British Columbia Regional Geochemical Survey Program: New Analytical Data andSample Archive Upgrades

W. Jackaman, Noble Exploration Services Ltd., Sooke, BC, wjackaman@shaw.ca

Jackaman, W. (2011): Brit ish Co lum bia Re gional Geo chem i cal Sur vey Program: new an a lyt i cal data and sam ple ar chive up grades; inGeoscience BC Sum mary of Ac tiv i ties 2010, Geoscience BC, Re port 2011-1, p. 181–188.

Introduction

Gov ern ment-funded re con nais sance-scale re gional geo -chem i cal sur veys have been con ducted in Brit ish Co lum bia since 1976. Up to this point, more than 62 700 drain age sed -i ment and wa ter sam ples have been col lected and sam plesites cover ap prox i mately 77% of BC at an av er age den sityof one sam ple for ev ery 12 km2 (Fig ure 1). Com piled re -sults from these sur veys have pro vided a com pre hen sivemulti-el e ment geo chem i cal da ta base that de lin eates re -gional geo chem i cal pat terns and pro vides base line in for -ma tion that is be ing used to guide and sup port mineralexploration activities (Lett et al., 2008).

Ef forts to max i mize the util ity of the re gional geo chem i calda ta base are on go ing and in clude both new sam pling anden hance ments to avail able an a lyt i cal in for ma tion. In 2010,Geoscience BC sup ported the fol low ing da ta base upgradeprojects to

· reanalyze moss-mat sed i ment sam ples orig i nally col -lected in 1988 and 1989 from creeks lo cated on Van cou -ver Is land; the sam ples were an a lyzed for 51 el e mentsby aqua-regia di ges tion fol lowed by in duc tively cou -pled plasma–mass spec trom e try (ICP-MS) and Pt andPd by fire assay;

· reanalyze drain age sed i ment sam ples from sev eral sur -veys orig i nally con ducted in north ern BC from 1977 to1995 for 53 el e ments by aqua-regia ICP-MS; and

· cat a logue and trans fer sam ple pulps re tained from sur -veys con ducted in BC into a sin gle ma te ri als ar chi val fa -cil ity main tained by Nat u ral Re sources Canada(NRCan).

Regional Geochemical Survey ProgramHistory

Ex ten sive ori en ta tion stud ies (Ballantyne and Bottriel,1975; Suther land-Brown, 1975; Friske, 1991; Cook, 1997)have es tab lished op er a tional stan dards for sur vey de sign,

me dia col lec tion, sam ple pro cess ing and an a lyt i cal workcon ducted in BC. These guide lines and pro to cols havemain tained pro gram qual ity and as sisted in the long-termde vel op ment of a con sis tent and func tional da ta base(Ballantyne, 1991; Friske and Hornbrooke, 1991). Un derthe guid ance of the Na tional Geo chem i cal Re con nais sance(NGR) Pro gram, the BC Re gional Geo chem i cal Sur vey(RGS) Pro gram, ad min is tered by the BC Geo log i cal Sur -vey emerged from the joint fed eral-pro vin cial Ura nium Re -con nais sance Pro gram (URP) and the Ac cel er ated Min eralDe vel op ment Pro gram. These pro grams sup ported thesam pling of 14 034 stream- and lake-based sites from 1976to 1978 (Carter, 1978; Carter et al., 1979). From 1979 to2004, more than 35 sur veys were com pleted by the BCGeo log i cal Sur vey. In some cases, the work was jointlyman aged with the Geo log i cal Sur vey of Can ada (GSC).These pro grams added re sults for 39 212 sam ples to the da -ta base. Since 2005, surveys supported by Geoscience BChave produced an additional 9671 new samples.

In BC, fine-grained stream sed i ment is the con ven tionalsam ple me dia for most RGS pro jects con ducted in moun -tain ous re gions. This is due to its wide spread avail abil ityand ease of col lec tion and anal y sis. Moss-mat sed i ment hasbeen col lected in ar eas such as Van cou ver Is land, wherecon ven tional stream sed i ment is scarce. Liv ing mossesfound in the stream chan nel be low the high wa ter level have been found to fil ter sus pended sed i ment from thestreamwater. Lake sed i ments are col lected in ar eas of lowre lief, such as the In te rior Pla teau, where streams are eithernonexistent or have very low energy.

Over time, mod i fi ca tions and up grades have been adoptedto im prove the util ity of the da ta base. These have in cludedthe com ple tion of sur veys in ar eas not pre vi ously sam pled,infill sam pling to in crease ex ist ing sam ple den sity, tar getedmul ti me dia sur veys and the reanalysis, us ing up-to-date an -a lyt i cal tech niques, of sam ple pulps saved from older sur -veys. In ad di tion, the data have be come more readily ac ces -si ble to a wider seg ment of the ex plo ra tion in dus try through the de vel op ment of websites such as MapPlace (BC Geo -log i cal Sur vey, 2010) and the com pi la tion and pub lic avail -abil ity of RGS data in digital formats (Matysek, 1987; Lett,2005).

Geoscience BC Re port 2011-1 181

Keywords: Van cou ver Is land, min eral ex plo ra tion, geo chem is try,re gional geo chem i cal sur vey, RGS, multi-el e ment, reanalysis,stream sed i ment

This pub li ca tion is also avail able, free of charge, as col our dig i talfiles in Adobe Ac ro bat® PDF for mat from the Geoscience BCwebsite: http://www.geosciencebc.com/s/DataReleases.asp.

An a lyt i cal de ter mi na tions re ported for each sur vey haveun der gone var i ous changes and en hance ments. Ini tial sur -veys only re ported a very lim ited num ber of met als in sed i -ments in clud ing Zn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Co, Ag, Mn, Fe and Mo,de ter mined by aqua-regia di ges tion atomic ab sorp tionspec trom e try (AAS), W by a colorimetric method and U byneu tron ac ti va tion. Wa ter sam ples were an a lyzed for U, Fand pH. Rec og niz ing the value of geo chem i cal data formin eral ex plo ra tion, new de ter mi na tions were quicklyadded to the pack age, in clud ing Hg, Sn, As, Sb, Ba, Cd, Vand loss on ig ni tion. Re sults for Au were in tro duced forsur veys con ducted af ter the mid-1980s. More re cently, an a -lyt i cal tech niques such as in stru men tal neu tron ac ti va tionanal y sis (INAA) and ICP-MS have be come the stan dardan a lyt i cal pack age for the RGS pro gram. The meth ods arecost ef fec tive and pro vide sig nif i cantly lower detectionlevels for a wide range of base, precious, pathfinder andrare earth elements.

By de sign, sam ples have been rou tinely re tained for all sur -veys com pleted in BC. The avail abil ity of these sam pleshas pro vided the op por tu nity to gen er ate en hanced an a lyt i -cal in for ma tion for sam ples col lected dur ing older sur veys.In the 1990s, more than 24 000 of these sam ples werereanalyzed by INAA (Jackaman et al., 1991), and more re -cently, more than 30 000 sam ples have been reanalyzed byICP-MS as part of BC Geo log i cal Sur vey pro jects (Lett and Jackaman, 2004; Lett and Bluemel, 2006) and sev eralGeoscience BC–funded ini tia tives (Jackaman, 2008a, b,2009, 2010).

Geoscience BC 2010 Projects

Vancouver Island Sample Reanalysis Project

Re gional geo chem i cal sur veys were orig i nally con ductedon Van cou ver Is land and the ad ja cent main land in 1988 and 1989 (Matysek et al., 1988; Lett, 2008). The Van cou ver Is -

182 Geoscience BC Sum mary of Ac tiv i ties 2010

Fig ure 1. Lo ca tion of Re gional Geo chem i cal Sur vey drain age sed i ment and wa ter sam ple sites, Brit ish Co lum bia.

land por tion of these sur veys in cluded the col lec tion of3138 moss-mat sed i ment sam ples and cov ered an area of31 000 km2 (Fig ure 2). When re leased, the sed i ment an a lyt -i cal pack age in cluded Zn, Cu, Pb, Ni, Co, Ag, Mn, Fe, Mo,U, W, Sn, Hg, As, Sb, Cd, V, Bi and Cr by aqua-regia AASand Au by fire as say. This rel a tively lim ited da ta base com -bined with the re gion’s ac tive min ing and ex plo ra tion his -tory sug gested that an en hanced an a lyt i cal da ta base wouldas sist in the tar get ing of mas sive sul phide, por phyry, quartzvein and skarn de pos its as well as ultra mafic bod ies thatmay host PGE sulphides (Larocque and Canil, 2007; Nixon and Orr, 2007).

To gen er ate the new an a lyt i cal in for ma tion, a to tal of 3369moss-mat sed i ment and qual ity-con trol sam ples have beenreanalyzed for 51 el e ments by aqua-regia di ges tion (0.5 g)ICP-MS/in duc tively cou pled plasma–emis sion spec tros -copy (ICP-ES) anal y sis, and Pt and Pd by a lead fire as say(30 g) with ICP-MS fin ish. In co-op er a tion with the BCGeo log i cal Sur vey, the orig i nal sam ples were re cov eredfrom the stor age fa cil ity in Vic to ria. A to tal of 32 g of ma te -rial was sys tem at i cally re moved from each stor age vial,

placed in la belled sam ple bags and de liv ered to ALS Can -

ada Ltd. (North Van cou ver, BC). For tu nately, the ar chive

in cluded orig i nal an a lyt i cal du pli cate and con trol ref er ence

sam ples that were used to mon i tor and as sess the ac cu racy

and pre ci sion of the new an a lyt i cal re sults. Ad di tional con -

trol ref er ence ma te rial ap pli ca ble to this study was also

added to the sam ple se quence prior to anal y sis. Ta ble 1 pro -

vides a list ing of metal de ter mi na tions by aqua-regia AAS

and Ta ble 2 pro vides a com plete list ing of the new analytes

and ranges.

An a lyt i cal re sults will be com piled and merged with orig i -

nal sur vey in for ma tion and pro vided as dig i tal data files.

The data pub li ca tion will in clude sur vey de scrip tions and

de tails re gard ing meth ods, an a lyt i cal and field data list ings,

sum mary sta tis tics, sam ple lo ca tion maps and maps for in -

di vid ual met als. The pub li ca tion will be re leased as PDF

files and raw dig i tal data files used in the pro duc tion pro -

cess. The data pack ages are scheduled for release in spring

2011.

Geoscience BC Re port 2011-1 183

Fig ure 2. Re gional Geochemical Sur vey sam ple lo ca tions and as so ci ated drain age bas ins in the Van cou ver Is land study area, south west -ern Brit ish Co lum bia.

Northern BC Sample Reanalysis Project

The North ern BC Reanalysis Pro ject is a con tin u a tion of ase ries of large-scale reanalysis ini tia tives that have beenspon sored by Geoscience BC since 2007 (Fig ure 3). Rec -og nized as a cost-ef fec tive means of up dat ing older RGSin for ma tion, these pro grams have sig nif i cantly im proved

the BC geo chem i cal da ta base by pro vid ing a wide range ofnew an a lyt i cal in for ma tion at improved detection levels.

Re gional geo chem i cal sur veys tar geted for this pro jectwere orig i nally con ducted from 1979 to 1997 and in cludeparts of NTS map ar eas 094C, D, E, L, M and 104B, G, I, O,P (Ta ble 3). In co-op er a tion with the BC Geo log i cal Sur veyand the GSC, sam ples were re trieved from stor age fa cil i ties in Vic to ria and Ot tawa. A to tal of 8572 drain age-sed i mentand qual ity-con trol sam ples have been de liv ered to AcmeAn a lyt i cal Lab o ra to ries Ltd. (Van cou ver, BC) and are be -ing an a lyzed by an ultratrace aqua-regia di ges tion (0.5 g)ICP-MS pack age for 53 el e ments. Ta ble 4 provides acomplete listing of the analytes and ranges.

An a lyt i cal re sults will be com piled and merged with orig i -nal sur vey in for ma tion and pro vided as dig i tal data files.The data pack ages are sched uled for re lease in spring 2011.

Regional Geochemical Survey Sample Archive Project

By de sign, drain age sed i ment ma te rial col lected dur ingpre vi ous RGS pro grams con ducted in BC have been savedand stored at fa cil i ties in Ot tawa and Vic to ria. Cur rently,more than 32 000 pulps are stored in Ot tawa and 22 000 lo -cated in Vic to ria. There are also an other 9000 sam ples re -tained from re cent Geoscience BC–sup ported sur veys.Based on the cost to ac quire these sam ples, the value of thiscol lec tion is es ti mated at more than $10 mil lion. In ad di -tion, ac cess to the ma te rial has sup ported nu mer ousreanalysis ini tia tives that are rec og nized as an ex tremelycost-ef fec tive means of im prov ing older RGS in for ma tion.Ar chi val sam ple reanalysis pro grams are highly re garded

184 Geoscience BC Sum mary of Ac tiv i ties 2010

Table 2. List of elements and associateddetection levels from ICP-MS analysis using an aqua-regia digestion and Pt and Pd by fireassay, Vancouver Island Project areas.

Table 1. List of elements and associateddetection levels from published aqua-regia AAS analysis, Vancouver Island Projectareas.

by in dus try and other groups that use this importantexploration resource.

Over time, the col lec tion has be come frac tured and ex ist ing stor age con tain ers have weak ened orhave been im prop erly stored, whichhas placed the over all se cu rity of thesam ples at risk. In an ef fort to re vi tal izethe stor age sit u a tion, a co-op er a tive ef -fort be tween the GSC, the BC Geo log i -cal Sur vey and Geoscience BC hasbeen ini ti ated. The goal of the pro ject isto re pack age the sam ples to cur rentstor age stan dards (Fig ure 4) and amal -gam ate with the col lec tion in Ot tawa aspart of the Earth Ma te rial Col lec tion.To date, ap prox i mately 20 000 sam plesthat were stored in Vic to ria have beenre pack aged and de liv ered to the ar -chive fa cil ity in Ot tawa. Dur ing thenext year, the re main ing sam ples inVic to r ia wil l be trans ferred and

samples located in Ottawa will be reinstated into thearchive.

Geoscience BC Re port 2011-1 185

Table 3. List of Regional Geological Survey map areas and associated number of samples(including quality-control samples) included in the 2010 Northern BC Reanalysis Project.

Fig ure 3. Lo ca tions of Geoscience BC– and BC Geo log i cal Sur vey–spon sored ICP-MS reanalysis work (ab bre vi a tions: BCGS, Brit ish Co -lum bia Geo log i cal Sur vey; GSC, Geo log i cal Sur vey of Can ada; ICP-MS, in duc tively cou pled plasma–mass spec trom e try; RGS, Re gionalGeo chem i cal Sur vey).

Summary

On go ing ef forts by gov ern ment-funded agen cies such asthe GSC, the BC Geo log i cal Sur vey and Geoscience BC toap pend to, up date and main tain the RGS da ta base hashelped pro duce one of the most com pre hen sive col lec tionsof field in for ma tion and multi-el e ment geo chem i cal data inCan ada. The col lec tion re mains an im por tant in stru ment

for fo cus ing and di rect ing min eral ex plo ra tion ac tiv i ties inthe prov ince and has been cred ited with lo cat ing many pro -spec tive ar eas and the dis cov ery of new sources of met als.Its value is sus tained by the fact that data have been ac -quired and main tained ac cord ing to strict op er a tional stan -dards and is pub licly avail able free of charge in us able dig i -tal and hard-copy for mats. With con tin ued de vel op mentand main te nance, the util ity of the in for ma tion will re mainrel e vant to exploration purposes and will help provideeconomic benefits in the future.

Acknowledgments

R. Lett (for merly BC Geo log i cal Sur vey) and D. Lefebure(BC Geo log i cal Sur vey) and M. McCurdy, S. Day, J.Dougherty and J. Pinard (NRCan) are ac knowl edged fortheir on go ing sup port of the de vel op ment and main te nanceof the RGS Pro gram and ar chive stor age fa cil i ties. TheVan cou ver Is land and North ern BC pro jects are be ingfunded by Geoscience BC. The RGS Sam ple Ar chive Pro -ject is be ing funded by Geoscience BC and NaturalResources Canada.

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