Gold fever in BC, Part I

Since the first recorded discovery of lode gold at Mitchell Bay on the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1857, the yellow metal has been vitally important to the early development of British Columbia. Placer miners were especially active between 1860 and 1885, and again during the Atlin gold stampede in 1898. Early miners built small communities and opened up the surrounding country.

Over time, infrastructure improved and major towns and cities were established, many of which still exist. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, hard-rock mining was mainly for small-tonnage, high-grade gold deposits. Since the Second World War, there has been a greater emphasis on developing larger deposits with gold as a byproduct. British Columbia gold production increased sharply in 1986 and reached an all-time high of roughly 800,000 oz. in both 2000 and 2001 despite the hard times sustained by the mining sector in the previous decade. Rising gold prices and favourable government policies are ready to kick-start a modern-day gold rush in Canada. As a result, British Columbia gold production could rise to more than a billion ounces annually in the next decade.

What makes this different from previous gold rushes are advances in the understanding of gold-bearing deposit types and the technology related to their exploration, development and mining. For example, the intrusion-hosted gold deposits, such as Fort Knox, Pogo and Donlin Creek in Alaska and Kena in British Columbia, represent relatively new, underexplored targets. Similarly, the rich Eskay Creek mine is attracting exploration, especially in the northwestern part of the province. In the 1997-2001 period, the Golden Bear mine produced some 265,000 oz. gold at a cash cost of about US$170 per oz. It was one of the first heap-leach gold mines to be built in Canada.

A provincial database lists 989 individual lode and 93 placer deposits in the province. Annual placer gold production peaked at 230,210 oz. in 1863, and by 1879, about half the recorded placer production in British Columbia had been recovered. Six major placer gold camps — Cariboo, Fraser River, Omineca, Cassiar, Atlin and Granite Creek — were established between 1860 and 1898. Deposits in these camps continue to be mined, though at much lower levels.

The first lode gold production came from the Granite Poorman mine, near Nelson in 1890. Lode gold production peaked in 1939 when 587,336 oz. were recovered from 192 mines. Six major mining camps — Bridge River, Rossland, Hedley, Premier, Greenwood and Cariboo-Barkerville — have produced in excess of 1 million oz. and together account for greater than 60% of the province’s total lode gold production to date. More recent members of the million-ounce club are Island Copper, with 1.3 million oz. at the end of 2001, Snip, with 1.2 million oz., and Eskay Creek, with 2 million oz. Island Copper was a large, open-pit producer of porphyry copper, molybdenum, gold and silver. Situated on northern Vancouver Island, it operated from 1971 to 1995. The Snip underground vein deposit operated between 1991 and 1999 as a successful fly-in operation. The Eskay Creek gold-silver deposit, which started up in 1995, has a total gold inventory of 3.75 million oz. plus significant silver byproducts. The Kemess South gold-copper deposit, in the northern region of Toodoggone, will exceed 1 million oz. in gold production during 2002 (780,800 oz. between 1998 and 2001).

In the 1965-to-1983 period, 107 properties in the province reported gold production. The largest number of gold producers in any year since 1965 was 49 in 1967; by 1985, the number had dropped to 22. During the 1990s, 20 gold mines closed, 16 new ones opened and five reopened. Currently, there are seven lode mines producing gold.

A government database titled Gold Production and Resources in British Columbia includes data from 1858 to the end of 2001. Listed are some 300 deposits or camps with past production and resources in excess of 5 kg gold. Total lode gold production (1890-2001) amounts to 28.6 million oz.; placer gold production (1858-2001), 5.5 million oz. The top 25 producers account for 90% of total production.

Total in-ground gold resources stand at 78.4 million oz., almost three times greater than past production. Resources listed from 264 deposits, categorized as a percentage by deposit type, are: porphyries, 71%; veins, 19.6%; massive sulphides, 8.1%; and skarns, 1.4%. The top 25 listings represent 66% of total resources, with 21 of these totalling in excess of 1 million oz. gold.

— The author is the senior regional geologist for the British Columbia Ministry of Energy & Mines.