Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI42A01SE00020

Record: MDI42A01SE00020

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Copper, Molybdenum, Silver

Location

Township or Area: Teck

Latitude: 48° 7' 48.94"    Longitude: -80° 5' 18.75"

UTM Zone: 17    Easting: 567819   Northing: 5331180    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kirkland Lake

NTS Grid: 42A01SE

Point Location Description: No. 3 Shaft. Production moved from No.1 shaft in late 1980s.

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: The Macassa Mine is at the west end of the community of Kirkland Lake. Access to the site is via a service road off Hwy 66 about 100 m east of the junction of Hwy 112. The shaft is about 1 km north of Hwy 66. Although there is a small airport at Kirkland Lake there currently is no scheduled service to the airport from southern Ontario. Kirkland Lake is approximately 370 miles (600 km) by road north of Toronto.

Exploration History

from Clark (2010) The Macassa Mine started processing ore in October 1933. The first mill on the property began processing the ore at a rate of 200 tons per day. The milling rate increased over the years. In 1988 a new mill was built which could process 500 to 600 tons of rock and 750 tons of tailings per day. The current configuration can process about 1500 tons per day of mine ore. In 1986, the No. 3 Shaft was sunk from surface to 7,300 ft. At that time, this shaft was the deepest single lift shaft in the Western Hemisphere. Rock burst activity was quite common in the deeper sections of the mines in the Kirkland Lake camp. Macassa was not an exception and in November 1993 a rock burst collapsed 2 stopes at the 6700 level and in April 1997 another burst damaged the No. 3 shaft at the 5800 level. Both these occurrences created work stop interruptions at the mine otherwise it would have operated continuously from 1933 to 1999. The rock burst on April 12, 1997 limited mining to above the 5025 level. The restriction was changed in October 1998, allowing mining above the 5300 level. Operations at Macassa were suspended in 1999 due to the declining price of gold. The workings were allowed to flood in 2000. From 1933 to 1999, Macassa produced about 3.5 million ounces of gold from 7.9 million tons of ore. The head grade during that period averaged 0.47 oz Au/ton and the recovered grade was 0.45 oz Au/ton. In May of 2002 the Macassa mill was restarted and processed Lake Shore tailings at a rate of 880 tons per day. An additional 45 thousand tons of surface rock from Lake Shore and the Teck-Hughes properties were also processed. In December 2002 underground mining at Macassa recommenced.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Abitibi

Terrane: Wawa-Abitibi

Belt: Abitibi

Tectonic Assemblage: Timiskaming

Geological Age: Archean  

Geology Comments

Aug 10, 2010 (D Guidon) - from Clark (2010) At the Macassa Mine the Timiskaming tuffs, conglomerates and syenites are encountered. The felsic syenites are the preferential hosts of the gold mineralization in the #1 and #2 shaft areas. The basic syenites are the preferential hosts in the bottom half of #3 shaft area and the tuffs in the upper portion of #3 shaft area. The Timiskaming age sediments are composed of pebble conglomerates, greywackes and finer inter-bedded wackes. Adjacent to and interlayered with these sediments are varied pyroclastic/lithic and volcanic ash tuffs. Both the sediments and volcanics are most commonly found on the north and south f1anks of the elongated intrusive composite stock. Augite or basic syenite is the oldest and most wide-spread of the intrusive types. Situated within this intrusive, there is a westerly plunging pipe-like mass of felsic syenite which enters the east end of the Macassa property at the 1300' sublevel elevation on the hanging wall side of the Main Break. Both the basic and felsic syenites are intruded by syenite porphyry. The porphyry unit exhibits sharply defined intrusive contacts while conforming fairly closely to the strike and dip of the regional formations. This composite stock dips steeply to the south and widens with depth. The three main components of the syenitic stock and related dykes are augite syenite, felsic syenite, and syenite porphyry. These intrusive rocks are host to an important part of the ore at the Mine Complex. North-south striking diabase dykes are known to intrude all sediments and intrusives as well as post-dating the ore forming structural breaks.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Aug 10, 2010 (D Guidon) - from Clark (2010) The gold mineralization is located along the breaks and subordinate splays as individual fracture fill quartz veins, from several inches thick to as much as 12 ft. thick. Veins may be of single, sheeted or stacked morphology. Several generations of quartz deposition are evident from colour and textural variability and vein quartz is generally fractured. The presence of a fault splay is often a prerequisite for gold deposition. Broader zones of mineralized brecciated and fragmented quartz are found in the footwall and hanging wall of major faults. Gold is usually accompanied by 1% to 3% pyrite and sometimes is associated with molybdenite and/or tellurides of lead, gold, gold-silver, silver, nickel and mercury (altaite, calaverite, petzite, hessite, melanite, coloradoite). Silver is present amalgamated with the gold and in the minerals petzite and hessite. The presence of pyrite and silicification does not guarantee gold, however, higher grade gold is almost always accompanied by increased percentages of pyrite and silica. Hematization or bleaching with carbonatization and silicification are commonly alterations of the wall rocks. Sericitization is a more local feature. The alteration has enriched the rocks in K2O and depleted them in Na20. The new discoveries in the South Mine Complex (SMC) generally are of a different style of mineralization - wide sulphide systems rather than the quartz vein mineralization on the Main Break complex. The south zones have a higher content of fine grained tellurides than the Main Zones. The most common telluride present is calaverite. These new, wide, hydrothermally altered zones could represent a new plumbing system for a southern mineralized part of the Camp parallel to the Main Break, fed by a deep porphyry body. The gold mineralization is found in carbonate altered conglomerate, tuff and porphyry mineralized with up to 10% disseminated pyrite. Hole 50-627 is an exception with the gold contained in porphyry-hosted quartz veining and silicification.

Alteration Comments

Aug 10, 2010 (D Guidon) - from Clark (2010) The gold mineralization at Macassa is found along breaks or faults, in veins as quartz filled fractures, as breccias and as sulphide (pyrite) zones. There are a number of these breaks. They are named the ‘04’, ‘05’, No.6, Kirkland Lake Main and the Kirkland Lake North and South branches. The breaks trend about N60°E and dip steeply, 70° to 80° south in keeping with the Timiskaming trend. At Macassa, the Kirkland Lake structures have been mined from 2,175 ft. to 6,955 ft. (660 m to 2,120 m) with the Main Break being the most important zone in the eastern part of the mine. The ‘04’ Break is in the western part of the property and is the main producing break at Macassa. It has been mined from the 4375 Level (1,330 m) to the bottom of the mine and it is known to continue deeper. The ‘04’ Break is located about 600 ft. (185 m) north of the Main Break and connects to it by sigmoidal cross structures. The ‘04’ Break is a thrust or a reverse fault striking N65ºE and dipping 80° to the south. The ‘05’ Break is located some 1,400 ft. (425 m) north of the ‘04’ Break. It splays into north and south branches to the east. The South Branch, about 1,200 ft. (365 m) north of the ‘04’ Break, appears to correlate with the Narrows Break that extends to the east across the rest of the camp. The trend of the gold mineralization in the Kirkland Lake camp conforms to the 60º westerly plunge of the syenite intrusives. Locally the plunge of the gold mineralization depends on the intersection of the host splay structures and can be quite different from the camp trend. According to an internal report by Michael Sutton the higher grade shoots constitute about 30% of the overall goldmineralized structures cutting the syenites. In addition to the mineral trends that have been historically productive, KLG has located significant mineralization in a number of zones to the south of these breaks. The Upper D Zone strikes N28° and dips 40° to the east. The other zones are all included in the area now called the South Mine Complex (SMC). The strike and dip of the zones in the SMC vary. The Lower D Zone strike varies from N5°E to N30°E and appears to dip 70-80° east, however this has not been confirmed by mining. It is possible that there is more than one ore structure/alteration halo giving the appearance of one steeply dipping structure. The Lower D North zones strike NE and dip 30-45° southeast. The other SMC zones (#7, White, YYZ, New South East and West, etc.) strike N60°E generally parallel to the main Kirkland Lake structures. All of these zones dip to the south and are generally flatter than the dip in the main structures. The #7 Zones dip 40-43° to the south. The White Zone and the YYZ Zone dip 50-60° to the south. The New South East and West zones dip 20-30° to the south.

Mineral Record Details

References

Book - Kirkland Lake Gold Inc., review of resources and reserves, Macassa Mine, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, July 14, 2010

Publication Number: NI 43-101 Date: 2010

Author: Clark, G.R.

Publisher Name: Glenn R. Clark & Associates Ltd., 78p.

Location: SEDAR

File - Resident Geologist files KL-1664, KL-2644, KL-2838

Publication Number: Date:

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Kirkland Lake RGP office

Mono - Report of Activities 2022, Resident Geologist Program, Timmins Regional Resident Geologist Report: Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie Districts

Publication Number: OFR6402 Page: 6  Date: 2023

Author: Azadbakht Z., Krukowski M., Maity B.K., Bousquet P., Daniels C.M., Hinz S.L.K., Adrianwalla C.J., Dorland G., Sabiri N., Patterson C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Part - Geology of the main ore zone at Kirkland Lake

Publication Number: ARV57-05.002 Page: 125-132  Date: 1998

Author: Thomson J.E., Hawley J.E., Ward W., Perry O.S., Griffin K., Charlewood G.H., Hopkins H., MacIntosh C.G., Ogrizlo S.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of Ontario, part 2, part of District of Cochrane, districts of Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Timiskaming, and counties of southern Ontario

Publication Number: MDC018 Page: 177-178  Date: 1979

Author: Gordon J.B., Lovell H.L., de Grijs J.W., Davie R.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Mineral resources and mining properties in the Kirkland Lake-Larder Lake area

Publication Number: MDC003 Page: 52-53  Date: 1964

Author: Savage W.S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Preliminary report on the Timmins-Kirkland Lake area, gold deposits file

Publication Number: OFR5467 Page: G0216  Date: 1983

Author: Hodgson C.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Book - Property Visit 10

Publication Number: PV010 Date: 1901

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Kirkland Lake RGP office

Book - Property Visit 11

Publication Number: PV011 Date: 1901

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Kirkland Lake RGP office

Map - Township of Teck, District of Timiskaming, Ontario

Publication Number: M1945-01 Date: 1997

Author: Thomson J.E., Hopkins H., Gerrie W., MacLean A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Report of Activities 2020, Resident Geologist Program, Kirkland Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Kirkland Lake and Sudbury Districts

Publication Number: OFR6375 Date: 2021

Author: Chadwick P.J., Péloquin A.S., Suma-Momoh J., Daniels C.M., Hinz S.L.K., Dorland G., Patterson C., Todd R.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology of Teck Township Transect

Publication Number: P3558 Scale: 1:10,000    Date: 2005

Author: Ispolatov V.O.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Geological Compilation of the Kirkland Lake Area, Abitibi Greenstone Belt

Publication Number: P3425 Scale: 1:100,000    Date: 2000

Author: Ayer J.A., Trowell N.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Report of Activities 2019, Resident Geologist Program, Kirkland Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Kirkland Lake and Sudbury Districts

Publication Number: OFR6367 Date: 2020

Author: Chadwick P.J., Péloquin A.S., Suma-Momoh J., Daniels C.M., Hinz S., Kennedy C.A., Streit L., Todd R.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Kirkland Lake Resident Geologist District Office