Silver prospect, Silver Island, Babine Lake, Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Silver prospect	Prospect
Silver Island	Island
Babine Lake	Lake
Omineca Mining Division	Mining Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Silver Island silver prospect is located on Silver Island, near the south shore of Babine Lake, about 34 kilometres north-east of Burns Lake, British Columbia.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 093K 025, current to 2021:
“The Silver Island prospect is underlain by volcanic rocks and argillite of the Cache Creek Group, hornblende diorite of the Francois Lake Intrusive Suite and rhyolite considered to belong to the Oligocene to Miocene Endako Group.
Quartz-ankerite-barite veins occur in shear zones striking 120 degrees and dipping at about 45 degrees southwest. These veins occur mainly within diorite although at least one occurs in rhyolite. Mineralization consists of tetrahedrite and minor amounts of argentite, native silver, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, malachite, and azurite. Numerous stringers of calcite cut the diorite.
By the 1920s, at least five parallel, east-striking veins (Nos. 1 through 5), varying from 0.05 to 1.5 metres in width, had been identified on Silver Island, with the No. 1 vein, located near the lake shoreline, being the most developed by historical workings . The No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 veins are located approximately 18, 38, 120 and 150 metres north of the No. 1 vein, respectively. Three other north- striking and west-dipping veins cut the east-striking veins and occur over approximately 390 metres. At least one of these veins has been reported to have been traced to the south shore of the Babine Lake. The north-striking veins are reported to vary in size up to 6.0 metres in width.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding some of the minerals reported:
Acanthite: All previous workers have referred to this as “argentite”. Luning (1961) reported that it was X-ray confirmed by Dr. R. M. Thompson.
Arsenopyrite: This was reported only by Luning (1961); one assumes that if it occurs at Silver Island, it is not common.
Polybasite: This was reported by Murray (1957) and by Luning (1961), based on polished section examination but with no X-ray confirmation. I would regard it as valid for the locality.
Pyrargyrite: This was reported by Murray (1957) and by Luning (1961), again with no X-ray confirmation. I would regard it as valid for the locality.
Tetrahedrite: This has been reported by several workers. Lay (1926) described “grey copper”; it was not noted by Murray (1957), but was reported by Strack (1959) and by Luning (1961). Strack stated the “Tetrahedrite is the main metallic mineral present in the specimens, . . . .” Luning (1961) in studying his tetrahedrite found that it gave microchemical tests for Ag, Cu and Fe, which led him to regard it as “Silver bearing tetrahedrite.”
As a final comment, one should refer to Lay (1926). He reported assay results for three samples of high-grade or picked ore, ranging from 243.6 to 693.6 oz per ton Ag. Clearly the various sulfo-salts are abundant enough to give these sorts of results, and it is possible that the tetrahedrite is contributing to the total.

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	093K 025

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References