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Ministry of Energy, Mines and Pertoleum Resources

Geology of the Wolverine River Area, Peace River Coalfield (parts of NTS 093P/03, 093I/14)

 

BCMEMPR Open File 2009-07

By A. Legun

 

View Open File 2009-7 (PDF, Full Resolution 46.1 MB)

View Open File 2009-7 (PDF, Low Resolution 29.6 MB)

Download Open File 2009-7 Manifold map (ZIP, 27.3 MB)

Download Open File 2009-7 KML files (ZIP, 451 KB)

  

 

The Wolverine river area lies southwest of the town of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern British Columbia. The map area extends from Bullmoose creek in the north to the Murray river in the south, encompassing about 300 sq km of the Peace River coalfield. The Gething and the Gates formations of early Cretaceous age are the two main coal bearing formations in the area. The Quintette and Bullmoose mines opened in the early 1980’s and exploited coal measures within the middle Gates member in a number of pits that include South Fork, Mesa, Wolverine (Frame). The Quintette mine closed in 2000 and the Bullmoose (South Fork pit) in 2003. In 2006 Western Canada Coal started production from the Perry Creek mine in the Perry syncline area on the north side of the Wolverine river.

 

The study was initiated to provide a more accurate geologic base for further resource development. It is based on review and compilation of previous data, fill-in mapping and stratigraphic assessment of new drill data, including petroleum well data.

 

Gates Coal Development and Potential

 

Proposed pit developments in the area include the EB pit near Mt Spieker, and the Hermann property south of the Quintette mine conveyor belt. Potential pit areas are found in the Transfer and Grizzly fold structures facing the reclaimed Shikano pit at the Murray river.

 

The West Fork, Transfer and Grizzly areas underwent substantial exploration drilling in the 1980’s but have not been examined recently.

 

Some areas of Gates exposure remain relatively untested by drilling or detailed mapping. This includes the rather tightly folded Gates that faces the Perry pit across the Wolverine River, the Fortress anticline area and the southerly portion of Mt Spieker syncline. These areas were characterised as secondary opportunities for pit development in early evaluations of the area.

 

The largest potential in the Gates Fm in this area is probably in the subsurface and undergound mining scenarios. This includes the area on the east border of the map where fold structures bring the Gates locally within 200 metres of surface (Dupont Wolverine ddh 79-2).

 

Gething coals

 

The coals of the Gething Formation remain undeveloped in the map area. The Gething underlies a much larger area than the Gates. Upper Gething (Chamberlain member) coals underlie large portions of the northern part of the area near Mt Spieker. They include locally, underground reserves of Bird seam. In the south a resource in Lower Gething coals (Gaylard member) is known in the Hermann Gething area. Elsewhere isolated drillhole and coal outcrop data provides a basis for further exploration.

 

Map Elements

 

Elements of the map include:

  • A revised contact for the base of the Gates Formation. The contact is adjusted to the base of the Quintette sandstone.
  • Traces of the top and basal seam of the middle Gates member from company maps.
  • A large database of bedding data for structural analysis.
  • Locations of coal boreholes and oil and gas wells.
  • 1:20000 scale orthophoto maps in ecw format.
  • Lidar imagery for parts of the area.
  • Schematic cross-sections.
  • Old and new locations of Gething coal exposures.
  • Improved trace of geologic contacts, fold and fault elements based on fieldwork and compilation of numerous assessment reports.
  • Outlines of old, developing and potential coal mine open pits.
  • Photos from fieldwork linked to location symbols on the map. Some of these may be of interest in sedimentological studies of the Gates Formation (marine Falher cycles).

Links to photos is based on the URL field in the Photos table. For example C:\Wolv_OF\Wphotos\DSC00751.jpg

If the digital files are placed in a different directory the URL field will need to be changed to reflect the new location, example C:\Myname\Wolv_OF\Wphotos\DSC00751.jpg

 

Manifold software is required to view the .map files and databases. The BCGS symbols file, BCGSgeosymbolV.2.0.4.xml, needs to be placed in the Manifold config directory (ie  C:\Program Files\Manifold System\config). The basic map is provided as a pdf file. Files in other formats (kml,csv,shp) will be made available.

 

Acknowledgements

 

The author was assisted in the field by Andrew Stephenson in 2006, David Lilly in 2007 and Doug Wells in 2008. Project support by chief geologist Dave Lefebure, is much appreciated.

  

All publications of the BC Geological Survey are available for purchase through Crown Publications Inc (and its agents).

 

For questions or more information on geology and minerals in British Columbia contact BCGS Mailbox or use the toll free number (B.C. residents only).