Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000002100

Record: MDI000000002100

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Lithium

Secondary Commodities: Niobium, Beryllium

Location

Township or Area: Paterson Lake Area

Latitude: 50° 15' 41.11"    Longitude: -94° 33' 20.56"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 389115   Northing: 5568855    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52L07SE

Point Location Description: AFRI 20000005228

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: The property is approx. 75 km north of Kenora on the English River. It is located approximately 1 kilometre east of Avalon Rare Metals Ltd. Big Whopper Deposit. Access to the property is via the English River Road and the Big Whopper access Road. Access by float plane is available from the resort town of Minaki Ontario. Alternatively it is also accessible by boat from Separation Rapids Landing.

Exploration History

1996-2000: Tanco conductged geological mapping, lithogeochemical sampling, and an Enzyme Leach soil geochemical survey. 2006: Gossan Resources Ltd. acquired the property. 2007: Gossan Resources conducted line cutting and prospecting. 2009: Gossan Resources conducted line cutting, soil sampling, geological mapping and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: English River

Belt: Separation Lake

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Jul 14, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - The area is dominated by rocks of the Separation Rapids Metavolcanic Belt. This unit consists of mafic to intermediate volcanics that display a foliation that trends about 100° and dips 72° to 88° degrees south. This unit is important because it is the host rock for all of the pegmatites. Within the central portion of the metavolcanic unit there is a "zone" in which occur multiple pegmatite sill-like bodies that range in width from a few centimetres to more than 5 metres. This "zone" is designated on the property scale geology map as the "Pegmatite Zone". This "zone" is approximately 100 m wide on the west edge of the property but it narrows to about 50 m in width before it disappears under the peat bog to the east. These pegmatites are all hosted by metavolcanics. The pegmatites all appear to be parallel to the strike and dip of the foliation of the enclosing metavolcanics. Thus the contacts appear to strike about 100° and dip 72° to 85° south. Most of the pegmatites are very narrow, a few centimetres to about a metre in thickness. To the north the metavolcanics are in contact with the Separation Rapids Pluton, which outcrops only in the extreme northwestern part of the grid and again in the extreme eastern part of the grid on the shore of Separation Lake. This unit is pegmatitic granite. On the property it is distinguished by centimetre-sized garnets and it appears to consist of equal amounts of quartz, plagioclase feldspar and orthoclase feldspar. The southern part of the mapped area is dominated by granites of the Winnipeg River Subprovince. This unit is also pegmatitic and described by Breaks and Tindle as a biotite granite and granodiorite. It was noted, during the mapping, to be distinguished by metre-sized quartz, feldspar, clusters. Granodiorite was noted only in the extreme south east portion of the map area (AFRI 20000005228).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jul 14, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - There are at least 4 lithium bearing pegmatites within the "Pegmatite Zone" that may have a strike length greater than 25 m and in one case more than 75 m. These pegmatites have been labelled, on the detailed geology map as, A, B, C, and D. The recessive nature of these pegmatites has meant that few contacts with the enclosing metavolcanics were observed. The width or thickness of these pegmatites, with one exception, could not be determined. The one exception to this was Pegmatite "B" where the north and south contacts were observed separately in adjacent outcrops. This pegmatite is at least 5 m thick. The thickness of the others could not be determined but from their exposure in outcrop they are at least 4-5 metres wide and maybe much wider than that. The strike length of these pegmatites is also a matter of speculation. Pegmatite "C" appears to be at least 75 metres long based on its exposure in three outcrops. Pegmatite "D" may be an easterly extension of Pegmatite "C". Pegmatite "B" appears to be at least 25 metres long. The pegmatites do not appear to be foliated except at the contacts where they grade into a "sugary" textured rock and appear weakly schistose with no apparent change in mineralogical composition. Boudins of pegmatite were also noted in several outcrops. It should be noted that the main pegmatites, that is "A", "B", and "C" all trend or strike easterly into the peat bog. All four of these pegmatites are host to lithium mineralization. In particular Pegmatites A, B, and D displayed visible lepidolite and petalite mineralization. This has been confirmed by channel and grab sample assays. A channel sample from A returned 1.42% Li over 0.8 m. Similarily a channel sample of Pegmatite B returned an assay of 0.86% Li over 0.9 m. A grab sample, 155899, taken from the west end of Pegmatite C ran 0.8% Li which suggests that this pegmatite may carry important lithium minerals. One other sample, 155811, of this pegmatite taken from the sugary textured contact zone ran 225.4 ppm Li (AFRI 20000005228).

Mineral Record Details

References

Article - Granite-Related Mineralization in Northwestern Ontario: II. Detailed Examination of the Separation Rapids (English River) Rare-Element Pegmatite Group

Publication Number: MP163.024 Date: 1994

Author: Breaks F.W., Tindle A.G.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Separation Lake Greenstone Belt-West Sheet

Publication Number: P2673 Scale: 1:20,000    Date: 2008

Author: Blackburn C.E., Young J.B., Breaks F.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Separation Lake Greenstone Belt, West Part

Publication Number: OFM0241 Scale: 1:20,000    Date: 1994

Author: Blackburn C.E., Young J.B., Searcy T.O., Donahue K.

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 Kenora Resident Geologist District Office