Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52H09SE00004| Deposit Name(s) | Leitch Gold Mine - 1936, Nipigon Hematite Ore Company - 1910, Lake Superior Iron Ore Company - 1901 |
|---|---|
| Related Deposit Type | partial |
| Deposit Status | past producing mine without reserves |
| Abandoned Mine Inventory Reference | 02961 |
| Date Created | 1984-Nov-02 |
| Date Last Modified | 2018-Oct-25 |
| Created By | Q Unknown |
| Revised By | T Pettigrew |
Primary Commodities: gold
Secondary Commodities: iron, silver, tungsten
Township or Area: Eva
Latitude: 49° 37' 30.63" Longitude: -88° 2' 7.7"
UTM Zone: 16 Easting: 425216 Northing: 5497472 UTM Datum: NAD83
Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North
NTS Grid: 52H09NE, 52H09SE
Point Location Description: Minesite
Location Method: amis site visit
Source Map: OGS 1970, MAPP601 EVA TOWNSHIP
Sources Map Scale: 1:12 000
Access Description: The minesite is located 4 km west-northwest of the Beardmore townsite. The property is readily accessible by travelling 1.5 km north from Beardmore and turning west on secondary Highway 580. The Leitch mine site is situated 7.5 km along this road.
1901-1909: Claims were staked for iron deposits. 1910-1923: Iron exploration cont. Diamond drilling outlined reserves of 3.5 million tons 33% Fe and 5 million tons 30% Fe. 1934-35: Gold discovered on the adjoining property to the south. Shaft sinking began the same year. 1936: A 3-compartment vertical shaft was completed to 160 m. Cross-cutting, drifting and raising commenced. No. 1 vein fully developed on the first 3 levels by year end. Const of a 75 t/day mill began. 1937: First gold brick poured in Feb. Underground dev't con't. 1938: Underground dev’t con't on six veins. Drilling con't. 1939: 4 new veins discovered and explored. 1942: Dev’t work reduced by 25% as a result of manpower shortage due to the war. Scheelite ore discovered and 31.6 tons of ore were hand sorted and stockpiled. 1943: Lateral dev’t discontinued due to manpower shortage. 1944: Operations curtailed. Mill operated on stockpile feed. 1946: Normal operations resumed. 1947-1961: Underground dev’t con’t in the form of shaft sinking, winze extension, cross-cutting, and drifting. Diamond drilling carried out regularly. 1962: Est. that ore reserves were good for 2 more years. Sub-marginal material on the 30th level west of the main ore zone was thought to be mineable and was to be tested. 1963: Dev’t cont. Drilling failed to prove ore reserves below the 30th level. 1965: Mine and mill shut down May 15, after 30 years of continuous gold production. 1966-68: Clean up initiated. 1980-81: Teck Exploration screened material from the Leitch dump and shipped it to Lamaque for processing. A grid was cut, and VLF-EM and mag surveys and overburden drill sampling (393 holes) was performed. 28 DDH totalled 2,926m. 1983: Teck leased the former Pan-Empire Joint Venture custom gold mill in Beardmore to process the old Leitch Mine dump. 1984: Teck cont to feed the mill with dump material.
| Office File Number | Online Assessment File Identifier | Online Assessment File Directory |
|---|---|---|
| 63.4801 | 52H09NE0023 | Open |
Province: Superior
Subprovince: Wabigoon
Belt: Beardmore-geraldton
Geological Age: Archean
01/08/1997 (B Nelson) - The Leitch Mine property lies within the southern portion of the Wabigoon Sub-province in the Beardmore Geraldton Belt. This belt is further sub-divided into the Southern Metavolcanic Sub-belt and the Southern Metasedimentary Sub-belt. It is within the latter that the property is situated. This sub-belt is primarily sedimentary rocks, but contains interfingerings of basic to intermediate volcanic rocks. 94% of the gold produced in the Beardmore-Geraldton camp is from the Southern Metasedimentary Sub-belt. East-trending iron formations, up to 244 m wide, occur in the sediments. A prominent flat-lying diabase sheet, dipping 10-15 degrees to the west was intersected in the Leitch No. 1 shaft. This 'sill' is interpreted to be the same unit that intersects the Northern Empire ore zone 7 km to the southeast. Isoclinal folding and tight drag folding in the Beardmore and Geraldton areas, specifically observable in the iron formation, appear necessary controls for ore structure developments. Drag folds and ore-bearing structures throughout the belt plunge westward at 35 to 40 degrees. Gold mineralization occurs in two sets of narrow quartz veins occupying fractures in the greywacke; those parallel to the fold axial plane in shear zones and those nearly perpendicular to the axial plane. These veins are strongly sheared, and contain transverse, healed, tension gashes. The depth continuity of the veins normally exceeds the horizontal continuity by a multiple of 15. The veins range in width from 10 cm to 45.7 cm on avg., and many parts of the veins are contorted with thickened portions in the bends of folds. They consist mainly of light grey to white quartz with common chlorite-sericite banding parallel to the walls, representing a 'crack-seal' texture. Five veins have been mined. They are located on the flank of an anticline which apparently controlled their strike, dip and plunge (50 degrees W).
| Rock Type | Rank | Composition | Texture | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sandstone | 1 | greywacke | sheared | host |
| conglomerate | 2 | near | ||
| mudstone | 3 | argillite | near | |
| ironstone | 4 | mag-hem-ch | near | |
| intermediate intrusive | 5 | quartz-diorite | near | |
| mafic intrusive | 6 | diabase | near | |
| vein | 7 | quartz | host |
01/08/1997 (B Nelson) - Rocks within the Southern Metasedimentary Sub-belt overlie those of the Southern Metavolcanic Sub-belt (tops to the north) and are dominated by turbidite sequences consisting of Archean greywacke, conglomerate, argillite, mag-hem-ch iron formation, quartz diorite-gabbro intrusions and proterozoic diabase dykes. The metasediments are mainly thick-bedded uniform greywacke with associated narrow slaty bands and thin interbeds or lenses of argillite and pebble conglomerate. Iron formations occur in the sediments and vary from a well-banded jasper-hematite with associated magnetite to hematite-bearing red argillite. The metavolcanics in the area of the mine site are fine-grained and vary in color from light grey to green. Ash-fall tuffs and flow rocks predominate.
| Rank | Mineral Name | Class | Economic Mineral Type | Alteration Mineral Type | Alteration Ranking | Alteration Intensity | Habit Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arsenopyrite | economic | ore | ||||
| 2 | gold | economic | ore | ||||
| 3 | pyrite | economic | ore | ||||
| 4 | scheelite | economic | ore | ||||
| 5 | sphalerite | economic | ore | ||||
| 6 | tetrahedrite | economic | ore | ||||
| 1 | quartz | economic | gangue | ||||
| carbonate | alteration | carbonatization | 1 | unknown | disseminated | ||
| sericite | alteration | sericitization | 2 | unknown | disseminated | ||
| quartz | alteration | silicification | 3 | unknown | disseminated |
01/08/1997 (B Nelson) - Gold is often associated with chlorite-sericite occurring in thin fractures within the quartz veins, as well as minor sulphides. Some visible gold occurs on surface and in parts of the mine, although much of the ore did not contain visible quantities. The overall gold content was found to be greatest in the narrowest parts of the veins. Halite is also present as some faults up to 20 cm thick. Scheelite is relatively abundant and appears to form at the junction of cross-cutting faractures rather than within individual fractures. The wallrock adjacent to the mineralized quartz veins is reported to be unmineralized. No assays of wallrock appear among the old data.
01/08/1997 (B Nelson) - In the vicinity of the Leitch gold veins, strong carbonate-sericite alteration exists in the greywacke. This zone was not defined in the field. However, it is large (91m square) and is most prominant stratigraphically below the quartz veins. A total of 3,598 tons of ore was mined at an average grade of 0.56 oz/ton Au from outside the main vein system (No. 16 and some associated veins) on the 8th level. About 15% of the ore was mined by shrinkage stoping in the wider sections of the mine, and the balance by resuing methods. 399 oz of gold and 27 oz of silver were produced from the mill cleanup during 1966-68.
Date: 1997-Jan-08
Geologist : B Nelson
Notes: The Beardmore-Geraldton Economic Geologist visited the minesite June 14, 1985 and July 4, 1985.
| Year | Tonnes | Commodities | Commodity Production | Reference | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 927461 | Ofr5630, P. 328 | Last year of Production: 1968. Mine operation: 1936-1968. Total Production (tons milled) = 1,022,351 (927,461 tonnes). Au = 861,982 oz @ 0.92 oz/t. Ag = 31,802 oz. |
Map - Beardmore-Nezah Gold Area
Publication Number: ARM37K Scale: 1:63 360 Date: 1928
Author: Langford, G.B.
Publisher Name: OGS
Book - NMINER HIST FILE T.BAY
Publication Number: N/A
Map - Sturgeon River Gold Area
Publication Number: ARM45A Scale: 1:63 360 Date: 1936
Author: Bruce, E.L., Laird, H.C.
Publisher Name: OGS
Book - Report of the Thunder Bay Resident Geologist; In: Annual Report of the Regional and Resident Geologists, p. 61
Publication Number: MP101 Date: 1982
Author: McIlwaine, W.H., Fenwick, K.G., Scott, J.F., Mason, J.K., Schnieders, B.R.
Publisher Name: OGS
Map - Tashota-Geraldton Sheet
Publication Number: M2102 Scale: 1:253 440 Date: 1966
Author: Pye, E.G., Harris, F.R., Fenwick, K.G., Baille, J.
Publisher Name: OGS
Book - Poplar Point Area (Dorothea Township)
Publication Number: GDIF186 Date: 1984
Publisher Name: OGS
Map - Summers Township
Publication Number: P0602 Scale: 1:15 840 Date: 1969
Author: Mackasey, W.O.
Publisher Name: OGS
Book - Gold Occurrences, Prospects and Deposits of the Beardmore-Geraldton Area, p. 314-328
Publication Number: OFR5630 Date: 1986
Author: Mason, J.K. and White, G.D.
Publisher Name: OGS
Map - Lake Nipigon Sheet
Publication Number: P0257 Scale: 1:126 720 Date: 1984
Author: Stott, G.M.
Publisher Name: OGS
Book - RES GEOL MIN DEP FILE T.BAY
Publication Number: N/A
Reference Location: Thunder Bay RGP
Book - CIMM, JUBILEE VOLUME, GENERAL STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS OF ORE DEPOSITS IN THE LI
Publication Number: JV 1948 Date: 1948
Author: Horwood, H.C.
Book - The Western Part of the Sturgeon River Area; In: Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines, 1936, vol 45, part 2, p. 101-105
Publication Number: ARV45 Date: 1936
Author: Laird, H.C.
Publisher Name: OGS
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