GeologyOntario has moved. You will be redirected to the new site in 10 seconds. If you are not immediately redirected please follow the below link to the new GeologyOntario platform. For assistance please contact us.
Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record:
MDI52A06NE00011
| Record Name(s) | Thunder Bay Agate Mine - 1997 |
|---|---|
| Related Record Type | Simple |
| Related Record(s) | |
| Record Status | Developed Prospect With Reported Reserves or Resources |
| Date Created | 1999-Nov-24 |
| Date Last Modified | 2024-Aug-29 |
| Created By | |
| Revised By |
Primary Commodities: Mineral Specimen, Miscellaneous Stone
Township or Area: Macgregor
Latitude: 48° 29' 53.29" Longitude: -89° 8' 41.64"
UTM Zone: 16 Easting: 341551 Northing: 5373890 UTM Datum: NAD83
Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South
NTS Grid: 52A06NE
Point Location Description: GPS location is centre of Pit B (southwest pit) which is 295 m ESE of claim #1 of TB1205302
Location Method: Field Visit with GPS
Access Description: Proceed north from highway 11/17 on highway 527 for 900m to the Thunder Bay Agate Mine road. This road leads to the southwest (past the shop on the northwest side at 85m) and then to the southeast for some 390m. A parking area exists at this location. Proceed by foot to the south for 90m to Pit A. Pit B is another 80m to the southwest.
Early 1980s: A bulldozer uncovered agate in outcrop while building a logging access road. 1983: Mr. Van Bailey staked the property. 1985: W. Richardson conducted a magnetometer survey. 1992: T. Twomey staked the property. 1995: Dennis Seargeant staked the property and drilled 3 DDH totalling 11.34 m. 1996: D. Seargeant and N. Mannuala made an agreement and conducted stripping. 1997: Mine opened. 2000: Mine closed. 2008-9: D. Seargeant conducted prospecting.
| Office File Number | Online Assessment File Identifier | Online Assessment File Directory |
|---|---|---|
| 2.17604 | 52A06NE0004 | 52A06NE0004 |
| 2.8626 | 52A06NE0003 | 52A06NE0003 |
| 2.42016 | 20000004294 | 20000004294 |
| 2.38593 | 20000003083 | 20000003083 |
| 2.45272 | 20000006181 | 20000006181 |
Province: Southern
Formation Group: Animikie Group
Geological Age: Mesoproterozoic
Dec 07, 2005 (Mark O'Brien) - The Thunder Bay Agate Mine opened in July, 1997, and is located in MacGregor Township, on the west side of Highway 527 (Spruce River Road), 1 km north of the intersection with Highway 11-17 (i.e. the Expressway). The mine is owned by D. Seargeant and N. Maunula. It is estimated that up to 30 000 people visited the site in 1999 (D. Seargeant, personal communication, 2000). In addition to the mining of agate for export and visitor picking, a new agate vein was exposed by stripping in 1999 (ibid). Agate occurs as a conformable layer or vein hosted by flat-lying, Animikie sedimentary rocks, in contact with a diabase sill. The agate layer varies up to 1 m in width and has been traced by stripping over a 1 km strike length. The banded and variegated agate has been previously referred to as fortification agate and Current River agate, and varies in colour (e.g. colourless, white, grey, black, yellow, orange, blue, beige, buff and red). The agate likely formed in an open-space environment, as evidenced by stalactitic textures and concentrically zoned orbicules (Thunder Bay Agate Mine, World Wide Website, http://www.agatemine.com).
| Rock Type | Rank | Composition | Texture | Relationship | Terrigenous-Clastic-Unsubdivided | 1 | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mafic lava flow-unsubdivided | 2 | Near |
Jul 27, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - The agate bed occurs within a bed of Gunflint Formation consisting of granular cherty Fe-carb, previously mapped as iron formation by Moorehouse (1950). The agate has been exposed by stripping and trenches throughout the stripped area. The agate variably replaces this bed and averages 0.8 to 1.1 m in thickness. The bed strikes parallel to regional extension faults at azimuth 070 degrees and dips very shallow at 10 degrees southeast. It is eroded away to the southeast and dips underneath a diabase sill to the northwest (AFRI 20000004294).
| Rank | Mineral Name | Class | Economic Mineral Type | Alteration Mineral Type | Alteration Ranking | Alteration Intensity | Alteration Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agate | Economic | Ore |
Jul 27, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - The agate bed is approximately 13,600 square metres in surface area. If it averages 1 m in thickness and has a specific gravity of 2.22, then this would represent 30,000 tonnes of exposed agate (AFRI 20000004294).
| Rank | Classification |
|---|---|
| 1 | Decorative Aggregate |
| 1 | Sedimentary |
| Zone | Year | Category | Tonnes | Reference | Comments | Commodities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder Bay Agate Mine | 1996 | Unclassified | 30000 | AFRI 20000004294 | The agate bed is approximately 13,600 square metres in surface area. If it averages 1 m in thickness and has a specific gravity of 2.22, then this would represent 30,000 tonnes of exposed agate. |
Mono - Report of Activities 2000, Resident Geologist Program, Thunder Bay South Regional Resident Geologist Report: Thunder Bay South District
Publication Number: OFR6049 Page: 1 Date: 2001
Author: Schnieders B.R., Scott J.F., Smyk M.C., O'Brien M.S., Debicki R.L., Drost A.P.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
We are continuously updating our assessment file / technical report information. If you notice errors in the data, please contact us.
Please review our Terms of Use agreement for this data product.
For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Thunder Bay South Resident Geologist District Office