite, fluorite and galena. Partially recrystallized xenoliths of limestone are present. These indicate a possible volcanic agglomerate or breccia protolith for the amphibolite which may have been part of the upper Mississippian to Permian Horsefeed Formation of the Cache Creek Complex. Underlying the amphibolite and exposed in areas away from Discovery Hill is a variably textured and heterogeneous granodiorite to monzodiorite with pink porphyritic alkali feldspar. These are most likely part of the Middle Jurassic Fourth of July Creek batholith of the Coast Intrusions. The Fourth of July Creek batholith has been zircon dated at 171 +/- 5 million years (Fieldwork 1990).
Mineralization occurs as pyrite, galena and fluorite in jasper pods. Uraninite and apatite are present, but the identity of the thorium-bearing mineral is uncertain. A sample from the top of Discovery Hill assayed 0.012 per cent uranium and 0.16 per cent thorium oxide and a sample 380 metres to the west assayed 0.059 per cent uranium and 0.17 per cent thorium. Another sample from the area assayed 0.14 per cent uranium and 0.04 per cent thorium oxide (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1953).
Small calcite and dolomite veins cut the amphibolite and contain disseminated molybdenite, pyrite and chalcopyrite. Samples have assayed as high as 0.11 per cent molybdenite (Assessment Report 2786).”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding some of the minerals reported:
“Amphibole”: McDougall (1953) reported “asbestos (amphibole)”; Anuik (1970) reported “hornblende” with no specific data; and Payne (Vancouver Petrographics, in Aspinall, 2011) reported “fibrous amphibole” in thin section.
Chalcedony: Payne (Vancouver Petrographics, in Aspinall, 2011) reported chalcedony as an alteration product of glaucophane in thin section.
Chalcopyrite: This was reported only by Anuik (1970), as a minor constituent of calcite veins.
Dolomite?: Anuik (1970) reported possible dolomite, but gave no specific data.
Glaucophane: This was described in thin section by Payne (Vancouver Petrographics, in Aspinall, 2011), as part of what Aspinall described as a “. . . dark green to black radioactive glaucophane-calcite-quartz-hematite skarn.”
Molybdenite: This was reported only by Anuik (1970), as a minor constituent of calcite veins.
Plagioclase: Anuik (1970) reported plagioclase, but gave no specific data.
Siderite: Anuik (1970) reported siderite, but gave no specific data.
Uraninite: Holland (1954) reported that “Chemical analyses of radioactive material indicate the presence of both uranium and thorium. Mineralogical work by the Radioactivity Laboratory of the Geological Survey of Canada and by Dr. R. M. Thompson , of the University of British Columbia, confirms the presence of uraninite (the crystalline form of uranium oxide); the thorium-bearing mineral remains undetermined.” I can find no evidence that the thorium mineral has ever been identified. The Pacific Museum of Earth (University of British Columbia) has a specimen (No. S-74-2186) of uraninite from this locality, “with quartz, calcite, pyrite, hematite and actinolite”.

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Link to British Columbia Minfile:	104N 001

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References