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Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record:
MDI52A10SW00006
| Record Name(s) | Silver Harbour - 1870, Beck - 1870 |
|---|---|
| Related Record Type | Simple |
| Related Record(s) | |
| Record Status | Occurrence |
| Date Created | 1991-Mar-05 |
| Date Last Modified | 2022-Apr-27 |
| Created By | |
| Revised By |
Primary Commodities: Silver
Secondary Commodities: Copper, Zinc, Lead
Township or Area: Macgregor
Latitude: 48° 30' 51.37" Longitude: -88° 58' 45.76"
UTM Zone: 16 Easting: 353824.19 Northing: 5375353.48 UTM Datum: NAD83
Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South
NTS Grid: 52A10SW
Point Location Description: Precise
Location Method: Conversion from MDI
Access Description: Follow Lakeshore Drive NE for 12.2 km to Silver Harbour Road. Turn right onto Silver Harbour Road and proceed 1 km down the road, then take the left fork until you see a yellow foot path on the left side of the road. Follow the foot path for 365 m to the shaft and dump area.
1870: vein was discovered by A. Cyrette, W. Caulfield, and J. Clarke. 1871: Surface exploration on the mine included building houses and sinking a 12 m deep shaft. 1872: Cpt. Beck took charge of the mine and work continued on the surface, including building and dock construction. The mine was closed in the fall.
Province: Southern
Formation Group: Animikie Group
Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic
| Rock Type | Rank | Composition | Texture | Relationship | Ironstone-unsubdivided | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrigenous-Clastic-Unsubdivided | 2 | Host | ||
| Vein | 3 | Host | ||
| Mafic lava flow-unsubdivided | 4 | Adjacent |
Apr 24, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The rocks that enclose the silver-bearing vein are comprised of chert and dark, argillaceous shale of the Rove Formation. Norht of the mine about 0.8 km is the contact between the Animikie sediments with the older crystalline basement rocks. A diabase sill covers the Animikie rocks near the shore of Lake Superior (Tanton, 1931).
| Rank | Mineral Name | Class | Economic Mineral Type | Alteration Mineral Type | Alteration Ranking | Alteration Intensity | Alteration Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Argentite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 2 | Barite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 3 | Galena | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 4 | Pyrite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 5 | Silver | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 6 | Sphalerite | Economic | Ore |
Apr 24, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The vein strikes 67 degrees and dips vertically to the NW. The vein material is mainly composed of quartz, calcite, fluorite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, argentite and silver. Assay results on the silver ore shipped out of Silver Harbour only assayed about $17 per ton (although this appears to be due to the poor sorting of the ore in the barrels, with some good ore mixed in with much very poor grade). The vein showed considerable silver in the upper siliceous and dolomitic bed, but towards the bottom of the shaft in the argillaceous beds, it was irregular and poor (Ingall, 1888). Less than 0.8 km to the SW of the occurrence, on the east headland of Silver Harbour, a network of quartz veinlets 0.3 m wide strikes N55E along the faulted contact between Keewatin schist and flat-lying Animikie sediments. On the point and under water immediately off shore there is a network of veins over a width of 9.1 m striking N70E (Tanton, 1931).
| Rank | Classification |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vein |
| Rank | Characteristic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vein |
Article - MacGregor Township, District of Thunder Bay
Publication Number: MP119.008 Page: 46-48 Date: 1997
Author: Scott J.F.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
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 Date: 1931
Author: Tanton, T.L.
Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada
Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/100799
Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology, MacGregor Township, west half, District of Thunder Bay
Publication Number: P2984 Scale: 1:15,840 Date: 1986
Author: Scott J.F., Sequin J.M.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
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 Page: 63-64 Date: 1888
Author: Ingall, E.D.
Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada
Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/297102
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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Thunder Bay South Resident Geologist District Office