Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52C16SW00002

Record: MDI52C16SW00002

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold, Zinc

Secondary Commodities: Lead

Location

Township or Area: Bennett Lake Area

Latitude: 48° 45' 48.74"    Longitude: -92° 28' 36.04"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 538458   Northing: 5401302    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52C16SW

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Exploration History

1894: the first reported trenching, sampling, and surface observation. 1887-99: Owned by American-Canadian Gold Mining Company, who sunk No. 1 shaft to 95 feet (29 m) with a crosscut driven north 35 feet at a depth of 60 feet, and No. 2 shaft to 70 feet (21 m). 150 to 200 tons were treated by a two-stamp mill. 1900: the English company that bought the property had difficulty raising money required to build a 100-stamp mill. The property reverted back to the Crown. 1926: H.K. Bridger staked the property and optioned it to G.B. Butterworth, who formed an association known as “The Mining Group” to provide financing. Development work included trenching, pitting, and cleaning out old open cuts and shafts. 1974: R. Pitkanen carried out stripping and trenching. 1975: Hanna Mining Company conducted magnetic and EM surveys. 1980: J.W. Redden staked the property. 1985: J.W. Redden conducted a magnetic survey. 1987: J.W. Redden conducted magnetic and VLF-EM surveys. 1988: Fire River Gold Corp. carried out line cutting, geological mapping, sampling, a magnetometer survey, geochemical survey, and humus sampling. 1990: Fire River Gold Corp. carried out a VLF-EM survey, trenching, and sampling. 1996: R. Cousineau, L. Cousineau, and K. Desjardins carried out stripping, trenching, blasting, and sampling.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Terrane: Western Wabigoon

Belt: Fort Frances-Mine Centre

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Sep 15, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Alice A Prospect is situated between the east-west trending Quetico Fault and the northeast-southwest trending Seine River Fault. The area is underlain by steeply dipping east-west striking, felsic to mafic metavolcanics. The metavolcanics are composed of sericite-chlorite-carbonate schists which may have originally represented a sheared and silicified rhyolite flow or a felsic fragmental rock such as a tuff or lapilli-tuff. Mafic metavolcanics, present as chlorite schists are encountered on the north portion of the property. Shearing is prominent throughout the Alice A property; the shearing strikes approximately east-west with dips of 80 degrees north to vertical (Schneiders and Dutka, 1985). The property is underlain by foliated rhyolitic metavolcanic rocks. The intense cleavage strikes 265 degrees, is near vertical and is roughly parallel with the Quetico Fault, approximately 800 m to the north (Poulsen, 2000).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Sep 15, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - Quartz-carbonate veins and stockwork appear associated within east-trending lenticular shear zones. The host rocks are felsic to mafic pyroclastic rocks. The quartz-carbonate veining is very erratic varying in width from 1 cm to over 20 cm. Generally, the veins are parallel to the shearing. Visible mineralization consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite and gold with accessory minerals including sericite, chlorite and carbonate. Samples collected by OGS staff in 1982 returned up to 1.06 opt Au and 1.50 opt Ag from a glassy, white quartz-carbonate vein containing 8% galena, 5% sphalerite, 4% pyrite, and 2% chalcopyrite (Schneiders and Dutka, 1985). Gold-bearing quartz veins and inch-wide (2.5 cm) stringers occur as en echelon arrays and are parallel to foliation in the metavolcanic rocks. Veins are commonly folded or possess a sigmoidal shape. Accessory minerals include ankerite, siderite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and pyrite (Poulsen, 2000). Alice A consists of 60 cm to 90 cm stringer-rich zones of folded quartz with ankerite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, pyrite in altered rhyolite. A historical assay done in 1899 yielded 17 gpt Au from 10-ton test. Samples taken by Fire River Gold returned 0.21 oz/t Au, 5750 ppm Pb, and 5260 ppm Zn from the Shaft 1 (western shaft) location (Assessment report 52C16SW8249). Sample 1300 returned 12.24 g/t Au from the west shaft rubble, composed of quartz vein containing 2% pyrite, 15% seared wall rock, and 15% intermediate volcanic with quartz stringers. Sample 1286 returned 5.115 g/t Au from a red quartz vein containing oxidized pyrite. Sample 1289 returned 3.781 g/t Au from a pink quartz vein (Assessment report 20000007049).

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:

Part - Fourth report on the west Ontario gold region

Publication Number: ARV07-02.001 Scale:     Date: 1998

Author: Coleman A.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Mono - The geological setting of mineralization in the Mine Centre-Fort Frances area, District of Rainy River

Publication Number: OFR5512 Scale:     Date: 1984

Author: Poulsen K.H.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Part - Mines of northwestern Ontario

Publication Number: ARV08-01.004 Scale:     Date: 1998

Author: Bow J.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of the Kenora-Fort Frances area, districts of Kenora and Rainy River

Publication Number: MDC016 Scale:     Date: 1976

Author: Beard R.C., Garratt G.L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Part - Mines of northwestern Ontario

Publication Number: ARV09.003 Scale:     Date: 1998

Author: Bow J.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines

Location:

Mono - Geological Setting of Mineralization in the Mine Centre-Fort Frances Area

Publication Number: MDC029 Scale:     Date: 2000

Author: Poulsen K.H.

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 Kenora Resident Geologist District Office