Hawk Creek zinc deposit, Kootenay National Park, Golden Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Hawk Creek zinc deposit	Deposit
Kootenay National Park	National Park
Golden Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Hawk Creek zinc deposit is located about 2.5 kilometres east of the Vermilion River, approximately 46 kilometres south-southeast of Field, British Columbia. The deposit was explored for its zinc potential during the Second World War, but was considered not of sufficient size to be worth further work, and since it is located in a National Park, ownership reverted to the Crown.
The following quote is from B.C. Government site “Minfile”- Minfile No. 082N 021, last edited in 1993:
“The area in the vicinity of the showings are (sic) underlain by strongly cleaved, gently dipping or horizontal thin-bedded argillaceous limestones and argillites of the Cambrian to Ordovician Goodsir Group. A prominent, steep (dips 45 to 70 degrees southwest), northwest-striking shear zone appears to control the distribution of the vein and replacement mineralization. The shear zone and associated mineralization cuts sharply across bedding in the sedimentary rocks.
Mineralization comprises an irregular-shaped cylindrical zone roughly 15 metres in width and 75 metres in length. Amber-coloured sphalerite, the dominant sulphide, forms massive fine-grained pods, disseminations and stringers. Galena, which is less abundant, occurs as fine-grained disseminations and stringers associated with both (sic) sphalerite, calcite and minor pyrite.”
Comments by Giles Peatfield regarding some of the minerals reported:
Baryte: The only mention of “barite” for the property was by Starr (1930) who described “A massive bed of coarsely crystalline calcite, containing a little quartz in coarse crystals, and a little barite . . . .” It is not clear how close this bed is to the zinc mineralization, but it is not likely far removed.
Smithsonite?: Henderson (1954) stated that “At a few of the surface exposures a thin enriched zone, composed dominantly of zinc carbonates, overlies the ore zone.” I have arbitrarily assumed that this is most likely smithsonite.
Sphalerite: Henderson (1954) described two varieties of sphalerite. The first, more abundant one, is “. . . honey-coloured and fine grained, and occurs as massive or disseminated bodies replacing limestone. The second is darkish brown in colour and was seen only as disseminated crystals within veins and stringers of white crystalline calcite.” Evans, et al. analysed three specimens of sphalerite from the deposit, and reported Fe contents ranging from 1.53 to 3.21 percent. This would most likely be the honey-coloured variety.
Talc: Starr (1930) stated, when describing the calcite body mentioned above, that “Occasionally solid masses of talc or steatite are found in sheared zones along the calcite-limestone contact.”
A point of interest is that while the deposit has traditionally been compared to the replacement deposits in broadly similar age strata at the Monarch and Kicking Horse mines at Field, British Columbia, Grasby, et al. (2013) have posited that the Hawk Creek body, rather than being a Mississippi Valley Type deposit, should more properly be classified as a “Shale-Hosted Sedex Pb, Zn, Barite” deposit. Up-date 03 November 2024: For a recent description of the deposit, with details on mineralization, refer to Paradis et al. (2022), who list Hawk Creek as an “MVT deposit.”

A last point. For a detailed description of the history of the deposit as regards it being in Kootenay National Park and thus not available for exploitation, refer to Lothian (1987).

Giles Peatfield
BASc. (Geological Engineering) University of British Columbia 1966.
PhD Queen's University at Kingston 1978.
Worked for Texas Gulf Sulphur / Texasgulf Inc. / Kidd Creek Mines - 1966 to 1985.
Consultant 1985 to 2016

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082N 021

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References