Original Eskay Creek and current Dolly Varden deposits . Mine Type:
Eskay Creek mine was an underground mine that produced gold and silver.
Type of Deposit:
The gold-silver ore at Eskay Creek is in massive sulphide bodies and in veins within Middle Jurassic (Hazelton Group) sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Geologically, it is considered a volcanogenic, hydrothermal and epithermal deposit, meaning the metals precipitated from hot solutions spewing from underwater volcanic vents. Metallic minerals in this deposit include sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, barite and pyrite.
The Operation:
Eskay Creek had the luck of being very rich in gold and silver. It opened in 1995 and was the fifth largest silver producer in the world during its operation.
Silver-lead-zinc-barite deposits
The Dolly Varden camp, Alice Arm area, northwestern British Columbia, is characterized by stratiform and volcanogenic silver-lead-zinc-barite deposits in Early to Middle Jurassic calc-alkaline volcanic rocks of the Hazelton Group.