Midge Creek Beryl Occurrence, Nelson, Nelson Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Midge Creek Beryl Occurrence	Occurrence
Nelson	City
Nelson Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

Latitude 049º 22' 20'' North; Longitude: 116º 49' 34'' West. The occurrence lies about 1.6 kilometres west of the south arm of Kootenay Lake and 36 kilometres east-southeast of Nelson, British Columbia.
Giles Peatfield comments:
There is a very brief description of the occurrence, listed as a showing, on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2014. A portion of this description relative to geology is quoted below:
“Beryl was found in large blue-green crystals, with garnet, magnetite and black tourmaline in pegmatite dikes, which are reported by Rice (Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 228) to be abundant in that part of the middle Cretaceous Bayonne batholith comprising granite and granodiorite.”
There are no published dates specifically for the pegmatites. The Bayonne batholith is a multi-phase plutonic complex; this occurrence is within the so-called Steeple Mountain pluton. Webster and Pattison (2014) wrote that “What is referred to as the ‘Bayonne batholith’ . . . comprises multiple phases: the Mount Skelly pluton, the Shaw Creek stock, Heather Creek pluton, Drewry Point pluton and Steeple Mountain plutons (Leclair, 1988). Existing geochronology by Davis (1995) and Brown et al. (1999) have shown that individual phases range in age from 99 (Steeple Mountain) to 76 Ma (Shaw Creek).”
Giles Peatfield Comments on the Minerals Reported:
This list includes only those minerals mentioned by Rice (1941) as occurring in the pegmatites at the beryl showing. The occurrence was mentioned by Mulligan (1968), who simply repeated Rice’s description. See also Brown (2004).
Beryl: Large blue-green crystals.
Garnet group: Pink garnets.
Magnetite: No description.
Tourmaline group: “a little black tourmaline.”
Giles Peatfield Comments on the Rock Types Reported:
These rock names were reported for the showing area by Rice (1941) and by Reesor (1996).

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.
Consultant 1985 to 2016

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082FSE091

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References