Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52B14SW00014

Record: MDI52B14SW00014

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold, Silver

Location

Township or Area: Ramsay Wright

Latitude: 48° 51' 16.34"    Longitude: -91° 17' 23.72"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 625440.89   Northing: 5412695.56    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52B14SW

Point Location Description: Old underground workings

Location Method: Field Visit with GPS

Access Description: Access the property is by travelling from Atikokan to Sapawe via Highway 11 and Highway 623. From Sapawe, take the Sapawe Upsula Road which leads to the Premier Lake Road which is a gravel road that crosses the Sunbeam Property. Several small trails lead to the old Sunbeam Mine/Shaft area using the location coordinates, NAD 83, UTM zone 15U 625440 m E, 5412700 m N .

Exploration History

1899: Railroad Mining and Development Company performed development work. A shaft was sunk vertically to 21.6 m and at an incline an additional 21.3 m with drifting. 1900: AL282 Gold Mining and Development Corp. Of Ontario was incorporated. Drifting on the shaft. 1901: Property was optioned to The New York and Ontario Gold Mining Company Ltd. Drifting. Number 1 shaft sunk to 6.0 m and inclined at 50 degrees northwest. 1902: Number 1 shaft deepened to 64.6 m. Drifting on the number 1 shaft. 1903: Number 1 shaft deepened to 96.6 m with more drifting. 1904: The vertical section of the number 1 shaft was abandoned and a new inclined shaft was driven to surface. A 10 stamp mill was erected 1.2 km northwest of the mine and connected by tramroad. The number 1 shaft was deepened to 125 m. 1905: Operations at the mine ceased. 1935-1978: The property changed hands several times. 1980: Nahanni Mines Limited staked around the Sunbeam Mine and Roy occurrence, conducting mapping, electromagnetic and magnetometer geophysical surveys, and sampling. 1981: Nahanni Mines drilled 6 DDH totalling 731 m. 1989: property was staked by H.Lavoie. 1990: Ovalbay Geological Services conducted proton magnetometer and VLF-EM surveys. 1991: Ovalbay conducted prospecting and sampling. 2009: TerraX Minerals Inc. optioned the property and conducted prospecting, sampling, and IP and magnetic geophysical surveys. 2012: TerraX drilled 1 DDH totalling 119 m. 2018-2021: Nuinsco Resources Ltd. conducted ground geophysical surveys (MAG and IP), geological surveys, stripping, rock sampling and assaying and six diamond drill holes totaling 998 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Terrane: Marmion

Geological Age: Archean  

Geology Comments

Apr 26, 2024 (Nazha Sabiri) - The Sunbeam main shaft vein strikes 230 to 240º and dips 45 to 65º northwest and it is traceable over 300 m. (20000009027)

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Nov 30, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - The country rock is primarily gneissic biotite trondhjemite. Irregular bodies of massive leucocratic trondhjemite cut the gneisses and are locally sheared. The shearing trends N50E and dips steeply to the northwest. A major northeast-trending lineament hosts the shear zone and may be an extension of a similar structure at the Reserve Island occurrence (Wilkinson, 1982).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Apr 26, 2024 (Nazha Sabiri) - A quartz vein sample from a deformation zone intersected best assay of 93.3 g/t Au and 21 g/t Ag, over 0.44 m in hole NS-21-03. Other assays from the deformation zone included 3.98g/t Au over 0.6m in hole NS-21-01, 13.8g/t Au over 0.15m in hole NS-21-02 and 2.94g/t Au over 0.5m in hole NS-21-05 ( File 20000020566).

Nov 30, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - Rocks of the shear zone consist of chlorite and carbonate schists that host a series of lenticular quartz veins. The veins are composed of grey-white quartz with accessory blebs of ankerite and pyrite. Samples from the mine dump contain minute grains of galena and rare visible gold. Assays from quartz veins with pyrite and ankerite returned values of 0.01 g/t Au, 1.923 g/t Au, and 6.367 g/t Au (Wilkinson, 1982). The main Sunbeam Vein in the shaft area strikes 230 degrees to 240 degrees and dips from 45 degrees to 66 degrees northwest. The vein is hosted by altered trondhjemite (chlorite-carbonate schist). Visible mineralization includes pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, malachite and gold while accessory minerals include sericite, chlorite, carbonate, green mica, tourmaline, hematite and calcite. The vein was observed up to l to 1.5 metres in width over a strike length of 300 metres. The vein appears paralleled by a diabase dyke, with other northeast-trending dykes present throughout the area. The vein strikes 208 degrees and dips 78 degrees northwest approximately 100 metres northeast of the shaft. Numerous pits, trenches and 2 shafts expose the vein. The vein is lenticular in nature and is hosted by massive granitic rocks (mainly trondhjemite, granodiorite) which intrude the gneissic granitic rocks as dykes or sheets. The observed gneissosity or foliation direction observed strikes 120 degrees to 130 degrees. The lineament observed at the Sunbeam Mine is represented by a shear zone up to 30 metres wide. Visible gold was abundant in the dump material. This lineament appears to strike northeast The Sunbeam Mine vein has a very similar mineralogy to the Reserve Island Occurrence (Schnieders and Dutka, 1985). TerraX’s SP12-20 hole, drilled in 2012, assayed 0.23 g/t Au over 1.18 m from 43.45-44.63 m (TerraX press release April 17, 2012).

Mineral Record Details

References

Mono - Feasibility of small scale gold mining in northwestern Ontario (parts of the districts of Kenora, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay), volume 1, text, volume 2, appendices

Publication Number: OFR5332 Page: 56 Table 20  Date: 1981

Author: Neilson J.N., Bray R.C.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of the Atikokan area

Publication Number: MDC024 Page: 23  Date: 1982

Author: Wilkinson S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Property visits and reports of the Atikokan economic geologist, 1979-1983, Atikokan geological survey

Publication Number: OFR5539 Page: 485-490  Date: 1985

Author: Schnieders B.R., Dutka R.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Sapawe Area

Publication Number: P3350 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1995

Author: Stone D., Pufahl P., Carter J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Geological series, Sapawe Lake area, east part, Rainy River District

Publication Number: P2388 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1981

Author: McIlwaine W.H., Larsen C.R.

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