Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52F05SE00008

Record: MDI52F05SE00008

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: Rowan Lake Area

Latitude: 49° 17' 26.64"    Longitude: -93° 43' 41.1"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 447056.94   Northing: 5460031.09    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52F05SE

Point Location Description: Approx. 90 km southeast of Kenora, ON. Paved Hwy. 71 is approx. 25 km west of the property;

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: Highway 71; all-weather gravel road; logging trails and, boat or ice road.

Exploration History

1960-61: Noranda Exploration Company Ltd. discovered the deposit and undertook an exploration program including geological mapping, ground geophysical (mag and EM) surveys, trenching, 42 DDHs totalling 2131 m (6992 ft). 1971: Noranda let the claims lapse. 1972: Zahavy Mines Ltd. restaked the claims and conducted a program including ground magnetometer and vertical loop EM surveys, 7 DDH totalling 788 m (2584 ft.). 1974: Property was optioned to Noranda Exploration Company under a 3-year agreement; 9 DDHs totalling 640 m (2101 ft.). 1977: Claims lapsed. 1979: W. Morehouse and D. Petrunka staked claims over the Number Two zone. 1980: West Macanda Resources purchased the claims from the prospectors. 1981: West Macanda merged with Nuinsco Resources Ltd. and drilled 5,681 ft of BQ core in 19 holes, as well as geological mapping, ground magnetics and IP surveys. 1983: Lockwood Petroleum Inc. signed a joint venture agreement with Nuinsco. The JV drilled 70 DDH totalling 19,679 m and completed outcrop stripping, trenching, geological mapping and sampling, and ground magnetic and IP surveys. 1984: The JV drilled 19 DDH totalling 4,663 m and completed outcrop stripping, mapping and sampling, and constructed an all-weather road from Highway 71. 1985: Echo Bay Mines Ltd. was added to the joint venture group. 41 DDH were drilled totalling 6,906 m. 1985: The JV completed an RC program of 83 holes totalling 862 m. 1986-7: Echo Bay began and operated underground exploration. Overall, 457 underground DDH were completed for a total of more than 21,707 m. A bulk sample was treated in a sample tower in order to compare assays from raise, back and muck sampling. Despite the mining of mineralized material for testing purposes, no production was ever undertaken. 1988: In December, 1988, Echo Bay decided that the Cameron Lake Deposit was not economically viable and divested its equity interest in Nuinsco to Deak International Resources Holdings Ltd. Nuinsco remained operator of the project. 1989-90: The Cameron Lake ramp was extended to the 243 m (800 ft) level. Underground and surface diamond drilling programs were also conducted during this period: 4,887 m (55 drill holes) and 11,642 m (16 drill holes) respectively. 1995: In December, Cambior Inc. and Nuinsco signed a JV agreement. 1996: Cambior drilled 13 DDHs (8,012 m). Cambior was disappointed in the results and withdrew from the project in October 1996. 2003: 13 DDHs (1,845 m) by Nuinsco. 2004-05: 2 DDHs (1063 m) by Nuinsco. 2009: Nuinsco resampled the stockpile of mineralized material at surface that had resulted from the underground exploration. In December, sold 100% of the property to Coventry. 2010: Coventry drilled 88 DDH totaling 13,160 m and acquired an airborne magnetic gradiometer survey and IP survey. 2011: Coventry drilled 124 DDH totaling 18,728 m and began a program of geochemical pit sampling to look for gold-in-till anomalies. 2012: Coventry drilled 30 DDH totaling 4116 m. 2013: Coventry undertook a program of outcrop mapping and prospecting in areas of till anomalies. Coventry and Crescent Resources Corp. merged. 2014: Chalice Gold Mines acquired the property from Coventry in February. Heli-borne magnetics and VTEM surveys were flown over the western portion of the project. Chalice drilled 40 RC holes totalling 219.5 m at the Jupiter prospect and 15 DDH totalling 2,599.5 m at prospects proximal to the Cameron deposit, including the Jupiter, Ajax, Juno and Hermione prospects. 2015: Chalice conducted trenching and sampling. 2016: Cameron Gold project was sold to First Mining Finance Corp.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Belt: Rainy River

Geological Age: Precambrian  

Metamorphism Grade: Greenschist

Geology Comments

Feb 09, 2011 (C Ravnaas) - The Cameron Lake - Rowan Lake area is located northeast of the Pipestone-Cameron Fault that divides the region geologically. The deposit is hosted by an arcuate belt of south-facing metavolcanic rocks. Current interpretation has divided the metavolcanic stratigraphy into two distinct suites; the lower Rowan Lake Volcanics and the overlying Cameron Lake Volcanics. The Rowan Lake succession is a thick sequence of subaqueous pillowed basalt flows having subalkaline, tholeiitic, magnesium-rich affinities. These rocks are weakly foliated outside of deformation zones. The Cameron Lake Volcanics are a mixed succession of south facing subaqueous pillowed and massive basaltic rocks and intermediate to felsic volcaniclastic rocks of tholeiitic to calc-alkaline affinity. The transition between the two volcanic terranes is marked by the first appearance of intermediate to felsic volcanic rocks as well as a change from dominantly pillowed to pillowed and massive basalts. The Cameron Lake Property is underlain by south-facing, north-dipping, mafic and intermediate-felsic metavolcanic rocks with subordinate metasediments of the Cameron Lake Volcanics. Subconcordant mafic sills intrude the metavolcanic pile, one of which forms the footwall to the Cameron Lake Deposit, while another occurs in the footwall of the Monte Cristo and Victor zones on Rowan Lake. A large concordant felsic sill is present to the south of the Cameron Lake Deposit as are numerous thin dykes of similar composition elsewhere on the property. All rocks have been metamorphosed to greenschist facies assemblages. The Cameron Lake Deposit is hosted by deformed basaltic rocks within the CLSZ adjacent to its contact with one of the mafic intrusions The Cameron Lake Shear Zone (CLSZ), a northwest-southeast trending zone of high strain that hosts the gold mineralisation of the Cameron Lake Deposit, is a splay off the Pipestone-Cameron Fault. The Monte Cristo Shear Zone (MCSZ), a northeast-southwest trending zone of high strain occurring >5 km east of the CLSZ, hosts the gold mineralisation of the Monte Cristo and the Victor zones. The intersection of the CLSZ and MCSZ has not been determined to date. (Reference from Nuinsco Resources Technical Report on the Cameron Lake Deposit April 2004

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Feb 09, 2011 (C Ravnaas) - The Cameron Lake Deposit occurs in the Cameron Lake Shear Zone (CLSZ), a brittle-ductile deformation zone consisting of both branching and en-echelon shears of variable widths. A mafic intrusion in the immediate footwall controls the overall orientation of the shear zone in the vicinity of the deposit, as do a number of bedding controlled splays and other cymoidal shear structures. The CLSZ is locally extensively altered to carbonate-sericite schist. Gold distribution occurs in quartz-breccia veins and as zones of pyrite alteration. Small individual shears commonly contain a central vein while wider shears or networks of shears may contain several veins. Pyritic alteration is most common within the fragments of the breccia veins and in the altered rocks enveloping them. Gold distribution is closely related to the abundance of fine-grained disseminated pyrite. The results of the exploration programs conducted to date provide ample evidence of widespread gold mineralisation within the Cameron Lake Volcanics. (Reference from Nuinsco Resources Technical Report on the Cameron Lake Deposit April 2004).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Feb 22, 2012 (C Ravnaas) - At the Cameron Lake Deposit a clear relationship exists between pyritic alteration and gold mineralisation. Gold distribution is closely related to the abundance of fine-grained disseminated pyrite (in amounts averaging 3% and rarely exceeding 10%). Rocks of higher pyrite abundance typically possess higher gold tenor. Pyrite is particularly common in the pervasively altered wall rock along the borders of the veins and in the breccia vein fragments. Gold has several modes of occurrence: 1). Inclusions in pyrite grains 2). At pyrite grain boundaries and in fractures within pyrite 3). As coatings on pyrite grains 4). At pyrite grin boundaries within the silica-carbonate matrix 5). In the quartz-rich matrix between breccia fragments Approximately 40% of the gold mineralisation consists of vein material and 60% of altered rock near veins. Quartz veins without fragments consistently assay low in gold. (Reference from Nuinsco Resources Technical Report on the Cameron Lake Deposit April 2004). 2010 Mineral Resource Estimate is Indicated: 4.164 Mt @ 3.16 g/t Au Inferred: 7.148 Mt @ 2.54 g/t Au Total: 11.312 Mt @ 2.77 g/t Au (Reference Coventry Resources, press release, April 21 2010) 2011 Mineral Resoures Estimate is Measured: 2.472 Mt @ 2.68 g/t Au, Indicated: 4.724 Mt @ 2.33 g/t Au, Inferred: 12.226 Mt @ 2.11 g/t Au, Total: 19.422 Mt @ 2.24 g/t Au (Reference Coventry Resources Limited press release November 9 2011).

Jan 20, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - In May 1960, two prospectors discovered outcropping high-grade mineralization in quartz veins hosted by diorite. This discovery was termed the Number One zone (now known as the Beggs Prospect). Subsequent prospecting led to the discovery of a further zone of mineralization, termed the Number Two zone, about 700 m to the SW of the Number One zone. The mineralization comprised an altered, sulphide-bearing shear zone in mafic rocks and was the surface expression of the Cameron Gold Deposit. Noranda’s 1960 drill program on the Number One zone yielded the following results: 3.3 m @ 17.48 g/t Au from 2.4 m (PS-60-1), 2.5 m @ 8.79 g/t Au from 5.6 m (PS-60-2) and 3.1 m @ 3.30 g/t Au from 25.4 m (60-9). At the Number Two zone, the first-pass program recorded results of 17.7 m @ 4.10 g/t Au from 41.2 m (60-25) and 9.9 m @ 1.89 g/t Au from 54.5 m (60-26). The Nuinsco 1981 drill program had the following results: 18.1 m @ 2.84 g/t Au from 23.5 m (NC-81-05), 9.6 m @ 4.66 g/t Au from 180.9 m (NC-81-16) and a best intercept of 12.0 m @ 9.15 g/t Au from 12.7 m (NC-81-19). The 1983 Nuinsco-Lockwood drill program had the following results: 19.8 m @ 7.03 g/t Au from 120.4 m (NC-83-31), 33.1 m @ 4.21 g/t Au from 145.4 m (NC-83-25), 20.5 m @ 5.94 g/t Au from 169.4 m (NC-83-24) and a best intercept of 24.3m @ 6.69 g/t Au from 142.4m (NC-83-29) (Chalice’s 2014 NI 43-101). Gold mineralization within the Cameron Gold Deposit comprises two main styles, namely: 1) disseminated sulphide replacements, quartz-sulphide stockwork and quartz breccia veins, which compromise the vast bulk of the mineralization; and 2) quartz-carbonate-chlorite veins (Chalice’s 2014 NI 43-101).

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Geological series, Rowan Lake area, District of Kenora

Publication Number: P0831 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1973

Author: Kaye L.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

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 Date: 1981

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

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - The geological setting and distribution of gold in the Cameron-Rowan lakes area, District of Kenora, with emphasis on the Monte Cristo and Victor Island prospects

Publication Number: OFR5713 Page: 110  Date: 1989

Author: Melling D.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - Technical Report; Cameron Gold Camp Project, Mineral Resource Summary, Western Ontario, Canada, Chalice Gold Mines Ltd.

Publication Number: 43-101 Date: 2014

Author: Ball, P.

Publisher Name:

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology Kakagi-Rowan Lakes Area

Publication Number: P3594 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 2007

Author: Johns G.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Kenora-Fort Frances sheet, geological compilation series, Kenora, Rainy River districts

Publication Number: M2115 Scale: 1:253,440    Date: 1967

Author: Davies J.C., Pryslak A.P.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Kakagi Lake area, District of Kenora, Ontario

Publication Number: ARM42B Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1998

Author: Burwash E.M.

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