Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A05SE00029

Record: MDI52A05SE00029

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Silver, Zinc

Secondary Commodities: Copper, Lead, Fluorite

Location

Township or Area: Paipoonge

Latitude: 48° 19' 40.04"    Longitude: -89° 37' 52.8"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 304969   Northing: 5356080    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A05SE

Point Location Description: From AMIS Shaft 1 location

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: Proceed west along Highway 11/17 to Highway 588. Turn left (south) onto Highway 588 and proceed in a SW direction for 8.7 km. Turn left onto a winter road and proceed for 550 m.

Exploration History

1886: Vein was discovered by A. Crawford. 1896-1891: A number of test pits were sunk. Two shafts, one a ventilation shaft, were connected by a drift. The 1890 Canadian Mining Review reports 61 m of sinking, 129.5 m drifting, and a 22.9 crosscut. 1964: D.B. McWilliams drilled 2 DDH totalling 73.2 m west of Elgin Lake. 1968: D.B. McWilliams conducted geophysical and geochemical surveys. 1971: D.B. McWilliams conducted a geological survey, trenching, and sampling. 1976: United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. conducted an EM survey. Falconbridge conducted a magnetometer survey. 1977: Cairngorm Mines conducted an EM survey. 1997: Cairngorm Mines conducted prospecting and sampling. 2018: Honey Badger Exploration carried out prospecting and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Southern

Formation Group: Animikie Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jan 30, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - Workings are distributed over a distance of 320 feet along the vein. From west to east they consist of Shaft No. 1, approximately 50 feet deep, two test pits approximately 15 feet deep at 180 and 220 feet respectively from the shaft; and 100 feet beyond is Shaft No. 2 about 25 feet deep. The Elgin vein occurs in a fracture zone in a flat-lying Animikie shale in a depression, 120 feet wide, between 2 diabase-capped mesas of which the southern is downfaulted 50 feet relative to the northern. The fracture zone is 20 feet wide. Its upward extension appears locally, with a width of a few feet, along the northern face of the capping diabase of the southern mesa. The diabase rises 30 feet above the collar of Shaft No. 1. A network of veins averaging 2-3 inches wide ramify through the fracture zone and make up about a quarter of its volume. The vein material consists of colourless, smoky, and amethystine quartz, white calcite, abundant purple fluorite, with smaller amounts of white and yellow varieties, through which are disseminated sphalerite and galena and some pyrite and chalcopyrite. Silver values of approximately 10 opt Ag are reported from this vein (Tanton, 1931). In combination with the 2 DDH drilled in 1964, the Elgin vein has been traced over a length of 457 m, with the width of the zone being 3-6 m (AFRI 52A05SE0009). In 1971, 42 grab samples from blasting in 16 trenches were assayed for silver. The trenches were developed to expose the fault zone containing the Elgin vein east and west of the Elgin mine site. All samples were assayed for silver, and four were also assayed for gold. The large majority of the samples assayed under 0.1 opt Ag. One sample taken from the south end of trench No. 7 assayed 0.25 opt Ag. The samples is described as vein material containing 85% white quartz, with some amethystine quartz, and 15% brecciated fragments of shale. No gold values of significance were obtained from the sampling program (RGP mineral deposit files). Sample 709025 collected by Honey Badger Exploration in 2018 returned 1503 g/t Ag, 7.1% Pb, and 5.77% Zn. The sample was taken from a 20 cm wide vein containing some angular shale fragments with 5-10% very coarse-grained sphalerite and galena mostly in quartz portion of the vein. Sample 709028 returned 73.5 g/t Ag, 0.018% Pb, and 0.03% Zn. Sample 709026 returned 19.1 g/t Ag, 1.81% Pb, and 4.19% Zn. Sample 709027 returned 4.71 g/t Ag, 5.14% Pb, and 0.056% Zn (Assessment report 20000017904).

Assay Samples

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: 132  Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

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

Mono - Silver cobalt calcite vein deposits of Ontario

Publication Number: MDC010 Page: 78  Date: 1968

Author: Sergiades A.O.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

File - Hazard files, Thunder Bay Mineral department

Publication Number: Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

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Ministry Contact Information

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