Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A10NE00008

Record: MDI52A10NE00008

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Lead, Copper, Silver, Gold, Uranium

Secondary Commodities: Zinc

Location

Township or Area: McTavish

Latitude: 48° 40' 42.83"    Longitude: -88° 37' 32.74"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 380326.49   Northing: 5392999.71    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A10NE

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: The Enterprise Mine can be reached by following a bush road that intersects Highway 11-17 approximately 2.5 km east of Pearl, Ontario. The old mine site is located about 0.4 km east of the intersection of this road and the CNR tracks.

Exploration History

1870-76: Trenching and sinking of No. 1 shaft to a depth of 180 feet, 142 feet of drifting at the 60-foot level; No. 2 shaft, 300 feet W of No. 1 shaft, sunk to a depth of 60 feet; 167 tons of ore shipped. 1884: ownership of the mine changed hands and the new owners dewatered and sampled the workings. No ore was produced. 1926-27: Property was acquired by Power and Mines Corp. Ltd. Rehabilitation operations. 1990: K. Kukkee conducted prospecting and sampling, and overburden drilling. 2011: R.L. Viitala conducted prospecting, trenching and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Quetico

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Jun 21, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - Mining Lot C is partly underlain by nearly flatlying sediments of the Sibley series up to more than 40 feet thick, resting on an undulating basement of pink granite. Various members of the sedimentary series, namely, conglomerate, sandstone, finely laminated chert and limestone, and red tuff, successively overlap each other and come in contact with the granite which rises as a hill in the northern part of the lot. A diabase dyke 4 feet wide occupies a fault, striking south 85 degrees east, through the sediments and granite; the dyke is exposed at No. 2 shaft and in the railway cut about 100 feet south of shaft No. 1. Faulting occurred after the diabase intrusion. The cavities and fissures formed during the faulting are cemented with vein material (Scott, 1987).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jun 21, 2017 (Therese Pettigrew) - A breccia zone, traced for a length of 210 feet strikes N65E, dips 70S and cuts Sibley shaly dolomite. It has an average width of 4 feet with numerous branches ramifying throughout a shatter zone for 3 feet on either side. The zone consists of abundant white quartz and calcite with lesser amounts of barite and amethyst. Local concentrations of galena and chalcopyrite occur as lodes within the zone (Shklanka, 1969). A large average sample of well mineralized vein material near the surface assayed 41.84% Pb, 5.40% Cu, 3.2 oz/ton Ag and 0.33 oz/ton Au, with the gold being contained in the chalcopyrite (Chapman, 1931). T. Stone indicated that very little amethyst was found while prospecting, but barite, calcite, galena, argentite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite were found (AFRI 20000006013). The Enterprise Vein was traced underground for 150 feet and has an average width of 4 feet (Scott, 1987). Radioactivity at the Enterprise Mine was first documented by Fenwick and Scott (1977). Grab samples collected by Scott had uranium analyses that ranged from 0.02 to 0.06% U3O8. The Enterprise mine's main amethyst vein is the only uranium-bearing vein of a group of lead-zinc-barite veins found throughout the southern part of the.Sibley Basin. These veins occur in Rossport dolomite immediately above the zone where the Pass Lake sandstone thins against the Early Precambrian paleo-positive area that is composed of quartz monzonite. Uranium mineralization in the Sibley Formation, approximately 10 m above the pre-Sibley unconformity was identified by H.R. Steacy and A.G. Plant as coffinite. The coffinite rims and replaces pyrite grains and also occurs as irregular masses (Robertson and Gould, 1983).

Mineral Record Details

References

Mono - Copper, nickel, lead and zinc deposits of Ontario

Publication Number: MDC012 Page: 294  Date: 1969

Author: Shklanka R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Publication - Fort William and Port Arthur, and Thunder Cape Map Areas, Thunder Bay District, Ontario, p. 168-170

Publication Number: GSC Memoir 167 Page: 168-170  Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

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

Mono - Uranium and thorium deposits of northern Ontario

Publication Number: MDC025 Page: 132  Date: 1984

Author: Robertson J.A., Gould K.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Uranium occurrences of the Thunder Bay-Nipigon-Marathon area

Publication Number: OFR5634 Page: 96-102  Date: 1987

Author: Scott J.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - 1977 report of North Central Regional Geologist

Publication Number: MP078.004 Date: 1997

Author: Fenwick K.G., Scott J.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

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 South Resident Geologist District Office