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Tor
Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Gold, Silver

The Tor prospect is located in southeastern British Columbia, approximately 8 kilometres north of the Tulameen River. During the late 1800’s, the Tulameen District was the most important producer of platinum in North America. Platinum was recovered with the placer gold from the Tulameen River and her tributaries, including Granite, Cedar, Slate, Britton and Lawless Creeks. The platinum occurred as a fine, hard, silver-white lustrous metal with a high specific gravity in the sluice boxes and gold pans, along with the gold and heavy concentrations of black sands (magnetite and chromitite). In some areas there was more platinum than gold in the concentrates, and platinum nuggets up to 0.5 ounces were reportedly found.

The occurrence is hosted in a sequence of dacitic to basaltic, variably porphyritic flows and agglomerates of the Middle and Upper Cretaceous Spences Bridge Group. These volcanics show minor epidote, carbonate and argillic alteration. Minor epidote and calcite veining are also evident.

Two samples of drill core assayed 150 and 110 grams per tonne silver respectively (Assessment Report 20739, certificate of analysis, hole 90-5, 66.2 and 122.0 metres). Both samples also assayed less than 0.005 gram per tonne gold, less than 0.015 gram per tonne platinum and up to 0.0001 per cent copper. The shallower sample is of andesite/basalt with local epidote and minor carbonate alteration, and the deeper sample is of basaltic agglomerate with epidote alteration.

Additional drilling in the vicinity yielded anomalous values in gold and platinum group elements. One hole assayed 16.5 grams per tonne gold and 11.0 grams per tonne platinum over 6.1 metres (George Cross News Letter No. 224 (November 21), 1991, hole No. 7, sample 1, 121.9 to 128.0 metres). A second section of core yielded 16.7 grams per tonne gold, 2.93 grams per tonne platinum, 2.50 grams per tonne palladium and 1.75 grams per tonne rhodium over 12.2 metres (George Cross News Letter Nos. 234 (December 5), 235 (December 6), 1991, hole No. 7, samples 2 and 3, 128.0 to 140.2 metres).

Assay results of a 22-kilogram composite drill core sample from hole 92-01 taken intermittently from the 167-metre diamond-drill hole yielded 10.31 grams per tonne gold, 0.65 gram per tonne platinum, 0.58 gram per tonne palladium and 0.17 gram per tonne rhodium (George Cross News Letter No. 228 (November 26), 1992).

Source: BC MINFILE 092HNE170