Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A10SW00006

Record: MDI52A10SW00006

General

Mineral Record Identification
Record Name(s) Silver Harbour - 1870, Beck - 1870
Related Record Type Simple
Related Record(s)
Record Status Occurrence
Date Created 1991-Mar-05
Date Last Modified 2022-Apr-27
Created By
Revised By

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Silver

Secondary Commodities: Copper, Zinc, Lead



Location

Township or Area: Macgregor

Latitude: 48° 30' 51.37"    Longitude: -88° 58' 45.76"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 353824.19   Northing: 5375353.48    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A10SW

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: Follow Lakeshore Drive NE for 12.2 km to Silver Harbour Road. Turn right onto Silver Harbour Road and proceed 1 km down the road, then take the left fork until you see a yellow foot path on the left side of the road. Follow the foot path for 365 m to the shaft and dump area.



Exploration History

1870: vein was discovered by A. Cyrette, W. Caulfield, and J. Clarke. 1871: Surface exploration on the mine included building houses and sinking a 12 m deep shaft. 1872: Cpt. Beck took charge of the mine and work continued on the surface, including building and dock construction. The mine was closed in the fall.


Geology

Province: Southern

Formation Group: Animikie Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  



Lithology

Lithology Data
Rock Type Rank Composition Texture Relationship
Ironstone-unsubdivided 1
Terrigenous-Clastic-Unsubdivided 2 Host
Vein 3 Host
Mafic lava flow-unsubdivided 4 Adjacent

Lithology Comments

Apr 24, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The rocks that enclose the silver-bearing vein are comprised of chert and dark, argillaceous shale of the Rove Formation. Norht of the mine about 0.8 km is the contact between the Animikie sediments with the older crystalline basement rocks. A diabase sill covers the Animikie rocks near the shore of Lake Superior (Tanton, 1931).




Mineralization

Mineralization and Alteration
Rank Mineral Name Class Economic Mineral Type Alteration Mineral Type Alteration Ranking Alteration Intensity Alteration Style
1ArgentiteEconomicOre
2BariteEconomicOre
3GalenaEconomicOre
4PyriteEconomicOre
5SilverEconomicOre
6SphaleriteEconomicOre

Mineralization Comments

Apr 24, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The vein strikes 67 degrees and dips vertically to the NW. The vein material is mainly composed of quartz, calcite, fluorite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, argentite and silver. Assay results on the silver ore shipped out of Silver Harbour only assayed about $17 per ton (although this appears to be due to the poor sorting of the ore in the barrels, with some good ore mixed in with much very poor grade). The vein showed considerable silver in the upper siliceous and dolomitic bed, but towards the bottom of the shaft in the argillaceous beds, it was irregular and poor (Ingall, 1888). Less than 0.8 km to the SW of the occurrence, on the east headland of Silver Harbour, a network of quartz veinlets 0.3 m wide strikes N55E along the faulted contact between Keewatin schist and flat-lying Animikie sediments. On the point and under water immediately off shore there is a network of veins over a width of 9.1 m striking N70E (Tanton, 1931).



Mineral Record Details

Classification
RankClassification            
1 Vein
Characteristics
Rank Characteristic            
1 Vein

References

Article - MacGregor Township, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: MP119.008 Page: 46-48  Date: 1997

Author: Scott J.F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


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 Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

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


Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology, MacGregor Township, west half, District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: P2984 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1986

Author: Scott J.F., Sequin J.M.

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: 63-64  Date: 1888

Author: Ingall, E.D.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

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


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