Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52F09SW00003

Record: MDI52F09SW00003

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Copper, Zinc, Silver, Lead

Location

Township or Area: Tabor Lake Area

Latitude: 49° 31' 41.26"    Longitude: -92° 20' 22.68"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 547787.907   Northing: 5486377.342    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Kenora

NTS Grid: 52F09SW

Point Location Description: General

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: The old Sakoose mine is located 46 km southeast of Dryden. The property can be reached south from Borups corners, 49 km east of Dryden on the Trans Canada Hwy 17, via the Sandy Point road. At a point 7.1 km, the Sakoose property is reached on a dirt road, 0.4 km east of the Sandy Point road. Mine workings at the Sakoose mine consist of four shafts, and two open stopes, all sunk on the same quartz vein system, over a length of 280 m. (OFR 5731, p. 123)

Exploration History

1897-1902: Beck discovered the main vein of the Sakoose Mine. J.M. Monroe and R. Watson acquired the property (Bow 1898) and sold it to The Ottawa Milling and Mining Co. Ltd. Three shafts were sunk and mining carried out. The No. 1 shaft was sunk to 165 feet with about 400 feet of drifting, No. 3 shaft to 108 feet, and No.2 shaft to 108 feet (Carter 1901). 1902: Operations were suspended (Carter 1902). 1934-1935: Sakoose Gold Mines Ltd. diamond drilled seven holes totalling 2,973 feet, sunk No. 4 shaft to a depth of 143 feet (Assessment Files, Resident Geologist's Office, Kenora) and deepened the No. 1 shaft to a depth of 250 feet (The Fort William Daily Times Journal, July 19, 1934). 1944-1947: Van Houten Gold Mines Ltd. did 362 feet of drifting, diamond drilled 40 underground holes for a total length of 3,601 feet, and 51 surface holes totalling 3,891 feet (Kresz 1987; Assessment Files, Resident Geologist's Office, Kenora). 1978: Jim Redden acquired the property, pumped out the old workings accessed by No. 1 and 2 shafts, and did some surface work. A small heap leach pad and recovery circuit was tested. 1987-1988: Venturex Resources Limited and Nexus Resources Limited, in a joint venture option from Redden, did geological mapping and stripping, and diamond drilled 26 holes totalling 3,667 m all between shafts 3 and 4. 1989: Match Resources optioned the property from Jim Redden.

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Wabigoon

Terrane: Western Wabigoon

Belt: Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou

Geological Age: Precambrian  

Geology Comments

Sep 02, 2009 (D Scholtz) - The Sakoose mine is situated within volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Kawashegamuk Lake group (Kresz 1987). They are located along the contact of a thick sequence of mafic metavolcanics with an overlying lens of epiclastic metasediments. Detailed geological mapping by Kresz (1987) suggests on the basis of top determinationsthat the Kawashegamuk Lake group faces homoclinally southwest. To the east, metavolcanics of the Kawashegamuk Lake group are intruded by massive granodiorite of the Revell Batholith. Lithologies in the vicinity of the Sakoose mine consist of: mafic metavolcanics comprising tuffs, lapilli-tuffs, pillowed basalts, pillowed breccias, and massive flows; and interbedded metasedimentary rocks and felsic tuffs comprising siltstones, argillites, greywackes, cherts, sulphide-bearing argillites and magnetite-bearing greywackes. Irregular felsic dikes, that commonly display plagioclase and/or quartz porphyritic texture, intrude all the above rock types. Iron carbonate is the characteristic alteration product in sheared rocks.(OFR 5731, p.123-130)

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Sep 02, 2009 (D Scholtz) - All lithologies, including felsic dikes, have been folded into a chevron-type, synclinal fold in which the dip of the northwest limb is steeper than that of the southwest limb. Structural facing to the southwest is indicated by cross-bedding, graded bedding, slumping, and flame structures in sedimentary rocks. The old Sakoose mine is located on the northwest limb of the syncline. Folding created a penetrative schistosity which strikes 230 0 and dips 85 0 northeast. Lineations plunge 64 0 to the south southwest. The surface axial plane trace of the syncline trends OSO 0 in southwest of the mapped area, and is deflected to 037 0 in the northeast, probably due to intrusion of the Revell Batholith. The hinge of the syncline plunges about 55 0 to the south southwest. Major and minor Z-shaped drag folds are observed on the northwest limb of the syncline and S-shaped drag folds on the southeast limb of the syncline. Deformation was progressive, simultaneously involving folding, shearing and faulting, during northwest-southeast compression. The beginning of deformation involved progressive folding, and sinistral north-south faulting and shearing which displaced the northwest limb of the developing fold: delamination along bedding in the southeast limb propagated into cross-cutting faults that similarly displaced units on the northwest limb. Bedding in the northwest limb was discordantly and concordantly sheared. These shears were subsequently folded and intruded by felsic dikes. Delamination continued mainly along the contacts between competent discordant felsic dikes and incompetent sedimentary and volcanic rocks, and also along lithological contacts of interbedded sedimentary rocks. Fabric orientation and kinematic indicators show that oblique-slip shearing was involved in this deformation. On horizontal surfaces, the schistosity fabric (S) is clearly seen to have been rotated into the shear fabric (C). Shallow lineations could only be seen on wall rocks immediately adjacent to quartz veins.(OFR 5731, p.123-130)

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Sep 02, 2009 (D Scholtz) - The felsic dike structurally controls a good part of the gold-bearing shear zone. Quartz veins, pods and lenses occur predominately along either contact of the felsic dike. Quartz veins also transect other lithological units, and less commonly are within the felsic dike, or occur along lithological contacts of other units. The structural setting has led to two different structures which host gold bearing quartz veins: shear fractures with conjugate vein arrays; and fold-related zones. At No.l, No.2, and No.4 shafts, oblique shear-hosted veins are combined with extension shear-hosted veins; at No.3 shaft, shear-hosted veins are of leg-reef and saddle-reef type; and at the Maw occurrence, veins are of saddle-reef type and oblique shear-hosted veins. Mineralization: The dark blue to smoky quartz veins pinch and swell. The quartz is opaque to cloudy and displays a granular texture. The vein is very often fractured and rarely carbonatized. The veins are up to 6.5 m wide in places but in general are about 50 cm wide. Mineralization consists of minor pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and visible gold. Fifteen grab samples were taken by the author at the Maw occurrence, and eleven as the Sakoose mine (Table 20, Samples l to 15, and 16 to 26 respectively). Analytical data indicate that content of gold in quartz veins is neither related to total sulphide content nor to contents of any specific sulphide species (see Table 20). (OFR 5731, p.123-130)

Aug 04, 2022 (Q Unknown) - The Sakoose Mine property, situated near Kawashegamuk Lake, is currently held by Dryden prospector Alex Glatz. The property is located approximately 46 km southeast of the city of Dryden. The property was available for option at the time of compilation. Workings at the Sakoose Mine property consist of 5 shafts and an open cut. Production and the majority of past exploration activity has concentrated on the quartz vein system near 4 of the shafts and the open cut. The property is underlain by rocks of the Kawashegamuk Lake Assemblage of the Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou lakes greenstone belt. The rock types present on the property include mafic volcanic, felsic volcanic and sedimentary rocks. All of these rocks have been cut by quartz ± feldspar porphyry intrusions (Delisle 1990). Regionally, the area has been deformed to produce a series of parallel, east-northeast-trending folds. Diamond drilling and surface work has traced the main quartz vein system for a length of 400 m. Hampton (1989) states that the vein structure roughly follows the axial plane of a minor anticlinal structure. The anticline plunges shallowly to the southwest, and gold-bearing zone of the main vein following the interface between the mafic volcanics and clastic sediments. Hampton (1989) also states the porphyry appears to be later than the vein structure, in places splitting or dismembering the vein. There could also be southwest extension of the mineralized zone. Based upon his structural interpretation of drill hole and surface data, Hampton (1990) recommended exploring other sites for the emplacement of quartz veining; either at other lithological contacts, or as separate vein development along axial panes of other anticlinal/synclinal structures, both on the present property in adjacent areas. (OFR 6146, p.23, 24). 1988: best drill intersection was 0.3 ounce gold per ton over 6.86 m (Assessment Files, Resident Geologist's Office, Kenora).

Mineral Record Details

Mineral Zones - Size and Shape

References

Book - George Cross Newsletter 88-11-23, Venturex

Publication Number: G Cross News Date: 1988

Author:

Publisher Name:

Location:

Book - Northern Miner 88-03-07, RCJ Res

Publication Number: NMINER Date: 1996

Author:

Publisher Name: Northern Miner

Location:

Part - Geology of the Manitou-Stormy lakes area

Publication Number: ARV42-04.001 Page: 39-40  Date: 1998

Author: Thomson J.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of Ontario, part 1, districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay

Publication Number: MDC013 Page: 174-75  Date: 1971

Author: Ferguson S.A., Groen H.A., Haynes R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines and Northern Affairs

Location:

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

Publication Number: MDC016 Page: 36  Date: 1976

Author: Beard R.C., Garratt G.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 Page: 43*44  Date: 1981

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

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - Kenora Resident Geologist area, Northwestern Region

Publication Number: MP122.001 Page: 23  Date: 1997

Author: Blackburn C.E., Hailstone M.H.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Property visits by the Dryden area mineral commodity geologist, 1989

Publication Number: OFR5731 Page: 123-130  Date: 1990

Author: Delisle P.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Report of Activities 2004, Resident Geologist Program, Red Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Red Lake and Kenora Districts

Publication Number: OFR6146 Page: 23-24  Date: 2005

Author: Lichtblau A.F., Hinz P., Ravnaas C., Storey C.C., Kosloski L., Raoul A., Gula R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

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