Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000000787

Record: MDI000000000787

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Copper, Nickel, Platinum, Palladium

Secondary Commodities: Cobalt, Gold

Location

Township or Area: Springer Lake Area

Latitude: 52° 28' 22.5"    Longitude: -87° 31' 29.08"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 464357   Northing: 5813769    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 43D05NE

Point Location Description: DDH LH03-22 from AFRI 43D05NE2003

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: Fly in from Armstrong or Nakina; float plane or helicopter access.

Exploration History

1972: Canadian Nickel Company Ltd. drilled 46 DDH totalling 5932.3 m. 2000: Aurora Platinum Corp. staked the property and conducted reconnaissance mapping and prospecting. 2001: Aurora Platinum Corp. carried out airborne magnetic and EM surveys, mapping, sampling, and drilled 21 DDH totalling 6009.4 m. 2003: Aurora Platinum Corp. Induced Polarization on 17 lines on 3 Separate grids were read - Rowlandson (11.25 km), Sandvik (6.375 km), Goose (7.175 km). 8 drill holes totalling 2098.82 m were drilled to follow up on anomalies from the IP program. 2022: Platinex Inc. acquired the property.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Sachigo

Terrane: North Caribou

Geological Age: Archean  

Geology Comments

Aug 15, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - In the regional context, the Lansdowne House property lies within Sachigo Subprovince of northwestern Superior Province. The recently revised subdivision of the Sachigo Subprovince into the various terranes/blocks places the property within 2.70 to 2.83 Ga old Oxford Lake-Stull Lake terrane (OST) near the contact with 2.9 to 3.0 Ga old North Caribou terrane (NCT). The OST to the south and northwest is separated from the NCT, 2.73 to 2.88 Ga Island Lake terrane (ILT), 2.70 Ga Munro Lake terrane (MLT) by Stull-Wunnumin Fault Zone (SWFZ) and bounded in the north by Kenyan Structural Zone (KSZ). These are long-lived, deep crustal structures, which probably represent the ancient terrane boundaries. The layered mafic-ultramafic Lansdowne House Igneous Complex (LHIC) and other similar intrusions (e.g., Big Trout Lake, Fishtrap Lake, Canopener Lake and other unnamed intrusions), occurring along these regional faults and their associated subsidiary structures, are thought to have been emplaced, possibly in an intra-continental rift environment. These intrusions, some of them are virtually unexplored, collectively form a 50-110 km wide and 480 km long magmatic belt. The Lansdowne House property underlain by west-northwest-trending metavolcanic-metasedimentary rocks of the Mameigwess-Rowlandson Lake greenstone belt (MRGB) overlying the older (>2.8 Ga), gneissic tonalitic basement rocks. The layered mafic to ultramafic Lansdowne House Igneous Complex (LHIC), a lopolith/sill-like body, has been emplaced into the supracrustal sequence. All these rocks are intruded by late Archean, felsic to mafic granitoid rocks. Although no isotopic ages are available on the supracrustal rocks or LHIC, the geochemical data (rare earth elements) however, both on volcanic and intrusive rocks of LHIC, suggests they are co-magmatic (AFRI 43D11SW2001).

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Aug 15, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - From the economic point of view, the most important rocks on the property are the layered mafic-ultramafic sequences of the Lansdowne House Igneous Complex (LHIC) hosting numerous Cu-Ni-PGE occurrences/deposits. The LHIC is informally and broadly subdivided into three zones: 1) a predominantly ultramafic basal zone comprising layered peridotite-pyroxenite sequences in the Rowell Lake area; 2) a middle zone, comprising predominantly cumulate gabbroic sequences (meso- to melanocratic gabbrolleucogabbro-gabbroic breccias) and minor ultramafic rocks within the Lavoie Lake-Lavoie Creek-Bartman lakes areas; and 3) an upper zone, consisting of predominantly diorite-leucogabbro-anorthosite-gabbro-magnetite cumulate sequences in the Gabbro Lake area near northwestern property boundary (AFRI 43D11SW2001).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Aug 15, 2018 (N Bennett) - Mineralization occurs as fracture fill and within the brecciated unit. In DDH LH03-22, from 40.20-41.50m = 127ppb Pt, 556 ppb Pd. The bulk of mineralization occurs from 119.50m to 136.20m. Values reach up to 3800ppm Ni, 3900ppm Cu, 440ppb Pd, 537 ppb Pt. From 142.70m-143.25m within the breccia values reach 7450ppm Ni, 2070ppm Cu, 395ppb Pt, 1620ppb Pd. From 158.00-159.00m within the breccia values reach 3250ppm Ni, 3080ppm Cu, 106ppb Pt, 238 ppb Pd. In DDH LH01-05, the hole intersected a broad, highly anomalous zone of Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization within medium-grained meso- to melanocratic cumulate gabbro, varitextured gabbro and associated breccias. A 151.6 m wide zone of mineralization containing 0.23% Cu+Ni and 0.32 g/t Pd+Pt+Au was intersected at 65.9m-217.5m, which includes 0.31% Cu+Ni, 0.36 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 34.4m and 0.30% Cu+Ni, 0.4 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 47.5m. The Cu/Ni and Pt/Pd ratios are 1.2 and 0.4, respectively. The base and precious metals are associated with disseminated and semi-massive to massive sulphides (po-cp). Samples of mafic metavolcanic and hypabyssal intrusive rocks yielded either background values or below the detection limit. In DDH LH03-27, mineralization consists of po-py in bands 1% and stringers 2% primarily from 98 m to 113 m. Ni values range from 540 ppm to 2090 ppm over this interval. Pokioblastic garnets overprint py. Host is in a mafic schist of unknown protolith. The lower contact with a felspathic quartz-eye unit is gradational over a 1 m interval and is heavily sulphidized. In DDH LH03-25, mineralization is primarily within the gabbro breccia and fracture fill. Sulphide content increases down hole from 0-1% to 5-20% at lower contact. Locally sulphides are conductive over 10-12 cm intervals. From 63.70m to 75.00m assay values range from: Ni: 469-4150 ppm, Cu: 218-2090 ppm, Pt: 30-884 ppb, Pd: 52-569 ppb. Sample from 65-66m = Ni 3210 ppm, Cu 2000 ppm, Pt 884 ppb, Pd 264 ppb. Sample from 71-72m = Ni 4150 ppm, Cu 1895 ppm, Pt 176 ppb, Pd 569 ppb. In DDH LH03-26, the main mineralization is from 160.40-173.00 m. Peak values are reached in the sample from 167.90 m to 168.40mm are Ni 6630 ppm, Cu 30100 ppm, Pt 578 ppb, Pd 3040 ppb. Mineralization exists in a heterolithic breccia unit. Clasts range from 2% to 30%. Mineralization occurs primarily as fracture fill with minor disseminated sulphide. Fracture fill sulphidation has a net textured appearance. Sulphide content ranges from 1-50%. Po:Cp ratio is on average 9.5:0.5. In DDH LH01-02, intervals of interest include: from 15.8-70.0 m: 1.1 g/t Pd+Pt over 4.5 m including 2.1 Pd+Pt over 1.4 m (Pt/Pd ratio 0.2), Pd+Pt 1.04 g/t over 25.5 m. From 90.0-167.0m: 0.81% Cu+Ni, 0.42 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 11.0 m (90.0-101.0m); 0.53% Cu+Ni, 0.32 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 42.6m (90.0-132.6m); 0.73% Cu+Ni, 0.50 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 11.6 m (121.0-132.6m); 1.43% Cu+Ni, 0.93 g/t Pd+Pt+Au over 4.50m (128.1-132.6 m). In DDH LH01-20, the medium to coarse grained to pegmatitic, plagioclase-rich gabbro layer (meso-leucocratic) is the most significant host of economic mineralization. The same mineralization was intersected in DDH LH01-02. Best values associated with trace to 3% sulphide content (po-cp). 1.04 g/t Pd+Pt over 25.5 m (109.5-135.0 m) overlain, up and down hole by aphyric (medium grained) to plagioclase phyric and medium-grained gabbros, respectively. This mineralized intercept includes 2.6 g/t Pd+Pt over 1.5 m (123.0-124.5 m) and 3.1 g/t Pd+Pt over 1.5 m (132.0-133.5 m). The Pt/Pd ratio within this intercept is 0.3. Copper values reach a maximum of 5340 ppm over 1.5 m at 132.0-133.5 m. Cobalt values reach a maximum of 343 ppm over 1.0 m at 205-206 m. Nickel values reach a maximum of 5040 ppm over 1.0 m at 164-165m. Nickel and copper values are elevated from 161.0-205.0m (44.0m).

Aug 15, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Cu-Ni mineralization, which is associated with disseminated and net-textured semi-massive to massive sulphide, occurs within meso- to melanocratic cumulate gabbro and associated magmatic breccias within the middle zone of the LHIC (AFRI 43D11SW2001). Mineralization occurs over a broad area, extending at least 1.6 km from DDH LH01-19 to DDH LH03-25 and a width of 1.3 km from DDH LH01-05 to DDH LH03-27.

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