Iron King Prospect, Olalla, Osoyoos Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Iron King Prospect	Prospect
Olalla	- not defined -
Osoyoos Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Iron King prospect is located at 1200 metres elevation on a western tributary of Olalla Creek, 3.5 kilometres west-northwest of Olalla, British Columbia. Osoyoos Mining Division.
The official principal (B.C. Minfile) name for this occurrence is DIEF. The existing Mindat entry is for “Iron King”, which is one of several claims listed on the Minfile page.
The following quote, lightly edited for spelling, is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 082ESE125:
“The Dief occurrence is underlain by the Carboniferous to Triassic Shoemaker Formation, northwest of the ultramafic to alkaline Middle Jurassic Olalla intrusion. This intrusion has intruded a sequence of oceanic sediments and volcanics of the Carboniferous to Triassic Shoemaker and Old Tom formations. Black to green chert, light grey quartzite and minor limestone lenses comprise the dominant lithologies. The Shoemaker and Old Tom formations form a broadly folded, east-dipping sequence in the area. The Olalla intrusion consists of a magnetite-bearing pyroxenite peripheral zone to a diorite and syenite core. The pyroxenite is composed primarily of augite with lesser magnetite. Coarse grained syenite dikes occur at the contact with the peripheral pyroxenite zone.
In the vicinity of the Dief occurrence, [there are] jasper and thin to massive bedded cherts. Massive acidic to intermediate pyroclastics of the Old Tom Formation, striking northerly and dipping shallowly to the west, outcrop 300 metres to the west. Thin bedded cherts, argillite and quartzite with fracturing and minor folding occur 457 metres to the east. Folds plunge 10 to 30 degrees towards 015 degrees.
Mineralization is hosted in a 12-metre wide conglomerate bed within a top (east) side of a massive jasper unit. Pebbles within the conglomerate are up to 4 centimetres diameter and are replaced by chert. The bed strikes 320 degrees and dips 47 degrees northeast. The Jasper bed is approximately 31 metres wide and occurs near the top of a massive light grey chert unit. To the east, the jasper bed terminates abruptly against a fault. Thin bedded, dark green tuffs and cherts containing numerous shears, faults and folds occur to the east of the fault. The western edge of the jasper unit is not well defined, but appears to consist of sporadic jasper development within massive chert.
The upper 3 to 12 metres of the jasper unit contains lenses and layers of braunite and/or composite layers of braunite, rhodochrosite up to several tens of centimetres thick. Numerous beds of hematite, 1 to 5 centimetres thick, also occur in jasper. Secondary manganese oxide commonly occurs on fracture surfaces of tuffs and cherts away from the occurrence. Primary manganese mineralization appears to be associated with massive jasper.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding minerals reported:
Rhodonite, rhodocrosite: both rhodonite and rhodocrosite are mentioned by Thompson (1952), based on examination of specimens from the occurrence. Interestingly, Richardson (1962) mentioned both minerals, whereas in the reports of the British Columbia Minister of Mines for 1949 and 1962, only rhodonite is mentioned, which is reflected in the Minfile quote. On balance, it is probable that both occur.

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082ESW017

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References