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The foregoing completes the list of mines in the Yellow-
knife area that, up to the middle of 1946, have produced
bullion or concentrate. In addition to these, there are many
properties with more or less favourable indications on which
prospecting and exploration work is now being carried out.
During 1944, over 3,200 claims were staked in the area,
and the few dozen diamond drills operating in 1945 fell
far short of meeting the demand.

At the property of Giant Yellowknife Gold Mines, Ltd.,
extensive diamond drilling, carried out in a north-south
length of about one and a half miles, indicated four main
zones in which wide intersections of medium and high-
grade gold values were obtained. Up to the end of August,
1946, the company had sunk two shafts to a depth of 550
feet, and had completed 2,888 feet of lateral development.

An interesting property is that of Peg Tantaltm Mines,
Ltd., in the Thompson Lake area, where surface exploration
has disclosed a series of pegmatite dykes carrying tantalite
and columbite. During 1946, a mill was erected at the
property and early production was planned.

It has long been known that native copper is present
in the basalt of the Copper Mountains, through which the
Coppermine River flows on its way to Coronation Gulf.
The rocks of the district are of late Precambrian age and
may correspond to the Lake Superior Keweenawan series,
with which important copper deposits are associated.
Though fairly large pieces of copper are common, and have
been used by the natives for fashioning tools and weapons,
the metal mainly occurs as small chips or flakes in amygda-
loidal basalt and as specks or shots disseminated in dense
basalt. In a few places, copper carbonates and chalcocite
are found in narrow veins of quartz and calcite. No
attempt has been made to develop these deposits, and their
economic importance is unknown.

Production and Potentialities

Approximate metal and petroleum production in the
North Pacific Region to the end of 1945 was as follows:

Northern

ae Northwest
reer eee Yukon Territories

bias gollels Gaon Gacon OZ. 717,689 9,714,397 ==
ode; golden OZ. 2,441,510 — 376,429
Sh 1Ki(2i cates Basher eee cae ot OZ. 51,741,257 45,057,223 1,890,418
COW san cusesduao: Ib 663,558,719 13,050,000 237,541
Meade ier mere eee Ib. | 38,870,660 | 95,030,969 16,436

LANCE ener Tn ees lb. 5,842,959 = ==

IMercutyerecricm acer: lb. 4,151,000 — —
Giungstentetrrir strat. lb. 625,000 _ 21,590 140,910
(Conct.) (Conct.)

Antimony.........-- lb. —_— 1,000 —
Natural gas...........M.cf. — = 11,600
Crude petroleum...... bbl. — = 2,048,425

Pitchblende............--- = — Not available.

[ 34 J

In addition to present mines and former producers,
there are now more than a thousand mineral prospects in the
North Pacific Region, many of which would be developed |

if they could be readily reached by transportation and,

particularly in the Yukon, a number of mineral deposits
have been discovered carrying values that would be com-
mercial in more accessible areas. Notable among these
are large silver-lead deposits in the Mayo district and gold,
silver, lead, copper, and antimony in the Wheaton River
area. Other discoveries include tin, mercury, zinc,
manganese, bismuth, quartz crystals, fluorite, and Iceland
spar. The CassiarOmineca batholith and the eastern
flank of the Coast Range batholith are to a large extent
unprospected and contain large areas of favourable ground.
The geological features of a great part of the North Pacific
Region and the variety and widespread distribution of the
prospects promise expansion and development in the future.

Alberta —Underlain as they are by thick deposits of
almost undisturbed Paleozoic and Cretaceous sediments,
the vast areas of the Great Interior Plains are markedly
deficient in metallic mineral wealth. Virtually the only
metallic mining within the Alberta part of the North
Pacific Region has been a little gold dredging in the sands

and gravels of the North Saskatchewan River below
Edmonton.

NON-METALLIC DEPOSITS
Coal

The North Pacific Region, both in the Cordilleran
and Interior Plains belts, has enormous resources of coal
ranging in rank from lignite to anthracite. Large unpros-
pected areas are known to contain, in places, coal-bearing
formations that may add greatly to present known or
estimated reserves. The coal is found in Cretaceous and

Tertiary rocks, most of the Foothills coal being of Lower
Cretaceous age.

The coal of the Interior Plateau and Rocky Mountains,
and also that of Queen Charlotte Islands, is almost entirely
bituminous, and the greater part is of Cretaceous age. In
the Rocky Mountains, the Cretaceous coal measures occupy
elongated basins in the folded and faulted Paleozoic and
Mesozoic strata. These are bituminous coals passing in
places into anthracite. Eastward beyond the Foothills,
as the Plains are approached and the areas of intense dis-
turbance are left behind, sub-bituminous coals of Upper
Cretaceous age are encountered. The youngest group of
coal measures occurs in the Great Bear Lake and Fort
Norman areas, and is of early Tertiary age.

Sub-bituminous and lignite coals are present at two
horizons within the gently undulating Upper Cretaceous
formations of the Interior Plains, one in Belly River
and the other in Edmonton beds. These coal-bearing
formations underlie most of Alberta south of 55°. The
Belly River measures occupy large areas in the North