Geological Setting
Mineralization areas appear to be occurring where the Nicola Group meets other structures.
The Copper Mountain alkalic porphyry copper-gold camp is part of a northerly trending Mesozoic tectonostratigraphic terrane termed Quesnellia, composed of a volcanic arc with overlying sedimentary sequences, all of which were built on top of a deformed, oceanic sedimentary-volcanic complex. The principle rock formation of Quesnellia is the Late Triassic Nicola Group, a predominately subaqueous island-arc assemblage composed of volcanic and lesser sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by early Jurassic alkalic, calc-alkalic and zoned mafic (Alaska-type) plutons and batholiths. The Nicola Group rocks have a stratigraphic thickness of approximately 7.5 km and form a 25 km wide band that extends from the Canada-U.S. border north to beyond Kamloops Lake. The Copper Mountain alkalic porphyry copper-gold camp occurs in the ‘eastern volcanic belt’ of the Nicola Group. These volcanic strata are intruded by a suite of early Jurassic alkalic dykes, sills, irregular plugs and zoned plutons of the Copper Mountain suite.
