ROCK ROOM

Smithers Exploration Group's Collection of Cordilleran Rock Suites

Welcome to Smithers Exploration Group’s Rock Room, home to our classic collection of Cordilleran rock suites. This extensive collection of rock samples is representative of deposits and rock types from across British Columbia, with a focus on the northwest. It’s an important resource for the development of expertise on the geology of northern BC and the discovery of the next mines.

The collection was begun in the 1970s by local geologists and prospectors, as well as the BC Ministry of Mines, and was updated under the direction of former regional geologist Paul Wojdak. It is designed to give hands-on examples of the rocks that make up the regional geological framework of northern British Columbia. We are working hard to complete our collection: if there is a particular suite you are keen to see but we do not yet have, please let us know and we will prioritize the aquisition of those samples. If you have a suite that you would consider donating to help us fill in the gaps, please contact us.

The Rock Room occupies a spacious classroom at the Smithers Exploration Group office at #101 3423 Fulton Avenue in Smithers. We have almost 2000 rock samples catalogued, clearly labelled and stored in trays that can be removed for handling and close examination. The room is heated, well-lit and spacious .It is equipped with regular and zoom stereomicroscopes for detailed investigation.

The rock suites cover:

Plutonic
Volcanic
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
Stratigraphy
Mineral Deposits and Ore Deposit Types
Rock-forming and Ore Minerals

Call 250-877-7883 or email rockroom@smithersexplorationgroup.com if you have questions about the Rock Room or the donation requirements for samples.

SEG’s Rock Room with its Cordilleran Rock Suites will make Smithers home to a unique tool for explorationists. It will attract industry and government attention to Smithers as a community committed to the growth of the minerals industry in BC.

Browse the Rock Room Collection

Library No.	Suite Name	Location	Collector	Rock Name	Age	Description	Cart
T12-18	Industrial Minerals			K-feldspar porpyry granite (decorative stone)		20% K-feldspar phenocrysts to 5 cm; 30% coarse plagioclase (1 cm) and 1% hornblende (1 cm); 50% medium grained matrix of quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar and mafic (hornblende?)	Add Item
T12-17	Industrial Minerals		D Lefebure	Carbonatite		grey-brown; fine grained; featureless calcite / dolomite; widely dispersed purple fluorite	Add Item
T12-16	Industrial Minerals	Lempiere	D Lefebure	Sovite (medium to coarse calcite rock with variable accessory amphibole, biotite, pyrite, pyrochlore and fluorite)		light brown; massive; fine grained calcite matrix; 5% light green to grass-green acicular amphibole(?) phenocrysts; 3% clots of magnetite	Add Item
T12-15	Industrial Minerals	Lempiere	D Lefebure	Intrusive dolomite (carbonatite)		Second piece of T12-15; light brown; massive; reacts to acid when powdered; 10% green-black pyroxene(?) which weathers brown; interstitial, patchy, white unknown mineral	Add Item
T12-15	Industrial Minerals	Aley prospect, Northern Rockies	D Lefebure	Intrusive dolomite (carbonatite)		light brown; fine grained; reacts to acid when powdered; 5% dark green pyroxene(?); 3% white patchy (interstitial) unknown mineral	Add Item
T12-14	Industrial Minerals	unknown	D Lefebure	Bentonite		soft; crumbly; in plastic bag	Add Item
T12-13	Industrial Minerals	unknown	D Lefebure	Serpentine		near black on cut surface; foliated; slippery to touch	Add Item
T12-12	Industrial Minerals	Nicholson mine prospects	D Lefebure	Quartzite		white and pale grey alternating beds; bedded on cm scale	Add Item
T12-11	Industrial Minerals	Quesnel area	D Lefebure	Talc		light grey to white; foliated; soapy (slippery) to touch	Add Item
T12-10	Industrial Minerals	a) Texada Island b) Lost Ck, Kootenays	D Lefebure	Limestone		a) grey; massive; fine grained; featureless; a few white calcite veinlets b) white; massive; medium grained; high purity	Add Item
T12-09	Industrial Minerals	Crawford Bay	D Lefebure	Dolomite		white; massive; medium grained	Add Item
T12-08	Industrial Minerals	Quesnel area	D Lefebure	Diatomite		chalkly, crumbly; layered; very light; accumulation of marine diatoms	Add Item
T12-07	Industrial Minerals	Parson	D Lefebure	Barite vein		white; coarse grained; massive; high density	Add Item
T12-06	Industrial Minerals	Empire Valley, BC	D Lefebure	Perlite		5% light brown feldspar; pearly lustrous matrix of hydrated glass	Add Item
T12-05	Industrial Minerals	a) Rock Candy b) Oliver c) Aley	D Lefebure	Fluorspar (fluorite)		a) light, bright green; very coarse; euhedral; drusy cavities b) clear, colourless, coarse, associated with quartz c) purple, medium grained in dark green ultramafic (hornblendite or pyroxenite?)	Add Item
T12-04	Industrial Minerals	Texada Island	D Lefebure	Wollastonite		white to pale green rock; wollastonite is white, very coarse, acicular, somewhat radiating crystals; pale green colour may be from a calc-silicate such as diopside	Add Item
T12-03	Industrial Minerals	Baymag mine, Kootenays	D Lefebure	Magnesite		white to light grey; coarse grained; massive; moderate high density	Add Item
T12-02	Industrial Minerals	Lussier River, Kootenays	D Lefebure	Gypsum		light grey and darker grey laminae (beds) on mm to cm scale; one carbon stylolite	Add Item
T12-01a T12-01b	Industrial Minerals	Falkland BC	D Lefebure	a) Anhydrite b) Gypsum		anhydrite is laminated with alternating pale grey and white bands, 1 cm thick; gypsum is white and massive	Add Item
T11-19	Porphyry deposits	Bell mine, Babine district	D Lefebure	Biotite feldspar porphyry granodiorite	50 Ma?	Fresh rock, unaltered; 40% plagioclase phenocrysts, 1-2 mm; 3% biotite phenocrysts; rare hornblende; 60% fine groundmass assumed to contain quartz and feldspar	Add Item
T11-18	Porphyry deposits	Whiting Creek, Tahtsa area	D Lefebure	Andesite, stockwork veined		host rock is dark green, very fine grained; stockwork veins of K-feldspar, quartz and pyrite	Add Item
T11-17	Porphyry deposits	Granisle mine	D Lefebure	Biotite hornfels argillite		dark brown; very fine grained; stockwork of fractures, some narrow core of pyrite, have bleached, biotite-destructive envelopes; contact metamorphic biotite converted to clay, in the fringe of the copper deposit	Add Item
T11-16	Porphyry deposits	Poplar, Houston area	D Lefebure	Granite'		primary minerals are altered, rock name is approximate; 60% feldspar altered to sericite; 25% quartz; no mafic minerals remain; veinlet of quartz and chalcopyrite	Add Item
T11-15	Porphyry deposits	Climax, Colorado	D Lefebure	Breccia		two stages of silica introduction; early silica is fine grained and cements wallrock fragments; fragments exhibit pervasive K-feldspar alteration; late silica occurs as vein of coarse grained quartz, muscovite and biotite, the biotite is altered to chlorite	Add Item
T11-14	Porphyry deposits	Endako mine	D Lefebure	Granite'	140 Ma ?	vein of magnetite and chalcopyrite with envelope of pervasive K-feldspar alteration; no molybdenite, therefore atypical of the deposit	Add Item
T11-13	Porphyry deposits	Glacier Gulch, Smithers	D Lefebure	Intrusive Rhyolite	50 Ma?	fine-medium grained, quartz-rich; veinlets of quartz, molybdenite, magnetite and pyrite	Add Item
T11-12	Porphyry deposits	Granisle mine	D Lefebure	Granite'	50 Ma?	coarse grained; 20% quartz; 80% feldspar, much is hydrothermal K-feldspar so that rock cannot be properly named; 1 cm veins of quartz, K-feldspar, chalcopyrite, pyrite; cpy is also disseminated, 6% total chalcopyrite	Add Item
T11-11	Porphyry deposits	Whiting Creek, Tahtsa area	D Lefebure	Quartz eye porphyry		white, fine grained groundmass of 60% quartz and 40% feldspar but very difficult to estimate; no mafics; fracture veinlets of quartz, molybdenite, minor pyrite	Add Item
T11-10	Porphyry deposits	Bell mine, Babine district	D Lefebure	Breccia	50 Ma?	completely clay altered fragments, cannot determine original rock; a few fragments contain narrow quartz veinlets; cement is fine quartz and pyrite	Add Item
T11-09	Porphyry deposits	Poplar, Houston area	D Lefebure	Biotite hornblende granodiorite		10% quartz; 80% feldspar; 10% chloritized hornblende and biotite; no significant alteration	Add Item
T11-08	Porphyry deposits	Glacier Gulch, Smithers	D Lefebure	High silica alteration zone	50 Ma?	95% quartz; 4% molybdenite on fractures; 1% pyrite	Add Item
T11-07	Porphyry deposits	Granisle mine	D Lefebure	Biotite feldspar porphyry granodiorite	Paleozoic	grey BFP, details obscured by weathering; wide-spaced network of hairline pyrite fractures with 0.5-1 cm clay alteration envelopes	Add Item
T11-06	Porphyry deposits	Poplar, Houston area	D Lefebure	Granitic		buff to pink; medium grained; pervasive sericite alteration; quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite veinlet with narrow K-feldspar halo in wallrock; later cross-cutting kaolinite-clay fracture	Add Item
T11-05	Porphyry deposits	Climax, Colorado	D Lefebure	High silica alteration zone		80% quartz, all introduced?; 20% altered wallrock fragments; 2% molybdenite; trace pyrite	Add Item
T11-04	Porphyry deposits	Whiting Creek, Tahtsa area	D Lefebure	Granitic, altered and mineralized		70% feldspar; 20% quartz; 10% chlorite after mafics; patchy biotite may be relict primary or hydrothermal; quartz-chlorite veinlets; pyrite on fractures	Add Item
T11-03	Porphyry deposits	Endako mine, Main zone	D Lefebure	Quartz monzonite	140 Ma ?	coarse grained; 25% quartz; 40% plagioclase; 30% K-feldspar; 5% hornblende plus biotite; molybdenite fractures	Add Item
T11-02	Porphyry deposits	Granisle mine	D Lefebure	Biotite feldspar porphyry granodiorite	50 Ma?	medium grained; 25% plagioclase feldspar, 2-3 mm; 2% biotite, 2 mm; rare hornblende; veinlets of quartz - K-feldspar - chalcopyrite	Add Item
T11-01	Porphyry deposits	Bell mine, Babine district	D Lefebure	Vein stockwork in unknown rock	50 Ma?	veins of coarse pyrite and chalcopyrite cut a fine grained, pervasively sericite altered rock that does not appear to be intrusive, could be sedimentary or volcanic	Add Item
I1 01 (missing)	Porphyry deposits	Endako mine	D Lefebure	Biotite granodiorite	140 Ma ?		Add Item
T10-12	Base metal veins	Grouse Mtn, Houston area	D Lefebure	Bladed feldspar porphyry dike	50 Ma?	20% plagioclase laths, 1 cm size; fine grained dark grey groundmass; distinctly similar to Goosly Lake trachyandesite lava flows south of Houston	Add Item
T10-11	Base metal veins	Silver Queen, Houston area	D Lefebure	Feldspar porphyry dike		60% feldspar altered to clay; rare biotite phenocrysts; 40% fine groundmass, presumably containing quartz	Add Item
T10-10	Base metal veins	Grouse Mtn, Houston area	D Lefebure	Diabase dike		medium gray; salt-and-pepper texture; fine grained mesh of 50% feldspar and 50% hornblende(?)	Add Item
T10-09	Base metal veins	Cronin, Smithers area	D Lefebure	Gossan		surface weathered rock; decomposed	Add Item
T10-08	Base metal veins	Duthie mine, Smithers	D Lefebure	Granite'		25% sericite-altered feldspar;75% very fine matrix of quartz-feldspar	Add Item
T10-07	Base metal veins	Cronin, Smithers area	D Lefebure	Rhyolite (two pieces)		aphanitic host rock to Cronin veins; sulphides as disseminations and weak veinlets, galena and pyrite	Add Item
T10-06	Base metal veins	Cronin, Smithers area	D Lefebure	Breccia vein		clasts of volcanic rock and early stage quartz vein, in second stage quartz-sphalerite-pyrite vein	Add Item
T10-05	Base metal veins	Duthie mine, Smithers	D Lefebure	Breccia vein		wallrock fragments of bleached, sericitic volcanic rock; cemented by coarse sphalerite, pyrite and quartz	Add Item
T10-04	Base metal veins	New Moon, Nanika area	D Lefebure	Quartz-galena vein		no host rock; mainly galena, subordinate pyrite	Add Item
T10-03	Base metal veins	Duthie mine, Smithers	D Lefebure	Sphalerite vein		very coarse grained; minor quartz and pyrite; no wallrock	Add Item
T10-02	Base metal veins	Grouse Mtn, Houston area	D Lefebure	Andesite		green; fine grained; vein of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, bornite, pyrite, quartz and calcite; no wallrock alteration	Add Item

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