ORP As-Hg Occurrence, San Josef River Area, Nanaimo Mining Division, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
ORP As-Hg Occurrence	Occurrence
San Josef River Area	- not defined -
Nanaimo Mining Division	Division
Vancouver Island	Island
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The ORP As-Hg occurrence is located on the east side of the San Josef River, about 5.3 kilometres west of Holberg and 44 kilometres west of Port Hardy, northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Note that in some reports, there is (incorrect) reference to San Joseph River.
There is a short description of the deposit and its history, on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2020, to which interested readers are referred. Much of this description, as quoted below, appears to have been taken directly from Hudson (1997):
“Locally, Upper Triassic Vancouver Group, Quatsino Formation limestone is cut by a feldspar porphyry dike of unknown (Tertiary?) age. Within about 4 metres of the dike the limestone is cut by irregular veins comprised of fine-grained chloritic skarn that range up to 10 centimetres in width. Cinnabar and realgar are abundant as thin veinlets and as fracture coatings in the limestone, and as accessory minerals in the skarned veins. Orpiment occurs as coatings on the oxidized mercury-arsenic minerals. Traces of amethyst occur in veinlets. Arsenopyrite and pyrite occur as disseminations in the limestone near the dyke and within thin, vuggy quartz-calcite veinlets cutting both the limestone and the dyke.
High mercury values with coincident arsenic and molybdenite (sic) values are reported in soils over a wide area centered on the showing.”
One final point is worth mentioning. The original interest in the property was sparked by the presence of minerals commonly found in association with certain types of gold and silver deposits. The report of the present owner of the property (Bilquist, 2011) concluded that “The Orp Claim has been looked at a number of times to determine the possibility that a precious metal (gold and or silver) [deposit] could exist. From this visit, which was meant to specifically look for the mineralization and alteration that would be expected at a "Carlin style" occurrence, it can be concluded that the setting for this type of occurrence does not exist. Analysis for seven samples taken did not give any values above background for gold or silver, or for base metals.
The property does have potential for 'collectors' of specimens of orpiment and realgar.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield on some of the minerals reported from the locality:
Cinnabar: Reported as probable by Leighton (1974, 1989), and as abundant by Hudson (1997). Given the elevated mercury contents of surface and core samples cinnabar is regarded as valid for the locality, but how abundant is open to question. See note below for orpiment.
Orpiment: Leighton (1974) reported that “Abundant pebbles of bright yellow rock composed almost entirely of orpiment and realgar (possibly containing cinnabar) were found near the mouth of a small creek running into the San Joseph (sic) River from the east.” See attached photograph.
Quartz: This has been reported by several workers, and in some but not all cases is the variety amethyst.
Pyrobitumen: Leighton (1989) reported, in drill core logging, numerous instances of pyrobitumen or bitumen, in both grey limestone and andesite. There are no further data.
Realgar: Reported by Leighton (1974, 1989) as occurring with orpiment. Hudson (1997), presumably based on field examination, noted that “Cinnabar and realgar are abundant as thin veinlets and as fracture coatings in the limestone, and as accessory minerals in the skarned veins. Orpiment occurs as coatings on the oxidized mercury-arsenic minerals.” It would appear the Hudson did not see the massive banded orpiment rock.

Giles Peatfield
BASc. (Geological Engineering) University of British Columbia 1966.
PhD Queen's University at Kingston 1978.
Worked for Texas Gulf Sulphur / Texasgulf Inc. / Kidd Creek Mines - 1966 to 1985.
Vancouver based consultant 1982 to retirement in 2016

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	102I 012

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References