Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000000169

Record: MDI000000000169

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Zinc

Location

Township or Area: McCullagh

Latitude: 51° 32' 9.86"    Longitude: -89° 55' 1.86"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 297690   Northing: 5713475    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 52P12SW

Point Location Description: DDH Database

Location Method: Data Compilation

Exploration History

1985-1989: An exploration program consisting of airborne geophysics, ground geophysics, and diamond drilling was carried out on a claim group in the vicinity of this occurrence by Kerr Addison Mines and Minnova.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Pickle Lake

Geological Age: Neoarchean  

Geology Comments

Nov 10, 2006 (Mark Puumala) - The McCullaugh Creek KAF-89-34 occurrence is located in the northeastern portion of the Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt within a northeast-striking sequence of supracrustal rocks defined by Stott (1996) as the Woman Assemblage. This assemblage has subsequently been re-named the Kaminiskag Assemblage (Young 2003). Rocks of the Kaminiskag Assemblage are bounded to the southeast by granitic rocks of the Second Loon Pluton and to the northwest by metavolcanic rocks of the Confederation Assemblage (Young 2003). The area surrounding this occurrence has limited outcrop exposure. As a result, much of the information regarding lithologies has been collected from diamond drill logs (Stott 1996). Rocks of the Kaminiskag assemblage are dominated by mafic metavolcanic flows, with thinner layers of felsic to intermediate metavolcanic ash flows. Minor amounts of banded iron formation have been reported in the mafic metavolcanics, and fine-grained clastic metasediments have been documented in diamond drill core sections inter-bedded within the felsic to intermediate volcanics. The mafic metavolcanics are generally strongly-foliated massive amphibolites, although minor amounts of ultramafic material have also been reported (Stott 1996). The main felsic to intermediate volcanic unit is a quartz-phyric dacite tuff that can be traced over a strike length of 8 km. This unit locally contains thin, massive sulphide lenses that are dominated by pyrrhotite and are overlain by chert (Stott 1996). This is the type of mineralization that is found at the McCullagh Creek KAF-89-34 occurrence. Stott (1996) indicates that the results of a U-Pb zircon age determination from this unit provided an age of approximately 2836 Ma. Rocks in the area of the McCullagh Creek KAF-89-34 occurrence generally exhibit north-dipping schistosity and northwest-plunging mineral lineations that conform to the igneous fabrics of the nearby Second Loon pluton. This pluton is interpreted by Stott (1996) to have imposed a contact strain aureole and amphibolite facies metamorphism within the relatively thin greenstone belt tail that is present at the northeast end of the Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt. Diamond drill hole logs from the area of this occurrence indicate the presence of a northeast-striking fault that parallels McCullagh Creek. The fault zone is several metres wide and borehole logs indicate that it is characterized by shearing, graphitic and chloritic bands, brecciation, disseminated sulphides and quartz-carbonate veining. Drill hole logs also commonly indicate the presence of small-scale folds.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Nov 10, 2006 (Mark Puumala) - The diamond drill hole log for DDH KAF-89-34 indicates a similar stratigraphic sequence to that seen approximately 4 km to the southwest at the McCullagh Creek prospect. Stratigraphy in this area consists of interlayered mafic metavolcanics, chert, iron formation and felsic metavolcanics. The rocks to the northwest are dominated by mafic metavolcanics, with increasing quantities of felsic metavolcanics toward the southeast. A horizon consisting of chert and iron formation appears to occur at a transition zone between predominantly mafic material and a sequence dominated by felsic tuffs. The zinc-mineralized horizon at this location is hosted within a stratigraphic unit identified on the diamond drill hole log (AFRI52P12SW0012) as quartz-phyric ash tuff, and consists of thin seams of sphalerite. Some chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite have also been reported. This occurrence is based on a reported zinc assay of 2% over an interval of 0.2 feet.

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology, Pickle Lake area, eastern part

Publication Number: P3057 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1989

Author: Stott G.M., Brown G.H., Coleman V.J., Green G.M., Reilly B.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - The Geology and Tectonic History of the Central Uchi Subprovince

Publication Number: OFR5952 Date: 1996

Author: Stott G.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Thesis - New Structural, Geochronological, and Geochemical Constraints on the Tectonic Assembly of the Archean Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt, Uchi Subprovince, Western Superior Province

Publication Number: MSc Thesis Date: 2003

Author: Young, M.D.

Publisher Name: Queen's University

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

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Ministry Contact Information

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