Mineral Exploration

W inte r 20 17 55 owner of Quinsam Coal Corporation is ERP Federal Mining Complex LLC. Quinsam now shares a parent company with Conuma Coal Resources Limited, which reopened mines in northeastern B.C. Industrial minerals and aggregates Exploration for aggregates and industrial minerals is commonly not reported publicly, and most construction aggregate Notices of Work (approximately 40) received by the Ministry are for mining-scale extraction. Polaris Materials Corporation, operator of the Orca quarry near Port McNeill, is considering developing a new operation (Black Bear) four kilometres from Orca that would produce crushed basalt. Vulcan Materials Company is proposing a purchase of Polaris. Burnco Rock Products Ltd.'s Burnco Aggregate project at Howe Sound remains in the review phase of environmental assessment. Garibaldi Pumice Ltd. renewed its permit for exploration near its seasonal mine north of Pemberton. Near Tahsis, Callache Stone Quarries Inc. continues to develop a marble quarry (Tahsis). East of Chilliwack, Inua Studio is investigating a potential jade and slate quarry. SOUTHWEST REGION The British Columbia Geological Survey (BCGS) is British Columbia's oldest science agency. Since 1895, the BCGS has created new geoscience knowledge, linking government, the minerals industry and British Columbians to the geology and mineral wealth of the province. This work continues today. BCGS geoscientists regularly publish the results of their work in government reports and maps that are freely available through MapPlace, the BCGS database-driven web service, the most recent version of which was released in 2017. MapPlace˜2 replaces the original version, which served the province for 20 years. It allows anyone with an internet connection to e™iciently mine multiple geoscience databases, conduct queries and generate custom results from more than 130 years of geological information. BCGS undertakes targeted and long-term geoscience projects aimed at refining British Columbia's geological framework, increasing exploration e™iciency and archiving geoscience information to advance projects without duplicating previous work. The BCGS levers its resources by partnering with federal, provincial and territorial governments, and other national and international organizations. In 2017, field projects focused on the northwestern part of British Columbia, in the famed Golden Triangle. Mapping continued in the Atlin and Dease Lake areas, collaborating with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) under the second iteration of the Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) program. A joint BCGS-GSC-Geological Survey of Japan collaboration is investigating specialty metals under the Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI4) program. Another project is directed at understanding the Upper Fir rare earth element deposit, near Blue River, that will be featured in a field trip at the Resources for Future Generations conference being held in Vancouver in June 2018. Also as part of the TGI4, BCGS has partnered with the GSC to assess gold deposits near the Llewellyn fault in B.C. and its possible extension with the Tally Ho shear zone in Yukon. BCGS, Geoscience BC and the Mineral Deposit Research Unit at the University of British Columbia are working to deliver a new geological map near Terrace, part of the Search project area. Multi- year studies to unravel the architecture of the Nicola arc (Quesnel terrane) continue in central B.C. These rocks host some of B.C.'s most prolific porphyry deposits. Other studies examined nickel, copper and platinum-group element (PGE) reforming processes in mafic- ultramafic systems at Tulameen, and mapping of the Trembleur ultramafic rocks of Cache Creek terrane, host to the nickel-iron-alloy-bearing awaruite at the Decar property. Other projects are developing new exploration methods, emphasizing indicator minerals from till. Each year in November, the results of BCGS programs are presented at an open house held in Victoria. All BCGS databases are available through MapPlace˜2. MINFILE documents more than 14,600 metallic mineral, industrial mineral and coal occurrences. ARIS has over 35,600 mineral exploration reports representing about $2.5 billion of reported exploration expenditures. Property File now has more than 65,500 reports and maps, documenting exploration activity in British Columbia since the late 1800s. B.C.'s lithogeochemical (nearly 11,000 samples), till geochemical (nearly 10,500 samples) and regional geochemical (nearly 65,000 samples with about five million determinations) survey databases were updated in 2017. The province-wide bedrock compilation map (BC Digital Geology) saw substantial updates and a refined labelling and colour scheme. In addition to the BCGS and the GSC, Geoscience BC – a not-for-profit, non- government geoscience organization funded by provincial government grants – provides geoscience in British Columbia. Geoscience BC awards contracts for large geophysical and geochemical programs and provides grants to universities and consultants for targeted geoscience projects, typically generated through requests for proposals. PUBLIC GEOSCIENCE 2017¥2018

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