A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstone and Mineral Sites of British Columbia Vol. 1: Vancouver Island

by Rick Hudson

Overview

Vancouver Island is an excellent place to hunt for unusual minerals, gems, semi-precious stones, fossils and gold. With its unique geological environment it is one of the finest locations for rockhounding in Western Canada. Featuring detailed maps ranging from Victoria through the Chemainus Valley and up to Port Hardy, A Field Guide to Gold, Gemstone & Mineral Sites of British Columbia, Vol. 1 covers more than 100 sites on Vancouver Island and adjacent islands.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550174557
Publisher:	Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
Publication date:	07/28/2008
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Rick Hudson, Ph.D., is a passionate outdoorsman and rockhound who has spent more than two decades exploring Southern British Columbia. The former editor of the Western Canadian Gemstone Newsletter and assistant editor of British Columbia Rockhound Magazine, he now frequently writes about wilderness adventures for various publications including the Globe and Mail, Island Explorer and Rock and Gem Magazine. He is also the author of Gold, Gemstone & Mineral Sites of British Columbia: Volume I, Vancouver Island.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Geology 2

1.1 All about rocks and minerals 2

1.2 The shape of BC (morphology) 3

1.3 The rocks of BC (petrology) 4

1.3.1 Igneous rocks 4

1.3.2 Sedimentary rocks 5

1.3.3 Metamorphic rocks 5

1.4 A short geological history of Vancouver Island 5

1.5 Where to look when rockhounding 7

1.6 Ethics 7

2 A short history of BC prospecting 9

2.1 The gold rush started everything 9

2.2 Defining a province 9

2.3 A network of civilization developed 10

2.4 Mining built the province 10

2.5 The little guy is still a key player 10

3 Prospecting techniques 11

3.1 What to wear 11

3.2 What tools to carry 12

3.3 Caring for your specimens 13

3.4 Safety tips 13

4 Access rights 14

4.1 Access rights 14

4.2 Getting serious 15

4.3 The Mineral Tenure Act 15

4.4 How to stake a claim 16

4.5 What is a mineral? 16

4.6 Getting started 17

4.7 What is a post? 17

4.8 Staking a Mineral Claim 17

4.8.1 Procedure 18

4.9 Staking a Placer Claim 19

4.10 After staking your claim 19

4.11 Maintaining your claim 20

4.12 Forfeiting a claim 20

5 Rock & mineral identification 21

Gemstones - a special case 22

5.1 Hardness 23

5.2 Colour 23

5.3 Lustre 24

5.4 Specific gravity, or density 24

5.5 Cleavage 25

5.6 Fracture 25

5.7 Streak 25

5.8 Magnetism 25

5.9 Electrical properties 26

5.10 Radioactivity 26

6 Rock & mineral descriptions 27

7 Gold! 47

7.1 Recognizing gold 48

7.2 Panning for gold 48

7.3 Where to look 49

7.4 Equipment 50

8 Other treasures 51

8.1 Fossils 51

8.1.1 Collecting fossils 51

8.2 Meteorites 51

9 Prospecting sites 53

1-7 Victoria 57

8 Malahat 65

9-13 Sooke 66

14-20 Highway #14 to Port Renfrew 71

21-28 Leechtown area 79

29-30 Gulf Islands 87

31 Cobble Hill 90

32 Mount Sicker 91

33-40 Cowichan Valley 93

41-44 Chemainus Valley 106

45-46 Ladysmith area 111

47-49 Nanaimo River Valley 129

50-56 Port Alberni area 134

57-59 Ucluelet-Tofino area 143

60-63 Barkley Sound 146

64 Lasqueti Island 150

65-72 Parksville-Campbell River 151

73-74 Quinsam Lakes 160

75-78 Strathcona Provincial Park 162

79-84 Quadra Island 167

85-87 Campbell River-Port McNeill 173

88 Bonanza Lake 176

89-92 Zeballos 177

93 Sydney Inlet 181

94-95 Muchalat Inlet 182

96 Tlupana Inlet 184

97 Tahsis 185

98 Brooks Peninsula 186

99-100 Benson Lake-Alice Lake 187

101-102 Port Hardy area 189

103 San Josef 193

Tips, Tricks and Trivia 194

Some Favourite Sites 196

Sites by Principal Minerals 197

10 Addresses 198

11 Glossary of terms 202

12 Selected reading 206

13 Index 209