Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52A15SE00003

Record: MDI52A15SE00003

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Lead, Zinc

Secondary Commodities: Copper, Barite

Location

Township or Area: Dorion, Glen

Latitude: 48° 50' 7.3"    Longitude: -88° 40' 14.48"

UTM Zone: 16    Easting: 377401.63   Northing: 5410499.82    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52A15SE

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: The Dorion Lead and Zinc Mine is located on Lot 14, Concession VIII, north of cavern Lake. These mining lots (7 & 8) are located near the northern boundary of the towship.

Exploration History

1888: Mr. Turnull representing a Duluth firm worked on a silver-lead vein. 1903: A 95 foot shaft was sunk, with drifting on the 90 ft level. A 210 foot adit was also constructed near the east boundary of the property. 1926: Acquired by the Dorion Lead and Zinc Mines. 85 feet of drifting from the adit was completed. 1949: The property was owned by Andowan Mines Ltd. 1979: Noranda Exploration took over the mining rights, cut a grid and did magnetometer and IP surveys. 1981: D. Petrunka, W. Morehouse, and G. Kostreba staked the property. 1982: Noranda Exploration optioned the property and drilled 8 DDH totalling 216.5 m. 1999: Millennium Minerals Corp. carried out prospecting and sampling. 2002-3: K.R. Haskell carried out prospecting and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Southern

Subprovince: Nipigon Basin

Formation Group: Sibley Group

Geological Age: Paleoproterozoic  

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Schnieders) - Lead-zinc mineralization is located in a breccia zone that strikes N60 degreesE and dips 70 degrees S along the contact between the footwall granite and hangingwall sediments. The breccia zone ranges between 10 and 40 feet in width. The ore consists of galena and sphalerite associated with breccia filling of white and amethystine quartz, some barite and minor chert. Rich sectioons of vein mineralization have been found at the surface, but there is only scant mineralization at a depth of 100 feet. The main galena and sphalerite mineralization is confined to a zone 1 to 4 feet wide within fault breccia and 3,500 feet in strike length (Shklanka, 1969).

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Jun 01, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - Tanton (1931) described the Dorion Mine area as having a granitic bedrock base which is overlain by flay-lying Sibley sediments consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, and red fragmental rock; in all, less than 30.5 m thick. To the west, an inclined diabase sheet more than 30.5 m thick is found. The fault system represents a normal fault, with the downthrow on the southeastern side. This fault strikes southwesterly through all the rocks and through the mine workings. On the surface, the fault is easily identified by the contact between the Sibley sediments on the south, and the granite on the north. The shatter zone along this normal fault system is cemented by a composite vein ranging from 0.6-6.1 m and has been traced for 1067 m.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jun 01, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The fault zone consists of both coarse breccia and numerous fractures in the granite and sediment. The breccia has quite a unique appearance containing mainly rounded rather than angular fragments partially cemented with coarsely crystalline white and amethystine quartz and locally some barite. The fragments are of granite, red and grey dolomite, brown chert, grey chert, breccia and sandstone. Associated with quartz in the breccia are rounded fragments of light brown to yellow sphalerite. The rounded nature of the breccia fragments seems clearly due to replacement by quartz. Thus, primarily the vein is composed of quartz and calcite sparingly mineralized with galena and sphalerite. Locally rich lead and zinc ore was encountered in the 90 foot shaft. Also, traces of chalcopyrite have been encountered in the vein system (Hawley, 1929; Tanton, 1931). The main galena and sphalerite mineralization is confined to a zone 0.3-1.22 m wide withing fault breccia and 1067 m long (Shklana, 1969). Chip samples taken in 1982 returned assays of up to 3.53% Pb and 0.28% Zn. The highest assays were from samples of solution breccia (AFRI 52A15SE0002). One of the better sections occurs in the vicinity of the shaft, where sampling indicated 4.88% Pb across 0.66 m at one point and 11.48% Pb at another. In a drift at the east end of the property, a sample contained 20% Zn over 1.2 m (Thomson et al., 1957).

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Geological series, Dorion-Wolf Lake area (western part), District of Thunder Bay

Publication Number: P0994 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1975

Author: McIlwaine W.H., Tihor L.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Map - Townships of Dorion and McTavish, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM38F Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1997

Author: Hawley J.E., Tanton T.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

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

Publication Number: MDC012 Page: 285  Date: 1969

Author: Shklanka R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Publication - 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: 179  Date: 1931

Author: Tanton, T.L.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada

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

Mono - Copper, nickel, lead and zinc deposits in Ontario (revised to February, 1957)

Publication Number: MDC002 Page: 44  Date: 1957

Author: Thomson J.E., Ferguson S.A., Johnston W.G.Q., Pye E.G., Savage W.S., Thomson R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

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