Silver Cup Anticline
Silver Cup Anticline
What Does the Silver Cup Anticline Look Like?
Highly deformed sedimentary rocks develop distinctive structural, textural, and visual features when they are subjected to strong tectonic forces such as folding, faulting, shearing, and compression. These features reflect how originally flat‑lying beds responded to stress—whether they bent, flowed, broke, or were recrystallized.
The Silver Cup Anticline formed during the Jurassic–Cretaceous compressional deformation associated with the accretion of the Intermontane Superterrane onto the western margin of North America. This was a major mountain‑building phase in British Columbia that folded, faulted, and thickened the sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Kootenay Arc. Although no single source explicitly names the anticline’s folding age, the regional tectonic context is well established: the Intermontane Superterrane collided with North America during the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, producing widespread thrusting and folding of existing sedimentary rocks across the region. This event is described as the time when “accretion of the Intermontane Super‑Terrane and consequent thrusting and folding of existing sedimentary rocks” occurred.
The Silver Cup Anticline formed during the Jurassic–Cretaceous compressional deformation associated with the accretion of the Intermontane Superterrane onto the western margin of North America. This was a major mountain‑building phase in British Columbia that folded, faulted, and thickened the sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Kootenay Arc. Although no single source explicitly names the anticline’s folding age, the regional tectonic context is well established: the Intermontane Superterrane collided with North America during the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, producing widespread thrusting and folding of existing sedimentary rocks across the region. This event is described as the time when “accretion of the Intermontane Super‑Terrane and consequent thrusting and folding of existing sedimentary rocks” occurred.
Various structural elements can be found in the host rocks at Thor. Here we have folded and sheared sedimentary rocks of the Broadview Formation
Coarse-grained greywacke of the Broadview Formation
What is the Silver Cup Anticline?
Understanding Host Rocks And Their Importance to the Silver Cup Anticline
The Silver Cup Anticline is the structural backbone of the entire Silver Cup Mining District in southeastern British Columbia. It is the single most important geological feature controlling where the historic mines formed and why the Thor deposit sits where it does. The anticline creates a predictable, district‑scale framework that focuses faults, fractures, and hydrothermal fluids into two mineralized limbs—one on each side of the fold.
Northeast Flank deposits Historic mines on the northeast limb include:
Southwest Flank deposits The Thor deposit—now over 2.3 km in strike length—is the major mineralized body on the southwest side of the anticline. It hosts a large, continuous system of epithermal veins enriched in Ag‑Au‑Pb‑Zn‑Cu and critical metals. Modern work shows that mineralization may extend beneath the Ferguson rockslide, potentially linking Thor with historic prospects farther southeast such as Slash and Abrahamson.
Modern geological and geophysical compilations show the Silver Cup District is a large, interconnected mineralizing system extending several kilometers. Key insights include:
Northeast Flank deposits Historic mines on the northeast limb include:
Southwest Flank deposits The Thor deposit—now over 2.3 km in strike length—is the major mineralized body on the southwest side of the anticline. It hosts a large, continuous system of epithermal veins enriched in Ag‑Au‑Pb‑Zn‑Cu and critical metals. Modern work shows that mineralization may extend beneath the Ferguson rockslide, potentially linking Thor with historic prospects farther southeast such as Slash and Abrahamson.
Modern geological and geophysical compilations show the Silver Cup District is a large, interconnected mineralizing system extending several kilometers. Key insights include:
Understanding the host rocks around an ore deposit isn’t just a geological nicety—it’s one of the most powerful tools for figuring out how the deposit formed, where the metal is concentrated, and how you can mine it. In complex polymetallic systems like Thor, host‑rock knowledge is often the difference between wandering and vectoring. The following six point highlight why it is so important to understand the Host Rocks:
Host rocks help establish the timing and evolution of mineralizing events, and by understanding this the geologist is capable of devising exploration programs that are able to maximize the chance of finding more valuable Mineral Resources.
Host rocks help establish the timing and evolution of mineralizing events, and by understanding this the geologist is capable of devising exploration programs that are able to maximize the chance of finding more valuable Mineral Resources.