Clinton Lake epsomite deposit, Clinton, Clinton Mining Division, British Columbia, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Clinton Lake epsomite deposit	Deposit
Clinton	Village
Clinton Mining Division	Division
British Columbia	Province
Canada	Country

The Clinton Lake epsomite deposit is located 1.5 kilometres south of the village of Clinton, or about 100 kilometres west-northwest of Kamloops, British Columbia, in the Clinton Mining Division.
There is a description of the geological setting for this property on the British Columbia “Minfile” site, current to 2003. A portion of this description is quoted below:
“The lake is a semi-evaporitic playa lake located in the dry valley along the Ashcroft-Clinton road. Bedrock includes marine sedimentary (ribbon chert, limestone and argillite) and volcanic rocks (basic flows and tuffs) of the Permian to Upper Triassic Cache Creek Group; Jurassic sedimentary rocks (chert pebble conglomerate, greywacke, shale and grit); and non-marine sediments (shale, sandstone, tuff, diatomite, conglomerate and breccias) of the Miocene Deadman River Formation.
Clinton Lake contains magnesium sulphate-rich brine and has at times contained layers of epsomite. It covers an area of approximately 10 hectares and is covered with brine to depths ranging from a few centimetres to metres; the epsomite crystallizing at times of low water levels.”
Giles Peatfield comments:
Reinecke (1920) gave a detailed description of the lake. One interesting part of his description is that, at the time of writing, “The quantity of water in the lake seems to vary daily even during continued periods of rainless weather. According to the older inhabitants of Clinton, the site of the lake was at one time an irrigated hay meadow, at another period it was occupied by a lake, and the deposits of epsomite have been in evidence for the last few years only.”
There has been minor production of epsomite from Clinton Lake. Cummings (1940) reported that “From 1918 to 1920 approximately 2000 tons [1800 tonnes] of epsomite was taken from the lake, over 1000 tons [900 tonnes] of which was sold. Goudge (1926) gave slightly different figures, reporting that “The lake is owned by the Stewart-Calvert Co., of Oroville, Washington, U.S.A., and from 1918 to 1920 the company worked the deposit of epsomite, mining and storing about 2,500 tons [2250 tonnes] of crude crystal.” The crude crystal material was shipped to the company’s operation in Oroville.

Giles Peatfield comments:
Reinecke (1920) gave a detailed description of the lake. One interesting part of his description is that, at the time of writing, “The quantity of water in the lake seems to vary daily even during continued periods of rainless weather. According to the older inhabitants of Clinton, the site of the lake was at one time an irrigated hay meadow, at another period it was occupied by a lake, and the deposits of epsomite have been in evidence for the last few years only.”
There has been minor production of epsomite from Clinton Lake. Cummings (1940) reported that “From 1918 to 1920 approximately 2000 tons [1800 tonnes] of epsomite was taken from the lake, over 1000 tons [900 tonnes] of which was sold. Goudge (1926) gave slightly different figures, reporting that “The lake is owned by the Stewart-Calvert Co., of Oroville, Washington, U.S.A., and from 1918 to 1920 the company worked the deposit of epsomite, mining and storing about 2,500 tons [2250 tonnes] of crude crystal.” The crude crystal material was shipped to the company’s operation in Oroville.
Comment on Minerals Reported:
The minerals listed, with the exception of kierserite, are all reported by Renaut, et al. (1994). Kierserite was reported by Reinecke (1920) as a possible alteration of epsomite due to loss of water – see also Traill (1970; 1983) under epsomite.

Giles Peatfield
BASc. (Geological Engineering) University of British Columbia 1966.
PhD Queen's University at Kingston 1978.
Worked for Texas Gulf Sulphur / Texasgulf Inc. / Kidd Creek Mines - 1966 to 1985.
Vancouver based consultant 1982 to retirement in 2016

Other Databases

Link to British Columbia Minfile:	092P 069

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References