Blue River and Rare Earths in British Columbia

Flying back to home I recognized the small British Columbia town of Blue River through a break in the clouds. 

Blue River (town) and Mud Lake

I recognized this location because of some recent literature research I was doing on carbonatites combined with a bit of Google Earth viewing to find the locations of carbonatite claims so I could do some comparative geology. I had looked careful at this area and read numerous reports on the carbonatites found in the area so easily recognized the lake and town through the break in the clouds. Carbonatites are igneous rocks containing predominantly carbonate minerals. Carbonatites have been a focus of exploration in British Columbia and there have been several claims with associated exploration sampling in the Blue River area. The carbonatites occur within an area of alkaline igneous rocks that intrude the Paleozoic strata west of the Rocky Mountains in the eastern part of the Omineca Belt.

The interest in these rocks is that carbonatites can be enriched with rare earth elements. A hot topic in geopolitics. With a long and ongoing mining history as well as mineral processing, BC may be well positioned to exploit these resources if it proves feasible. The thick forest and rugged terrain do present a challenge relative to the well exposed deposits in China. China also has had the advantage of a longer period of figuring out processing the ores - an underappreciated aspect of the minerals industry. 

The Canadian federal government has been supporting some of the exploration as well as mineral processing.  

https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/federal-support-for-critical-mineral-projects-and-value-chains/critical-minerals-geoscience-and-data-initiative.html

Vivianite Notes

Hurowitz and many others (2025) discuss organic carbon bearing mudstones on Mars that have bluish nodules. The analysis of the reaction fronts on the nodules indicated ferrous iron phosphate and sulfide minerals with the blue possibly being vivianite. Vivianite nodules are known to form in fresh water and marine settings as a by-product of low-temperature microbially mediated Fe-reduction reactions. Hence, these nodules on Mars have generated intense interest. Hurowitz and many others (2025) do note that there are alternative explanations, but the biotic explanation is intriguing. Kawahara and others (2022) note that there are non biological processes for similar appearing nodules. So at that this point nothing definitive -- such is science. At some future date this rocks may be subject to more sophisticated analyses. 

 

My first encounter with the mineral was in regards to phosphorus removal from waste water or stormwater. There were some clever chemists trying to come up with solutions to minimize nutrient loading in lakes fro waste water. 

A while back I did some research based on coincidental inquiries about sources of blue coloration. One inquiry was regarding possible sources of blue coloration used on canoes by Salish Sea peoples prior to European contact. I was asked if I knew of any vivianite depsoits in the area. The other inquiry was similar but came from an art supplier who thought I might have some insight regarding vivianite sources. I did find some references of pre European trading associated with a site in Alaska.

Vivianite Fe(II)3(PO4)2.8H2O shows up around buried organic material. It also shows up in sewage facilities. A local source for the Salish might have been along clay rich tidal sloughs where lots of wood would have been buried. 

Another potential source could be clay rich Bellingham Glacial Marine Drift that has remained saturated and is in close contact with buried organic material. The saturated drift is already blue from the iron and magnesium not being oxidized. The contact with buried wood would provide the phosphate to have added blue color, but I have not observed any vivianite features when excavating or drilling into the local glacial marine drift.

   

It is my understanding that in finishing cedar canoes the wood would be rubbed with wet clay. I do wonder if some vivianite would precipitate during processing of the bluish clay with the organic material of the canoe thus fixing the iron with microscopic vivianite. That is if you took the very wet and very soft blue glacial drift out of a bank and then mixted it with organic material the vivianite would form within the clay mix and stop the oxidation of the iron that is present and instead create the iron/phosphate oxide vivianite and thus "fix" the blue color. Even rubbing the blue clay on the wood might cause the same reaction. 

Blog Pause

I have been on a bit of a pause from posting. The pause has been for a vaiety of reasons: personal, other schemes, starting posts that bog me down, work, distractions, bad and good habits, and travel (mostly personal with family overseas and east of the mountains). 

Louis

Henry and Louis 

I am still adjusting to the new city when visiting Henry and now Louis. I had very much liked visiting Halle, but time to learn a new city and maybe a very small bit of a new language. Hope that Henry will be a good teacher. 

Hope to get back in the blog routine again. Dark winter days may help.