Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52F03SE00010

Record: MDI52F03SE00010

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Molybdenum

Secondary Commodities: Gold, Copper

Location

Township or Area: Vista Lake Area

Latitude: 49° 6' 37.31"    Longitude: -93° 2' 7.85"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 497408.146   Northing: 5439725.226    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52F03SE

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Access Description: The Grave Lake/Vickers Lake Property is situated in the Kenora Mining District occupying the northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest comers of the Sakwite Lake (G-2697), Napanee Lake (G-2690), Vista Lake (G-270l) and Mang Lake (G-2685) areas, respectively. The property co-ordinates are approximately 49°08' latitude and 93°00' longitude (NTS map sheet 52 F/3). The Grave Lake Property is located approximately halfway between Fort Frances and Dryden on Highway 502. The property can be accessed via Grave Road, which extends west from Highway 502, intersecting the southern boundary approximately 3 km along the logging road and bisecting the entire property. Clear cuts and various secondary and tertiary logging roads cover the southern claim block. The northern claim block is scheduled to be clear cut from November 2000 to March 2001, but currently has a skidder trail running through it - giving access to the old shaft. (C. Fratten, Assessment File F/3 SE S-1, p.1, Kenora Resident Geologist Office)

Exploration History

Parsons (1911) contains the earliest known record of gold mineralization found in the vicinity of the property. Gold values of 0.5 oz/ton were reported to be associated with molybdenite in a 2m quartz vein exposed at a depth of 6 to 7 metres in the shaft located on the west shore of Vickers Lake - historically known as the Smooth Rock Lake Occurrence. Subsequent workers had not been able to confirm this report due to flooding of the shaft. Although not on part of the current property, another shaft is located on the west shore of Grave Lake. The shaft was sunk on a quartz vein hosted in-gabbro and has reported assays of 1,129 ppb Au from a grab sample in the dump, and 381 ppb over 0.8 metres on the surface exposure of the mineralization (Wagg 1991). Northair Mines Ltd. undertook the next recorded work on the property in 1984. Geological mapping, sampling, grid cutting and drilling was performed. Assay results included 19,000 ppb Au in the discovery pit and 8,340 ppb Au to the west of the pit. The final exploration program to take place on the property was performed by Wellington Cove Explorations Ltd., which performed geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys on the property and a 13-hole diamond drill program. Exploration commenced in 1989 and finished in 1991. Results were generally poor and the results of previous workers could not be matched or improved. Until the current (1999) program, no work had been performed on the property since early 1991. The current program involved attempts to verify the assay numbers reported by Parsons (1911) and the exploration programs of Northair Mines, and efforts to prospect for new showings within the claim blocks. Other areas of interest within the claim blocks were also prospected, including the ravine in the area ofthe historical Angove occurrence, the shoreline north of the old shaft, and various portions of Grave road. Stripping operations, using hand tools and water pumps, were conducted on a new potential showing at the intersection of Grave creek and Grave road, as well as in the region surrounding the old shaft near Vickers Lake. A pump was also used to drain the 705m deep shaft and wash off the moss covered walls. The walls were then sketch-mapped and sampled. The property is located in the Vista Lake area of the Archean age Western Wabigoon Subprovince, Superior Province. The area encompasses the Manitou-Stormy Lakes greenstone belt to the northeast, the Pipestone-Cameron-Straw Lakes greenstone belt to the west, and the Otukamamoan-Pickwick greenstone belt to the southeast. The Pipestone-Cameron-Manitou Deformation Zone, a 200 kilometre wide regional shear system, transects the area in the northwest. This deformation zone encompasses numerous gold occurrences, former gold mines and the Cameron Lake deposit. Supracrustal rocks range from mafic to felsic volcanics, including flows, tuffs and pyroclastics. Metasedimentary rocks occur locally but are concentrated in the area of Esox Lake. They range from mudstones to clastics, and unconformably overlie the metavolcanics. The area is structurally complex, having been subjected to numerous folding and faulting events. The entire area is unconformably overlain by a thin veneer of unconsolidated Cenozoic sediments, comprising Pleistocene glacial deposits and recentstream and lake deposits. The majority of the rocks in the area consist of mafic volcanics of Archean age, altered to lower-middle greenschist facies and middle amphibolite facies near contacts with granitoid plutons and batholiths. SEE "DEPOSIT COMMENTS"

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Terrane: Western Wabigoon

Belt: Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou

Geological Age: Precambrian  

Geology Comments

Feb 25, 2010 (D Scholtz) - The current program involved attempts to verify the assay numbers reported by Parsons (1911) and the exploration programs of Northair Mines, and efforts to prospect for new showings within the claim blocks. Other areas of interest within the claim blocks were also prospected, including the ravine in the area ofthe historical Angove occurrence, the shoreline north of the old shaft, and various portions of Grave road. Stripping operations, using hand tools and water pumps, were conducted on a new potential showing at the intersection of Grave creek and Grave road, as well as in the region surrounding the old shaft near Vickers Lake. A pump was also used to drain the 705m deep shaft and wash off the moss covered walls. The walls were then sketch-mapped and sampled. Reconnaissance mapping of the recut grid lines and portions of the Grave road, indicates that the claim blocks are dominated by pillowed mafic volcanics (basalts) and related pillow breccias, with some minor gabbroic intrusions (dikes/sills). (While some of the rocks have been mapped as massive mafic volcanics, more thorough investigation of most outcrops usually reveals a relict pillow selvage). The volcanics appear to have undergone sub-greenschist facies metamorphism, with abundant epidotization prevalent throughout the area. In areas with well-developed (preserved?) pillows, the interstices between pillows often contain abundant epidote and quartz filled clots. None of these rocks returned significant gold assays. Most of the volcanics found in the claim blocks contain fine stringers of quartz and/or sulphides. While some localised shearzones (lO-15cIn wide mylonite bands) are found in the Gabbros near Grave creek, a large shear zone dominates much of the area near Ll6N, i.e. the area near the old shaft. This well-developed shear-zone has a traceable outcrop width of 50m, and its mapped width could be up to 200m wide. The shear zone contains several quartz veins including those found in the region of the shaft. The quartz veins are folded, boudinaged, and difficult to trace. Investigation of the shaft walls suggests that there never was a five-foot wide quartz vein, but rather a 2m wide zone of an astamosing quartz veins in a host of highly sheared volcanics. Previous workers have looked for this single quartz vein and attempted to trace it along Ll6N. Further stripping and mapping suggests that there is more than one vein in the area, and that the shear zone crosses L16N at an angle rather than running parallel to it. A new quartz vein was located near Ll6N, 350E and assayed O.0146oz/T Au. Other significant results in this area included: Sample GL990046 at O.0575oz/T Au. Recent workers had not been able to verify the historical reports of 0.5oz/T Au within the shaft itself, quoting a lack of any significant assays from the dump and difficult access to the shaft. Given the likelihood that any rock found in the dump had been hand-cobbed during the original operation, a more thorough search of the margins of the dump revealed several promising samples, a 15 cm grab sample of milky quartz in volcanics, contained several 1 mm wide stringers covered in pyrite, chalcopyirte and arsenopyrite. This sample assayed O.942oz/t Au, 44ppm Ag, and 240ppm Mo. Samples from the NW wall of the shaft assayed O.2479ozIT and O.0132ozIT Au. A reinvestigation of the area of the Angove occurrence revealed several large (>1m) quartz boulders with visible pockets of sulphides, including molybdenite. Three of six samples collected here yielded gold values higher than 0.0100oz/T Au. Reconnaissance prospecting did not locate the source of these boulders (likely the creek itself).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Feb 25, 2010 (C Ravnaas) - Parsons (1911) contains the earliest known record of gold mineralization found in the vicinity of the property. Gold values of 0.5 oz/ton were reported to be associated with molybdenite in a 2m quartz vein exposed at a depth of 6 to 7 metres in the shaft located on the west shore of Vickers Lake - historically known as the Smooth Rock Lake Occurrence. Subsequent workers had not been able to confirm this report due to flooding of the shaft. Although not on part of the current property, another shaft is located on the west shore of Grave Lake. The shaft was sunk on a quartz vein hosted in-gabbro and has reported assays of 1,129 ppb Au from a grab sample in the dump, and 381 ppb over 0.8 metres on the surface exposure of the mineralization (Wagg 1991). Northair Mines Ltd. undertook the next recorded work on the property in 1984. Geological mapping, sampling, grid cutting and drilling was performed. Assay results included 19,000 ppb Au in the discovery pit and 8,340 ppb Au to the west of the pit. The final exploration program to take place on the property was performed by Wellington Cove Explorations Ltd., which performed geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys on the property and a 13-hole diamond drill program. Exploration commenced in 1989 and finished in 1991. Results were generally poor and the results of previous workers could not be matched or improved.

Mineral Record Details

References

Part - Geology of the Straw-Manitou lakes area

Publication Number: ARV43-04 Scale:     Date: 1998

Author: Thomson J.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Molybdenum deposits of Ontario

Publication Number: MDC007 Scale:     Date: 1968

Author: Johnston F.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Kenora Resident Geologist District Office