Tom Creek gold placer, Vital Range, Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Tom Creek gold placer	Placer
Vital Range	Mountain Range
Omineca Mining Division	Mining Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

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Deposit Types C04 : Paleoplacer U-Au-PGE-Sn-Ti-diam-mag-gar-zir
The Tom Creek gold placer was located on the creek above where it flows into Kenny Creek, about 24 kilometres north-east of Takla Landing, or 155 kilometres north-west of Fort St. James, British Columbia.
There is a short description of the geological setting and history for this placer operation on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2021, to which interested readers are referred. Selected portions of the Minfile description are quoted below:
“Tom Creek drains the north slopes of Mount Tom and flows into Kenny Creek approximately 24 kilometres northeast of Takla Landing. Placer gold was initially discovered in the creek in 1889, 20 years after it was discovered on Vital Creek (093N 044), 15 kilometres to the northeast.”
“The creek was worked profitably from 1899 to 1904 starting upstream from a point 1.6 kilometres from its confluence with Kenny Creek. Gold was originally recovered by means of a deep bedrock flume, but by 1935, tunnelling was employed. Tom Creek Placers, Limited later used a large steam shovel, which was left after operations ceased in 1940.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
The Tom Creek gold placer occurrence is of minor economic importance, but it has some points of interest. These include the problems of establishing production records, and the possibility of a specific mineral of interest. Two personal scenery photos from the 1960’s are included.
It is difficult to arrive at a definitive total for gold production for Tom Creek. The official British Columbia Government total was reported by Holland (1950) as 2,402 ounces. However, Armstrong (1949) quoted a total of 1,624 ounces – it is not clear whence Armstrong derived his number. Examining the situation in more detail leads to some interesting observations. Holland broke his production records into 5 year intervals, starting with 1896-1900. Examination of the reports by the Gold Commissioners and Resident Engineers, in the Annual Reports of the British Columbia Minister of Mines shows that for most of Holland’s intervals, it appears reasonable to accept the figures. However, in the interval 1901 to 1905, Holland recorded no production, but there appears to have been at least some recovery. For example, Valleau (1902), describing the 1901 operating season, commented that “All dirt had to be shovelled [sic] three times before reaching the boxes, but even then, for the time shovelling-in was carried on, it paid at the rate of from $8 to $10 per day to the man. At least six men were employed, and using Holland’s (1950) value of $17.45 per ounce of gold of the average fineness for the creek (see below), this translates to about 3 ounces per day. It is not clear how many days “shovelling-in” there were, but at least some modest production was (apparently) achieved. Valleau (1903) was not able to provide numbers for the 1902 season, as his visit was before the clean-up, but he commented that “Actual mining was carried on by the May Flower Mining Company all the season, and the ground proved to be exceptionally rich, but very deep.” Again, there must have been some production, although how much is unknown. Valleau (1904) further commented that “The May Flower has paid all costs of working this season [1903] and has given a fair surplus.” It is not necessary to belabour this issue, but simply to state that the recorded production from the creek would appear to be understated. It also does not allow for private collection, or gold used in exchange for goods from local merchants that would not necessarily have been allocated correctly, if at all. I include this rather lengthy review as an explanation of why historical gold placer production figures should often be taken “cum grano salis.”

Comments on the Minerals Reported:
Gold: Holland (1950, p. 43) reported on fineness determinations for placer gold from Tom Creek. A total of four determinations, representing 739 ounces, gave an average fineness value of 846. In 1968, I took a piece of rotten (probably) bedrock material off the placer working dumps which, on crushing and panning, yielded a few very fine colours.
Silver (var. arquerite) or silver amalgam: The only reference I have found to this material at Tom Creek is in McConnell (1896), who wrote that “Arquerite or silver-amalgam is also of common occurrence in the placer diggings on Silver Creek, and on Vital and Tom’s Creek, two of its tributaries.” Dawson (1889, p. 42R) had already reported “Considerable quantities of arquerite, a silver amalgam, . . . upon Vital and Silver Creeks.”, but since Tom’s Creek was not struck until 1889, it is possible that Dawson was not aware of this occurrence at the time of writing his report. Tom Creek is a tributary of Kenny Creek, which in turn flows north-easterly for about 13 kilometres into Silver Creek. Silver Creek and Vital Creek lie within a geological package lying immediately to the west of the Pinchi Fault, containing in this area both bedrock silver and mercury mineralization. These conditions do not apparently exist at Tom Creek, so I would list this ‘mineral’ as possible only for the creek.
Rocks Reported:
Schiarizza (2000) listed for the regional stratigraphy including the Tom Creek area the following rock types: “light to medium grey quartz phyllite, platy quartzite and metachert, lesser amounts of recrystallized limestone, dark grey phyllite, massive to pillowed greenstone, fragmental greenstone and chlorite schist, minor amounts of meta-sandstone and blueschist.” These form his unit PJccs of the Cache Creek Complex, Permian to Jurassic (?).

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.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

3 valid minerals.