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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D4-03 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West | Mine staff | Sugarloaf diorite, porphyritic | Up Triassic | unaltered host rock; coarse grained with 30% hornblende (and augite?) altered to chlorite; 55% feldspar; disseminated mag, strongly magnetic | |
| D4-02 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West, central breccia zone | Mine staff | Felsic intrusion, brecciated and altered | Up Triassic | light grey, strongly silica and carbonate altered; chlorite fracture surfaces. Fracture-controlled cpy, minor py and calcite; difficult to distinguish fractures and matrix | |
| D4-01 | Afton Mines - Ajax suite | Ajax West, central breccia zone | Mine staff | Porphyritic intrusion, brecciated and altered | Up Triassic | Felsic composition, phenos altered to sericite; weak clay; patchy epidote. Breccia healed by massive fine grained cpy, minor moly and calcite | |
| D2-08 | Premier Mine | 4- or 6-level (i.e lower part of mine) | P Wojdak | Quartz-sulphide vein | Jurassic | 80% white quartz and no adularia; 20% sulphides consisting of 10% pyrite, 5% sphalerite, 2-3% galena and 1-2% chalcopyrite; typical of ore from lower mine levels; expected assay approx 5 opt Ag, 0.3 opt Au (Ag:Au about 15:1) | |
| D2-07 | Premier Mine | 110 sub-level or Glory Hole | P Wojdak | Quartz-ruby silver vein | Jurassic | white quartz vein (75% quartz) with 5% (or less) white K-feldspar (adularia?); 20% metallic minerals, primarily black dendrites (unidentifiable) into quartz (this texture is a sure indication of very high silver grade) and cm patches of grey pyrargyrite (bright red streak). Significantly low pyrite content. Typical ore from upper mine levels where Ag:Au ratio averages 100:1; a conservative estimate is 50-100 opt Ag and 0.5-1 opt Au. | |
| D2-06 | Premier Mine | 6-level workings | D Alldrick | Dacite breccia, sulphide cemented | Jurassic | Sulphides are py and sph | |
| D2-05 | Premier Mine | 2-level portal | D Alldrick | Semi-massive sulphide | Jurassic | 50% py, 20% sph, 1% cpy; quartz and calcite gangue | |
| D2-04 | Premier Mine | 2-level portal | D Alldrick | Andesite, stockwork veined | Jurassic | dark grey-green host with carbonate-quartz-sulphide veining; py, sph; on margin of Premier Porphyry dike | |
| D2-03 | Premier Mine | D Alldrick | Andesite lithic tuff | Jurassic | augite phyric clasts; py veinlets; calcite and chlorite gangue | ||
| D2-02 | Premier Mine | Hope zone | D Alldrick | Semi-massive sulphide | Jurassic | 50% py, 20% sph, 10% po; quartz and calcite gangue | |
| D2-01 | Premier Mine | 2-level portal | D Alldrick | Banded sulphide vein | Jurassic | 75% fine to medium py, lesser argentite and pyrargyrite; quartz gangue; silicified wallrock | |
| B2 03 | Limestones | Limestone with fossil | buff brown colour; fossil coprolite or ? | ||||
| B2 02 | Limestones | Black limestone | black colour derives from organic matter; no fossils; some calcite is recrystallized | ||||
| B2 01 | Limestones | Limestone | grey; massive; non-fossiliferous; 2 similar samples | ||||
| B1-04 | Clastic sediments | T Richards | Coal | ||||
| B1-03 | Clastic sediments | Mt Klappan | D Lefebure | Sandstone (incorrectly labelled tuff marker bed) | Upper Jurassic | reddish colour; sand to silt grains; 3-4% rounded shale clasts | |
| B1-02 | Clastic sediments | Mt McCallum | T Richards | Interbedded grit and limestone | Triassic | altenating light grey grit with sand-size grains, and dark brown-black limestone; weathered surface shows recessive weathering of limestone against much harder grit beds | |
| B1-01 | Clastic sediments | T Richards | Conglomerate | cobbles to 3 cm, fairly well sorted, mainly 0.5 to 3 cm; clast supported; sand matrix; high energy, likely fluvial; polymictic, mainly sedimentary clasts, possible volcanic, no obvious plutonic clasts; clasts mainly sub-round, some small, angular argillite clasts | |||
| A5 12 | Silicic alteration | host rock is feldspar -quartz intrusive, strongly altered, possibly granodiorite | Quartz Vein stockwork-close spaced, early vein(s) have bleached halos, 0.5cm wide, these are cut by smokey grey qtz + minor feldspar + pyrite veinlets | ||||
| A5 11 | Silicic alteration | Logtung-Northern Dancer (Yukon) | L Farrell | Quartz banded rhyolite intrusion ("brain rock") | parallel silica bands or "brain rock" formed by unidirectional crystallization at the roof of a very silica rich (rhyolite) pluton, know as UDS texture (unidirectional solidification) | ||
| A5 10 | Argillic Alteration | D Lefebure | Rhyolite breccia | heterolithic, round and angular fragments to 5 cm size; weak pervasive argillic (steam) alteration evident by narrow altered rims on some clasts; stain for Kspar is misleading / ineffective | |||
| A5 09 | Argillic Alteration | D Lefebure | Quartz porphyry intrusive rhyolite | 25% quartz phenocrysts; groundmass of fine grained quartz and feldspar; sheeted narrow quartz veinlets with biotite(?), molybdenite(?); late cross-cutting quartz vein; top of a pluton? | |||
| A5 08 | Argillic Alteration | D Lefebure | Fractured jarositic rhyolite | aphanitic; glassy; strongly fractured; very strong jarosite gossan | |||
| A5 07 | Argillic Alteration | D Lefebure | Argillic altered granitic intrusion, quartz veined | white; medium grained; all feldspars altered to kaolinite clay, cannot be distinguished; mafics altered to chlorite - epidote(?) | |||
| A5 06 | Argillic Alteration | Battle Mountain, Nevada? | T Richards | Argillic altered granite | 25% plagioclase, 0.5-1 cm size, altered to pale green clay (kaolinite - montmorillonite?); 40% quartz, 0.5-1 cm; 30% K-feldspar, interstitial, unaltered; 5% fresh biotite | ||
| A5 05 | Argillic Alteration | T Richards | Bleached felsite intrusion (dike) | probably 85% fine grained quartz with minor feldspar; minor pyrite | |||
| A5 04 | Argillic Alteration | T Richards | Argillic spheroidal rhyolite | strong pervasive argillic alteration likely due to steam in a geothermal field; 10% spherules are mostly leached out to voids, some remaining silica and clay; iron oxidized to hematite; strong gossan weathering | |||
| A5 03 | Argillic Alteration | T Richards | Amygdaloidal andesite porphyry | 25% plagioclase phenocrysts, 2-3 mm, very light green due to sausserite alteration; 5-10% calcite-filled amygdules; aphanitic, unaltered groundmass | |||
| A5 02 | Argillic Alteration | T Richards | Bladed feldspar porphyry andesite | 30% plagioclase laths, 1-2 cm long, pale green in colour due to sausserite (zoisite / epidote) alteration; microcrystalline groundmass is dark green, likely chlorite altered | |||
| A5 01 | Argillic Alteration | T Richards | Dacite crystal tuff or flow | pink, K-feldspar rich; tuff or flow texture indistinct, single accretionary lapilli clast, sparse possible fragments; sharp purple oxidation boundary appears to be primary, not a surface weathering effect | |||
| A4 12 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Andesite breccia? | Angular, fine grained, felsic clasts, 1-4 cm in size; dark purple-green matrix that appears to be chlorite-hematite altered andesite; origin unknown | |||
| A4 11 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Actinolite - quartz skarn breccia | dense, medium grained, prismatic actinolite with 10% rounded quartz "pebbles" that are linked by quartz-chalcopyrite stringers | |||
| A4 10 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Altered andesite | dark green due to pervasive chlorite alteration with strong calcite; light green area is likely albite - zoisite alteration | |||
| A4 09 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Propylitic andesite? | massive pervasive epidote with patchy, coarse, vuggy quartz-calcite veins | |||
| A4 08 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Chloritized andesite | no primary texture preserved; irregular veins of coarse, vitreous quartz; no wallrock alteration; a low temperature event, not hydrothermal | |||
| A4 07 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Andesite phyllite | grey to green; foliated; pervasive chlorite; vein of epidote - albite(?) - chalcocite - chalcopyrite; minor bornite? | |||
| A4 06 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Altered felsic dike(?) | 25% randomly oriented feldspar; very fine grained grey siliceous matrix | |||
| A4 05 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Trachytic dacite | 30% flow aligned feldspar, likely plagioclase with hematite dusting to give pink hematitic colour; several % quartz phenocrysts; tiny mafics, probably hornblende but may be biotite; purplish matrix due to oxidation of iron during subaerial eruption | |||
| A4 04 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Volcanic conglomerate | diverse clasts, some aphanitic rhyolite but many are pervasively clay-altered fine-grained felsite or andesite? | |||
| A4 03 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Volcanic breccia cemented by quartz | fragments are mainly rhyolite but some are andesite; drusy, cockade banded quartz veins; 0.8% chalcopyrite | |||
| A4 02 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Massively chloritized andesite? | 5% chalcopyrite; minor malachite; no pyrite | |||
| A4 01 | Copper-Bearing Propylites | T Richards | Andesite? | no primary texture; altered to epidote - chlorite - calcite with fine chalcocite; minor malachite | |||
| A3 13 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Andesite tuff | texture well preserved; pale green matrix due to pervasive montmorillonite (celadonite) clay alteration | |||
| A3 12 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Epidote rock | primary composition and texture obscure, but probably andesite; pervasive epidote - albite (or K-feldspar) - silica alteration | |||
| A3 11 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Basalt flow breccia | angular dark green clasts to 1 cm; weak pervasive chlorite-carbonate alteration | |||
| A3 10 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Chloritic granodiorite | several pink K-feldspar phenocrysts to 1 cm; a few quartz phenocrysts; plagioclase replaced by albite plus epidote or chlorite; mafic minerals and groundmass replaced by chlorite | |||
| A3 09 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Weathered andesite lapilli tuff | faint primary texture; light grey-green due to moderate, pervasive clay-chlorite alteration | |||
| A3 08 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Andesite tuff, epidote altered | faintly preserved ash to lapilli texture; light green due to pervasive epidote alteration; epidote-albite veins | |||
| A3 07 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Chloritic basalt | dark green; aphanitic with fine chlorite flakes (micaceous reflection) | |||
| A3 06 | Propylitic Andesites | T Richards | Altered andesite | pale green; no primary texture; pervasive epidote-calcite alteration with lesser chlorite; vein of coarse white calcite |
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