Iron (Magnetite) Ore Resources in Southwestern British ... · PDF fileIron (Magnetite) Ore Resources in Southwestern British Columbia: Soft ... be sui t able for a num ber of ot her

Iron (Magnetite) Ore Resources in Southwestern British Columbia: SoftNiche or Steel-Hard Market?

George J. Simandl, Nicole D. Robinson and Suzanne Paradis1

KEYWORDS: in dus trial min er als, mag ne tite, iron ore,skarn, niche mar kets, ex plo ra tion and de vel op ment po ten -tial, pro duc tion

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There are two types of mar ket for iron ore: an in ter na -tional mar ket, where large quan ti ties of ore are used for iron and steel mak ing, and niche mar kets, where small quan ti -ties of ore are cus tom pro cessed to op ti mize the prop er tiesof the con cen trate for a spe cific in dus trial mineralapplication.

The main mar ket for iron ore is iron and steel mak ing.The iron ore in dus try is truly in ter na tional be cause of theavail abil ity of large high-grade mines and large ocean-go -ing ore-car ry ing vessels.

Niche mar kets rep re sent less than 5% of the to tal pro -duc tion, but the ox ides sold within these mar kets com mandhigher prices than the in ter na tional mar ket will tolerate.

Coal ben efi ci ation, col oured pig ments, ra di a tionshield ing, sand blast ing, heavy ag gre gate, and bal last forpipe lines and off shore oil and gas plat forms are ex am plesof ex ist ing and fu ture po ten tial niche mar kets for Brit ishColumbia magnetite.

The pro duc ers sup ply ing iron ox ides to niche mar ketswho are able to pro vide cus tom pro cess ing, and the as so ci -ated tech ni cal ser vices, to meet cli ents’ needs have a com -pet i tive edge over sup pli ers of ex clu sively raw material.

Be fore the de vel op ment of large, high-grade iron de -pos its in Aus tra lia and Brazil, small to mid-size iron skarnde pos its were mined suc cess fully along the coast of BC.Sev eral of these past pro duc ers closed down dur ing pe ri ods of low iron prices. Be cause of this, mag ne tite-rich rock, ormag ne tite in form of tail ings, may be avail able for fu ture re -cov ery. The re-ex am i na tion of se lected past pro duc ers, ex -ist ing pros pects, and mag ne tite-bear ing tail ings may rep re -sent an ac cept able risk and low cap i tal re quire ment if future production is aimed at niche markets.

In the long term, off shore placer de pos its also rep re -sent a po ten tial source of mag ne tite. If such de pos its couldbe eco nom i cally ex ploited un der the cur rent strict en vi ron -men tal reg u la tions, placer mag ne tite could be po ten tiallyre cov ered as a co-prod uct from the ex trac tion of ti ta nium

ox ide, gar net, zir con, sil ica sand and, possibly, gold orplatinum.

Brit ish Co lum bia skarns are high-grade de pos its ableto sup ply mag ne tite for niche mar kets. World wide, bandediron for ma tions and their en riched equiv a lents are, and willre main, the main source of iron ore for steel mak ing, butsmall iron ore ship ments could be ex tracted from BC’sskarn deposits as well.

WORLD IRON ORE RESOURCES ANDPRODUCTION LEVELS

World iron ore re sources are es ti mated at over 800 bil -lion tonnes, con tain ing more than 230 bil lion tonnes of iron(Jorgenson, 2005a). Es ti mates for the United States aloneare 110 bil lion tonnes of iron ore rep re sent ing 27 bil liontonnes of iron. Most of the known US re serves are low-grade tac o nite ores that re quire up grad ing and ag glom er a -tion (Jorgenson, 2005a). Fifty coun tries pro duce iron ore,but 96% of the global to tal is pro duced by only 15 of thosecoun tries. In 2004, Brazil (220 mil lion tonnes), China (280mil lion tonnes), Aus tra lia (220 mil lion tonnes), In dia (110mil lion tonnes), Rus sia (95 mil lion tonnes), Ukraine (66mil lion tonnes), United States (54 mil lion tonnes), SouthAf rica (40 mil lion tonnes) and Can ada (31 mil lion tonnes)were among the larg est iron-ore-pro duc ing na tions. Sea -borne iron ore trade for 2004 is es ti mated at 593 mil liontonnes, equiv a lent to ap prox i mately US$25 billion per year (Minesite, 2005).

Magnetite and Hematite Production inBritish Columbia

Brit ish Co lum bia’s iron ore pro duc tion in 2004 wasap prox i mately 87 000 t and, in the first six months of 2005,an es ti mated 51 000 t (Jorgenson, 2005b). Most, if not all,came from tail ings of the Craigmont mine. A large pro por -tion of the ma te rial pro duced by the mine is sold for coalwash ing. Plans to pro duce sand blast ing me dia (+70 mesh)were put on hold. Craigmont Mines is also con sid er ing thepro duc tion of spec u lar he ma tite for sur face coat ings(Craigmont Mines, 2005).

Dur ing the sum mer of 2005, ap prox i mately 4500 t ofmag ne tite in two sizes, ¾" × ¾" and <¼", were barged to anin dus trial user from Kelsey Bay, North Van cou ver Is land.The ship ment orig i nated from one of the mag ne tite zonesthat are lo cated close to the Iron Mike de posit, de scribed byBC Min is ter of Mines (1961, 1965) and Shearer (2002,2004). It is cur rently re ferred to as Iron Ross. The ship mentis likely the bulk sam ple col lected in 2002 and de scribed byShearer (2002).

Geo log i cal Field work 2005, Pa per 2006-1 185

1Geo log i cal Sur vey of Can ada, Min eral Re sources Di vi sion,Pa cific Geoscience Cen tre, Sid ney, BC.

This publication is also available, free of charge, as colourdigital files in Adobe Acrobat PDF format from the BC Ministryof Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources internet website athttp://www.em.gov.bc.ca/Mining/Geolsurv/Publications/catalog/catfldwk.htm

Mag ne tite be gan to be re cov ered as part of rou tinelime stone ag gre gate pro cess ing by Texada Quar ry ing Ltd.at their Gill ies Bay op er a tion on Texada Is land. The mag -netic ma te rial is cur rently stock piled for po ten tial use asheavy ag gre gate but, with ad di tional pro cess ing, may alsobe suit able for a num ber of other known uses. Ac cord ing tothe com pany, as the quar ry ing pro gresses to ward the lime -stone-granodiorite con tact, mag ne tite pock ets will be en -coun tered and mag ne tite will be re cov ered. The cur rentstock pile is estimated at 3000 t of magnetite-rich rock.

Iron and Steel-Making Market

Most of the world’s iron ore pro duc tion (prob a bly over 95%) is used in iron and steel mak ing. Ma jor iron ore im -port ers are China, Ja pan and the Re pub lic of South Ko rea.These three coun tries ac count for more than 60% of theworld’s iron im ports (Ericsson, 2004). In 2003, China’s im -ports reached 148.1 mil lion tonnes, rel a tive to Ja pan’s132.1 mil lion tonnes, and China be came the larg est iron oreim porter in the world. In re cent years, an un prec e dented in -crease in iron ore de mand from China re sulted in cor re -spond ing in creases in iron ore prices. The price in crease of18.6% for Carajas fines, FOB Eu rope to US$0.379 per drymet ric tonne unit (dmtu) from 2003 to 2004 (Ericsson,2004), and a more re cent 71.5% in crease in the price of Mt.Newman high-grade fines to US$0.6172 per dmtu (Anon y -mous, 2005a; CNN, 2005), are ex cel lent ex am ples of re -cent mar ket ten den cies. Such price in creases are at tract ingthe in ter est of the min ing in dus try. Con se quently, BHPBilliton has raised its out put from 82 mil lion tonnes in 2003to 110 mil lion tonnes in 2004 (Xinhua News Agency,2005), and pro jects that are ex pected to come ‘on stream’by 2009 rep re sent more than 450 mil lion tonnes of new ca -pac ity (Erickson, 2004). A good ex am ple of this is a re -cently an nounced de vel op ment of Hope Downs iron ore de -pos its in Aus tra lia by Pilbara Iron, a sub sid iary of the RioTinto Group. Hopes Downs 1 alone has re serves of 470 mil -lion tonnes grad ing more than 62% iron (Louthean, 2005).An other ex am ple is the Cape Lam bert mag ne tite pro ject,also in Aus tra lia (Anon y mous, 2005b). To what ex tent thisad di tional ca pac ity will be jus ti fied de pends largely on thefu ture rate of in crease in Chi nese iron re quire ments. Manyan a lysts be lieve that growth in demand will remain positive but at much lower rates than have been witnessed duringrecent years.

As far as steel pro duc tion in BC goes, there are sim plynot enough known iron ore re sources. In te grated mills aretyp i cally de signed to pro duce more than 2 mil lion tonnes ofsteel prod ucts per year, which re quires about 4 mil liontonnes of iron ore in 60% Fe range. This fig ure is not in linewith the cur rently known con ven tional iron re sources inBC. Mini-mills have smaller ca pac ity, typ i cally on the or -der of 200 000–400 000 t of steel per year; how ever, in most cases, their pri mary feed is scrap steel.

IRON ORE FOR NICHE MARKETS

The use of iron ores in in dus trial ap pli ca tions (non-iron or steel) rep re sents a small but sig nif i cant pro por tionof the to tal mar ket. These mar kets are par tic u larly im por -tant for small ex plo ra tion/de vel op ment com pa nies. In ad di -tion to the chem i cal spec i fi ca tions that are so im por tant iniron mak ing, the in dus trial min eral use of iron ores is alsostrongly con strained by phys i cal prop er ties of the fi nal con -

cen trate. The main iron-ore-form ing min er als are ox ides:he ma tite (Fe2O3) mag ne tite (Fe2+Fe2

3+O4), goethite(Fe3+O(OH)) and li mo nite (hy drous iron ox ides). The useof iron car bon ate min er als, in clud ing sid er ite (Fe2+CO3),has been nearly dis con tin ued for iron and steel mak ing, butthey are still mined for their industrial mineral applications.

He ma tite, or ‘red iron ore’, var ies in col our from shinyblack to red; the lamellar va ri ety is highly sought af ter forits use in sur face coat ings. Mag ne tite ore is black and itsfreshly bro ken sur faces have a me tal lic lus tre. Mag ne tite ischar ac ter ized and eas ily iden ti fied by its mag netic prop er -ties. Goethite is highly vari able in habit and form. It has abrown streak and is eas ily rec og nized when it has a bot ry oi -dal tex ture. Li mo nite var ies in col our from brown or blackto yel low. Sid er ite ranges in col our from grey to yel low,beige or shades of red dish brown, but is most com monlybrown. The den sity of these min er als var ies from more than 5 g/cm3 for mag ne tite and he ma tite to as low as 3.3 g/cm3

for some va ri et ies of goethite. Mag ne tite is the hard est,while sid er ite is the soft est. Be cause most of the iron ore de -pos its along the coast of BC are iron skarns con tain ingmainly mag ne tite or mag ne tite placer deposits, this paperwill focus largely on magnetite.

In dus trial min eral ap pli ca tions of mag ne tite in cludecoal-wash ing, pro duc tion of heavy ag gre gates, sand-blast -ing me dia, bal last in ma rine struc tures, coun ter weights,roof ing gran ules, drill ing-fluid me dia, black pig ment, ra di -a tion shield ing, heat exchangers, wa ter pu ri fi ca tion and asa source of iron in ce ment. Se lected in dus trial min eral usesof iron ox ides that rep re sent prom is ing niche mar kets, withemphasis on magnetite, are described below.

Magnetite Use in Coal Beneficiation

Coal ben efi ci ation is a pro ce dure that ex tracts im pu ri -ties from raw coal. It im proves burn ing ef fi ciency and re -duces un wanted air emis sions, ho mog e nizes ship ments and re duces trans por ta tion costs. Lumps of crushed coal from 1to 2 cm in size are com monly treated by dense-me dium sep -a ra tion. The high-den sity me dium is com monly a sus pen -sion of finely ground mag ne tite or ferro sili con. Be causecoal is lighter, it floats and is sep a rated off, while heavierrocks and other im pu ri ties sink and are re moved as waste.Any mag ne tite mixed with the coal is sep a rated us ing wa tersprays and is then re cov ered, us ing mag netic drums, and re -cy cled. Spec i fi ca tions for mag ne tite con cen trate used in the coal in dus try var ies from one coal pro ducer to the next, butdata pre sented be low can be con sid ered rep re sen ta tive(Kilborn En gi neer ing (BC) Ltd., 1986). No more than 5wt% of the par ti cles should ex ceed 45 µm (325 mesh) andno more than 30 wt% should be finer than 10 µm. Den sityof the mag ne tite con cen trate is ex pected to be in the range4.9–5.2 g/cm3. More than 95 wt% of the par ti cles in thecon cen trate should be mag netic, and the mois ture of thecon cen trate should be less than 10 wt%. Most of mag ne titeprod ucts cur rently in use in coal ben efi ci ation ex ceed 95wt% of Fe3O4.

The 2004 mag ne tite pro duc tion in BC to talled 87 000 tand, for the first 6 months of 2005, pro duc tion reached51 000 t (Jorgenson, 2005b).

A sub stan tial por tion of this ma te rial was sold for coalben efi ci ation. In 1986, mag ne tite re quire ments in the com -bined Al berta and BC coal in dus tries were es ti mated at70 000–75 000 t (Kilborn En gi neer ing (BC) Ltd., 1986),and de mand is pro jected to reach 100 000 t by 1990.

186 Brit ish Co lum bia Geo log i cal Sur vey

An in de pend ent ap proach to con strain the cur rentmag ne tite re quire ments for coal wash ing is by look ing atBC’s coal pro duc tion, which was es ti mated at 27.1 mil liontonnes in 2004 (Schroeter et al., 2005) and is pro jected to be 27.5 mil lion tonnes for 2005 (Barry Ryan, pers. comm.,2005).

As a first ap prox i ma tion, mag ne tite losses from the cir -cuit re ported in other ju ris dic tions vary from 1 to 3.5 ki lo -grams per tonne of coal washed, de pend ing on the en gi -neer ing de sign, main te nance level of the plant and qual ityof the coal. These fig ures, in com bi na tion with a par tial user sur vey in BC, sug gest that, if no ferro sili con was used as the heavy me dium, then ac tual mag ne tite losses in coal-clean -ing cir cuits of BC’s coal pro duc ers for 2005 would be be -tween 28 000 and 84 000 t. The most likely range is 50 000–60 000 t of mag ne tite per year. The coal pro duc tion of Al -berta is tra di tion ally slightly higher than that of BC. Forboth prov inces com bined, the mag ne tite mar ket for coalwash ing is in the 56 000–168 000 tonne range, with themost likely con sump tion be tween 100 000 and 120 000 tper year. This es ti mate is in agree ment with the es ti mate of100 000 t of mag ne tite per year made by Kilborn En gi neer -ing (BC) Ltd. for 1990. How ever, it is nec es sary to take intocon sid er ation the on go ing re search into re cov ery of heavymin er als from Al berta’s tar sand op er a tions. Mag ne titemar ket con di tions for coal wash ing would change abruptlyif one of the by-products from the tar sands was a coal-washing-grade magnetite.

Coloured Pigments

The de mand for col oured pig ments is closely linked tothe eco nomic cy cles of the in dus tri al ized na tions. Iron ox -ides are an im por tant seg ment of the over all pig ment mar -ket. These ox ides are found in their nat u ral state and, af terfine grind ing, they are suit able for use as pig ments (Anon y -mous, 2005c). They are used in a va ri ety of in dus trial ap pli -ca tions; how ever, build ing prod ucts (ma sonry ce ment,ready mix, mor tar and roof ing gran ules) and sur face coat -ings ac count for more than 90% of this mar ket by vol ume.In most ap pli ca tions, nat u ral iron ox ides now com pete withtheir syn thetic coun ter parts that of fer a more con sis tentprod uct in terms of par ti cle shape, par ti cle size and dis tri -bu tion, as well as chem i cal com po si tion, in clud ing lowerheavy metal con tent. Rep re sen ta tive chemical analyses areprovided in Podolsky and Keller (1994).

Iron ox ides are typ i cally nonreactive. Oil ab sorp tion,sur face area, par ti cle size, shape of the par ti cles, op ti calprop er ties and mag netic prop er ties are im por tant pa ram e -ters if the con cen trate is in tended for the pig ment mar ket(Podolsky and Keller, 1994). Mag ne tite is typ i cally used asblack pig ment. Goethite and li mo nite (ochre) are tra di -tional yel low pig ments and he ma tite, cal cined sid er ite andcalcined pyrite are used as red pigments.

In 2000, the to tal iron ox ide con sump tion for pig mentap pli ca tions was es ti mated at 1.5 mil lion tonnes(O’Driscoll, 2004). Al though there is no con sen sus re gard -ing the size of the nat u ral iron ox ide pig ment mar ket, theUnited States Geo log i cal Sur vey’s es ti mate for 2002 was500 000 t.

The main ad van tage of nat u ral iron ox ide pig mentsover their syn thetic equiv a lents is lower price. The pricesfor tech ni cal-grade nat u ral iron ox ide vary fromEuro(€)190 to 310 per tonne (ex-works). These prices in -creased by 15–20% be tween 2002 and 2004 (O’Driscoll,

2004). Ce ment-grade nat u ral iron ox ide ranges in pricefrom €30 to 40 per tonne (bulk, FOB). Spec u lar he ma tite(sought af ter be cause of its platy na ture) was sell ing in therange €600–800 per tonne (FOB; O’Driscoll, 2004). InNorth Amer ica, prices are ex pected to have sim i lar rangesfor comparable products.

Radiation Shielding

The neg a tive ef fects of X-rays on hu mans were rec og -nized in 1895, a few months af ter Roent gen’s dis cov ery,and sub stan tial prog ress has been achieved in ra di a tionshield ing since that time (Shultis and Faw, 2005). The useof mag ne tite, il men ite, li mo nite, goethite, iron ore pel lets,bar ite, steel and iron shot as heavy ag gre gates in ra di a tion-shield ing con crete is rel a tively com mon (Ce ment As so ci a -tion of Can ada, 2005a, b). The use of such ma te ri als in thecon struc tion of nu clear power plants is well doc u mented.Re cently, how ever, the in no va tive use of heavy ag gre gatesstarted to ex pand into con struc tion of fa cil i ties such as can -cer-care build ings and re search lab o ra to ries (Finkelsteinand Gray, 1995). The ra di a tion-shield ing ef fi ciency of con -struc tion ma te ri als is ap prox i mately pro por tional to theirden sity. Heavy con crete (com monly in cor po rat ing mag ne -tite ag gre gate), with a den sity of ap prox i mately 3.69 g/cm3,is used in ra di a tion bar ri ers where space is crit i cal. Com -mon con crete has a den sity around 2.35 g/cm3. In mostsituations, magnetite aggregate has a cost advantage overother heavy mineral aggregates (Kase, 2003).

Ballast in Construction of Offshore Oil andGas Installations

Mag ne tite is one of the ma te ri als that com petes with ol -iv ine in the bal last mar ket, par tic u larly where the de vel op -ment of off shore oil and gas re sources is in volved. The bestex am ple of the use of mag ne tite as bal last in Can ada re latesto the con struc tion of the Hiber nia plat form. A New found -land com pany called Lode stone Lim ited ob tained a con -tract to sup ply 300 000 t of mag ne tite bal last from theBishop de pos its in west ern New found land (Boyd, 1997). A to tal of 411 000 t of mag ne tite was shipped from St.George’s Bay to the Hiber nia plat form, lo cated off theGrand Banks ap prox i mately 300 km south east of St.John’s. The ore was un loaded as slurry consisting of 8%magnetite and 92% water.

Heavy bal last con crete coat ings for pipe lines rep re sent an other im por tant but rel a tively new mar ket. For ex am ple,ap prox i mately 620 000 t of mag ne tite from the fa mousKiruna iron mine in Swe den is re quired for coat ing the650 km Nyhamna-Sleipner stretch of Langeled, the pipe -line serv ing the Ormen Lange gas de vel op ment in the Nor -we gian and North seas (Lindwall, 2004).

De pend ing on the type of tech nol ogy used, if oil andgas drill ing starts in BC’s off shore, even rel a tively smallmag ne tite de pos its along the coast may be come vi a blesources of magnetite.

Sand Blasting

Be fore the health and safety reg u la tions re gard ing‘free sil ica’ were im ple mented, sil ica sand had a near mo -nop oly as a sand-blast ing me dium. To day, be sides sil icasand, there is a va ri ety of sand-blast ing ma te ri als in use, in -clud ing gar net, ol iv ine, slag, staurolite, mag ne tite and he -


ma tite. Both mag ne tite and he ma tite are now pro duced andmar keted in Canada for these applications.

GEOLOGY OF IRON ORE DEPOSITS

Banded iron for ma tions (BIFs) pro vide the bulk of theiron ore cur rently mined world wide. They in clude the Su -pe rior and Algoma types (Gross, 1993, 1996), theirhypogene or supergene-en riched por tions (Morey, 1999;Tay lor et al., 2001, 2002) and their meta mor phosed equiv a -lents, such as those cur rently mined in the Wabush area ofQue bec and Lab ra dor. Algoma-type de pos its are gen er allysmaller than those of Su pe rior type, yet they are com monly30–100 m thick and ex tend for sev eral kilo metres alongstrike and av er age 25% Fe (Gross, 1996). Eco nomic por -tions of pri mary (not en riched) BIF con sist typ i cally of sil -ica-rich iron ore and are com monly re ferred to as taconites.Taconites are harder, have lower iron con tent and re quiremore costly pro cess ing than their en riched coun ter parts.Nev er the less, these pri mary ores can be up graded to pro -duce con cen trates con tain ing about 65% iron. Taconites are mined mainly in the United States and China but are foundthrough out the world, in clud ing Can ada. They cur rentlyac count for most of the world’s known un de vel oped ironre sources. The iron-ox ide fa cies of BIF is a pre ferred ironsource, since it typ i cally has a lower content of sulphur andother deleterious elements than skarn deposits.

Some geo graphic ar eas are known to con tain mag -matic (Jiang et al., 2004) and/or hy dro ther mal iron de pos -its. Iron-ox ide brec cias (Lefebure, 1995), in clud ing the fa -mous Kiruna (Swe den) and Olym pic Dam de pos its(Aus tra lia), and iron-rich skarns (Ray, 1995), rep re sentedby BC’s Tasu mine on Moresby Is land (the last ma jor mag -ne tite pro ducer in BC), Iron Mike and Brynnor (Ken nedyLake), are good ex am ples. At least the last two de pos itsmay still con tain eco nom i cally re cov er able iron re sourcesfor in dus trial min eral ap pli ca tions. Skarns were his tor i -cally im por tant sources of iron ore but, from a world wideper spec tive, their importance is continuously declining.

In ad di tion, sev eral other types of ironox ide de pos its that sup ply he ma tite,goethite, li mo nite, um ber and spec u lar he -ma tite for pig ment ap pli ca tions are de -scribed by Harben and Kuzvart (1996). Into day’s global mar ket, these de pos its havelim ited po ten tial as sources of ore for ironand steel mak ing, but they still sup ply ma te -rial for a va ri ety of in dus trial ap pli ca tions.Placer de pos its, as sum ma rized by Levson(1995), rep re sent a po ten tial source of mag -ne tite de rived as a by-prod uct of gold,platinum, garnet, zircon or ilmenite mining.

Iron Ore Deposits along theSouthwestern Coast of BritishColumbia

Most of the iron de pos its lo cated alongthe coast of BC are iron-rich skarns (Feskarns), char ac ter ized by the pres ence ofmag ne tite and he ma tite as ore min er als andby chalcosilicates as gangue or char ac ter is -tic rock-form ing min er als within the hostrock. The most com mon chalcosilicategangue min er als are di op side, hed en ber gite,

gar net, wollastonite, the tremolite-actinolite se ries of am -phi boles, ser pen tine group min er als, epidote groupmin er als, scapolite, ido crase, chlorite and, less com monly,prehnite. Cal cite, do lo mite, quartz and sul phide min er als,in clud ing py rite, chal co py rite and bornite, are also com -mon ac ces sory min er als. Brucite is pres ent in some of themagnesian (dolomitic) skarns. Mag ne tite it self is typ i callydis trib uted within the skarn zone in a man ner that is dif fi -cult to pre dict. It may form lenses, pods, veins and string ers(Fig. 1) of mas sive ore (Fig. 2, 3), or it may be dis sem i natedthrough car bon ates. Fig ure 4 shows the main excavation atIron Mike, from which pockets of massive iron ore weremined.

Glob ally, Fe-skarn de pos its range from 3 to more than250 mil lion tonnes and grade be tween 40 and 50% iron(Ray, 1995). In BC, Fe-skarn de pos its av er age ap prox i -mately 4 mil lion tonnes, with the larg est de pos its be ing inthe 20 mil lion tonne range (Ray, 1995). Ta ble 1 shows thepro duc tion lev els of Fe-skarn mines op er at ing in BC in theearly 1960s and pro vides in for ma tion on the av er age ironcon tent and ma jor el e ment com po si tion of ore con cen tratesthat were pro duced. It also pro vides in for ma tion on the sizeranges of par ti cles that made up the con cen trate. The con -cen trate from the Em pire de vel op ment was very coarse(<15 cm); the con cen trate from Nimpkish Iron Mines Ltd.con sisted of par ti cles finer than 0.6 cm; and the con cen tratefrom Texada Mines Ltd. was the finest of the three, withparticles finer than 1.91 mm.

Com mon im pu ri ties in clude SiO2, CaO, MgO andAl2O3. Im pu ri ties such as P2O3, TiO2, S, As, Cr, Ni and Cuwere highly un de sir able in the early 1960s (Gross, 1965),and the same re stric tion ap plies today.

There is no good rea son to dis miss the pos si bil ity thatlarger Fe-skarn de pos its will be dis cov ered along BC’scoast in the fu ture, since a large num ber of known mag ne -tite de pos its were dis cov ered dur ing gold and cop per ex -plo ra tion. Some of these skarns were mined in part for theircop per and gold con tent. Un der cur rent mar ket con di tions,these small Fe skarns have a lim ited iron ore po ten tial, ex -


Mgt

MgtGrt

Sk

Fig ure 1. Mag ne tite string ers cut ting clinopyroxene and epidote-rich skarn hostrock,Iron Mike de posit; two-dol lar coin for scale. Ab bre vi a tions: Mgt, mag ne tite; Grt, gar -net; Sk, skarn.

cept where they are lo cated close to the mar -ket or tide wa ter. Sev eral of these de pos itsmay have in dus trial min eral po ten tial if theyc a n s a t i s f y s p e c i f i c n i c h e m a r k e trequirements.

Al though the BIFs are the main sourceof iron ore world wide, the larg est known de -posit of this type in BC, Fal con, con tains anin ferred re source of less than 5.3 mil liontonnes grad ing 37.8% Fe (Gross, 1996).These re serve es ti mates are, how ever, notcom pli ant with Na tional In stru ment 43-101.

In the long term, mag ne tite could bealso de rived as a by-prod uct of heavy min -eral sand de pos its. Such de pos its were de -scribed by Barrie et al. (1988) and Barrie(1991, 1994). Barrie et al. (1988) sum ma -rized the sit u a tion as fol lows: “Bot tom sed i -ments of the north ern BC con ti nen tal shelfcon tain, on av er age, 10% of heavy min er alsby weight within the dom i nant sand frac -tion. Anom a lous con cen tra tions oc curwithin se lected sand sam ples from QueenChar lotte Sound (>25%) and Hecate Strait(>18%). The heavy min eral suite here isdom i nated by am phi bole and the ti ta niummin er als ilmenite, sphene and titaniferous magnetite.”

Cur rent knowl edge of these de pos its is ex tremely lim -ited and it re mains to be seen if they could be de vel oped in aman ner con sis tent with the strict en vi ron men tal reg u la tions that ap ply to any de vel op ment of BC’s off shore re sources.In these de pos its, mag ne tite would likely be a co-prod uct of ti ta nium ox ide, gar net, gold or plat i num, zir con, sil ica sandand pos si bly other industrial minerals or gemstones.

The po ten tial of beach sand de pos its, mainly aroundQueen Char lotte Is lands, is de scribed by Mandy (1934),Rob ert son (1956), Rus sel (1956), Hol land and Nasmith(1958), Nickel (1956) and Thomp son and Howard (1957).None of these re ports is par tic u larly op ti mis tic, but some ofthese plac ers are known to con tain gold, il men ite-he ma tite,mag ne tite, gar net, staurolite and zircon.

Location and Description of IronOccurrences in Southwestern BritishColumbia

Ac cord ing to MINFILE (2005), there are 296 oc cur -rences in BC with mag ne tite listed as one of the com mod i -ties. A com pi la tion by Han cock (1988) cov ered 90 of theseoc cur rences. Al though this com pi la tion is not up to date, itis worth while ex am in ing, be cause it con tains maps andsketches that are not readily available from MINFILE.

Fig ure 5 shows iron de pos its lo cated along the coast insouth west ern BC. From the 157 mag ne tite oc cur rencescov ered by this fig ure and listed in MINFILE, 129 are of the skarn va ri ety. From the 129 skarn oc cur rences, 37 are clas -si fied as Fe skarns, al though they may also con tain re ported gold and base metal val ues. The re main der of skarns areiden ti fied ei ther as Cu, Pb-Zn or Mo skarns, or sim ply asskarn. Lady A (A, C and D zones) and Mesabi are ten ta -tively clas si fied as Algoma-type iron for ma tions, al thoughtheir re sources are very lim ited if com pared to ton nages oftypical Algoma-type iron deposits.


MgtMgt

Sk

GrtGrt

Fig ure 2. Mas sive mag ne tite ore, split along a vein com posed mainly of gar net,clinopyroxene, car bon ate and epidote, Iron Mike de posit; penny for scale.. Ab bre vi -a tions: Mgt, mag ne tite; Grt, gar net; Sk, gar net-clinopyroxene-car bon ate skarn.

1 cm

Cpx

Serp

Mgt

Mgt

Mgt

Fig ure 3. Cut and pol ished sec tion of mas sive mag ne tite ore, Ken -nedy Lake mine. Gangue min er als are light col oured; the maingangue min eral is clinopyroxene al ter ing to ser pen tine, with sub or -di nate car bon ate. Veinlets con sist mainly of ser pen tine and car -bon ate, but they also con tain am phi bole and ves tiges ofclinopyroxene. Ab bre vi a tions: Cpx, clinopyroxene; Mt, mag ne tite(black); Serp, ser pen tine.

The skarn zones are typ i cally lo catednear the con tact of car bon ate and/or vol ca -nic rocks with in tru sive bod ies. Two of thebest known ex am ples are Ken nedy Lake,which was doc u mented by Shang and Men -zies (1961), and the Iron Mike group of de -pos its (BC Min is try Mines and Pe tro leumRe sources, 1961, 1965; Han cock, 1988;Shearer, 2004). Both of these de pos its arepast pro duc ers and have some re sources leftin the ground.

Se lected ex am ples of mag ne tite de pos -its are listed in Ta ble 2. The MINFILE da ta -base in di cates that some of the past pro duc -ers have mag ne tite re sources left in theground, some of the de pos its have par tiallydoc u mented re sources, and oth ers are sim -ply oc cur rences lo cated in fa vour able geo -log i cal set tings. Fol low-up pros pect ing,mod ern geo phys i cal sur veys or drill ing maybe justified in a number of these cases.

As with all re gional re con nais sancecom mod ity as sess ments, the un even qual ityof avail able data, the need to pro duce a com -pact shortlist, and a large de gree of sub jec -tiv ity in volved in the com pi la tion may havere sulted in un due omis sions from the Ta ble 2. There arealso some in con sis ten cies be tween in ven tory re ports,MINFILE de scrip tions and, in some cases, be tween dif fer -ent sources of pri mary in for ma tion. These in con sis ten ciesare most ap par ent when re source fig ures are com pared. The un cer tainty is high est in cases where sev eral de pos its arelo cated ad ja cent to one an other and have changed namesmany times. There is a pos si bil ity that re source es ti mateswere as signed to the wrong de posit, es pe cially in the casesof de pos its with very long ex plo ra tion his to ries. Most of the re source fig ures that are part of this com pi la tion are notcom pli ant with Na tional In stru ment 43-101. This ta bleshould not be used to se lect ex plo ra tion tar gets with out

con sid er ing all the in for ma tion and ref er ences provided inMINFILE, Ray and Webster (1997) and Hancock (1988),and from ground verification.

In a num ber of oc cur rences listed in the Ta ble 2, themain ex plo ra tion driver may be the pres ence of cop per,gold or mo lyb de num rather than the mag ne tite con tent.Mag ne tite may still be an im por tant by-product.

CONCLUSION

Most of the iron oc cur rences and de pos its in the studyarea are skarns. Vir tu ally all of these skarns con tain some


Mgt

Mgt

Mgt

Fig ure 4. Main ex ca va tion at Iron Mike group of de pos its. Mas sive mag ne tite ore isstill vis i ble in the walls of the ex ca va tion. Ge ol o gist for scale. Ab bre vi a tion: Mgt,mag ne tite.

Shipment

(x103 tonnes) Fe SiO2 P Mn

Kennedy Lake, Vancouver Island Magnetite / >50% Fe 1960 - - - - -1961 - - - - -1962 417 61.4 5.0 0.05 -

Empire Development Company, Ltd., Benson R., 40 km southwest of Port McNeill, Vancouver Island Magnetite / 48.4% Fe 1960 421 58 6.38 0.025 -

1961 269 57.84 6.81 0.039 -1962 22 56.49 4.27 0.025 -

Jedway Iron Ore Ltd., Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Islands Magnetite / 51� 52% Fe 1960 - - - - -

1961 - - - - -1962 49 58.97 0.57 0.02 0.17

Nimpkish Iron Mines Ltd. Magnetite / 41.6% Fe 1960 257 59.3 5.22 0.013 0.0161961 384 59.1 5.1 0.014 -1962 329 58.6 5.4 0.013 0.15

Texada Mines Ltd., Texada Island Magnetite / 41.20% Fe 1960 381 61.39 3.93 0.014 0.131961 449 61.42 3.93 0.11 0.131962 547 61.81 3.92 0.011 0.13

Zeballos Iron Mines Limited, Vancouver Island Magnetite / 48% Fe 1960 - - - - -1961 - - - - -

1962 230 62.6 5.45 0.01 -

Average Analyses (%)Concentrate Shipped

Company and Property Location Ore Mineral / Grade Year

TABLE 1. CHARACTERISTICS OF CONCENTRATES PRODUCED FROM SKARN DEPOSITS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA ANDSHIPMENT LEVELS FROM 1960 TO 1962 (GROSS, 1965)


a

T ni

de

z ire t

c ar

ah

c d

na

det

sil er

a sr

e b

mu

n yb

dei fi t

ne

di er

a ta

ht st i

so

pe

d e

hT .

ai b

mu l

oC

hs itir

B nr

ets

e w

htu

os

ni s

ec

ne rr

u c

co

dn

a st i

so

pe

d ,sr

ec

u d

orp

eti te

ng

am

det

ce l

es f

o n

oi ta

co

L .5

er u

giF

-.

2 el

b


Lo

cati

on

Nu

mb

er

MIN

FIL

E

Nu

mb

er

Nam

eD

ep

osit

Co

de

1S

tatu

s2

Reso

urc

es

3G

rad

eS

ele

cte

d S

am

ple

Min

era

lizati

on

4R

efe

ren

ce

1092B

029

Lady

A (

A Z

one)

G01

DP

estim

ate

d: 366 0

00 t

25%

Fe

-M

gt

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1956a)

2092B

033

Lady

A (

C Z

one)

G01

DP

estim

ate

d: 2 1

50 0

00 t

18%

Fe

-

Mgt

Buckham

(1953)

3092C

002

Cro

wn P

rince

K03

DP

infe

rred: 67 5

00 t

possib

le: 180 0

00 t

50%

Fe

-

Mgt

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1916a)

4092C

022

Bugaboo

K03

DP

possib

le a

nd p

robable

: 4 4

00 0

00 t

55.6

7%

Fe, 3.6

1%

S (

Danie

l)54.3

1%

Fe, 2.2

1%

S (

Conquero

r)-

Mgt

Menzi

e a

nd N

ichols

(1960);

G

ilmour

and M

cK

inle

y (2

003)

5092C

025

Sirdar

K03

DP

pro

ven: 9000 t

pro

bable

: 8900 t

possib

le: 69 0

00 t

-56.5

7%

Fe, 8.5

2%

insolu

ble

s,

2.7

5%

S, 0.1

21%

P (

ore

)M

gt

Young a

nd U

glo

w (

1926);

G

ilmour

and M

cK

inle

y (2

003)

6092C

027

Baden P

ow

ell

K03

DP

pro

ven: 33 8

00 t

pro

bable

: 56 0

00 t

-59.3

4%

Fe, 5.9

3%

insolu

ble

s,

2.5

7%

S, 0.0

12%

P, 1.1

4%

MnO

(h

igh g

rade)

Mgt

Gilm

our

and M

cK

inle

y (2

003)

7092C

031

Tally

KS

H -

-

<1.5

% C

u, <

0.5

% C

o, <

17.1

4 g

/t

Ag (

gra

b)

<3.5

% C

u (

from

the p

it)

Mgt, C

u, C

o,

Ag

092C

031 P

ropert

y F

ile

Min

era

l Deposit

Inve

nto

ry C

ard

8092C

033

Mounta

inK

03

DP

-

-50.4

% F

e (

repre

senta

tive)

Mg

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1902)

9092C

090

Reko 3

KP

Rzo

ne 8

estim

ate

d: 33 0

00 t

- -

C

u, M

gt

Eastw

ood (

1975);

Gilm

our

and

McK

inle

y (2

003);

Roscoe

(1973)

10

092C

110

Reko 3

8K

PR

zone 5

estim

ate

: 35 0

00 t,

zone 4

& 6

als

o s

ubsta

ntia

l -

-M

gt, C

uE

astw

ood (

1975),

Roscoe

(1973);

Gilm

our

and M

cK

inle

y (2

003)

11

092E

001

Gle

ngarr

yK

03

PP

possib

ly 2

70 3

00 t r

em

ain

ing

42.7

% F

e-

Mgt, C

uB

C M

inis

ter

of

Min

es (

1956b);

M

INF

ILE

Pro

ductio

n R

eport

, 092E

001

12

092E

010

Geo

K01, K

03

PR

-

-13.7

1 g

/t A

g, 6.1

7 g

/t A

u, 5.2

%

Cu (

680 t b

ulk

sam

ple

), m

inor

mgt

Au, A

g, C

u, M

gt,

Gm

s, P

b, Z

n, M

oB

C M

inis

ter

of

Min

es a

nd

Petr

ole

um

Resourc

es (

1962a);

C

oom

bes (

1992)

13

092E

011

India

n C

hie

fK

01, K

03

PP

possib

le a

nd p

ote

ntia

l: 1 9

00 0

00 tonnes

23.2

g/t A

g, 0.3

1 g

/t A

u, 1.5

% C

u, m

gt

may

be in

taili

ngs (

mgt. g

rade

unava

ilable

)

-

Cu, A

g, A

u, M

gt

Agnew

(1962)

14

092E

015

Rob R

oy

K03

PR

pro

bable

reserv

es:

45 3

59 t

56.8

% F

e -

M

gt

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1916b)

15

092E

016, 031

Bro

wn J

ug, T

helm

aK

03

DP

pote

ntia

l: 500 0

00 t

1.5

mill

ion t

40%

Fe

30%

Fe

-

Mgt, A

u, A

g, Z

n,

Cu, P

bA

gnew

(1962);

Chaplin

(1962)

16

092F

001

Bry

nnor

(Kennedy

Lake)

K03

PP

som

e r

em

ain

ing

56%

Fe

-

Mgt, A

gg

Hancock (

1988)

17

092F

015

Hetty

Gre

en

K01, K

07

PP

-

0.5

110%

Mo

0.5

110%

Mo (

chip

- 2

0 m

)C

u, M

gt,

Mo, W

, A

g, A

uO

stle

r (1

979);

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es a

nd P

etr

ole

um

R

esourc

es (

1963);

Hancock

(1988)

18

092F

075

Iron H

ill (

Arg

onaut)

K03

PP

possib

ly s

om

e r

em

ain

ing

resourc

es

60%

Fe

-

Grt

, M

gt

Hancock (

1988)

19

092F

076

Iron R

iver

K03, K

01

DP

east: in

dic

ate

d: 1 4

50 0

00 t

west: in

dic

ate

d: 3 1

75 0

00 t

varies w

idely

dependin

g o

n

sourc

e o

f in

form

atio

n

1.4

�1.7

g/t A

u, 2.4

�3.4

g/t A

gC

u c

oncentr

ate

Cu c

oncentr

ate

Mgt, C

u, A

g,

Au

Dure

k a

nd N

ord

in (

1972);

M

cC

ullo

ugh (

1974);

http://w

ww

.info

-m

ine.c

om

/min

ing/

TA

BL

E 2

. P

AR

TIA

L L

IST

OF

MA

GN

ET

ITE

DE

PO

SIT

S I

N T

HE

CO

AS

TA

L A

RE

A O

F S

OU

TH

WE

ST

ER

N B

RIT

ISH

CO

LU

MB

IA.

RE

SO

UR

CE

ES

TIM

AT

ES

AR

E C

OM

PIL

ED

FR

OM

OL

DR

EP

OR

TS

OF

UN

EQ

UA

L Q

UA

LIT

Y,

LA

RG

ELY

NO

T C

OM

PL

IAN

T W

ITH

NA

TIO

NA

L I

NS

TR

UM

EN

T 4

3-1

01.

MIN

FIL

E N

UM

BE

RS

AR

E P

RO

VID

ED

IN

TH

E S

EC

ON

D C

OL

UM

N O

F T

HE

TA

BL

E F

OR

SO

TH

AT

IN

TE

RE

ST

ED

PA

RT

IES

CA

N C

ON

SU

LT

MIN

FIL

E (

2005).

LO

CA

TIO

N N

UM

BE

RS

FO

R T

HE

DE

PO

SIT

S C

OR

RE

SP

ON

D T

O T

HO

SE

ON

FIG

UR

E 5


Lo

cati

on

Nu

mb

er

MIN

FIL

E

Nu

mb

er

Nam

eD

ep

osit

Co

de

1S

tatu

s2

Reso

urc

es

3G

rad

eS

ele

cte

d S

am

ple

Min

era

lizati

on

4R

efe

ren

ce

20

092F

130

Iron M

ounta

inK

03

DP

possib

le r

esourc

e: 250 0

00 t,

reserv

es: 18 0

00 t

50%

Fe

-

Mgt

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1916c)

21

092F

258

Yello

w K

id-T

exada

Min

es

K03, K

01

PP

possib

ly a

sm

all

resourc

e le

ft

underg

round

-

-

Cu, A

g, A

u,

Mgt, Z

nB

C M

inis

ter

of

Min

es (

1952)

22

092F

259

Lake-T

exada M

ines

K03, K

01

PP

possib

ly a

sm

all

resourc

e le

ft

underg

round

- -

A

g, A

u, C

u, M

gt,

Zn, C

oB

ritis

h C

olu

mbia

Min

iste

r of

Min

es (

1952)

23

092K

043

Iron M

ike

K03

PP

possib

le r

esourc

e:

786 5

30 t

43.5

% F

e -

M

gt, C

uH

.L. H

ill a

nd A

ssocia

tes

(1965);

MIN

FIL

E P

roductio

n

Report

, 092K

043

24

092L 0

03

Litt

le L

ake

K03

DP

infe

rred: 2 8

46 0

00 t

0.0

270%

Cu, 47.8

2%

Fe,

1.1

13%

S -

M

gt, C

uD

ele

en a

nd D

ure

k (

1974)

25

092L 0

28

Ford

K03

PP

-

-

-

Mgt

MIN

FIL

E P

roductio

n R

eport

, 092L 0

28; H

ancock (

1988)

26

092L 0

31

Churc

hill

Magnetit

eK

03

DP

726 0

00 t

35�40%

Fe

-

Mgt

Saukko (

1967)

27

092L 0

35

Old

Sport

K01

PP

som

e m

gt in

taili

ngs

-4.4

1 g

/t A

g, 1.4

5 g

/t A

u, 8.6

5%

C

u, 38.6

g/t A

g, 0.0

3%

Co (

gra

b)

Mgt, C

u, A

g,

Au, C

oH

ancock (

1988);

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es a

nd P

etr

ole

um

R

esourc

es (

1960)

28

092L 0

40

Sham

rock

K03

DP

resourc

e: 180 0

00 t

26.0

% F

e -

M

gt

Lam

b (

1961)

29

092L 0

44

Merr

y W

idow

5K

03, I0

5P

P -

17%

Cu, 2.9

% Z

n, 0.2

% A

s, 0.1

6%

C

o, 200 g

/t A

g, 32 g

/t A

u17%

Cu, 2.9

% Z

n, 0.2

% A

s,

0.1

6%

Co, 200 g

/t A

g, 32 g

/t A

u

(sulp

hid

e-r

ich)

Mgt, C

u, A

u,

Zn, C

o, A

s, A

gE

ttlin

ger

and R

ay

(1989)

30

092L 0

45

Kin

gfisher

K03

PP

-

-

-

Mgt

Hancock (

1988)

31

092L 0

46

Rave

nK

03

PP

- -

-

M

gt, C

u, A

u,

Ag, Z

nE

ttlin

ger

and R

ay

(1989)

32

092L 0

68

Art

lish

K03

DP

infe

rred: 635 0

00 t

0.0

8%

Cu, 44.1

% F

e, 3.1

6%

S -

M

gt, C

uS

aukko (

1965)

33

092L 0

91

Benson L

ake

K01

PP

possib

ly 2

72 1

54 t

1.0

g/t A

u, 1.6

% C

u, 30.0

% F

e -

C

u, M

gt, A

u, A

gC

art

er

(1991)

34

092L 1

23

Kla

anch

KS

H -

-

-

M

gt, C

u, Z

nT

ipper

(1959);

Hoadle

y (1

953)

35

092L 1

27

Hill

er

4-5

K03

DP

3 3

57 0

00 t

35.9

% F

e, 0.6

6%

S, <

0.0

2%

Cu

-

Mgt

Saukko (

1967)

36

092L 1

28

Rid

ge

K03

DP

45 3

59 t

-68.8

4%

Fe

Mgt

BC

Min

iste

r of

Min

es a

nd

Petr

ole

um

Resourc

es (

1962b);

S

teve

nson, 1950

37

092L 3

01

Hill

er

8-1

2K

03

DP

180 0

00 t

30%

Fe

-M

gt

McD

ougall

(1965)

38

092L 3

37

Bob 1

7K

01, K

03

PR

infe

rred: 12 6

08 t

3.0

% C

u, 30%

Mgt

-C

u, M

gt, A

u,

Ag

McD

ougall

(1961)

2 S

tatu

s k

ey:

3 R

eso

urc

e e

stim

ate

s a

re f

rom

a

4 M

ine

raliz

atio

n k

ey:

S

H =

sh

ow

ing

va

rie

ty o

f te

ch

nic

al re

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mag ne tite, but a large num ber were dis cov ered dur ing theex plo ra tion for cop per and gold. Some of the past-pro duc -ing iron mines in south west ern BC still con tain mag ne tite-rich rocks in the ground and oth ers con tain mag ne tite intail ings. Such re sources are ex pected to have lim ited ton -nage, but they re quire min i mal cap i tal in vest ment and of ferrel a tively low risk as short term sources of mag ne tite, es pe -cially if the con tract to de liver the mag ne tite can be ob -tained prior to min ing. The most re cent ex am ple of such ac -tiv ity is the ex trac tion of a bulk sam ple from the Iron Rossde posit, which is cov ered in this doc u ment as one of IronMike group of de pos its. In a num ber of cases, the re main ing re serves may be too deep or so small that they could beentirely extracted under the bulk-sampling permit.

Al though the prices of iron ore in creased dras ti callyover the last two years, banded iron-for ma tion-type de pos -its and their en riched equiv a lents will re main the mainworld wide source of iron ore for steel mak ing. Small ship -ments from BC skarn de pos its could be sold as a di rect ship -ping ore, but will more likely be used as a con cen trate forin dus trial min eral niche markets.

As ex plo ra tion in BC is on the rise, ex plo ra tion forbase and pre cious-metal-bear ing skarn de pos its along thecoast may re sult in the dis cov ery of new mag ne titedeposits.

The lack of de tailed in for ma tion re gard ing BC’s off -shore placer re sources makes it im pos si ble to pre dict ifmag ne tite could be re cov ered from them as a by-prod uct. Ifthe off shore oil and gas de vel op ments go ahead, mag ne tite-bear ing skarns lo cated near the coast may be come sup pli ers of heavy mineral aggregate.

With the ex pan sion of coal pro duc tion in Brit ish Co -lum bia and world wide, there may be po ten tial for a newmag ne tite pro ducer along the north west ern coast, whocould take ad van tage of the Prince Rupert ter mi nal and rail -way to sup ply mag ne tite to the fu ture coal mines of north -ern BC and Alberta.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The manu script bene fited from a crit i cal re view byBrian Grant of the BC Min is try of En ergy, Mines and Pe tro -leum Re sources. George Walton from Camosun Col lege,Vic to ria and Laura Simandl from St. Mar ga ret School, Vic -to ria, pro vided out stand ing field as sis tance. With out themthis pa per would not have been possible.

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