Bathurst Mining Camp
The Bathurst Mining Camp is a mining district in northeast New Brunswick, Canada, centred in the Nepisiguit River valley. The camp hosts 45 known volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits typical of the Appalachian Mountains. Some of the ore is smelted at the Belledune facility of Xstrata.
Geology
The Geology of the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) is a World Class base metal copper, lead and zinc mainly volcanogenic hosted mineral rich area of north central New Brunswick. BMC geology is diverse having experienced considerable tectonic activity from the Ordovician to the Jurassic periods.
Geological activity accumulated sulfide minerals into local vent complex sea floor basalts, creating VHMS volcanogenic hosted massive sulfide and SEDEX sedimentary exhalative deposit depositional environments, which were all later accreted and folded onto the margin of the continental crust which formed the Appalachian Mountains during numerous mountain building events. Additionally the east coast was a highly active regional geological zone experiencing volcanism similar to the Yellowstone along the edge of the Appalachian Mountains of New Brunswick and Maine.
The BMC land area is the grave yards of both the Iapetus and Rheic ocean basins which were subducted under the thicker continental crust and down into the mantle.
The region is mainly known for VHMS and SEDEX environments while it also hosts epithermal, mesothermal and a number of other mineral deposit forming environments. VHMS and SEDEX environments are the primary mineral hosting dynamics producing base and precious metals. Gold and silver are generally low grade associated with zinc and lead rich areas. The gold and silver are present as invisible disseminations within other minerals.
The BMC country rock is also highly intruded by magma plumes. One such plume is on Mount Edward, part of the Notre Dame Mountains, which was exposed by glacial erosion.
Faults
In 2007 there were commonly held to be four major fault lines in the area.[1] The Miramichi fault was the site on 9 January 1982 of a significant earthquake.
- Rocky Brook-Millstream fault, near the Millstream River and falls[2]
- Heath Steele fault
- Catamaran fault
- Miramichi fault
Deposits
- Nepisiquit A, B, C
- Camelback
- Halfmile Lake
- Orvan Brook
Mines
- Brunswick 12 mine
- Brunswick 6 mine
- Caribou zinc mine
- Heath Steele Mines
- Wedge Mine
- Chester Mine
- Key Anacon Mine
- Austin Brook Iron Mine
- Murray Brook Mine
- CNE Mine
- Stratmat Boundary Mine
References
- ↑ smu.ca: Jutras, McRae and Utting - "Viséan tectonostratigraphy and basin architecture beneath the Pennsylvanian New Brunswick Platform of eastern Canada" BULLETIN OF CANADIAN PETROLEUM GEOLOGY VOL. 55, NO. 3 (SEPTEMBER, 2007), P. 217–236
- ↑ waterfallsnewbrunswick.ca: "Millstream Falls"
- Luff, William M. (1995), "A history of mining in the Bathurst area, northern New Brunswick, Canada", CIM Bulletin, October 1995 (Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy)