Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI31C16SW00030

Record: MDI31C16SW00030

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Vermiculite

Location

Township or Area: Burgess, Burgess

Latitude: 44° 47' 50.15"    Longitude: -76° 19' 12.66"

UTM Zone: 18    Easting: 395583   Northing: 4961277    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Southern Ontario

NTS Grid: 31C16SW

Point Location Description: swimming hole

Location Method: AMIS Site Visit

Access Description: The property encompasses the north half of Lot 17,Concession 8, North Burgess Township.and is located about 13 km by road south-southwest of Perth in southeastern Ontario

Exploration History

1950: G.C. Bruce – property discovered. 1950: Siscoe Vermiculite Mines Ltd. – property acquired, auger drilling, test pitting, trenching. 1959-1968: Olympus Mines Ltd. – 45 auger holes, 2 DDH, open pit developed. 1963-65: stockpile estimated at 136,000 tonnes; processing plant built; operation proved uneconomic. 1968: Worldwide Energy Company Ltd. – property optioned, DD-4-578 m, trenching, bulk sample (450 kg and 4500 kg) removed. 1985: MNDM – ground geophysical survey. 1990-91: Canalex – mapping, trenching, sampling, EM survey, commercial evaluation of property

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Grenville

Subprovince: Central Metasedimentary Belt

Terrane: Frontenac

Geological Age: Mesoproterozoic  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Sep 11, 2015 (A Wilson) - Drill results concluded that this deposit could support a 270 tonnes (300ton)/day operation for 10 years, with the mill-feed grading 20% vermiculite. The vermiculite occurs in a thinly banded, pale blue-green, serpentinized metamorphic pyroxenite which is flanked on both sides by a hornblende or biotite paragneiss that changes to quartzite northwest of the pits and disappears into swampy ground to the southeast. The hanging wall grades into relatively hard, competent, cream grey, less intensely altered pyroxenite and the contact between it and the main zone is irregular due to interbanding of the vermiculitized pyroxenite with barren pyroxenite. This is evident on the surface and in samples obtained from the current drill programme. Northwards further from the presumed source of the hydrothermal solutions the dominantly diopsidic pyroxenite becomes enriched in tremolite, which occurs as brown, prismatic, vitreous grains. The pyroxenite is interbanded conformably with quartzite and actinolite-tremolite-talc schists. The main zone is dissected by undulating, horizontal and occasional vertical fractures and intruded by dioritic dikes. The fractures are generally 10 cm thick and filled with grey-blue, massive to fibrous talc. Fibrous talc may pseudomorph serpentine, thus accounting for its increased hardness).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Sep 11, 2015 (A Wilson) - The phlogopite - vermiculite is a pale brown, amber, or olive-grey mica, sometimes with a bright silver cleavage surface but often having a dull leathery appearance. After exfoliation the granules assume a light tan colour with pearly-white cleavage surfaces. Typically the flakes are less than 1/8-inch and occur randomly oriented in closely spaced bands 1/2 inch to l inch wide. A drill hole near the east end of the zone returned a core length of 236 feet averaging 24.9 percent vermiculite.l Sections were as high as 42 percent over 6 feet and 31 percent over 30 feet, but in general the tenor was remarkably uniform. Two samples were taken by the writer, one from several hundred points scattered over the top of the stockpile, the other a chip sample across a 200-foot width on the east wall of the pit.These yielded about 10 percent vermiculite. The main mineralized zone strikes 052º and dips 80º northwest and can be observed along the northeastern face of the pit. Diamond drilling by G.H.D. Consultants in 1969, established an average width for the zone of 40 m (130 feet) varying between 24 m (80 feet) and 45 m (150 feet), and a minimum length of 425 m (1400 feet). Trenching showed that in the centre of pit the vermiculitized zone is only 24 m (80 feet) wide. The mineralized zones consist of thin bands of pale brown hydrobiotite/vermiculite-rich rock <2.5 cm wide, alternating with almost barren, altered light green diopsidic rock. The hydrobiotite/vermiculite flakes are usually up to 3 cm in diameter, and may vary in colour through pale brown, amber, olive-grey, and silvery. In addition to the banded and disseminated mineralization found within the main zone, there are vertical veins of coarser-grained phlogopite/hydrobiotite up to 8 cm across. This feature is evident on both the northeastern and northwestern faces of the pit but is more prevalent on the northwestern face. Three additional vermiculite-bearing zones of limited extent occur on the property. Near the present surface, the host pyroxenite is highly friable,resembling sand in texture and appearance K(Plate 1). This grey saprolitic zone is composed of varying proportions of hydrobiotite, vermiculite, allietite, corrensite, tremolite, talc, serpentine, and phlogopite, with minor diopside, chlorite iron oxides, dolomite, calcite, and pyrite. The greenish-white diopside is medium grained, hypidioblastic to xenoblastic in habit, and has a woody appearance. However, little of the pyroxene (diopside) remains preserved due to the extreme nature of the alteration. Thinsection examination indicates an intergrowth with amber, idioblastic to hypidioblastic tremolite. A brown alterationobserved along fractures and cleavages within the diopside has been identified by electron microprobe analysis as talc stained with iron oxides. Near the top of the section, there are several indications of a later episode of alteration. For example, the top 9-12 metres is looser and more weathered than the rocks below. This can be observed in (a) drillcore, (b) the pit face where diorite dikes in the main zone have been partly serpentinized steatized and chloritized and weather an orangish colour staining the pit face, (c) thin sections, where alteration products (e.g. talc) are observed to be dusted or stained with iron oxides and (d) the presense of this grey saprolitic zone containing grey-green clay-sized allietite, coating coarser, crumbly phlogopite-talc grains.

Mineral Record Details

References

Publication - Mica Deposits of Canada; Geological Survey of Canada, Economic Geology Series 19

Publication Number: Econ Geol 19 Page: 96-97  Date: 1960

Author: Hoadley, J W

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/102453

Publication - A Catalogue of Canadian Minerals; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 69-45

Publication Number: Paper 69-45 Page: 602  Date: 1970

Author: Traill, R.J.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/102924

Mono - Vermiculite in Ontario, with an appendix on perlite

Publication Number: IMR007 Page: 7-11  Date: 1998

Author: Guillet G.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

MonoMap - Geological notes for maps nos. 2053 and 2054, Madoc-Gananoque area

Publication Number: S012 Page: 24  Date: 1997

Author: Hewitt D.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Vermiculite in the Stanleyville area, Lanark County, eastern Ontario

Publication Number: OFR5711 Page: 44-65  Date: 1989

Author: MacKinnon A., Kingston P.W., Springer J.S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - Rocks and minerals for the collector, Kingston, Ontario to Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec; Geological Survey of Canada, Miscellaneous Report 32

Publication Number: GSC MR32 Page: 33  Date: 1983

Author: Sabina, A.P.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/119737

Book - Mica and Vermiculite, p.8-9 to 8-18

Publication Number: Sum Rpt 5 Date: 1989

Author:

Publisher Name: CANMET

Location:

Publication - Classic mineral collecting localities in Ontario and Quebec; Geological Survey of Canada, Miscellaneous Report 37

Publication Number: GSC MR 37 Page: 37-38  Date: 1983

Author: Hogarth, D D; Moyd, L; Rose, E R; Steacy, H R

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/119504

Book - Current Research 2001-D2, 10p.

Publication Number: Date: 2001

Author: M. Sarfi, J.B. Percival, N.M. Miles, S.T. Ercil and P.A. Hunt

Publisher Name: CANMET

Location:

Report an Error

We are continuously updating our assessment file / technical report information. If you notice errors in the data, please contact us.

Terms of Use

Please review our Terms of Use agreement for this data product.

Ministry Contact Information

For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Southern Ontario Resident Geologist District Office