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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D33-02 | Equity Silver | Footwall sequence | T Schroeter | Chert pebble conglomerate, Skeena Group | Lower Cretaceous | 80% mottled white sub-rounded clasts, most are 1 cm, some up to 4 cm, slightly fracture; 20% buff, felsic volcanic (?) clasts, smaller in size, can be scratched | |
| D33-01 | Equity Silver | Footwall sequence | T Schroeter | Sandstone, Skeena Group | Lower Cretaceous | mottled grey; 80% rounded, cherty siliceous clasts; 5% black, angular fine grained volcanic or argillite clasts, more locally derived than rounded chert clasts; 15% possible felsic volcanic clasts similar size to chert clasts; 1% pyrite | |
| D32-07 | Red Mountain | Intrusion breccia | fragment of pale, bleached feldspar porphyry within dark-coloured quartz-plagioclase porphyry containing 5-10% rounded quartz and 20% plagioclase crystals | ||||
| D32-06 | Red Mountain | Altered feldspar-(hornblende) porphyry | pale grey; 20% ghost feldspar, 3 mm; no primary mafic mineral; secondary biotite(?) in 3 cm wide bleached band | ||||
| D32-05 | Red Mountain | Silicic intrusive rock with tourmaline(?) vein | grey, quartz-rich altered intrusive rock; no original texture visible; 2 cm wide vein with poorly defined boundaries contains fine black prismatic mineral (tourmaline or axinite?) and pyrite | ||||
| D32-04 | Red Mountain | 0022 crosscut | Siltstone breccia veined by sulphides | fine bedded black siltstone; irregular vein network of brown sphalerite, magnetic pyrrhotite, coarse pyrite and relatively minor quartz; marginal to the gold-bearing pyrite vein stockwork | |||
| D32-03 | Red Mountain | Underground | Siltstone biotite hornfels | very fine grained; black to purple-brown colour indicative of metamorphic biotite; 5% pyrite and pyrrhotite as veinlets (strongly magnetic) isolated crystals of coarse pyrite, to 0.5 cm; peripheral to gold zone | |||
| D32-02 | Red Mountain | Marc zone | Silicic intrusive breccia with pyrite stockwork | light grey silicic intrusion (altered quartz hornblende porphyry?); massive pyrite veins; disseminated coarse pyrite, to 1 cm; pyrite vein grades to magnetite at one end of specimen, resembles black interstitial mineral in D32-01 but herein is strongly magnetic; typical of gold zone | |||
| D32-01 | Red Mountain | Marc zone | Pyrite vein stockwork | coarse grained massive pyrite, cubic crystals to 1 cm; minor quartz in late veins; trace chalcopyrite near quartz veins and trace unknown grey sulphide within quartz; minor amount of unknown black mineral interstitial to massive pyrite (non-magnetic); little host rock in sample, a siliceous intrusion - probably altered quartz hornblende porphyry, a late phase of the Red Mountain stock; typical of gold zone | |||
| D31-16 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Cottonbelt, Shuswap | Calcsilicate and schist with sulphide bands | layered quartz-biotite schist and marble or skarn consisting of 80% pyroxene, 20% tan-colour garnet with galena | |||
| D31-15 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Cottonbelt, Shuswap | Massive magnetite | 70% magnetite; 10-20% sphalerite; 10% galena; minor quartz; trace biotite | |||
| D31-14 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Goldstream, Pit ore | Massive sulphide | 60% massive pyrrhotite; 5-10% chalcopyrite; other sulphides obscured by tarnish, weathering; 20-30% rounded, recrystallized quartz wallrock fragments (durchwebegung texture) | |||
| D31-13 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Goldstream | Semi-massive sulphide | poorly banded; 10-15% chalcopyrite; 10% pyrrhotite; 5% sphalerite; 1-2% galena in silica gangue; weakly magnetic | |||
| D31-12 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Colby, Shuswap | Marble with disseminated sulphides | medium grained recrystallized calcite marble; pseudo granitic appearance from disseminated black sphalerite (5%), grey arsenopyrite (10%), brown pyrrhotite (10%) and green calc-silicate (3%, diopside?) | |||
| D31-11 | Purcell-Revelstoke | J & L | Limestone with conformable sulphide vein or bed | laminated; bands of sphalerite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite + arsenopyrite; durchbewegung texture with quartz fragments in sulphide layer | |||
| D31-10 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Samatosun, Adams Plateau | Semi-massive sulphide | bands of massive pyrite-chalcopyrite and lesser galena in black, fine grained, siliceous (very hard) host rock; disrupted syngenetic mineralization, some cpy is remobilized into cross-cutting veinlets | |||
| D31-09 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Goldstream | Siliceous sedimentary schist | finely laminated; intensely deformed, extremely stretched; deformation is too strong to call the rock a phyllite | |||
| D31-08 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Goldstream | Semi-massive chalcopyrite | 25% chalcopyrite with milled wallrock fragments known as durchbewegung fabric | |||
| D31-07 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Rexspar Fluorite, Adams Plateau | Fluorite-bearing rhyolite tuff-breccia | 20% aphanitic rhyolite clasts to 1.5 cm; 6% pyrite, disseminated and as clots of cubic grains; 2% angular black mudstone(?) clasts, 1 mm and smaller; 70% purple tuffaceous matrix; rhyolite clasts are highly stretched and/or flattened | |||
| D31-06 | Purcell-Revelstoke | North Star | Stratiform(?) galena-pyrite -sphalerite(?) | strongly oxidized, weatherd to dark grey and rusty; well layered, probably massive, sedimentary galena and pyrite; sphalerite not seen | |||
| D31-05 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Kootenay King | Stratiform galena-sphalerite in siltstone | very well bedded on mm-scale; no pyrite observed | |||
| D31-04 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Kootenay King | Cobble conglomerate with quartz-galena-sphalerite vein | conglomerate evident on weathered surface; may be stratabound but no evidence it is strataform | |||
| D31-03 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Mineral King | Vein breccia | coarse grained galena, sphalerite and lesser (minor) pyrite with white vein quartz; sulphides mainly surround quartz giving a breccia texture | |||
| D31-02 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Estella | Sulphide breccia | clasts to several cm size, of fine grained grey metasedimentary(?) rock infilled by medium grained sphalerite and galena | |||
| D31-01 | Purcell-Revelstoke | Paradise Mine | Lead-zinc semi-massive (?) sulphide | weathered, rusty colour; well layered, possibly bedded; sphalerite and galena | |||
| D30-22 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte, intensely silicified | Miocene - Holocene | grey; fine grained; white quartz blebs; 40% pyrite blebs; white clay along some fractures and in vugs | |||
| D30-21 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte(?) intense argillic altered | Miocene - Holocene | completely altered to white to pale yellow kaolinite; one clast of black shale with bedding still visible; minor blebs of pyrite | |||
| D30-20 | Heart Peaks | Silicifed trachyte breccia with white quartz vein | Miocene - Holocene | angular fragments of light grey trachyte are fractured and infilled with dark grey silica containing 30% fine pyrite and arsenopyrite; the white quartz vein has small vugs with small quartz crystals | |||
| D30-19 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte breccia / agglomerate | Miocene - Holocene | 80% small subrounded clasts of black shale, trachyte, rhyolite, chert and kaolinized trachyte; medium grey, siliceous trachyte matrix; some clasts completely replaced by pyrite, most noticeably black shale clasts; pyrite also in vugs and disseminated throughout | |||
| D30-18 | Heart Peaks | Quartz crystals | Miocene - Holocene | hexagonal, prismatic, terminated crystals grown into a large vug or cavity | |||
| D30-17 | Heart Peaks | Silicified trachyte | Miocene - Holocene | very light grey; fine grained; intensely silicified; banded quartz veins with inward grown crystals; vugs in vein centre are rimmed with tiny euhedral quartz; narrow, dark grey of argentite(?) on one vein margin; large vug exhibits some platey tridymite, coated with tiny quartz crystals; white clay as surface alteration product | |||
| D30-16 | Heart Peaks | Spheroidal rhyolite | Miocene - Holocene | unaltered spheroids are radiating zones of devitrification; if altered the spheroids would be destroyed | |||
| D30-15 | Heart Peaks | Rhyolite - trachyte | Miocene - Holocene | pale yellow to light grey; fine grained; banded; lighter coloured layers are vuggy and contain minor jarosite and small specks of pyrargyrite and minor arsenopyrite in grey bands; warpy, medium grey veinlets crosscut banding (visible on cut surface); outer surface has clay and iron oxides | |||
| D30-14 | Heart Peaks | Quartz-amythest vein | Miocene - Holocene | 1.5 cm crystals grown inward to vein centre; fine grained quartz selvage 2-3 mm wide along vein margins; wallrock is silicifed trachyte breccia with subangular fragments of trachyte and chert 1-10 mm in size; matrix is fine, light grey to yellowish silica rich volcanic | |||
| D30-13 | Heart Peaks | Amythest quartz | Miocene - Holocene | amythest crystals are 1-1.5 cm long, terminations at one end; wallrock is siliceous breccia with clasts of sediment and volcanics in siliceous matrix; minor jarosite in vugs | |||
| D30-12 | Heart Peaks | Silica | Miocene - Holocene | pale yellow-white and light grey silica; crenulated bands 1-10 mm wide; vugs lined with tiny euhedral crystals; gray bands may contain fine sulphides | |||
| D30-11 | Heart Peaks | Siliceous tuff | Miocene - Holocene | light grey; poorly banded; small specks of pyrite parallel to banding; limonite-jarosite on weathered surface; host rock to mineralization, contains 56 ppm As, 8 ppm Sb, 108 ppb Hg | |||
| D30-10 | Heart Peaks | Top zone | Mudstone | Miocene - Holocene | light grey; fine grained; bedded (or laminated?); some beds are vuggy (hollow), generally less than 3 mm | ||
| D30-09 | Heart Peaks | Quartz alteration | Miocene - Holocene | bladed texture; quartz-rich; clusters of perfectly terminated crystals on one side; unusual shaped quartz-tridymite crystals on other side; minor jarosite-limonite | |||
| D30-08 (2 specimens) | Heart Peaks | Quartz Hill | Trachyte breccia / agglomerate | Miocene - Holocene | siliceous; subangular to subrounded clasts of kaolinized trachyte, minor chert and argillite; clasts are light brown to white, up to 1 cm size; matrix is dark grey, fine grained trachyte with minor disseminated pyrite; vuggy narrow quartz veinlets with small euhedral crystals | ||
| D30-07 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte | Miocene - Holocene | black; siliceous; fine grained; brecciated; vuggy quartz infilling around clasts; fine arsenopyrite and pyrite in some clasts | |||
| D30-06 | Heart Peaks | Feldspar porphyry trachyte, argillic altered | Miocene - Holocene | medium maroon-grey; feldspar phenocrysts completely altered to kaolinite; sample has 0.5 cm rim of kaolinite; few small red and black specks of hematite visible on cut surface | |||
| D30-05 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte breccia | Miocene - Holocene | fragments to 2 cm size are pale yellow, fine grained, sub-angular, kaolinized; matrix is white silica with small vugs that contain tiny euhedral quartz crystals and minor jarosite; locally matrix has pale blue tint suggesting opal; limonite stain on weathered surface | |||
| D30-04 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte breccia | Miocene - Holocene | light to dark grey; fine grained; very siliceous; wispy banded; brecciated; clast size from 1 mm upward; large banded area on cut surface contains 20% fine grained pyrite and arsenopyrite; minor sulphides in small breccia clasts; some infilling silica is blue-white opal; small vugs lined with tiny euhedral quartz crystals and jarosite | |||
| D30-03 | Heart Peaks | Trachyte, intense argillic altered | Miocene - Holocene | nearly complete alteration to white kaolinite; relict brown feldspar crystals are visible on cut surface | |||
| D30-02 | Heart Peaks | Basalt | Miocene - Holocene | dark grey; medium grained; magnetic; phenocrysts of hornblende and plagioclase and black quartz eyes; limonite stain on weathered surface | |||
| D30-01 | Heart Peaks | Basalt | Miocene - Holocene | dark grey; medium grained; magnetic; phenocrysts of hornblende and plagioclase (some with irredescent blue sheen of labradorite) and minor black quartz eyes; minor limonite and manganese stain on weathered surface | |||
| D28 13 | Epithermal Textures | Mineralized biotite granodiorite or granite | white; 5% disseminated mafics, mainly biotite; pyrite-sphalerite-galena on "dry" (no quartz) fractures; prominent malachite and azurite on separate fracture, indicates low iron in the mineralizing system | ||||
| D28 12 | Epithermal Textures | Basalt with volcanic glass | aphanitic; fine quartz crystal vug suggest link to epithermal system | ||||
| D28 11 | Epithermal Textures | Massive sphalerite vein | coarse grained; wallrock shows very little alteration; possibly a Duthie-type vein, i.e. distal to an intrusion, not epithermal |
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