Dardanelles mine, Sandon, Slocan Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Dardanelles mine	Mine
Sandon	- not defined -
Slocan Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Dardanelles mine is located at the headwaters of Dardanelles Creek, the eastern tributary of McGuigan Creek, about 5.3 kilometres north-east of the famous mining town of Sandon, or 58 kilometres north of Nelson, British Columbia, in the Slocan Mining Division.

There is a description of the property, including regional geology, on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 1995. Portions relative to geology are quoted below:
“Hostrocks of the Dardenelles [sic] occurrence are chiefly slate, finely bedded argillite and limestone of the Triassic Slocan Group. These strata are intruded by numerous quartz or feldspar porphyry dikes and sills. Slocan sediments strike 300 degrees and dip 50 degrees southwest.

Three significant lodes have been discovered on the Dardenelles [sic] Claim Group. The first discovered lode is known as the Diamond Cross lode on the Fly Fraction claim. This lode contains veins with silver-lead ore. The second is the Okanagan lode on the Okanagan claim, some 76 metres from the Diamond Cross lode. This lode consists of a quartz vein up to 30 or more centimetres wide, from which high silver values were obtained. Most of the development work was carried out on the third, the Dardenelles [sic] lode, on the Dardenelles [sic] claim. This lode strikes 025 degrees and dips 38 degrees southeast. The lode is traceable on surface for 60 or more metres. The Dardenelles [sic] lode is very flat and up to 1.5 metres wide. An ore shoot was stoped out along the footwall from nine drifts. The shoot extended continuously from the surface to the No. 8 level, some 128 metres below. The maximum stoping length was 30 metres along the vein, averaging 9 to 12 metres. The lode had an average width of 4.5 to 6.0 metres. The central portion of the vein appeared to consist of decomposed dike, with evidence of shearing on either side. Galena and high grade silver minerals, most likely tetrahedrite and pyrargyrite, were reported hosted in a quartz vein. The lode has a strong continuity with depth and had encouraging mineralization over 122 to 152 metres length.”

Giles Peatfield Ph.D., P.Eng (Retired) comments:
There has been modest production from this property. The official British Columbia Government records show that at intermittent times between 1892 and 1981, small shipments totalling 690 tonnes yielded 143,651 ounces of silver, a trace of gold, 190,077 kilograms of lead and 4,232 kilograms of zinc. Note that these would most likely all be smelter returns. The zinc production was late in the mine life (shipments in 1938 and 1949). This mine production is typical of many of the small “hand-to-mouth” operations in the Slocan Camp.

The Dardanelles lodes are close to the Rambler-Cariboo deposit and may in fact be on the same or a related structure. The Rambler-Cariboo (see Mindat posting for “Rambler-Cariboo Group mine, McGuigan Creek, Sandon, Slocan Mining Division, British Columbia, Canada.”) has an extensive list of reported minerals. It may be that detailed study of the Dardanelles ores would identify more than are at present reported.

Another point of interest is in the name of the mine. Early workers all called this the Dardanelles property, and this spelling is most logically correct. The principal claim was Crown Granted (for U.S.A. readers – patented) on December 5th 1893, with the correct spelling. Johnston (1915), reporting the identification of pyrargyrite, used the correct spelling, as had Hoffmann (1895). However, Traill (1970; 1983) for some inexplicable reason changed the spelling to Dardenelles (note e, not a).
Mountjoy, for Minfile, used the incorrect spelling throughout. I detail this as a caution for any readers researching this property.

Comments on the Minerals Reported:
Galena: Reported by Hoffmann (1895) as “. . . a purplish-gray, very fine granular galena – locally known as ‘steel ore’ . . . .” Other early workers simply spoke of lead-rich ore, leaving one to assume that the mineral was galena.

Pyrargyrite: Reported by Hoffmann (1895) small aggregations in galena; he made the point that “This mineral had not been previously met with in Canada.” Cairnes (1935) simply reported “high-grade silver minerals” with no specific data. Mountjoy (1995) listed pyrargyrite as “most likely”.

Quartz: Reported by Cairnes (1935).

Sphalerite: This has not been specifically noted by any worker I can find, but I have assumed, based on the zinc production from the mine and the general character of deposits in the region, that it must exist here.

Tetrahedrite subgroup?: Mountjoy (1995) listed tetrahedrite as “most likely” but gave no reference and was most likely simply proposing this because the mineral is a common silver host in the region.

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082KSW017

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References