Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI42C13SW00006

Record: MDI42C13SW00006

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: Wabikoba Lake Area

Latitude: 48° 47' 38.17"    Longitude: -85° 51' 12.79"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 584198.68   Northing: 5405182.94    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 42C13SW

Point Location Description: Railway cut

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: The East Barbara Lake sulphide occurrence is located in a railway cut approximately 37 km south of Manitouwadge, 250 m east of Barbara Lake and 425 m north along the tracks from the railway crossing on Highway 614 near the northern end of Barbara Lake. ACCESS: The occurrence is accessible via motor vehicle followed by travel on foot. From Manitouwadge proceed south along highway 614 for approximately 44.2 km to where a spur line of the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses Highway 614. Proceed north along the railway for approximately 425 m to the vicinity of the occurrence. Sulphides are reported to occur on either side of a railway rock cut in this area (Milne 1968, p.64; Schnieders et al. 1991, p.161).

Exploration History

1957: Geological mapping; CPR (M. Bartley, T. Page). 1964-1965: Geological mapping; ODM (V.G. Milne). 1978-1979: Lake sediment and water geochemical sampling; GSC and MNR. Samples collected from the vicinity of the occurrence contained slightly anomalous amounts of Cu, Zn and Au. 1983: Line cutting and ground geophysical surveys (MAG, VLF-EM); Western Pacific Energy Corporation and Vanstates Resources Limited. Airborne geophysical survey (HLEM, VLF-EM, MAG); Aerodat Ltd. 1985: Geological mapping; OGS (G.M. Siragusa and K.M. Chivers). Siragusa and Chivers noted the presence of gossanous rock in the vicinity of the occurrence. 1989: Dighem airborne geophysical survey; Noranda Exploration Co., Ltd. and Noranda Minerals Inc. (Geco Division). 1990: Lithogeochemical sampling; OGS (M. Smyk). 1991: Reconnaissance till sampling; GSC (I.M. Kettles). 1995-6: R. Wahl conducted prospecting and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wawa

Terrane: Wawa-Abitibi

Belt: Schreiber-Hemlo

Geological Age: Archean  

Metamorphism Type: Regional

Metamorphism Grade: Amphibolite

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (D McKay) - The East Barbara Lake sulphide occurrence is located in the Wawa Subprovince approximately 11.9 km north-northeast of the Hemlo gold mines. The area surrounding the occurrence is underlain primarily by an easterly-trending sequence of clastic metasedimentary rocks which comprise a portion of the the north limb of the Schreiber-Hemlo greenstone belt (Milne 1968, Map 2147; Siragusa and Chivers 1986, Map P.3046). The rocks in this area are locally strongly foliated (90 to 100 /80 N) and mineral assemblages indicate they have experienced lower amphibolite facies-grade regional metamorphism (Milne 1968). In the vicinity of the occurrence, the metasedimentary sequence is approximately 2.2 km wide and is bounded to the north and south by granodioritic rocks of the Musher Lake and Bullring Lake plutons, respectively (Milne 1968, Map 2147). The occurrence is located approximately 875 m north of the contact with the Bullring Lake Pluton (Milne 1968b, Map 2147). A small body of amphibolitic rock, interpreted by Milne (1968, Map 2147) to be a metamorphosed gabbro, is located close to the occurrence.

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (D McKay) - The host rocks consist of intercalated, foliated, massive to gneissic, dark grey metasedimentary rocks and laminated, paragneissic amphibolite, interpreted to be metamorphosed mafic volcanic rocks.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (D McKay) - Milne (1968, p.64) states that the occurrenc appears to consist entirely of abundant pyrite disseminated throughout a coarse-grained dark-green amphibolitic metagabbro sheet that intrudes the metasedimentary country rock. M. Smyk, however, describes the occurrence as follows (Schnieders et al. 1991, p.161): Pyrite occurs in a narrow (1 to 2 m) zone asfine-grained, disseminated crystals and crystalline aggregates, somewhat concentrated in the more mafic, chlorite- and amphibole-rich laminae. Although originally noted as a gabbro-hosted, copper-nickel prospect (Milne 1968), a recent grab sample assayed only trace amounts of base metals (ie.: 0.004% Cu and 0.002% Zn), but returned 0.024 ounce Au per ton. It is also interesting to note that sillimanite and garnet, minerals commonly ascribed to base metal deposits, occur in nearby metasedimentary rocks. This area should be investigated for both its base metal and gold potential. Anomalous amounts of gold (up to 0.074 ounce per ton) have been reported for other grab samples of metasedimentary rock collected in the general vicinity of the occurrence (i.e., from the East Barbara Lake gold occurrencet). Further work is required to fully assess the potential of this area to host additional gold and/or base metals. In this regard, it should be noted that grab samples of mafic-poor, clastic, metasedimentary rocks collected from the occurrence by G. Siragusa and K. Chivers in 1985 for the Ontario Geological Survey returned assay values of less than 4 ppb Au (Siragusa and Chivers 1986, Map P.3046, Gossans 78 and 79).

Mineral Record Details

References

File - Schreiber-Hemlo Resident Geologist Mineral Deposit Files

Publication Number: Min Dep Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

Map - Geophysical Series, White Lake, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

Publication Number: Map 2168G Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1963

Author: Geological Survey of Canada

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/116493

MonoMap - Geology of the Black River area, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: R072 Date: 1968

Author: Milne V.G.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - White Lake sheet, Thunder Bay District

Publication Number: M2147 Scale: 1:31,680    Date: 1968

Author: Milne V.G.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Mineral Occurrences in the Manitouwadge Area, Volumes 1, 2 and 3

Publication Number: OFR5906 Page: 123-129  Date: 1994

Author: McKay D.B.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - Schreiber-Hemlo Resident Geologist's District - 1990

Publication Number: MP152.007 Page: 161  Date: 1997

Author: Schnieders B.R., Smyk M.C., Hinz P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Manitouwadge-Wawa sheet, geological compilation series, Algoma, Cochrane, Sudbury and Thunder Bay districts

Publication Number: M2220 Scale: 1:253,440    Date: 1972

Author: Milne V.G., Giblin P.E., Bennett G., Thurston P.C., Wolfe W.J., Giguere J.F., Leahy E.J., Rupert R.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology, White Lake (Hemlo) area, Dotted Lake and Black River sections, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: P3046 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1986

Author: Siragusa G.M., Chivers K.M.

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 Thunder Bay South Resident Geologist District Office