Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record:
MDI52A10NE00043
| Record Name(s) | Blue Points Amethyst - 1991 |
|---|---|
| Related Record Type | Compound |
| Related Record(s) | |
| Record Status | Producing Mine |
| Date Created | 1999-Aug-30 |
| Date Last Modified | 2022-Feb-22 |
| Created By | |
| Revised By |
Primary Commodities: Amethyst
Township or Area: McTavish
Latitude: 48° 41' 11.16" Longitude: -88° 39' 50.79"
UTM Zone: 16 Easting: 377523 Northing: 5393935 UTM Datum: NAD83
Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South
NTS Grid: 52A10NE
Point Location Description: N/A
Location Method: Based on Assessment
Access Description: Highway 11/17 east to Pearl, then Road 5 north to the first left past the railway tracks. Follow this road for about 6 km. Blue Points is the second mine, just past the Diamond Willow turn-off.
The original Diamond Willow mine was staked by G. Noyes. The mining leases were split in 1990 pending inheritance and the Diamond Willow and Blue Points mines are owned by a son (D. Noyes) and daughter (F. Grann) respectively. 1991: mine produced 25 tons of amethyst and was operational from May to October. 2003: owned by L. Swanson. 2014: The Blue Points Amethyst Mine operates under the authority of MNR Aggregate Permit No. 624926, which allows for the extraction of up to 20 t/year from a quarry area of 4 ha.
Province: Southern
Subprovince: Nipigon Basin
Formation Group: Sibley Group
Geological Age: Mesoproterozoic
| Rock Type | Rank | Composition | Texture | Relationship | Terrigenous-Clastic-Unsubdivided | 1 | Contains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breccia-unsubdivided | 2 | Is |
| Rank | Mineral Name | Class | Economic Mineral Type | Alteration Mineral Type | Alteration Ranking | Alteration Intensity | Alteration Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amethyst | Economic | Ore |
Feb 25, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Diamond Willow amethyst mine is situated on the same amethyst vein system as the Blue Points mine, and the two mines are less than a kilometre apart (Garland, 1992). The Diamond Willow mine is at the western end of a kilometer-long fault breccia zone, separating Sibley Group mudstones on the south from Sibley Group conglomerates on the north side. The trend of the fault zone is 090 degrees and is exposed on surface for almost 1 km. The breccia zone varies from 1 to 5 m wide, characterized by a quartz-rich core and fragments of wall-rock material. Fragment density increases away from the core, but is always matrix supported. Massive calcite is visible in one of the pts, along the north wall, between the conglomerate and the breccia. Quartz veins are predominant in the mudstones and have a green, chloritic alteration for 10 cm on either side of the vein. This vein trends at 090 and at 000, dips are almost vertical. Amethyst occurs as a druse of fine, dark purple crystal points, from 0.5 to 1 cm in diameter, between the breccia zone and the mudstone. Dark purple amethyst occurs in large, clay-filled vugs within the breccia zone. Some of the vugs approach 1 m in diameter. Blue Points has 2.75 of the 4 pits located along the breccia zone. The 2 pits to the east of the original pit have a total length of 90 m and a maximum depth of 3 m (Garland, 1994).
| Year | Tonnes | Commodities | Reference | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 25 | MP158 p. 181 | ||
| 1990 | 35 | MP152 p. 108 |
Map - Geological series, McTavish Township (west part of north half), District of Thunder Bay
Publication Number: P0720 Scale: 1:15,840 Date: 1997
Author: McIlwaine W.H.
Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines and Northern Affairs
Location:
Mono - Amethyst in the Thunder Bay Area
Publication Number: OFR5891 Scale: Date: 1994
Author: Garland M.I.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
Article - Amethyst in northwestern Ontario-1991
Publication Number: MP158.009 Scale: Date: 1997
Author: Garland M.I.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
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