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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D10-15 (2 specimens) | Kutcho deposit | Immediate footwall to ore zone | H Gabrielse | Sericitic rhyolite or cherty tuff | Lower Triassic | mottled pale tan and green; aphanitic | |
| D10-14 | Kutcho deposit | Immediate footwall to ore zone | H Gabrielse | Mafic volcanic (andesite or basalt) | Lower Triassic | chlorite-epidote phyllite or semi-schist; at least 30% chlorite; 10% epidote | |
| D10-13 | Massive Pyrite | Lower Triassic | 90% fine grained pyrite, trace bornite, likely to be minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite but cannot be identified. | ||||
| D10-12 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Chloritic magnetic hornblendite | dark grey, massive, slightly mottled; 10% feldspar (plagioclase) to 5 mm randomly oriented; patchy dark areas are hornblende; light green areas are chloritic hornblende; 2-3% euhedral magnetite, partially oxidized to limonite. May have been a hornblende porphyry flow or sill; represents the amphibolite schist unit | |||
| D10-11 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Quartz-dolomite augen quartz sericite schist | thinly laminated, slightly undulating, light grey, dark grey and orange; 40% quartz lamellae to 5 mm wide; 20% sericite lamellae 1 mm wide; 5% quartz-dolomite augen to 1 cm; quartz augen are encased in orange-tinted grey dolomite; orange colour created by iron oxidation. Represents the green schist unit | |||
| D10-10 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Quartz augen rhyolite tuff | light grey to green, weakly banded and/or foliated; matrix is fine sericite, quartz and minor dolomite; 20% quartz augen (porphyroblasts) elongated parallel to weak banding; 5% chlorite, dispersed throughout; one 3 cm dark green rock fragment; 1% py. Represents quartz-eye sericite schist unit | |||
| D10-09 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Sericite quartz dolomite schist | dark grey and brown tinted, weakly banded and foliated; 70% near massive dolomite mixed with quartz; 10% sericite as discontinuous thin lamellae; cut surface shows elongate blebs that may have been siliceous tuff fragments; originally a rhyolite tuff | |||
| D10-08 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Porphyritic sericite-quartz schist | light grey to white, moderately foliated quartz with 5% grey, rounded quartz phenocrysts 0.5-1 mm; 10% light green sericite and dolomite lamellae. Originally a rhyolite tuff | |||
| D10-07 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Hangingwall, dolomite quartz-sericite schist | 50% silvery to grey sericite and 42% grey translucent quartz; moderately foliated and weakly banded with 5% dolomite along some bands; 2-3% py as fine pods parallel to foliation | |||
| D10-06 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Stringer zone, banded cherty rhyolite | banded, 1-5 mm width, dark and light grey aphanitic tuff? Of rhyolite composition; cross-cutting fractures offset bands up to 1 cm; 5-10% bornite and cpy infill fractures; 2-7% py as granular masses and lenses parallel to banding in host rock. Assay up to 3% Cu | |||
| D10-05 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Banded ore, Quartz-sericite schist with pyrite-bornite | 25% undulating 5 mm bands and thin stringers of py with one bornite mass; foliated sericite (minor chlorite) schist with 20% quartz eyes 1 mm; likely same rock as D10-01 | |||
| D10-04 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Semi-massive ore, pyrite-bornite-chalcopyrite in dolomite | irregular, patchy, 50% medium grained dolomite and minor milky white quartz; 35% py as masses of fine grains and lesser coarse granular masses; 10% bornite as interstitial pods and short stringers to 2 cm long; minor cp intergrown with bn | |||
| D10-03 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Massive sulphide ore | fine grained, 70% py, 10% combined cpy and bornite; cpy weakly banded within py; bornite as irregular blebs to 1.5 cm within py. Two samples assay 0.94% Cu and 5.30% Cu | |||
| D10-02 | Kutcho, Sumac adit | A Panteleyev | Pyritic sericite quartz schist | moderately foliated, medium grey, weakly banded; 60% grey translucent quartz in bands which are disjointed (augened) forming 0.5 to 1 cm pods; sericite and weak dolomite in thin bands between quartz bands; 30% py as fine, even disseminations. Immediate footwall to massive sulphide zone, assays 0.02% Cu | |||
| D10-01 | Kutcho | A Panteleyev | Sericite quartz-chlorite schist | Lower Triassic | highly foliated, medium green; 10 % equally distributed 1 mm quartz nodules (porphyroblasts) or augens (eyes); very finely banded light and dark green. Consists of 2 pieces of drill core | ||
| D9-16 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine | D Alldrick | Massive sulphide mylonite | wispy bands of sulphide with 15% gangue of white to pale green quartz-carbonate; sulphides are predominant py, minor cpy, bornite, sph; some sulphide bands are slightly vuggy | ||
| D9-15 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine | D Alldrick | Andesite breccia | medium green, fine grained andesite fragments in sulphide matrix; fragments to 4 cm, mafic phenos and weak carbonate in groundmass; sulphides are py, cpy and dark brown sph, minor gal | ||
| D9-14 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silver Butte, surface trench #16 | D Alldrick | Quartz-sulphide vein, brecciated | 50% quartz, 40% sulphides, 10% wallrock fragments; quartz is fractured, fine grained, white to pale orange; sulpides are dark brown sph, py and trace gal; wallrock is grey, fine grained, pyritic sediment? | ||
| D9-13 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine, glory hole | D Alldrick | Sulphide-rich breccia | Jurassic | fractured, light grey-white quartz vein and pyritic silecous wallrock; >50% py and argentite in wallrock, which is too altered to be identified | |
| D9-12 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine | D Alldrick | Banded massive sulphide | Jurassic | roughly banded; 70% fine py, 30% gal, trace sph; 10% quartz as a band and with sulphides | |
| D9-11 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine | D Alldrick | Quartz vein, fractured | Jurassic | fractured white quartz sealed with pale brown carbonate and sulphides; subangular fragments to 2.5 cm; sulphides comprise gal, brown sph, tetrahedrite; massive chlorite occurs as matrix with sulphides, often rimming them | |
| D9-10 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine, 2-level portal | D Alldrick | Banded sulphide-quartz vein | Jurassic | 50% sulphide, mainly py, lesser sph, minor argentite, galena and cpy; quartz gangue is pale green, fine grained (chalcedonic) some places forms banded rims around fragments of ?wallrock? | |
| D9-09 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Bayview, Pit 3 | D Alldrick | Massive galena | massive, medium grained; minor quartz gangue | ||
| D9-08 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Silbak-Premier mine | D Alldrick | Semi-massive sulphide | 30% galena, roughly banded, 10% pyrrhotite, 10% pyrite, 5% cpy; 40% grey to white quartz and 5% carbonate | ||
| D9-07 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Scottie Gold, Bend vein | D Alldrick | Semi-massive sulphide | 40% fine grained pyrite, 25% pyrrhotite, 10% cpy, 5% argentite, 10% black chloritic andesite wallrock and 10% white calcite | ||
| D9-06 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Prosperity/ Porter Idaho | D Alldrick | Rhyodacite cataclasite | light coloured clasts to 1.5 cm; fracture fillings of chlorite, limonite, hematite and fine grained sulphides - py, gal, argentite; pitted, sulphides weathered out | ||
| D9-05 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Riverside, Alaska; Jarvis vein | D Alldrick | Quartz-sulphide vein | Tertiary | vuggy, white to orange quartz with 25% galena and minor dark brown sph and cpy | |
| D9-04 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Sulphurets West zone | D Alldrick | Massive sulphide | Jurassic | dark grey, fine grained sulphides (70% argentite, 15% py, 15% silvery grey to reddish pyrargerite); 20% quartz gangue | |
| D9-03 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Sulphurets West zone | D Alldrick | Sulphide-quartz vein | Jurassic | 80% sulphides (argentite, pyrite, pyrargyrite) and 20% quartz | |
| D9-02 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Sulphurets West zone | D Alldrick | Quartz-carbonate-sulphide vein | Jurassic | 65% quartz, 25% pyrite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and argentite and 10% pale yellow-white carbonate; copper stain | |
| D9-01 | Stewart-Iskut deposits | Sulphurets West zone | D Alldrick | Quartz-sulphide vein | Jurassic | 50% milky quartz, 35% sulphides and 15% angular grey wallrock fragments; quartz is fractured | |
| D5-14 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Calcite altered andesite | Up Triassic | light grey; intensely altered; no primary texture; 40% calcite pervasive and as crystals filling open space; matrix of 15% chlorite, 15% epidote and 30% clay | ||
| D5-13 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Chloritized andesite | Up Triassic | green and pink; 60% pervasive chlorite; 10% pervasive chlorite; clay (?); 10% vuggy, pink K-feldspar veins with 2% epidote but no copper minerals | ||
| D5-12 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Altered rock | Up Triassic | pale shades of pink, white, green; 20% euhedral K-feldspar crystals to 4 cm; fine matrix of pale epidote (10%?), calcite (10%?), chlorite (5%?) and kaolinite (5%?); amazing rock | ||
| D5-11 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Quartz vein | Up Triassic | white to grey with yellow (jarosite) stain; coarse albite on one edge of specimen; minor sericite(?); minor chalcocite(?) | ||
| D5-10 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Massive albite | Up Triassic | off-white colour; fractured; 90% albite; 10% disseminated calcite | ||
| D5-09 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Andesite | Up Triassic | pale mottled green; primary feldspar altered to calcite; mafics altered to chlorite and epidote; veinlets of chlorite-epidote-calcite; pyrite-chalcopyrite fracture veinlets | ||
| D5-08 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | Andesite | Up Triassic | dark green; faintly preserved feldspar and augite; early fractures of pyrite-chalcopyrite cut by vuggy K-feldspar veinlets with chalcopyrite | ||
| D5-07 | Afton suite | Afton open pit | K-feldspar | Up Triassic | 90% pink K-feldspar; 5% dark green-black chlorite; 5% interstitial and vein calcite; 3% vugs produce by alteration; no sulphides | ||
| D5-06 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Andesite | Up Triassic | black; fine grained; strongly magnetic; 15-20% chalcopyrite | ||
| D5-05 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Mine staff | Sulphide ore in "orange" diorite (hypogene) | Up Triassic | mottled pink-grey-green; medium grained; alteration includes pervasive K-feldspar and calcite, minor epidote and chlorite; sooty black chalcocite and minor metallic chalcocite as irregular veinlets | |
| D5-04 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Mine staff | Chalcocite ore in diorite, brecciated and altered (supergene zone) | Up Triassic | pale orange-brown, fine grained; some diorite texture preserved; alteration to chlorite, epidote, hematite, blebs and veinlets of K-feldspar; 0.5% chalcopyrite is fringed by 10% chalcocite; late calcite veins have recrystallized chalcocite, changing its sooty black appearance to lustrous metallic grey | |
| D5-03 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Mine staff | Diorite, brecciated and altered (supergene ore) | Up Triassic | mottled apple green epidote and dark purple hematite; similar to D5-01 but more intensely altered and mineralized; high grade ore with native copper and chalcocite; native copper is associated with epidote, chalcocite is hard to recognize but appears associated with epidote and native copper | |
| D5-02 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Mine staff | Hematized diorite (supergene zone) | Up Triassic | fine grained; primary texture and mineralogy obscured by alteration comprising carbonate, hematite and minor epidote; platy native copper(?). Typical of hematite alteration in supergene zone but more competent than typical due to lower clay content (high clay content elsewhere is due to feldspar alteration) | |
| D5-01 | Afton Mines - Afton suite | Afton open pit | Mine staff | Diorite breccia, strong epidote-hematite alteration | Up Triassic | Ironmask batholith; mottled green (epidote) and deep purple-red (hematite); breccia fragments to 3 cm typical of magnetite veins in the batholith; little original texture preserved; weakly magnetic, primary magnetite converted to hematite | |
| D4-08 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Microdiorite (hybrid diorite) | Up Triassic | very fine grained, dark grey-green, no visible phenos; often hosts ore | |
| D4-07 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Hybrid diorite (microdiorite) | Up Triassic | fine to medium grained, grey-green; equal proportion of chloritized mafics and plagioclase; minor py and epidote | |
| D4-06 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Sugarloaf diorite, albite-epidote altered | Up Triassic | light colour, fine grained, intensely altered; primary texture indistinct; cpy as blebs and poorly formed bands; minor py and calcite | |
| D4-05 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Albitized diorite | Up Triassic | mottled dark grey and white; fine grained and fractured, then albitized; patchy epidote and calcite. Cpy as fracture fillings and disseminated with pale green envelopes | |
| D4-04 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Sugarloaf Diorite porphyry | Up Triassic | altered, medium grained; 45% hornblende and augite, ragged, bent and broken; non-magnetic. Cpy and py as stringers, fracture fillings and disseminated |
Samples in your order cart
| You haven't selected any samples |