Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A05SW00007

Record: MDI52A05SW00007

General

Mineral Record Identification
Record Name(s) Partridge Rock - 1885, Woodside - 1885, Mining Location R 135 - 1885
Related Record Type Partial
Related Record(s)
Record Status Discretionary Occurrence
Date Created 1991-Mar-05
Date Last Modified 2022-May-30
Created By
Revised By

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Silver

Secondary Commodities: Zinc, Fluorite, Lead



Location

Township or Area: Lybster

Latitude: 48° 16' 52.07"    Longitude: -89° 51' 11.2"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 288339.61   Northing: 5351482.55    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A05SW

Point Location Description: Transfer

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: Proceed west along Hwy 11-17 to Hwy 588. Turn left and proceed westward through Nolalu. At a distance of 4.1 km SW of Nolalu, a farmhouse is present on the right (north) side of the road. From this farmhouse, a skidder track proceeds northward for a distance of 200 m to the mine site on the banks of the Whitefish River.



Exploration History

1885: veins had already been discovered and were being developed. J. Woodside and J. Conmee led a contingent of owners. 1886: shaft sunk through vein material to a depth of 9.1 m before work was suspended due to lack of funds. Two trenches over 90 m were also developed. 1888: work recommenced. Shaft sank to a depth of 15.8 m. 1890: the mining location was offered for sale due to lack of funds to develop.


Geology

Province: Southern

Formation Group: Animikie Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  



Lithology

Lithology Data
Rock Type Rank Composition Texture Relationship
Ironstone-unsubdivided 1 Adjacent
Granite 2 Adjacent
Vein 3 Host

Lithology Comments

Feb 07, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - Bedrock exposure along the Whitefish River in Lot R135 shows the general geology of the area to be that of a massive Archean granite. The granite forms a narrow westerly-trending strip of exposure exactly following the Whitefish River. It pinches out to the east and connects to a much larger batholith to the west. To the north and south, chert, carbonate, and taconites of the overlying Lower Gunflint Formation are exposed.




Mineralization

Mineralization and Alteration
Rank Mineral Name Class Economic Mineral Type Alteration Mineral Type Alteration Ranking Alteration Intensity Alteration Style
1ArgentiteEconomicOre
2PyriteEconomicOre
3FluoriteEconomicOre
4GalenaEconomicOre
1CalciteEconomicGangue
2QuartzEconomicGangue

Mineralization Comments

Feb 07, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - In the central part of R 135, about 10 chains northwesterly from the bridge over Whitefish river on the Fort William-Whitefish highway, there is a tangle of veins 12 feet wide occupying a shatter zone in granite. The vein system is exposed over a length of 15 feet in the vicinity of a shaft. It trends south 30 degrees east and dips 80 degrees south. The vein material consists of white calcite, white and amethystine quartz, green and purple fluorite, galena, pyrite, and sphalerite. The pyrite occurs occasionally in peculiar ring-like or rather more hexagonal arrangement in the calcite, the centres of the rings, etc., consisting also of the latter mineral. The shatter zone includes blocks and small angular fragments of granite and Animikie iron formation. The vein lets that make up the vein system are for the most part less than 4 inches wide and within the width of 12 feet they make up approximately one-quarter of the total volume. The fluorite-bearing veinlets showing an imperfect banding have been dislocated by fractures that have been cemented by quartz and amethyst-bearing veinlets. The galena and sphalerite are sparsely disseminated through the fluorite-bearing parts of the vein (Tanton, 1931). A number of newspaper articles and mining review periodicals during 1886 reported very favourably on the appearance of the ore at the Partridge Rock site. The only recorded assay result observed, however, of the vein material near the location, stated that it contained no gold or silver (Ingall, 1888). It is probable, as is typical of this mining area, that mineralization is very localized and erratic.



Mineral Record Details

Classification
RankClassification            
1 Vein
Characteristics
Rank Characteristic            
1 Vein

References

Map - Kakabeka Sheet, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

Publication Number: Map 213A Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1928

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/107463


Publication - Report on mines and mining on Lake Superior; Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report vol. 3, (1887-1888), pt. H

Publication Number: GSC AR 3-H Date: 1888

Author: Ingall, E.D.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/297102


Book - Fort William and Port Arthur, and Thunder Cape Map-area, Thunder Bay District, Ontario; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 167

Publication Number: GSC Memoir 167 Page: 119-120  Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/100799


File - Hazard files, Thunder Bay Mineral department

Publication Number: Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP


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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Thunder Bay South Resident Geologist District Office