Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A05SE00016

Record: MDI52A05SE00016

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Silver

Secondary Commodities: Gold, Zinc, Fluorite, Lead

Location

Township or Area: O'Connor, Gillies

Latitude: 48° 18' 47.25"    Longitude: -89° 39' 53.42"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 302429   Northing: 5354536    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A05SE

Point Location Description: Shaft 1 location from AMIS

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: From Thunder Bay, proceed west on Highway 11-17 to Highway 588. Turn left (south) onto Highway 588 and proceed in a southwestward direction for 11.9 km to a small side road on the left (SE) side of Highway 588. Proceed along the side road for 189 m to a large dump on the left (north) side of the road.

Exploration History

1891-92: P. Young discovered the veins. Development occurred on 2 of the 3 discovered composite veins. On the southern vein, two tunnels were drifted along the vein. The upper tunnel developed to a distance of about 64 m. The lower tunnel, approximately 9.4 m vertically below the upper tunnel, was developed to a distance of 41.1 m. A winze, 15.2 m from the entrance to the upper tunnel, was sunk between the two tunnels. Two tunnels were also drifted along the No. 2 vein. The upper tunnel was developed to a distance of 22.9 m. The lower tunnel was developed to a distance of 64.9 m was 9.1 m vertically below the upper tunnel. Regular shipments of high grade ore were made from the occurrence in late 1892. 1902: Consolidated Mines Company of Lake Superior Ltd. held the property. 99.1 m of drifting had been done on the No. 1 vein, and 100.6 m of sinking and drifting had been done on the No. 2 vein. 1909-11: F.H. Keefer, B.E. Cartwright and associates held the property. Bulk sampling of the Climax mine dump site was done. 1911-12: Further development in the Climax veins, including sinking of two shafts to depths of 24.4 m and 19.8 m with shore drifts at the bottom in the No. 3 or south vein. 1930s: Animiki Mines Ltd. optioned the property, sampled the ore dump, and mined the K5 Vein. 1946: Climax Silver Mines Ltd. acquired the property. 1956-57: Climax Silver Mines conducted some sampling. 1966: Creswel Mines Ltd. leased the property and conducted rehabilitation of old workings and sampling. 1968: Creswel Mines drilled 3 DDH totalling 182.9 m, carried out geological mapping and sampling, and dewatered the shaft to the 3rd level. 1985: E. Johnson commissioned a site visit and an evaluation of the ore dumps. 1993: J.W. Redden conducted stripping.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Southern

Formation Group: Animikie Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jan 29, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Porcupine, Badger, Climax, and West Beaver mines adjoin one another and their workings are on a closely related system of veins that appear in notches around the sides of a small diabase-capped upland, lying about 0.75 km NW of Rabbit Mountain (Tanton, 1931). Veins do not exceed about 61 m in length, 30.5 m in vertical depth and 1.2 m in width. Assays from 1968 returned 22.5 opt Ag across 0.7 m for a length of 76 m from the back of the W stope, first level, and 20.53 opt Ag across 0.7 m for a length of 42.7 m on the back of the E stope, first level. Three faults striking about ENE with steep southerly dips contain silver-producing veins that have cemented fissures within and parallel to the faults. The veins vary from a few inches to 4 feet in width. The faults are 600’ and 200’ apart. Argentite occurs in a gangue of calcite, quartz, fluorite and witherite; locally argentite in nugget and leaf form and native silver in wire and mossy forms occurs in vugs and cleavage planes of other minerals (Sergiades, 1968). On the Climax property, testing has been done on 3 veins with an approximately parallel strike and each of an average width of about 1’. In 1891, a small quantity of rich ore was taken from one of these veins, but the workings had caved in by 1911. On another, a shaft was being sunk in 1910, and a depth of 60’ had been attained. The vein dips 60 degrees north, lying in a fault fissure, the extent of faulting being about 30’. In the upper portions of the vein, the down-faulted diabase sill forms one wall with slate as the other, but in the lower portions, slate forms both walls. The mineralization is moderate, with a fair sprinkling of argentite in places, more especially along the hanging wall (Corkill, 1911). A sample collected by J. Redden in 1993 from the K5 vein assayed 85.8 opt Ag (AFRI 52A05SE0022).

Mineral Record Details

References

Book - Fort William and Port Arthur, and Thunder Cape Map-area, Thunder Bay District, Ontario; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 167

Publication Number: GSC Memoir 167 Page: 125-127  Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/100799

Part - Mines of Ontario

Publication Number: ARV20-01.003 Page: 130  Date: 1998

Author: Corkill E.T.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

File - Hazard files, Thunder Bay Mineral department

Publication Number: Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

Mono - Silver cobalt calcite vein deposits of Ontario

Publication Number: MDC010 Page: 64  Date: 1968

Author: Sergiades A.O.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Thunder Bay South Resident Geologist District Office