Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A06NE00003

Record: MDI52A06NE00003

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Silver

Secondary Commodities: Zinc, Amethyst, Fluorite, Lead, Copper

Location

Township or Area: McIntyre

Latitude: 48° 28' 37.74"    Longitude: -89° 12' 26.97"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 336860   Northing: 5371689    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A06NE

Point Location Description: AMIS Shaft Location

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: Proceed east on Highway 11-17 for 14 km from the Airlane Hotel. Turn left (north) on to a gravel road which leads to a radio tower. Keep following the gravel road and keep to the left. The first dump is 183 m NE of the tower. The second and third dumps are located 183 and 365 m west of the first dump. The mine shaft is backfilled and found at the second dump site.

Exploration History

1867: vein was discovered by G. McVicar. 1868-69: Two shafts were sunk to depths of 9.1 and 18.3 m. From the bottom of the latter, a crosscut was driven across the lode. The mine closed owning to a disagreement among the owners. 1870: the mine reopened and the main shaft was sunk to a depth of 41.1 m with drifts driven on the first and second levels, and crosscuts at several places. The mine was closed in the middle of the summer of 1873. In November 1873, the mine was started again, under the name Duncan Mine. Surface work continued with a total of 1488 m of diamond drilling. The mine operated until 1881. 1921-22: eleven crosscut trenches were dug. No assessment reports were found.

Geology

Province: Southern

Formation Group: Animikie Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Mar 23, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The rocks encountered in the lower levels consist of chlorite-hornblende schist permeated and invaded by granite and syenite. These Early Precambrian rocks are overlain by flat-lying Animikie sediments, 515 feet thick, over which there is a sill, 80 feet thick, of diabase dipping about 10 degrees towards the south. A fault with a displacement of about 100 feet relatively downward on the south traverses the entire rock assemblage. The upper members of the succession have been removed by erosion north of the fault. The vein cements the fissures and shatter zone along the fault zone which is 20 feet wide with a general strike east and a dip of 80 degrees toward the south. Hydrocarbon gas under great pressure was encountered in some of the vugs in the old mine workings (Tanton, 1931).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Mar 23, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - Silver was obtained in small bunches in the form of leaves, associated with quartz, calcite, sphalerite, and galena which forms a zone 2 feet wide along the south wall of the vein. The silver-bearing material was followed from the surface to a depth of 18 feet and then lost. It was found again in the middle of the vein in the crosscut at the 60-foot level (Ingall, 1888). In some veins the vein material, along the walls for widths varying up to 2 inches, consists of intimately associated white quartz, pale pink and white calcite, green fluorite, sphalerite, and galena, whereas the middle parts of such veins are predominantly composed of coarsely crystalline white calcite, white and amethystine quartz, and white fluorite, with small amounts of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. It is reported that cavities in the vein system near the surface were encrusted with black manganese oxide. The native silver and argentite occurred in leaf form in irregularly spaced, rich bunches associated particularly with those parts of the vein rich in sphalerite. The greater part of the silver ore was found within 70 feet of the surface and none was found in the lower levels of the mine, though the vein with its local concentration of sphalerite continued to the limits of exploration (Tanton, 1931).

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: 153-155  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: 68  Date: 1968

Author: Sergiades A.O.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Lime resources of the Thunder Bay area

Publication Number: OFR5566 Page: 133-135  Date: 1985

Author: Speed A.A., Mason J.K., Vos M.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - Report on mines and mining on Lake Superior; Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report vol. 3, (1887-1888), pt. H

Publication Number: GSC AR 3-H Page: 56-63  Date: 1888

Author: Ingall, E.D.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/297102

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Ministry Contact Information

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