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Two ore-bodies "A" and "si have been discovered to date. They
are both in limestone bre¢tcia. Cinn&bar is the only mineral of economic
importance and the best ore is found in the breccia nearest the fault
planes. Much of the cinnabar occurs as veinlets, blebs, and individual
grains filling minute fissures, and in places the cinnabar forms the
breccia cement. Cinnabar also occurs in solution cavities, as coatings
on the cleavage planes and faces of the calcite crystals. The limestone
has also been partly replaced by cinnabar, especially where the wall-rock
is finely fractured. The resultant ore-bodies are quite irregular in
outline. iy

The cinnabar is the massive red variety. Gangue minerals are
calcite and quartz. Coarsely~crystalline, pre-cinnaber calcite occurs
along fault planes and fills solution cavities and veinlets of post-
Cinnabar calcite intersect the ore. Very little quartz was observed in
the ore. Most of it is fine-grained, but a few crystals were observed
in open cavities. Quartz and cinnabar were deposited contemporaneously.

Snell Property

The Snell property (See Figure 2) is at the junction of Silver
and Kenny Creeks, 26 miles by road from Takla Landing and 10 miles north
of Bralorne mercury mine. The claims were staked in the summer of 1941
by Mr. G. Snell and associates. Bralorne Gold Mines, Limited, acquired
an option on the property in the autumn of 1941 but, following some sur-~
face exploration, allowed it to expire later in the year. Consolidated —
Mining and Smelting Company has held the property under option since and
has undertaken extensive surface development and diamond drilling.

Qutcrops are scarce except along the creeks, as most of the
property is overlain by a heavy mantle of drift. About 1,000 feet south
of Snell Creek the drift deposits include at least 120 feet of stratified
sand and gravel. Interbedded limestone, argillaceous quartzite, tuff,
slate, and schist of Permian age are exposed along Silver Creek and on
the lower part of Snell and Prout Creeks. The beds strike northerly and
dip steeply to the east. The various lithologic units occur in lenses up
to 50 feet thick and several hundred feet long. The limestone and argil~
laceous rocks are the normal Permian types. The tuffs are cream and
purple schistose rocks. ifs ;

About 1,000 feet up Snell and Prout Creeks green andesites and
brownish sandstones of Jurassic age are exposed. They appear to trend
northerly and dip about 45 degrees to the west. Near the lower forks of
Snell Creek interbedded red hematitic tuff and stratified limestone out~-
crop. These rocks are thought to be part of the Permian series, although
they may possibly be of Upper Triassic age.

The Pinchi fault zone crosses the property from north to south
and the fault contact between Permian and Mesozoic strata probably lies
just east of the lower forks of Snell Creek. However, if the rocks out-
cropping at the lower forks of Snell Creek are Upper Triassic, and not
Permian as believed, this fault contact would probably lie just west of
the forks of Snell Creek. Many subsidiary faults, striking and dipping
in various directions, cut the Permian strata. The more important of
these strike north to northwesterly and dip 45 to 75 degrees south to
southwest. They are well exposed at the mouth of Snell Creek. The crush
zones along the faults are usually less than 6 feet wide.

Cinnabar is the only mineral of economic importance on the
property. It is associated with minor amounts of stibnite. An ore-body
about 40 feet long by 6 feet wide, and carrying 4 to 6 pounds of mercury
a ton, occurs in limestone outcropping along Silver Creek at the mouth
of Snell Creek. This body ends at a depth of 12 feet against a fault
that strikes north 10 degrees east and dips 45 degrees southwest. Most
of the ore in this deposit is contained in a siliceous paystreak 4 to 6 in-
ches wide that follows a slip plane.