Brisco Barite Mine, Brisco, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Brisco Barite Mine	Mine
Brisco	Village
Golden Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The former Brisco Barite Mine, now exhausted, is located between Templeton River and Dunbar Creek, about 4 kilometres west of Brisco, British Columbia.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 082KNE 013, current to 1991:
“At the Brisco quarries, barite had been exposed across an average width of 7.62 metres for 237.7 metres along a northerly striking breccia zone within dolomite of the Beaverfoot Formation. The host rocks have a north strike and steep dips, ranging from 77 degrees to vertical. The deposit is in the east limb of a syncline which is cut by numerous faults of varying magnitude. The west wallrock is highly fractured dark grey to black dolomite that is commonly brecciated with a few scattered lenses or horses of brown quartzite. Mountain leather is abundant as films on fracture surfaces and a few small barite veins are present. The east wallrock is light grey weathering buff to flesh-coloured dolomite and limestone. It is brecciated, and near the main barite body contains barite in the matrix. The orebody itself is brecciated. Much of the barite is white, but the white sections are irregularly shaped and are usually edged or cut by zones of variable width that consist of a fine-grained black matrix enclosing angular fragments of white barite a fraction of a centimetre to several centimetres in diameter. The black colour is due to carbon (graphite).
The barite pinches and swells both horizontally and vertically. To the north it appears to be cut off by a fault and it pinches out to the south. White barite, occurring as irregular masses forming the matrix around breccia fragments of light coloured dolomite, occurs 762 metres north of the main body. A small amount of barite, present as irregular discontinuous masses in a zone of shearing, occurs 550 metres to the south.”
“Production from the Brisco operations began in 1952 and continued to 1980. Initial production was from an open pit. In subsequent years production came from underground operations. A total in excess of 133,000 tonnes of barite was produced during this time.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding minerals reported:
Baryte: This mineral was mined and processed, and is valid for the occurrence. Note that the spelling “barite” has been retained in the mine name, and for historical documentation.
Carbon: Much of the barite was “discoloured”, and not suitable for chemical use. The colour was traditionally considered to be due to included graphite, but there is no definitive analytical information available, and the colour may be due to various carbonaceous materials.
Palygorskite: This mineral was historically reported as “mountain leather”, but has been confirmed as palygoskite by electron microprobe analysis (Smith and Norem, 1986).

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082KNE013

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References