MINERALOGY OF THE TV-JEFF VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSIT, ISKUT RIVER AREA, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The TV-Jeff deposit in the Iskut River area of British Columbia, Canada, is a newly discovered, precious metal-enriched volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit. The deposit is hosted by the Jurassic Hazelton Group, which is also host to the nearby, world-class Eskay Creek deposit. The deposit consists of several stacked ore lenses. The massive to semi-massive sulfides consist of pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and sulfosalts with the high gold grades being related to the naturally occurring alloy electrum.

Ongoing research focuses on the development of new exploration vectors for the precious-metal rich VMS deposits in the Golden Triangle as these deposits occur at several favorable horizons within the volcanic succession of the Hazelton Group and are generally of limited size. Understanding the geology, geochemistry, and ore mineralogy of TV-Jeff will provide new critical information on how gold enrichment occurs in submarine hydrothermal systems and result in a refinement of the model for this important group of VMS deposits. The goal of this study is to evaluate the paragenesis of the ore mineralogy and the mineralogy of the alteration halo associated with the deposit. In addition, the research focuses in furthering the current understanding of the localization of Au and Ag enrichment in the ore lenses as grade is highly variable in the pyrite-dominated ores at TV-Jeff. The research involves core logging and continuous ore scanning using X-ray fluorescence. Detailed petrographic analysis will be conducted using reflected light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron microprobe analysis to unravel the paragenetic relationships and to provide geometallurgical baseline data. The research will help refining exploration strategies for VMS deposits in the Iskut River area.