Five Mile Point Fluor Spar occurrence, Nelson, Nelson Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Five Mile Point Fluor Spar occurrence	Occurrence
Nelson	City
Nelson Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

Latitude 049º 33' 00'' North; Longitude: 117º 14' 24'' West. A small vein occurrence of fluorite mineralization occurs at Five Mile Point, on the south-east shore of the west arm of Kootenay Lake, immediately above the Canadian Pacific Railway [CPR] tracks, at about 5 kilometres north-east 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 1997. Relevant parts of this description are quoted below:
“The Fivemile [sic] Point fluorite deposit is a vein occupying a fissure in sheared Nelson granite. The vein strikes 120 degrees and dips 90 to 55 degrees northeast. The filling is a band of fluorite, crushed granite and gouge having a maximum thickness of 1.1 metres.
A band of bluish and purplish fluorite, up to 35 centimetres wide, occurs along and near the footwall, and smaller parallel streaks lie in the central and hangingwall parts of the vein, together with some light grey siliceous streaks. Vugs up to 0.3 metre in diameter, with concentrically banded borders are common. Barite is found locally as minute crystals and aggregates on the fluorite.”
There is no official record of mineral production from this occurrence, but Robertson (1905) reported that “The Hall Mines smelter [at Nelson] took hold of the property this fall, and did some work on it, mining some tons of the mineral for experimental purposes, the result of which operations has not been learned, further than that, mined in quantity from the present development, the mineral contained a higher amount of silica than was desirable.”
Note of historical interest: Five Mile Point was an important landing site for trans-shipment of ore from the Slocan silver-mining district to railways for transport to smelters. Carlyle (1898) wrote that “The ore is shipped in sacks to the cars, and at Five Mile Point, when loading from the steamer to the N. & F. S. R. R. [Nelson & Fort Sheppard Railway], the sacks are emptied, the ore going in bulk, so that the mine-holder gets far more use for his sacks. Facilities for the shipment of ore are constantly improving, but the railroads and boat lines prevent reduction in charges.” This railway line later became part of the CPR network. For more information on this topic, interested readers should consult Turner (1984).
Giles Peatfield Comments on the Minerals Reported:
A limited number of minerals have been reported for this occurrence. Comments regarding these are given below:
Baryte: LeRoy (1912) reported that “Barite in minute crystals and aggregates is found in some of the vuggs [sic] deposited on the fluorite.”
Fluorite: The first published information on the occurrence was by Robertson (1905); his description is worth quoting in its entirety. “The country rock here is also the Nelson granite, and running though the claim there is in the formation a fault plane or fissure, along which the granite has been much crushed, and subsequently somewhat decomposed by percolating water. Along this fissure calcium fluoride has been deposited, the crushed rock on either side being impregnated for some distance, gradually shading off into more solid granite.
Along this fissure for some 75 feet a tunnel has been run in which shows in the roof in places a seam of about 12 inches of the mineral, comparatively pure. On either side the mineral is more or less mixed with the crushed country rock. The deposit is recent, and, as a matter of fact, the water seeping through the fissure at present is depositing the mineral, as in places the walls of the tunnel, which was driven some years ago, show a distinct deposit of fluor spar deposited there recently. The mineralisation followed the fissure at least as far as the tunnel had developed it, and nothing could be seen on the surface, which is covered with underbrush.” LeRoy (1912) reported “A band of bluish and purplish fluorite, . . . .” and other workers (e.g. Johnston, 1915; Wilson (1929); and Pell (1992)) simply reiterated his work. Also of interest is that the occurrence, although mentioned by Johnston (1915), was not listed by Sabina (1964); Traill (1970, 1983); or Pell and Fontaine (1989). Note that Roberston refers to Fluor Spar, which is why I have retained this name in the title.
Kaolinite: LeRoy (1912) reported that “Other streaks of a light grey dense siliceous material have a similar occurrence. An analysis of the latter by Mr. R. A. A. Johnston gave silica 91.28, alumina 6.16, and water 2.26. These streaks are apparently quartz containing a little kaolin from the crushed granite.”
Quartz: See note above for kaolinite.
Giles Peatfield Comments on the Rock Types Reported:
The host rock for the occurrence has been variously described as ‘granite’ (Robertson, 1905); ‘granite porphyry’ (LeRoy, 1912); and ‘porphyritic granite’ (Little, 1960).

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

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Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082FNW241

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References