Windpass Mine, Little Fort, Kamloops Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Windpass Mine	Mine
Little Fort	- not defined -
Kamloops Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Windpass mine is located between Dunn Lake and Baldy Mountain, about eight kilometres east of Little Fort. Mineralization is in gold-bearing quartz veins from several centimetres to almost 1 metre in width and averages 38 to 46 centimetres. The vein contains variable amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, bismuth sulphide, free gold, magnetite and gold tellurides.

Commentary by Giles Peatfield:
Windpass Mine is a small former gold producer in central British Columbia. According to official British Columbia records, the mine produced 93,435 tonnes of material from which total production was said to be 34,455 troy ounces of gold, 1,719 troy ounces of silver, and 78,906 kilograms of copper.
The deposit is a somewhat unusual one. A recent description of the mine and its environs is given by Taylor (1989), from which the following quotes are derived. Regionally, the mine occurs within the Fennell Formation of Devonian to Permian age oceanic rocks. In more detail, “A north-trending sill-like body, of hornblende pyroxene diorite separates the upper and lower divisions of the Fennell Formation and is the hostrock for gold mineralization at the Windpass and Sweet Home mines . . . . Its apparent thickness is up to 750 metres and it extends for some distance north and south of the Windpass mine.”
“Mineralization . . . consists of gold-bearing quartz veins that occur within 2 metres of shear zones. While the veins and shears dip between 10 and 40 degrees north, oreshoots plunge gently in an easterly direction . . . . The veins vary in width from a few centimetres up to 2 metres, with an average width of less than 1 metre.”
“Metallic minerals associated with the Windpass shear include magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, bismuthinite, cobaltite, gold tellurides [see note below] and native copper, in a quartz gangue. Magnetite is the dominant mineral at Windpass and usually occurs as massive pods or lenses subparallel to adjacent sheared veins. High gold grades and visible gold are associated with this mineral assemblage.”
There is an abundance of reporting on the mine, dating back as far as the 1920’s. Many of these references have been consulted in order to determine the minerals to be listed in this summary. Some minerals that have been reported as occurring at Windpass require comment:
“Gold Telluride”: The earliest reference to “gold telluride” that I can find is by Fisher (1922) who described “. . . some free gold and gold telluride.” This was reiterated by Nichols (1926), who described “. . . scattered grains of chalcopyrite and other sulphides, with telluride of gold.”, and by Cooke (1946); this attribution has continued to the present day (see, e.g., Campbell and Tipper, 1972; Taylor, 1989 and the present Minfile listing, last edited in 2013), with no reference to the original publication. Without solid analytical confirmation, “gold telluride” must be regarded as suspect at best. I have not added it to the list of minerals reported.
“Telluride”: Smith (1941) reported “telluride” but gave no firm data. This is most likely covered by the comment regarding “joseite”, and has not been added to the list as such.
“Tetradymite”: This mineral was reported by Smith (1941) as possible, and by Fyles (1946) as questionable. It is doubtful at best and has not been added to the list. Earlier, Davies (1924) had mentioned that “. . . some native gold and bismuth telluride can usually be seen.” This may be what was subsequently described as tetradymite or joseite.
“Joseite” etc.: Thompson (1949, p. 366) listed “Joseite A” at Windpass, where it was “. . . intimately associated with bismuthnite.” Berry and Thompson (1962) listed the same occurrence as “Joseite I.” Smith (1941) and Fyles (1946), both students of Dr. Harry Warren, mentioned “joseite”, and Fyles further noted that Dr. Warren had sent a telluride sample from Windpass to the University of Toronto, where it was X-ray confirmed as joseite. This may have been the material described by Thompson (1949). Finally, Freeman (1956), working as a student of Thompson, reported that Thompson identified, by X-ray analyses, both Joseite A and Joseite B. Back (2018) lists both Joseite A and Joseite B as questionable species, so again I have not added them to the list. The fact remains, however, that there are one or possibly two bismuth telluride minerals here that deserve more work.

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Link to British Columbia Minfile:	092P039

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References