Abstract
The JC deposit is a stanniferous skarn related to a ridge-like lobe of the mid-Cretaceous Seagull Batholith. Skarn replaces Mississippian carbonate sediments of the Yukon Cataclastic Complex along an elongate contact zone with a known strike length of 850 m. Tin mineralization was discovered at JC in 1977 and subsequent drilling has outlined estimated geologically inferred reserves of 1,250,000 t grading 0.54% Sn with a cut-off grade of 0.30%.
The skarn displays a complex zoning in stable mineral assemblages which can be divided into several stages: (I) andradite + hedenbergite ± calcite, (IIA) Fe-amphibole + fluorite ± quartz ± magnetite ± cassiterite, (IIB) Fe-amphibole + fluorite ± quartz ± pyrrhotite ± chalcopyrite ± sphalerite, (III) epidote + quartz + calcite ± axinite ± malayaite, (IV) biotite + fluorite ± quartz ± cassiterite ± arsenopyrite with associated vein minerals including beryl, tourmaline and danalite, (V) Late stage chlorite + calcite + pyrite/marcasite.
The predominant mineral residence of tin in the early skarn stages is as tin-bearing silicates, stanniferous andradite (stage I), stanniferous Fe-amphibole (stages IIA and IIB) and malayaite (stage III), although tin as cassiterite occurs with quartz-magnetite-Fe-amphibole rocks in stage IIA. In stage IV tin occurs predominantly as cassiterite, both in narrow (1–2 cm) veins and in massive biotite-fluorite-quartz zones. The stage IV tin mineralization, in particular, is localized above the actual contact between skarn and intrusion.
Both JC and stanniferous skarns in Tasmania, Australia (Moina and Mt. Lindsay) show a well-evolved mineral assemblage zonation and an association with a porphyritic, partially altered lobe of the related intrusion.
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References
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Layne, G.D., Spooner, E.T.C. (1988). The Geology and Mineralogy of the JC Tin Skarn, Yukon Territory, Canada. In: Hutchison, C.S. (eds) Geology of Tin Deposits in Asia and the Pacific. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-72765-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-72765-8_9
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