Nephrite in British Columbia ...

• Main Author: Fraser, John Ross
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: Dease Lake; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0093110; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0093110

Nephrite is a compact, microfibrous variety of actinolite-tremolite in which bundles or tufts of minute fibers of the amphibole are twisted and thoroughly felted or interwoven with one another, producing a characteristic "nephritic" microstructure. In British Columbia, nephrite deposits, both in place and placer, are closely associated with a belt of alpine ultramafic rocks that extends for 1000 miles from the Hope area, east of Vancouver, northwestward to the Yukon border. The three major nephrite producing regions are the Bridge River - lower Fraser River area, the Takla Lake area and the Dease Lake area. The nephrite from British Columbia contains, in addition to essential tremolite, small amounts of chlorite, uvarovite, chrome spinel, diopside, talc, carbonate, sphene, phlogopite and pyrite. Grains of chrome spinel and uvarovite are usually visible in hand specimen. The colour of the majority of the specimens is yellowish green; this colouration is caused by the presence of iron in both the divalent and ...