Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000001850

Record: MDI000000001850

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Platinum, Palladium

Secondary Commodities: Gold, Silver, Copper

Location

Township or Area: Beaverhouse Lake Area

Latitude: 48° 37' 11.19"    Longitude: -92° 5' 40.83"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 566720   Northing: 5385584.99    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52C09NE

Point Location Description: Sample location

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: The property is located approximately 55 km west-southwest of Atikokan. Access to the property is via Lac La Croix road, located 40 km west of Atikokan along Highway 11. Travel 15 km south on the Lac La Croix road, an all-weather that skirts around the east side of the Samuels Lake property.

Exploration History

1990-98: Prospectors Johnson and Bond conducted prospecting and trenching. 1998: Starcore Resources Ltd. acquired the property and signed an joint venture agreement with ProAm Resources. The JV conducted mapping, trenching, soil sampling, and airborne and ground geophysics. 1999: Starcore and Proam drilled 12 DDH. 2000-05: K. Hattori and N. Pettigrew of the University of Ottawa conducted research on the intrustion, developing a map and a model, with age constraints and lithologic controls. 2007: Teck Cominco Ltd. and ProAm signed an agreement. Teck evaluated the historic data and conducted mapping and prospecting. 2008: Teck drilled 7 DDH totalling 2541.5 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Quetico

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jun 30, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - Sulphide contents are generally high, greater than 3 vol.% and up to 40 vol.% within this unit. Sulphides display blebby to net textures surrounding olivine and clinopyroxene grains. The occurrence of exsolved pentlanditeand chalcopyrite in pyrrhotite indicates that the sulphides were once a monosulphide solid solution. The net-textured sulphide with olivine and the embayment of sulphides into olivine crystals indicate the separation of an immiscible sulphide melt during the crystallization of olivine. This is consistent with low Ni contents (up to 0.1 wt.% NiO) of olivine in clinopyroxenite samples, because Ni is preferentially incorporated in sulphide melt. Magnetite contents are high, up to 10 vol.%, in sulphide-rich phases. Magnetite occurs as fine dusty dissemination in serpentine and anhederal grains associated with sulphides. Clinopyroxenite is the most voluminous unit of the intrusion and is well exposed on surface. The unit commonly displays poikilitic textured amphibole or clinopyroxene enclosing fine to medium-grained clinopyroxene and grades into plagioclase-bearing clinopyroxenite, or melanocratic gabbro near the contacts with sedimentary country rocks. Clinopyroxene is predominantly diopside. Sulphide contents are generally low in clinopyroxenite, less than 0.1 vol.%, with locally high, up to 3 vol.%, Cu-rich sulphides. The sulfide abundance is independent of olivine content. Pyrrhotite is the major mineral with minor chalcopyrite and pentlandite. Cu–Ni–PGE mineralization occurs mostly in sulphide-rich portions of wehrite unit. The sulphides consist of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and pentlandite with up to 2.63 wt.% Cu, up to 0.68 wt.% Ni, up to 940 ppb Pt, 900 ppb Pd, and 330 ppb Au. Most wehrite, however, contains moderate concentrations, ~0.50 wt.% Cu, ~0.45 wt.% Ni, and ~0.04 wt.% Co, ~180 ppb Pt, ~230 ppb Pd, and ~100 ppb Au. The clinopyroxenite unit contains low sulphides, less than 1 vol.%, with low Cu and Ni, but there are sporadic occurrences of sulphides in veins recording up to 1500 ppb Pt, 1270 ppb Pd, and 0.29 wt.% Cu (Pettigrew and Hattori, 2006).

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Map of the south eastern part of the Rainy River District, exhibiting the country in the vicinity of Rainy Lake and River Seine

Publication Number: ARM04A Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1998

Author: Coleman A.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Thesis - Petrogenesis of the Late Archean Quetico Alkaline Suite Intrusions, Western Superior Province, Canada

Publication Number: PhD Thesis Date: 2004

Author: Lassen, B.

Publisher Name: University of Ottawa

Location:

Publication - Geochemical Lake Sediment and Water, Rainy Lake – Quetico, Ontario, Maps and Data; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 676

Publication Number: GSC OF 676 Date: 1980

Author: Horbrook, E.H.W., Coker, W.B., Lynch, J.J., Durham, C.C.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/129119

Data - Ontario Airborne Geophysical Surveys, Magnetic and Gamma-Ray Spectrometric Data, Grid and Profile Data (ASCII and Geosoft® Formats) and Vector Data, Mahon Lake and Flatrock Lake Areas

Publication Number: GDS1077 Date: 2015

Author: Ontario Geological Survey

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - Samuels Lake Intrusion, Northwestern Ontario: A Late Archean Cu-Ni-PGE-bearing Mafic-Ultramafic Complex in the Western Quetico Subprovince

Publication Number: CR 2000-C20 Date: 2000

Author: Pettigrew, N.T., Hattori, K., Percival, J.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/211165

Publication - The Quetico Intrusions in the Western Superior Province; Neo-Archean Examples of Phanerozoic Alaskan/Ural-type Intrusions

Publication Number: PreCam Res Date: 2006

Author: Pettigrew, N.T., Hattori, K.H.

Publisher Name: Precambrian Research, v. 149, p. 21-42

Location:

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