Aberdeen deposit, Meritt area, Nicola Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Aberdeen deposit	Deposit
Meritt area	- not defined -
Nicola Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Aberdeen deposit is located immediately west of Broom Creek, about 2 kilometres north-west of its confluence with Guichon Creek and about 20 kilometres north of Meritt, British Columbia.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 092ISE 024, current to 2021:
“The area is underlain by rocks of the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Guichon Creek Batholith, which are covered for the most part by extensive glacial overburden. Near the mine, Broom Creek parallels the contact between two varieties of the older Highland Valley phase of the Guichon Creek Batholith. To the west is the Chataway granodiorite (190 ± 8 Ma). To the east, rocks previously designated by Northcote (1969) as fine-grained granodiorite belonging to the Witches Brook phase (199 ± 8 Ma) have been remapped by McMillan [et al.] (1978) as quartz monzodiorite of the older Guichon variety.
The Aberdeen deposit lies along a mass of greenstone between two coarse joint planes striking 300 degrees in the plutonic rocks. A series of high-grade, en-echelon lenses, striking 310 degrees and dipping steeply to the northeast, occur in a fracture zone to a depth of 30 metres. Mineralization consists of chalcocite, specularite, minor native copper, chalcopyrite, pyrite and bornite in a gangue of tourmaline, quartz and hematite. Malachite staining is also present.
It is reported that the mine produced approximately 1270 tonnes grading approximately 7 per cent copper with some silver values (Assessment Report 1826).”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding some of the minerals reported:
Apatite: Identified in thin section by Turner (1961).
Biotite: Identified in polished section by Turner (1961).
Chalcopyrite: This appears to be very uncommon at Aberdeen. Turner (1961) stated the “The chalcopyrite mainly occurs as very fine grained disseminations in the specularite , although some also occurs in the gangue. The chalcopyrite is best seen, and sometimes only visible, under high power.”
Cuprite?: In some of the very early reports on the property the presence of cuprite was suggested. Kirkham (1960) performed tests on the material that he thought fit the original description and concluded that it was in fact not cuprite. This mineral must be regarded as possible for the locality, but unlikely.
Digenite?: von Rosen (1962) described, in polished section, what he thought could be digenite, but Dr. R. M. Thompson was sceptical, and I would regard it as tentative at best.
Garnet: Johnston (1905) reported small crystals of pale red garnet in intrusive rocks in the general locality of the mine.
Goethite?: Turner (1962) described how, in one of his polished sections, “The limonite and/or goethite displays a colloform banding texture in the vugs.”
Hornblende: Johnston (1905) reported hornblende in intrusive rocks in the general locality of the mine.
K-feldspar?: Turner (1961) described “K-feldspar” in thin sections, but gave no further data.
Pyrite: None of the three students who studied the Aberdeen specimens reported pyrite. Indeed, von Rosen specifically said there was “. . . no pyrite in the specimens . . . .” The mention of pyrite in the Minfile write-up is probably derived from the work of Northcote (1969), who described it as being “sparse” in the Witches Brook phase of the Guichon batholith in this area. McMillan et al. renamed the Witches Brook phase as the Guichon Variety of the batholith.
Rutile?: Kirkham (1960) described rutile in a polished section, but Dr. R. M. Thompson recommended caution. I would regard it as tentative.

References

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	092ISE024

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