Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI42E12SW00002

Record: MDI42E12SW00002

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Silver

Location

Township or Area: Summers

Latitude: 49° 36' 39.3"    Longitude: -87° 56' 18.63"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 432199   Northing: 5495795    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 42E12SW

Point Location Description: Large past producing mine

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: The property is readily accessible from Beardmore, Ontario, by following the Highway 11 north for 200m and turning east on a gravel road, across the CN rail line, to the mine site (1.7km).

Exploration History

1925: Claims staked covering a gold discovery by T.G. Powers and P. Silams. 1926-27: Beardmore Gold Mines Ltd. was incorporated. The Power Vein was stripped and trenched and a 25 m shaft sunk. Some diamond-drilling done. 1928-1932: Underground dev't was carried out. A second shaft was excavated to a depth of 100 feet. 1933: Underground dev't con't. Work began on a 125 ton stamp mill. 1935: Mill tonnage increased to 150 tons/day. Underground dev't con't. 1936-37: A 167.6 m thick diabase sill encountered the previous year bottomed out at 411.5 m. The main vein con't below it with no displacement or decrease in size. Lateral work con't. 1938: Ore shoots below the diabase sill were found to be more numerous and of a better grade than those above. 1939: Underground dev't con't. Northern Empire extended one level into the adjoining Norex Mines Ltd. ground to prospect for ore at depth. The mill was treating an avg. of 198 tons of ore per day. A new refinery was built. 1940-41: Underground dev't con't. Exploration on the Norex ground was suspended in May of 1941. Mining operations ceased in August due to a reported exhaustion of ore reserves. 1943: Northern Empire sold existing equipment. 1946: Northern Empire transferred all interest to J.E. Regan. 1954: Northern Empire was liquidated. 1979: Montane Contractors dewatered the mine to the 24 m level and mined as high grade qtz vein. 1980: Hanna Mines optioned the mine from Montane. A geochemical survey was conducted over 56 claims surrounding the Northern Empire property. 1981: Pancontinental Mining (Canada) Ltd. (Pancon) formed a joint venture to rehab the property. Const. began on a 200 ton/d mill. 1982: Treatment of mine dump material commenced. Exploration (surface and underground) commenced with stripping and trenching east of the shaft. 1983-84: Teck Corporation leased the mill to process ore from the Leitch property. 1985: Ateba Mines leased the mill from Pancon. 1986-87: Ateba and Pancon completed detailed drilling of the Power and Contact veins 700-915 m east of the shaft, drilling more than 30 DDH totalling 16,805 m. 1987: Rehabilitation of existing facilities. Milling commenced Oct 1987-Jan 1988. 1989: Mill shut down to upgrade to improve recoveries. 1990: Shut down of mill facilities, which were put on low level care and maintenance. 1996: Roxmark Mines Ltd. acquired Northern Empire Mines. 1997-98: Roxmark commenced rehabilitation of mill, dewatered mine to 1st level to evaluate shaft conditions, reclogged all core and re-evaluated the Contact Zone. 2001: Roxmark did a trial start-up and tune-up and milled 7,300 tons of low-grade stockpile producing over 800 oz of gold. 2007: Roxmark drilled a 26 hole infill program totalling 2,711 m. 2008 Roxmark drilled a 77 DDH program totalling 8,385 m. 2009: Roxmark and Ontex Resources Ltd. combined to form Goldstone Resources. Goldstone completed a 4 hole drill program on the McWilliams prospect south of the Northern Empire mill. 2011: Premier Gold Mines acquired Goldstone Resources. 2014: Sage Gold Inc signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase the Northern Empire Mill and Mine from Premier Gold.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Belt: Beardmore-Geraldton

Geological Age: Archean  

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - The mine lies within the Southern Metavolcanic Sub-belt near its northern contact with the sediments. The rocks consist of massive, pillowed, amygdaloidal and, rarely, variolitic flows. The mafic flows are 15 to 25 m thick. Units of medium to fine-grained intermediate to mafic tuffs occur throughout the belt. Ironstones are east trending, generally 1 to 2 m wide, and occur as somewhat continuous features from 100 m to 1 km in strike length. A diabase sheet 170 m thick. crops out in western McComber Township. The sheet dips 10 to 15 degrees to the west and intersects the Northern Empire ore zone. The Main, or Power, Vein intrudes mafic to intermediate metavolcanics several hundred metres to the south of the metasedimentary contact. The vein strikes N72E and dips 80 degrees S, with an average width of 0.6 m and is both a single and composite vein in a 1.2 to 1.5 m wide shear zone. The Northern Empire Vein does not occupy a simple, continuous, unbroken, quartz-filled fracture. The quartz pinches out; however along strike withing a few metres, another en echelon vein is always found, associated by a branching connecting link between them. In the vicinity of the shaft to the west, near the 1560 foot level, the vein splits and the footwall branch (although narrower than the hanging wall portion) became the main ore-bearing vein down to the 1725 foot level. Gold was confined almost entirely to the vein quartz, with the associated schist carrying low values and the walls negligible values. It is thought that the initial source for the gold was the mafic metavolcanics and that the sheared zone was a favorable structural site for gold deposition.

Dec 07, 2005 (Q Unknown) - The property lies within the Southern Metamorphic Sub-belt of the Wabigoon. Rocks within this belt are iron to magnesium rich Archean tholeiites, forming an east trending narrow belt up to 3.0 km wide. The Northern Empire property lies at the widest, most westerly portion of this belt. They consist of massive, pillowed, amygdaloidal and rarely variolitic flows. The mafic flows, where discernible, are described by Carter (1983) as being 15 to 25 m thick and typically exhibit a crudely fining upward sequence terminating in pillowed tops. Units of medium to fine-grained intermediate to mafic tuffs occur throughout the Belt. Chemical metasedimentary rocks are common and can occur with rare thin clastic beds. These ironstones are east trending, generally 1 to 2 m wide, and occur as somewhat continuous features from 100 m to 1 km in strike length. Metagabbroic stocks and minor quartz-feldspar and feldspar porphyry, felsite and pegmatite dikes intrude the metavolcanic rocks. A diabase sheet, 170m thick, crops out in western McComber Twp. The sheet dips approximately 10-15 to the west and intersects the Northern Empire ore zone. These Late Precambrian diabase and porphyritic diabase dikes consistently trend north to northeasterly.

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - Within the Southern Metavolcanic Sub-belt, metagabbroic stocks and minor quartz-feldspar porphyry, felsite and pegmatite dykes intrude the metavolcanic rocks. The Southern Metavolcanic Belt appears to be in fault contact with the turbidites on its northern and southern boundaries. The Northern Fault contact is represented by a black graphitic gouge bordered by less than 2 m of intense shearing.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - The qtz is, in addition to the sulphides, mineralized with carbonate and tourmaline. Gold was confined almost entirely to the vein quartz, with the associated schist carrying low values and the walls negligible values. Ore shoots ranged up to 122 m long and averaged 45.7 m. Below the 1725 foot level there was marked decrease in grade and little or no ore was found below the 2075 foot level. A preliminary test of the old tailings pond, using results from three separate augered holes, indicate a weighted grade of 0.038 oz/ton Au. No tonnage estimate was made of the tailings pond.

Dec 22, 2014 (Therese Pettigrew) - Hole 07-9B intersected 59.35 g/t Au over 0.92 m in the Contact Zone. Hole 07-07 intersected 13.2 g/t Au over 0.75 m in the Contact Zone. Hole No. 07-02 intersected 21.53 g/t Au over 0.81 m in the Power Zone. Hole 07-14 intersected 6.46 g/t Au over 0.74 m in the Power Zone and 11.67 g/t Au over 1.4 m in the Contact Zone. The ore occurs in silicified sediments above the basic volcanics. The average widths mined were in the order of 2.6 to 2.9 feet.McBride (1982) interpreted the Northern Empire veins to be partly of sedimentary origin. According to him, the veins are largely stratabound and follow meta-exhalite beds which were enriched in gold syngenetically. The gold was remobilized and further concentrated into quartz veins following the meta-exhalite horizons.

Dec 07, 2005 (Q Unknown) - The MAIN or POWER, VEIN intrudes mafic to intermediate metavolcainics several hundred metres to the south of the metasedimentary contact. The vein strikes N72E and dips 80S, with an average width of 0.6 m, and is both and single and composite vein in a 1.2 to 1.5 m shear zone. The quartz is mineralized with pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and minor chalcopyrite, native gold, galena, carbonate, and tourmaline. Silver was produced as a secondary mineral. The NORTHERN EMPIRE VEIN does not occupy a simple, continousm unbroken, quartz-filled fracture. The quartz pinches out: however along strike within a few metres, another en echelon vein is always found, associated by a branching connecting link between them. In the vicinity of the shaft to the west, near the 1560 foot level, the vein splits and the footwall branch became the main ore-bearing vein down to the 1725 foot level. Gold was confined almost entirely to the vein quartz, with the associated schist carrying low values, and the walls negligible values. Ore shoots ranged up to 122 m long and averaged 45.7 m in length. Below the 1725 foot level there was a marked decrease in grade and little or no ore was found below the 2075 foot level. Less than ore grade material was also found immediately above and below the diabase sill.

Alteration Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - Less than ore grade vein material was also found immediately above and below the diabase sill, primarily due to alteration and leaching. The diabase sill (that intersects the ore zone) is surrounded by an alteration halo. The halo is in the form of a blackened to bleached, silicified, metavolcanic country rock up to 15 m wide, with prominent chloritic alteration extending from this point outward for a distance of approximately 61 m.

Dec 07, 2005 (Q Unknown) - An alteration halo surrounds the diabase in the form of blackened to bleached, silicified, metavolcanic country rock up to 15m wide, with prominent chloritic alteration extending from this point outward for a distance of approximately 61 m.

Mineral Record Details

Site Visit Information

Date: Jan 14, 1997

Geologist: B Nelson

Notes: The Beardmore-Geraldton Economic Geologist visited the property May 7, 1981, September 17, 1981, November 23, 1981, June 8, 1982, November 25, 1982, February 7, 1984, February 20, 1984, December 13, 1984.

References

Map - Sturgeon River gold area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM45A Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1998

Author: Bruce E.L., Laird H.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Gold occurrences, prospects, and deposits of the Beardmore-Geraldton area, districts of Thunder Bay and Cochrane

Publication Number: OFR5630 Date: 1986

Author: Mason J.K., White G.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Part - The western part of the Sturgeon River area (Sturgeon R.-Beardmore section)

Publication Number: ARV45-02.002 Date: 1998

Author: Laird H.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Article - McComber and Vincent townships, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: MP116.007 Date: 1997

Author: Carter M.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

File - Resident Geologist Mineral Deposit Files

Publication Number: Min Dep Date:

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

Map - Summers Township, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: P0602 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1998

Author: Mackasey W.O.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Book - 42E12SW - unpublished GDIF

Publication Number: GDIF Date: 1988

Author: Ontario Geological Survey

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Tashota-Geraldton sheet, geological compilation series, Thunder Bay and Cochrane districts

Publication Number: M2102 Date: 1997

Author: Pye E.G., Harris F.R., Fenwick K.G., Baillie J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Publication - Qualifying Report for the Northern Empire Mine in Summers Township

Publication Number: 2008 NI 43-101 Date: 2008

Author: Bevan, P.A.

Publisher Name: Roxmark Mines Ltd.

Location: SEDAR

Map - Geology of Eva and Summers townships, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: OFM0141 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1990

Author: Shanks W.S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - Summary Report, Pan-Empire Underground Evaluation Program, First and Second Levels

Publication Number: SumRep Date: 1982

Author: McBride, D.E.

Publisher Name:

Location:

Article - 1982 report of the Thunder Bay Resident Geologist

Publication Number: MP107.004 Page: 66  Date: 1997

Author: Patterson G.C., Mason J.K., Schnieders B.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Iron ranges, districts of Poplar Lodge and Lake Wendigokan

Publication Number: ARM17D Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1998

Author: Coleman A.P., Moore E.S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Article - 1981 report of the Thunder Bay Resident Geologist

Publication Number: MP101.004 Page: 65  Date: 1997

Author: McIlwaine W.H., Fenwick K.G., Scott J.F., Mason J.K., Schnieders B.R., Kristjansson F.J., Speed A.A., Bourdages H.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Namewaminikan (Sturgeon) River area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: M1934C Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1997

Author: Bruce E.L., Rickaby H.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Article - Thunder Bay Resident Geologist's area, North Central Region

Publication Number: MP134.004 Page: 106-107  Date: 1997

Author: Patterson G.C., Scott J.F., Mason J.K., Schnieders B.R., MacTavish A.D., Dutka R.J., Kennedy M.C., White G.D., Hinz P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology of Eva and Summers Townships, Beardmore Area, Northwestern Ontario

Publication Number: P3513 Scale: 1:20,000    Date: 2002

Author: Hart T.R., ter Meer M., Jolette C., Thibeault S., Robinson A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Beardmore-Nezah gold area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM37K Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1998

Author: Langford G.B.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

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 North Resident Geologist District Office