Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52C09NE00012

Record: MDI52C09NE00012

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Silver, Copper, Zinc, Lead

Location

Township or Area: Factor Lake Area

Latitude: 48° 44' 30.7"    Longitude: -92° 7' 28.42"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 564361.79   Northing: 5399129.91    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay South

NTS Grid: 52C09NE, 52C16SE

Point Location Description: Old shaft and underground workings

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: Access is via Highway 11 and then by old bush road (350m) to the mine site. Alternate access is by the CNR line west to the mine site. The bush or skid road is located 2.5km west of the Flanders-Highway 11 Junction.

Exploration History

1900: A 2.1 m by 2.7 m vertical shaft was sunk to a depth of 27.6 m by the Rainy River Development Company of London Ltd. A timber collar was constructed to a depth of 5.2 m. 1918: report and sampling by W.A. Preston. 1928: H.J. Hoover dewatered the shaft and did 13 m of drilling, minor stripping and trenching. 1930: Some exploration work done. 1945: Andowan Mines drilled 2 holes totalling 100 m. 1946: Freeport Exploration Company dewatered the shaft and examined the old underground workings. The company also completed 964.7 m of diamond drilling on the property. 1972: Kerr Addison Mines Ltd. optioned the property and collected grab and chip samples. 1979: Mechanical and power stripping were done by K.J. McTavish on mining claim TB475153, site of the Mayflower Mine. 1980-1981: Drilling by C.D. Huston and Sons for A. Rich was performed. Two holes totalling 121 m. 1984: Claymore Resources Ltd. carried out line cutting, magnetometer and VLF-EM geophysical surveys, and geological mapping. 1988: Noranda Exploration carried out trenching, mapping and a humus geochemistry survey. 2016: T. Thurier carried out sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Sep 14, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Mayflower prospect is located in an aureole of silicified and carbonatized metavolcanics adjacent to a small tonalite stock. The metavolcanics are of intermediate to mafic composition and to the south of the shaft, minor shale and magnetite ironstone are intercalated with the metavolcanics. The rocks have been intruded by a small tonalite stock which outcrops to the west of the shaft and by a satellite stock which is overlain by glacial deposits to the east of the shaft. These two stocks are connected at depth (see Figure 16b) and form a saddle structure. Adjacent to the tonalite contact the metavolcanics are commonly strongly carbonatized, and more locally, they are silicified. The contacts with less altered metavolcanics are gradational. The alteration is associated with an erratic stockwork of quartz and quartz-carbonate veins and minor brecciation (Fumerton, 1985).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Oct 30, 2020 (Dorothy Campbell) - A grab sample collected in 1981 by OGS staff of pyrite-rich quartz porphyry assayed 0.69 ounces of gold per ton and 0.47 ounces of silver per ton (Fenwick et al., 1980). Samples collected by Mr. Thurier in September 2016 returned 175.312 g/t Au, and subsequent lab duplicates of this sample returned 127.816, 127.316 and 201.950 g/t Au. Further sampling done on the property by J. Gignac by lithology and mineralization type and quantity returned values ranging from 0.468 g/t Au to 7.958 g/t Au (Assessment report 20000015898).

Oct 30, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Mayflower Prospect was identified by Wilkinson (1982), as a metavolcanic-hosted, stratabound type. Gold mineralization is concentrated in quartz and quartz-carbonate veins hosted by sheared chemical sedimentary rocks, altered metavolcanic fragmental units, or both. Wilkinson (1982), described the Mayflower Prospect: "At the Mayflower Mine, the geological setting is similar to the Red Paint Lake occurrences except that the chlorite-sericite-carbonate schists host banded chert rather than ankerite. The chert is finely laminated with local zones containing small (1 centimetre by 10 centimetres), irregular, pale green pods. The pods consist of chert and very fine-grained, green muscovite and epidote. Fine- to medium-grained pyrite and rare arsenopyrite are disseminated throughout the chert. Quartz feldspar porphyry cuts the schist in the vicinity of the mineralization. It occurs as an oblong body that is zoned from the aphanitic margins to a medium-grained core. Quartz-carbonate veins having either north or east trends, cut all of the rock types. The veins consist of essentially grey quartz, ankerite, chlorite, and green muscovite. Occasionally, minute grains of scheelite are intergrown with the ankerite. The gold content of the veins is reported to be up to 18.625 grams per ton (Wilkinson, 1979, p. 212). Pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite are present in samples of vein from the mine dump. Stockworks of quartz veins and quartz-carbonate veins occur cutting the marginal phases of the porphyry and are accompanied by a pervasive carbonatization of the host. In addition to the anomalously high gold and silver content, the stockwork veins are mineralized with pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena." Fumerton, (1981), also mapped the property and stated that the intrusion of a small tonalite stock, "Mayflower Stock" had caused abundant carbonatization. Samples collected by W.A. Preston in 1918 from the rock dump returned 0.43 to 0.85 oz/t Au from quartz with pyrite, chalcopyrite, and traces of galena. Mayflower Gold Mines Limited dewatered the workings in 1928 and resampled the quartz vein. In one cross-cut on the first level, massive sulphides were reported up to 0.75 m wide and of unspecified length within the quartz vein. The gold values across this sulphide vein were reported to range between $20.40 and $56.18 per ton (at 1928 prices equivalent to 0.99 and 2.72 ounces Au per ton). At the second level the same apparent sulphide vein was tentatively traced for 9 m and maintained a width of approximately 0.9 m. Two channel samples across the sulphide vein had alleged values of $4.20 per ton (at 1928 prices, 0.20 ounces Au per ton), whereas another sample was $11.20 per ton (at 1928 prices, 0.54 ounces Au per ton). Lesser values were reported from quartz containing disseminated sulphides adjacent to the massive sulphide vein. Erratic gold values of between $44.12 and $0.20 per ton (2.13 and 0.01 ounces Au per ton at 1928 prices) were reported along the contact of the quartz vein with the adjacent metavolcanics. Andowan Mines Limited obtained the property in 1944 and in 1945 sank two diamond drill holes to intersect the mineralized quartz vein in the vicinity of the established underground workings. The first hole intersected mineralization which might be an eastward extension of the sulphide vein exposed in the underground workings. Assays of 0.5 ounces Au per ton over 0.9 m and 0.10 ounces Au per ton over 1.5 m were reported about 4.5 m east of easternmost workings and between the two levels. The second hole intersected mineralization about 12 m northwest and 11 m southeast of the shaft. An assay of 0.23 ounces Au per ton over 0.6 m was reported 6 m northwest of the shaft, and assays of 5.96 ounces Au per ton over 0.4 m, and 0.26 ounces Au per ton over 0.9 m were reported in the metavolcanics to the southeast (Fumerton, 1985).

Mineral Record Details

References

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

Publication Number: OFR5539 Scale:     Date: 1985

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

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of the Atikokan area

Publication Number: MDC024 Scale:     Date: 1982

Author: Wilkinson S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of the Calm Lake area, District of Rainy River

Publication Number: R226 Scale:     Date: 1985

Author: Fumerton S.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - 1979 report of North Central Regional Geologist

Publication Number: MP091.004 Scale:     Date: 1997

Author: Fenwick K.G., Larsen C.R., Scott J.F., Mason J.K., Schnieders B.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

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