Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000000157

Record: MDI000000000157

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: Miminiska Lake Area

Latitude: 51° 34' 57.83"    Longitude: -88° 31' .39"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 394910   Northing: 5715720    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 52P10SE

Point Location Description: Location from assessment file map. Approximate centre of mineralized zone.

Location Method: Data Compilation

Exploration History

1944-45: 28 ddh for 2630 m by Conwest Exploration. Prior to drilling, considerable trenching, blasting and assaying was carried out at surface. 1986: VLF-EM, humus sampling, prospecting, geological mapping and trenching by Goldfields Canadian Mining. 1987-1988: ground geophysics, geological mapping, rock sampling, trenching, soil geochemical sampling, 11 ddh for 1353.7m by MPH Consultants for Baroque Resources. 2002-2006: geological mapping, rock sampling, and 47 ddh for 9349 m by Landore Resources. 2009: Landore contracted an independent technical review of the property. 2011: Landore consolidated its land package in the area, staking a number of claims. 2022: Lithoquest Resources drilled 2 DDH totalling 659 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Miminiska-Fort Hope

Geological Age: Neoarchean  

Geology Comments

Oct 10, 2006 (Mark Puumala) - The rocks of the Wottam Lake area are dominated by a thick sequence of metasedimentary rocks described by Wallace (1981) as predominantly monotonously intercalated wacke and mudstone. This sedimentary sequence also contains numerous horizons of oxide, carbonate and/or silicate facies iron formation. Some of these iron formation units have considerable thickness (i.e., up to 150 m), with the most notable iron formation being located at the eastern end of Miminiska Lake. This iron formation thins considerably toward the northeast, and several thinner (typically <10 m) iron formation horizons have been mapped to the south (Needham 2005). The metasedimentary sequence conformably overlies a thick, predominantly mafic metavolcanic sequence that is located to the south. A second predominantly mafic metavolcanic rock sequence interpreted by Wallace (1981) to overlie the metasedimentary rocks has also been mapped to the north. A number of large felsic intrusions occur to the north (Cluff Lake Stock, South Bay Stock and Troutfly Lake Batholith) and south (Kawitos Lake Batholith) of these supracrustal sequences. Mapping by Wallace (1981) indicates that sedimentary bedding in the Wottam Lake area typically strikes in an east-northeasterly direction, with moderate to steep northward dip. Further west, in the vicinity of Miminiska Lake, bedding stikes approximately east-west with near-vertical dips. A number of approximately easterly-trending isoclinal folds are interpreted by Wallace (1981) to occur within the metasedimentary sequence. These include a synclinal structure with an axial trace that passes through Wottam and Goss Lakes, and a second syncline with an axial trace that extends from an area north of Miminiska Island toward Seagreen Lake. Needham (2005) has has indicated that strong foliation is present at numerous locations throughout the Wottam Lake area. The foliation is typically parallel to sedimentary bedding, with dips ranging from 50 to 80 degrees to the north. However, it was locally observed to be 10 to 20 degrees oblique to bedding. Notable locations with strong foliations include the northern sedimentary/volcanic contact and an area approximately 200 to 300 m north of Wottam Lake associated with the WSaspy3 (International) occurrence. Outcrop-scale isoclinal folds and localized arsenopyrite mineralization are commonly observed in the strongly foliated sedimentary rocks. A number of major northeast-striking faults paralleling Ferguson Creek have also been mapped in the area by Wallace (1981). Needham (2005) indicates that gold in this area is typically associated with axial planar shear zones mineralized with pyrrhotite, pyrite and arsenopyrite. The host rock is typically strongly foliated/sheared magnetite bearing silicate to oxide iron formation.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

May 27, 2015 (Mark Puumala) - Needham and Sale (2004) indicate that a major unit of banded iron formation with no known gold occurrences is present on the northern portion of the Miminiska property. This iron formation is illustrated on the west-central portion of Ontario Geological Survey Map 2417. South of this major iron formation, a number of thinner iron formation horizons occur interbedded with clastic metasedimentary rocks (argillite and greywacke). These thinner iron formation horizons have been isoclinally folded and host zones of anomalous gold mineralization. The gold mineralization is interpreted by Needham and Sale (2004) to be associated with multiple, strongly foliated shear/fault zones that are subparallel to the axial plane of the isoclinal folds. These shears are commonly strongly quartz-chlorite-carbonate veined, and host gold mineralization where they cross-cut the iron formation. The gold mineralized zones are also commonly arsenic enriched (arsenopyrite), with pyrrhotite being the dominant sulphide mineral (minor pyrite is also noted). Barclay (2004) has also noted that the average measured orientations of sedimentary bedding, foliation, shearing and gold mineralized quartz-carbonate veins at this location are all subparallel, with average orientations of 097/85, 103/87, 107/82 and 100/85 respectively. Northeasterly-striking (most likely dextral) cross-faults interpreted to post-date the east-west striking mineralized horizons have also been mapped. Needham and Sale (2004) note that these faults occur in areas of magnetite destruction. Numerous significant gold assays have been reported from the approximately 86 diamond drill holes that have been advanced on the property since 1945. The pre-1999 results were used by Shear Resources to obtain preliminary (not compliant with NI 43-101) resource estimates from 10 mineralized zones. Total estimated resources for 1, 2 and 3 g/t cutoff grades were as follows: 880,773 t averaging 3.16 g Au/t; 618,747 t averaging 3.89 g Au/t; and 346,900 t averaging 5.28 g Au/t (Needham and Sale 2004 AFRI 2.30410).

Jul 20, 2022 (Therese Pettigrew) - DDH 22-02 was inclined at -60° and drilled due north to test a coincident structural and conductivity target located on the west side of the central limb. Significant sulphide mineralization, including pyrite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite as well as quartz veining was encountered in 2 sections of altered iron formation in the drill hole. Both sections returned significant assays including 27.60 g/t Au over 0.59 meters and 1.76 g/t over 5.72 meters (including 6.73 g/t Au over 0.53 meters and 9.91 g/t Au over 0.37 meters) (Lithoquest Resources press release July 20, 2022).

Mineral Record Details

References

MonoMap - Geology of the Miminiska Lake area, districts of Kenora (Patricia Portion) and Thunder Bay

Publication Number: R214 Date: 1981

Author: Wallace H.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Wottam Lake, Kenora and Thunder Bay districts

Publication Number: M2417 Scale: 1:31,680    Date: 1979

Author: Wallace H.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology of the Miminiska Lake Area, Fort Hope Greenstone Belt

Publication Number: P3764 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 2012

Author: Buse S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

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 Thunder Bay North Resident Geologist District Office