Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI42B01NW00002

Record: MDI42B01NW00002

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold, Silver

Location

Township or Area: Keith

Latitude: 48° 8' 50.13"    Longitude: -82° 16' 59.29"

UTM Zone: 17    Easting: 404557.48   Northing: 5333463.5    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Timmins

NTS Grid: 42B01NW

Point Location Description: North rim of East Pit.

Location Method: Field Visit with GPS

Access Description: The mine is 85km west southwest of Timmins and easy access is possible via Highway 101 to the Horwood Lake / Palomar turn-off. An all weather road extends south to Joburke station on the main CNR tracks. South of the tracks a road goes west 2km to the mine site.

Exploration History

1946: Joseph Burke and Maynard Bromley - discovery, optioned to Rush Lake Mines. 1946: Joburke Gold Mines: stripping, 132 ddh, shaft to 130 m (1947), in 1948 underground development and drilling. 1947: Palomar Gold Mines: diamond drilling. 1949: McIntyre Porcupine Mines - dewatering, resampling. 1964: Denison Mines Ltd - 6 ddh. 1973: Noranda Exploration - reserve calculation, ground geophysics, stripping, geological mapping, 28 ddh (984 m); production 1973-1975 and 1979-1981, 9 surface ddh (1980), 3 underground ddh (1980), UGD. 1987: Gail Resources Inc. – AEM, AMag. 1988: Tarzan Gold Inc. - joint venture partner, geological mapping, lithogeochemistry, ground mag, IP survey, stripping and diamond drilling. 1989: Noranda Exploration – Comp.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Abitibi

Terrane: Wawa-Abitibi

Belt: Swayze

Tectonic Assemblage: Muskego-Reeves

Geological Age: Neoarchean  

Metamorphism Type: Regional

Metamorphism Grade: Greenschist

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (S Fumerton) - Structural controls on the mineralization are dominant. Other than the mineralization being concentrated in two parallel deformation zones trending east - west, an oblique crenulation cleavage striking northeast also appears to be important, together with later generations of quartz veining in 'S' folds and extension quartz veins orientated north - south. In the southern deformation zone are the two main mineralized pods both of which plunge to the west. Within the deformation zones, strain is high and pillowed flows have length to width ratios in excess of 20:1. Boudinaged quartz - carbonate veins are common and folded into 'Z' folds about the crenulation cleavage. The McKeith Lake fault which strikes 060, truncates the structural features and alteration related to the mineralization to the west of the known mineralization.

Mar 23, 2015 (A Wilson) - The property is underlain by a diverse array of metavolcanic rocks and interbedded metasediments and iron formation. Rock units dip steeply to the north and strike northeast, north of the MacKeith Lake fault and southeast, south of the fault. The stratigraphy consistently faces north. The fault zone surrounding the MacKeith Lake fault contains brecciated fragments of chert, iron formation, lamprophyre and talc chlorite schist. Rocks south of the MacKeith Lake fault have experience greater amounts of ductile strain than those north of the fault. A significant amount of dislocation along the fault is suggested by the change in strick orientation and the abrupt truncation of a number of rock units.

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Mar 23, 2015 (S Fumerton) - Regionally the deposit is located in a sequence of mafic volcanics, minor felsic metavolcanics, and with intercalated argillaceous sediments. Further afield are some highly altered ultramafics which may be komatiitic, and banded iron formations. Primary textures in the mafic volcanic rocks are typically pillowed flows, in the felsic volcanics fragmental textures which may be lapilli tuffs occur, where as in sediments bedding is on a very fine scale. These rocks have been intruded by small quartz porphyry felsic dykes, carbonate - lamprophyric dykes, and diabase dykes. The rocks in the immediate vicinity of the mineralization have been extensively deformed and alteration is extensive over tens of metres. The alteration is dominantly an iron carbonate affection all rock types felsic and mafic. Weak chlorite alteration occurs locally though pervasively but is typically manifested as chlorite rich selvedges within and adjacent to veins All economic mineralization is confined to two parallel deformation zones within the meta volcanic sequence.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (S Fumerton) - There are two basic types of mineralization, these are 1) the more important, late stage, large S shaped quartz veins, 2) earlier quartz - Fe carbonate veins parallel to foliation and the deformation zones. Late stage S shaped veins have been mined in the East and West pits within the southern or main deformation zone. Limited production has also been realised from a similar vein in the northern deformation zone. Test mining has also been carried out on a fourth vein in the northern deformation zone further to the west. These S shaped veins which average 7 to 8 g/t Au are up to 4m thick and consist of coarse quartz with erratic sulphides and a pronounced nugget effect in the distribution of gold. Within the S shaped veins there are shoots of higher gold values which plunge at shallow angles to the northeast. Previous descriptions of these late veins noted that they are composed of quartz, albite, carbonate, and pyrite with minor amounts of chalcopyrite. The occurrence of chalcopyrite is associated with high gold values but trails or leads of pyrite are associated with even high gold grades. Early veins are typically composed of quartz - carbonate, and are parallel to the dominant and early foliation. Disseminated pyrite is associated with these veins and the amount of pyrite locally increases together with the occurrence of replacement silicification where these veins are closely spaced. In such cases the typical grade is 3 to 4 g/t Au which is not confined to the veins. Such quartz carbonate veins are up to 1m thick but more commonly are less than 20cm. Quartz - feldspar - carbonate veins also occur and are associated with small felsic intrusives.

Dec 07, 2005 (A Wilson) - Grab samples of mineralized quartz collected from the muck pile by the OGS in 1970 returned assays of: 441.00 g/t Au, 47 g/t Ag, 0.23% Cu and 61.00 g/t Au, 0.00 g/t Ag and 0.00% Cu.

Assay Samples

Mineral Record Details

Mineral Zones - Size and Shape

Rank: 10       Structure Type: Fold Drag

Rank: 5       Structure Type: Shear

Site Visit Information

Date: Jul 26, 1976

Geologist: W Karvinen

Notes: An afternoon was spent looking at rocks around the New Joburke Mine in Keith Twp which closed in Dec 1975 after a year of operation. The gold ore is closely associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite in quartz carbonate veins which are generally conformably to the layered (bedded?) carbonated country rocks. The host rocks are mafic volcanic rock which are carbonated to varying degrees across a strike width of approx. 300 feet. The stratigraphy is from bottom to top with tops to the south:- felsic tuffs thinly bedded - carbonate beds | carbonated volcanics (ore zone) - mafic volcanics. Carbonated zone is near top of felsic rocks and in contact with overlying mafic volcanics. - similarity exists here between massive base metal deposits | gold in carbonated rocks. [ PRECIS ]

Date: Jan 04, 1981

Geologist: L Lutha

Notes: [Partial] With the rapid increase in the price of gold in 1979, operations were resumed at this time and in the present period a total of 183,872 tons were produced at an average grade of 0.109 oz/ton up to the end of February 1981. The mine is scheduled to close in August or September 1981 after the remaining 70,000 tons of ore are mined out. The grade of the remaining reserves is calculated at 0.10 oz/ton.

Date: Jul 14, 1992

Geologist: S Fumerton

Notes: In company with K. Heather (GSC), J. Ayer (OGS), C. Kaszycki (OGS) and Marc Leroux (MNDM) a tour was given of the Joburke property by Peter Cooper and Roger Dahn of Noranda exploration. During the tour a number of large stripped area were examined and results of the channel sampling were discussed. A number of buildings near the main entrance are in good repair and these together with some equipment stored on site are looked after by a watchman. The pits which are flooded have been fenced off with chain linked fence re-enforced by steel cable and wired onto steel uprights set in holes drilled into rock. The old head frame has been demolished and the shaft has been capped with concrete.

Date: Jul 03, 2014

Geologist: P Bousquet

Notes: A field visit was undertaken to look at the rocks located at the former Joburke Mine. Most buildings are lacking maintenance, and coreracks have collapsed. Stripped rocks are still seen, although some are covered by organic material. The pits are filled with water, and the fences have seen better days. The east pit is well fenced, so is the northeast pit. The west pit is fully accessible although fence posts are visible. The stripped rocks still show the stratigraphy of the mine. One stripping located southwest of the northeast pit showed thick boudinaged quartz veins, with the noted presence of chalcopyrite, given away by copper bloom (malachite).

References

File - Resident Geologist files T-70, T-6366, T-6354

Publication Number: Date:

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Timmins RGP office

Map - Geological series, Keith Township (southern half), District of Sudbury

Publication Number: P0747 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1997

Author: Milne V.G., Breaks F.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines and Northern Affairs

Location:

Map - Geological series, Operation Chapleau, Horwood Lake sheet, districts of Algoma, Cochrane, and Sudbury

Publication Number: P0673 Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1997

Author: Thurston P.C., Siragusa G.M., Sage R.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines and Northern Affairs

Location:

Map - Parts of Keith and Muskego townships, District of Sudbury, Ontario

Publication Number: M1950-04 Date: 1997

Author: Prest V.K., Hogg N.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Patricia Showing-Hoodoo Prospect, Minor Element Data

Publication Number: OFM0215 Scale: 1:250    Date: 1993

Author: Siragusa G.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Book - Northern Miner 79-04-24, Pamour, p. 10

Publication Number: NMINER Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name: Northern Miner

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Northern Swayze Greenstone Belt

Publication Number: M2627 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1995

Author: Ayer J.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - 1981 report of the Timmins Resident Geologist

Publication Number: MP101.005 Page: 73  Date: 1997

Author: Luhta L.E., Sangster P.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Core - Resident Geologist Core Library

Publication Number: Drill Core Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location:

Part - Geology of the Keith-Muskego townships area

Publication Number: ARV59-07 Page: 34-36  Date: 1997

Author: Prest V.K.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of the Chapleau area, districts of Algoma, Sudbury, and Cochrane

Publication Number: R157 Page: 206-210  Date: 1977

Author: Thurston P.C., Siragusa G.M., Sage R.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Publication - Sudbury Timmins Algoma Mineral Program, Project 1: mineral inventory of the Sudbury-Timmins-Sault Ste. Marie region, Ontario

Publication Number: GSC OF 1087 Date: 1985

Author: Rose, D.G.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/129999

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: 69-70  Date: 1979

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

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of Keith and Muskego Townships, Northern Swayze Greenstone Belt

Publication Number: OFR5901 Date: 1994

Author: Ayer J.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Book - Recent developments in Keith Township.

Publication Number: PR1946-03 Date: 1946

Author: Hogg

Publisher Name:

Location:

Book - Preliminary report on the Keith Township property of Rush Lake Gold Mines.

Publication Number: PR1946-04 Date: 1946

Author: Hogg

Publisher Name:

Location:

MonoMap - Precambrian Geology, Northern Swayze Greenstone Belt

Publication Number: R297 Page: 47-48  Date: 1995

Author: Ayer J.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Geophysical/geochemical series, north Swayze-Montcalm area, airborne electromagnetic survey, total intensity magnetic survey

Publication Number: M81376 Scale: 1:20,000    Date: 1990

Author: Geoterrex Ltd.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

MonoMap - Mineral Prospects of the Swayze Greenstone Belt (Volume 1, Parts of NTS 41 O and Volume 2, Parts of NTS 41 P, 42 A and 42 B)

Publication Number: OFR5912 Page: 609-611  Date: 1995

Author: Fumerton S.L., Houle K.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

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