Old Timer Mine, Clearwater Creek, Ymir, Nelson Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Old Timer Mine	Mine
Clearwater Creek	Creek
Ymir	Village
Nelson Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Old Timer Mine is located near the headwaters of Clearwater Creek, about 10 kilometres north-east of the unincorporated settlement of Ymir, or 19 kilometres south-east of Nelson, British Columbia, in the Nelson Mining Division.
There is a description of the property, including regional geology, on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2022. A portion relative to geology is quoted below:
“The area is underlain by argillite, siltstone, grit, limestone, chert and wacke of the Jurassic Ymir Group. The Nelson Batholith of the Middle to Late Jurassic Nelson Intrusions occurs just to the east of the workings.
Argillites and schists host a northeast-trending quartz vein within a shear zone approximately parallel to the schist/granite contact. The vein is in the hanging wall of the 2- to 3-metre-wide shear zone, which contains irregular masses of mineralized quartz and gouge material. The vein is hosted in sediments to the southwest but follows the contact to the northeast. The irregular Old Timer vein (now called the West zone) is, on average, 1.4 metres wide and has been traced for 125 metres along strike. Significant mineralization occurs over at least a 50-metre strike length and consists of pyrite, galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite. A rare chlorophosphate of lead, pyromorphite, is found within the oxidized portion of the vein.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
The Old Timer Mine is a small silver, gold, lead and zinc mine, with very limited production, and with relatively simple geology and mineralogy. I have chosen to present it because it is a locality for pyromorphite, which is a relatively uncommon mineral in British Columbia (see note below in the mineral section).
The Old Timer Mine had very limited production. Although there was work on the property as early as 1900, there is no record of production until 1980, when a small tonnage was mined and presumably shipped to a smelter, probably Cominco’s facility at Trail, British Columbia. Official figures on the British Columbia “Minfile” site show that the total ore mined amounted to 46 tonnes (50 tons). The total yield from this material is reported as 2, 578 grams (83 troy ounces) silver; 184 grams (6 troy ounces) gold; 326 kilograms (719 pounds) lead; and 116 kilograms (256 pounds) zinc.
Giles Peatfield comments on the minerals reported:
The minerals listed were all reported by Drysdale (1917), with the exception of garnet group which was reported by Caron (2020) as occurring in “garnet skarn”. A subsidiary comment is included here for pyromorphite.
Pyromorphite: This is the mineral of principal interest for this review. Drysdale (1917) wrote that “There is considerable oxidation near the surface and the yellow chloro-phosphate of lead, pyromorphite (PbCl)Pb4(PO4)3, was found in this zone of oxidation. The occurrence of pyromorphite in Canada is rare, the only other known occurrence being at the Society Girl mine in the East Kootenay, B.C.” This latter occurrence was described by Schofield (1915). Since that time, other occurrences have been found in the Province.
Giles Peatfield comments on the rock types reported:
Most of these rock names were reported by Caron (2020), except for grit, limestone and wacke, reported by Paradis and Underhill (2009). In both cases, these are the rocks making up the regional package, the Ymir Group, in which the Old Timer Mine is located.

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	082FSW081

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References