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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D38-09 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Grey quartzite | thick bedded; minor detrital muscovite? | |||
| D38-08 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Biotite granite | fine-medium grained; weakly magnetic; 30% quartz; 65-70% feldspar, cannot distinguish types; 3-4% biotite | |||
| D38-07 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Siltstone hornfels | Hess Formation | massive; purplish-grey, non-limey; several 2-3 cm argillaceous rip-up clasts; colour is due to metamorphic biotite | ||
| D38-06 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Limestone | bedded to streaky white and grey layers due to variable recrystallization | |||
| D38-05 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Interbedded sandstone and chert | Devono-Mississippian Earn Group | brown sandstone beds are 4-5 cm thick; green-grey chert beds are 0.5-1 cm thick; not a turbidite because no graded bedding and chert is chemical precipitate, not detrital | ||
| D38-04 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Black chert pebble conglomerate | Devono-Mississippian Earn Group | pale grey chert clasts to 0.5 cm in black, greywacke matrix; thick bedded | ||
| D38-03 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Interbedded chert and barite | Devono-Mississippian Earn Group | Millimetre to centimetre beds of pale white cherty silt and grey barite | ||
| D38-02 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Black siltstone | Devono-Mississippian Earn Group | thin bedded; non-limey; 5% white lenses and streaks of ? | ||
| D38-01 | Tom lead-zinc, Yukon | D Lefebure | Black siltstone | Devono-Mississippian Earn Group | thin bedded; non-limey | ||
| DVL89-17 (missing) | Mactung | D Lefebure | |||||
| DVL89-14 (missing) | Mactung | D Lefebure | |||||
| D37-08 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Pyroxene scheelite(?) skarn | dark green, rusty brown weathered; fine grained; magnetic; 50% quartz, including pale green chert; 25% pyroxene; 20% pyrrhotite; minor chalcopyrite; unknown % scheelite | |||
| D37-07 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Pyroxene scheelite(?) skarn | dark green, rusty brown weathered; fine grained; magnetic; 40% quartz; 30% pyroxene; 25% pyrrhotite; minor chalcopyrite; unknown % scheelite | |||
| D37-06 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Foliated hornblende orthogneiss | augen-like feldspar phenocrysts; streaky feldpsar gneissic bands; 75% feldspar (all plagioclase); 25% hornblende, partly altered to chlorite | |||
| D37-05 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Foliated hornblende diorite | 70% feldspar; 25% hornblende; 5% quartz; 1% magnetite, strongly magnetic | |||
| D37-04 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Vesicular augite basalt | dark grey; strongly magnetic; calcite fills some vesicles; augite pitted by weathering | |||
| D37-03 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Amphibolite | fine to medium grained; dark green; 60% amphibole; 40% feldspar; minor biotite?; metamorphosed basic volcanic rock | |||
| D37-02 | Mactung | D Lefebure | Biotite granite, gneiss xenolith | medium grained; 40% quartz; 55% feldspar; 5% biotite; possible hornblende replaced by chlorite | |||
| D37-01 | MacTung | D Lefebure | Granitic gneiss | two magnetic amphibolite bands | |||
| D35-10 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Graphitic argillite | Devono-Mississippian | black; tight to isoclinal similar-style fold; 1 cm chert bed; several mm thick pyrite beds; distal expression of ore horizon | ||
| D35-09 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Chert | Devono-Mississippian | black, likely due to finely disseminated sulphides; nearly all surfaces are weathered; distal expression of ore horizon? | ||
| D35-08 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Massive pyrite | Devono-Mississippian | 75-80% pyrite; 3-5% sphalerite; possible cpy; 15-20% silica; layered, not necessarily bedded; fabric may be metamorphic | ||
| D35-07 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Black (Kuroko) ore | Devono-Mississippian | black; weathered and leached; massive sph, cpy, gal, py (cannot properly estimate percentages) | ||
| D35-06 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Chert and semi-massive sulphides | Devono-Mississippian | 70% light to medium grey chert; 30% sulphides with minor chlorite; 20% pyrite, 5% cpy, 3% sph, 2% gal; disruption of bedding may be tectonic origin | ||
| D35-05 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Quartz-chalcopyrite vein | Devono-Mississippian | coarse grained; minor galena, sphalerite and possibly pyrrhotite, sample is weakly magnetic; unknown, tan-colour silicate mineral | ||
| D35-04 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Meta greywacke | Devono-Mississippian | dark grey; biotite-muscovite phyllite with slickened movement surfaces suggestive of graphite; 2-3 cm wide vein of coarse quartz-chalcopyrite-pyrite, may be footwall to massive sulphide | ||
| D35-03 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Rhyolite | Devono-Mississippian | grey-white; foliated; mainly aphanitic(?); sparse quartz eyes, one is circled; 10%(?) sericite | ||
| D35-02 | Lara VMS | D Lefebure | Quartz-eye rhyolite, metamorphosed | Devono-Mississippian | grey-white, goassanous weathered surface; 10-15% quartz eyes (phenocrysts) to 6 mm; wispy fabric deflects around quartz eyes shows they are pre-metamorphism; aphanitic siliceous matrix; wispy fabric likely derives from some primary texture; no pyrite; minor sericite | ||
| D35-01 | Lara VMS | Mt Sicker | D Lefebure | Meta mafic volcanic (amphibolite) | Devono-Mississippian | very dark green; fine to medium grained hornblende and chlorite; <1% disseminated cubic pyrite; originally andesite or basalt; footwall or hanging wall to sulphide horizon? | |
| D34-25 | Snip Gold mine | Intrusive breccia | bizarre rock; diorite matrix; diverse, rounded xenoliths including graphic granite, plagioclase-hornblende gneiss and diorite | ||||
| D34-24 | Snip Gold mine | Volcanic conglomerate / greywacke | dark green-black; heterolithic; diverse, rounded mafic volcanic clasts to 5 cm in muddy, argillaceous matrix; no deformation, no shearing | ||||
| D34-23 | Snip Gold mine | K-feldspar-biotite vein | 70% K-feldspar, light pink; 20% biotite; 5% quartz; 5% chlorite on vein margin | ||||
| D34-22 | Snip Gold mine | Shear vein | quartz plus pyrite with chlorite margin | ||||
| D34-21 | Snip Gold mine | Massive pyrite | molybdenite fracture-vein | ||||
| D34-20 | Snip Gold mine | Massive arsenopyrite | 90% arsenopyrite; 10% pyrite | ||||
| D34-19 | Snip Gold mine | Pyrite-chalcopyrite-arsenopyrite(?)-quartz vein | |||||
| D34-18a, b | Snip Gold mine | Isk Wollastonite | Wollastonite skarn | 95% white wollastonite, 2-3 cm crystals | |||
| D34-17 | Snip Gold mine | Johnny Mtn, 1175 level | Quartz-sulphide vein (16 Vein) | 80% quartz (and possible K-feldspar); 5% biotite(?); 10% pyrite; 5% grey sulphide; minor magnetite | |||
| D34-16 | Snip Gold mine | Massive arsenopyrite | accessory pyrite | ||||
| D34-15 | Snip Gold mine | Magnetite and cubic pyrite | |||||
| D34-14 | Snip Gold mine | Sphalerite-quartz vein | coarse grained | ||||
| D34-13 | Snip Gold mine | Pyrite-galena-calcite vein | |||||
| D34-12c | Snip Gold mine | Mafic volcanic schist | 70% chlorite; 25% streaky calcite; 5% pyrite; strong shear fabric | ||||
| D34-12b | Snip Gold mine | Mafic volcanic schist | 30% chlorite; 10% biotite; 25% quartz-feldspar; 30% pyrite; transitional to massive sulphide ore? | ||||
| D34-12a | Snip Gold mine | Mafic volcanic schist | light green; 20% pyrite; cut by quartz-chalcopyrite vein; possibly this is sheared Red Bluff porphyry | ||||
| D34-11d | Snip Gold mine | Crackle quartz ore type | prominent K-feldspar | ||||
| D34-11c | Snip Gold mine | Crackle quartz ore type | 10% chlorite; 5% pyrite; 1% chalcopyrite | ||||
| D34-11b | Snip Gold mine | Crackle quartz ore type | associated chlorite | ||||
| D34-11a | Snip Gold mine | Crackle quartz ore type | 4th of 4 ore types, none of the following are good examples of this ore type; 10% pyrite; trace molybdenite | ||||
| D34-10i | Snip Gold mine | Massive sulphide ore type | 50% pyrrhotite; 15% pyrite; 5% magnetite; 30% streaky calcite and minor chlorite |
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