Sullivan Mine facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sullivan Mine

Location
Sullivan Mine Location in Canada
Location	Kimberley
Province	British Columbia
Country	Canada
Coordinates	49°41′18″N 115°59′19″W / 49.688312°N 115.988687°W / 49.688312; -115.988687
Production
Products	Zinc Lead Silver
History
Opened	1909
Closed	2001
Owner
Company	Teck Cominco
Website	Sullivan Mine

Banded massive sulfide silver-lead-zinc ore from the Sullivan Mine. Very dark gray = argentiferous galena (Pb,Ag)S. Dark grayish brown bands = sphalerite (ZnS). Dull brassy wisps = pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS). Specimen is about 2.3 cm (1 inch) wide.

Closeup photo of banded massive sulfide (silver-lead-zinc ore) from the Sullivan mine. Field of view is about 2 cm across. Silvery-gray = argentiferous galena (Pb,Ag)S. Very dark bands = sphalerite (ZnS). The folded and contorted bedding is from soft-sediment slumping.

The Sullivan Mine is a now-closed conventional–mechanized underground mine located in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada. The ore body is a complex, sediment-hosted, sedimentary exhalative deposit consisting primarily of zinc, lead, and iron sulphides. Lead, zinc, silver and tin were the economic metals produced. The deposit lies within the lower part of the Purcell Supergroup and mineralization occurred about 1470 million years ago during the late Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic).

The deposit was discovered in 1892 and acquired in 1909 by the CPR-owned Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (later Cominco Ltd. and Teck Cominco). The mine's economic success resulted largely from Sullivan's 1916 development of the differential flotation process that allowed separate recovery of lead and zinc concentrates in the milling process. This technology, developed by Trail operations at Sullivan, has been used worldwide for various types of ore bodies. In its lifetime, the mine produced over 160 million tons of ore containing 8 million tons of lead, 7 million tons of zinc, and 285 million troy ounces (8.9×10⁹ g) of silver, which were together worth more than $20 billion. After 92 years of active production, the Sullivan Mine was closed in 2001. Since then Teck Cominco has been undertaking an extensive decommissioning and reclamation process at the site.

Geological setting

The Sullivan ore body is a complex sedimentary exhalative (SedEx) deposit that consists primarily of zinc, lead, and iron sulphides. It is hosted in the sedimentary rocks of the Aldridge Formation in the lower part of the Purcell Supergroup. The rocks were deposited on the sea floor in an intracontinental rift basin above a thermal anomaly that drove the circulation of brines. Fractures and breccia zones provided conduits for metal-rich, sulfur-poor brines from depth, and sulfide minerals formed when the metals combined with sulfur from marine brines. Mineralization occurred about 1470 million years ago during late Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic) time. The sulfide and silicate mineral assemblages were later modified by metamorphism.