Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI42L04NE00019

Record: MDI42L04NE00019

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: Metcalfe Lake Area

Latitude: 50° 13' 1.21"    Longitude: -87° 38' 45.04"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 453923   Northing: 5562958    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 42L04NE

Point Location Description: AMIS location

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: The property is located 1.6 km east and 0.8 km south of the former Tashota Station on the Canadian National Railway. The property is accessible by travelling 7.0 km east of Jellicoe on Highway 11 and north on Abitibi's Camp 40 Road to the former Camp 40 site. Continue north on the Auden Road to within approximately 6 km of Auden. At this point take the right fork in an east-northeasterly direction to Tashota. A winter drill road covers the final 12.5 km north to the CNR tracks and Tashota. An abandoned ballast pit is located on the south of the tracks approximately 1.6 km east and 0.8 km south of Tashota. The Wascanna shaft is 300 m east of the pit. An alternative route to the area involves branching off the Camp 40 Road on the Con Creek Road. One drives along a connecting Buchanen Bros. cutting road terminating north of Gzowski Creek, northwest of Metcalfe Lake. A flagged and blazed trail leads to the Wascanna prospect.

Exploration History

1916: Robert Wells discovered a 152 cm wide vein containing considerable native gold on claim KK2892. 1917: A 2 compartment vertical shaft was sunk to 36 m on a quartz lens several feet wide containing visible gold. Drifting was done. 1918-35: Tash-Orn Mines Ltd. spent an estimated $140 000 on the property before funds ran out. The shaft was extended to a depth of 54 m and a total of 171 m of lateral work was reported at the 27.6 m level. The mine closed and remained idle until 1936. 1936-38: Wascanna Mines Ltd. was incorporated and leased the property. Shaft was dewatered and deepened; mining plant installed; drifting and cross-cutting were done; surface and underground diamond drilling were performed. In 1936, an electrical survey was conducted by Hans Lindberg Ltd. Operations suspended in Oct. 1937. No gold was ever produced. 1942-52: The property was leased by Wascanna Mines Ltd. for 10 years, until the lease was cancelled. 1957: Wascanna Mines' charter was cancelled. 1972-1983: The ground changed hands several times. 1982: Amede Lafontaine acquired the claims and performed various work on them, finally letting all but claim 604704 to lapse in 2007. 1984: Teck Corporation optioned the Wascanna Prospect and formed the joint venture of Draw Resources-Retlaw Resources-Teck Exploration to work on the property. Two holes totalling 242.6 m were drilled. 2009: R. Koivisto and J. Savage performed mechanical stripping and sampling of trenches.2011: Amede Lafontaine transfers 100% to Plum Tree Gold Corp. 2014: Plum Tree received an exploration permit effective to Oct 9, 2016.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Geological Age: Neoarchean  

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - Rocks on the property have been described as 'pillow lava schists', striking 030 degrees with a vertical dip. Narrow altered quartz porphyry dykes intersect the metavolcanics. Iron formation, as well as banded cherty silica are hosted in mafic metavolcanics. Amukun (1977) described the gold mineralization in the Tashota area as occurring predominantly in narrow quartz veins. These veins are found almost exclusively in the sheared, altered, mafic metavolcanics and derived schists. Near the shaft, the metavolcanics have been folded into a series of tight drag-folds with the axial planes striking N20 degrees W and dipping 70-80 degrees E. The quartz veins near the shaft also follow this pattern of folding. The gold occurs in fractures filled with crushed quartz, calcite, talc and chlorite. The faults appear to bear a close relationship to mineralization, the greatest widths of quartz and the best gold values occurring near the faults. Both values and widths of the stringers decrease away from the faults. There appear to be two general trends to the faulting, namely a north-northeast trend and a west-northwest trend. An electrical survey carried out in 1936 outlined three anomalous zones: 1). A shear zone at the east edge of KK2668 and KK2672 which coincides with a few mineralized trenches. 2). A weakly mineralized, 45 m wide quartz porphyry dyke which crosses the property. 3). A 6 m wide shear zone located some 90 m east of the shaft. This zone also coincides with mineralized trenches.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - Mineralization in both the quartz and the associated host rock includes pyrite, chalcopyrite and gold. The gold occurs both in the native state and associated with the chalcopyrite. This intimate association of the gold with the copper sulphide initially caused recovery problems but these were quickly solved. Hopkins (1917) sampled the mineralized schists adjoining the veins and noted primarily no gold values. The vein on which the shaft is located consists of a 0.6 m to 1.5 m wide vein of vitreous to sugary quartz, sparsely mineralized by py, cp, and po. The avg. grade of the workings was 0.24 oz/ton Au and a test shipment (1917) of 317.1 kg from a depth of 9 to 10.5 m averaged 0.96 oz/ton Au. A test shipment of 1000 lbs of ore (from the 30 m level in 1936-37) reportedly assayed 1.12 oz/ton Au.

Alteration Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - Amukun (1977) described the gold mineralization in the Tashota area as occurring predominantly in narrow quartz veins. These veins are found almost exclusively in the sheared, altered, mafic metavolcanics and derived schists.

Mineral Record Details

Site Visit Information

Date: Jul 05, 1984

Geologist: B Nelson

Notes: The Beardmore-Geraldton Economic Geologist visited the occurrence July 5, 1984.

References

Map - Kowkash gold area, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: ARM26A Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1998

Author: Hopkins P.E., Todd E.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Map - Tashota-Onaman River area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM34G Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1998

Author: Gledhill T.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Kowkash-Ogoki area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM40F Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1998

Author: Kindle L.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of the Tashota area, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: R167 Date: 1977

Author: Amukun S.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - South Onaman area, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM47H Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1997

Author: Moorhouse W.W.

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:

Folio - Metcalfe Lake area, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: GDIF024 Date: 1997

Author: Thunder Bay RGO

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:

Map - Tashota, Thunder Bay District

Publication Number: M2354 Scale: 1:31,680    Date: 1976

Author: Amukun S.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Part - Tashota-Onaman gold area (District of Thunder Bay)

Publication Number: ARV34-06.003 Date: 1998

Author: Gledhill T.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Part - Kowkash-Ogoki area, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: ARV40-04.002 Date: 1998

Author: Kindle L.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Part - Geology of the south Onaman area

Publication Number: ARV47-08 Date: 1998

Author: Moorhouse W.W.

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