Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record:
MDI52J02SE00037
| Record Name(s) | Symmes Prospect - 1901, Coveney Brothers - 1909, Al 497 - 1909, Bg 138 - 1901, F.H. Grannis - 1972 |
|---|---|
| Related Record Type | Simple |
| Related Record(s) | |
| Record Status | Occurrence |
| Date Created | 1991-Jan-20 |
| Date Last Modified | 2022-Mar-03 |
| Created By | |
| Revised By |
Primary Commodities: Gold, Silver
Secondary Commodities: Copper
Township or Area: Squash Lake Area
Latitude: 50° 5' 4.05" Longitude: -90° 42' 2.96"
UTM Zone: 15 Easting: 664478.68 Northing: 5550552.91 UTM Datum: NAD83
Resident Geologist District: Kenora
NTS Grid: 52J02SE
Point Location Description: Pits on OGS map ARM20B
Location Method: Data Compilation
Access Description: There is no road near this part of Sturgeon Lake. In summer access to the lake can be had by boat from public landings off Hwy. 599. In winter, snowmobiles can reach the area from the public access points. Float or ski equipped aircraft can land in season on the unnamed bay. The trenches are located 150 m east of the shoreline at the contact of granodiorite and metabasalt.
1901: The first mention of the Symmes Prospect is by McInnes (1901). 1903: Miller (1903) and Moore (1911) reported the vein to have two shafts 25 feet apart and 22 and 15 feet deep. The Coveney Brothers prospected the area prior to 1910 and sank three pits in the area. Two of these pits lie close together at the contact between granodiorite and metabasalt. The Coveney Brothers sampled two quartz veins in the trenches and may have removed some material for custom milling. 1930: Graham (1930) reported that the Huronian Belt Company had prospected the old Symmes prospect. 1972: F.H. Grannis held 3 patented claims (BG 137-139) on the east shore of the North Bay of Sturgeon Lake.1989: Orofino Resources Ltd. conduced mag and VLF-EM surveys. The land is patented and very little exploration work has been reported. No other work is known to have been done on the property.
| Office File Number | Online Assessment File Identifier | Online Assessment File Directory |
|---|---|---|
| 2.12743 | 52J02SE2104 | 52J02SE2104 |
Province: Superior
Subprovince: Wabigoon
Belt: Sturgeon Lake
Geological Age: Archean
Dec 07, 2005 (R Tuomi) - On A.L. 497, a short distance from the southeast corner of B.G. 138, considerable prospecting work has been done by the Coveney brothers. They have sunk three pits, two of which lie near together, on a large irregular mass of quartz near the contact between porphyritic granite and Keewatin green schists. This mass of quartz appears to form a sort of capping from 1 1/2 to 6 feet thick due to solutions rising from many cracks in the shattered granite and spreading out along some horizontal line of weakness, probably between the greenstone above and the granite beneath, and then exposed by the removal of the greenstone by erosive agencies. The bottoms of the pits show very little evidence of a continuous vein. Where stripped, small dikes of granite are seen cutting the schist, and numerous stringers of quartz occur in both the granite and schist. The vein is fairly well mineralized with chalcopyrite and pyrite. The latter is sometimes in cubes one-half an inch in diameter, and in some places the pyrite has been dissolved, leaving cubic cavities in the quartz filled with iron oxide. Staff from the Sioux Lookout Resident Geologists office have visited the property on several occasions over the last 10 years. The pits are located in an area of blow-down which makes access difficult. However the two larger pits are still relatively unchanged from the description given above. The flat quartz veins are located at the shallowly dipping contact of meta-basalt and an intrusive granitoid. In the largest trench, which was photographed by Moore (1911), the quartz contains chalcopyrite, pyrite and traces of galena. The veins in the second trench to the south dip shallowly to the south and contain less sulphides. Chemical studies of the fluid inclusions in quartz samples taken from this property have given chemical differences from other veins systems in the surrounding area that contain lower silver tenors.
| Rock Type | Rank | Composition | Texture | Relationship | Vein | 1 | Quartz | Host |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granodiorite | 2 | Host | ||
| Mafic lava flow-unsubdivided | 3 | Flows | Near |
| Rank | Mineral Name | Class | Economic Mineral Type | Alteration Mineral Type | Alteration Ranking | Alteration Intensity | Alteration Style |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chalcopyrite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 2 | Pyrite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 3 | Gold | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 4 | Galena | Economic | Ore | ||||
| 5 | Sphalerite | Economic | Ore | ||||
| Calcite | Alteration | Calcitization | 1 | Unknown | Disseminated |
Dec 07, 2005 (R Tuomi) - Moore (1911) reported assays from the property up to 0.3 ounce gold per ton and silver up to 50 ounces per ton. This vein deposit contains very high silver to gold ratios ( 100-150:1) when compared to most area quartz vein deposits which have ratios in the 1 silver to 10 or 15 parts gold. This is accompanied by differing chemistry in the quartz inclusion analyses.
Apr 15, 2020 (Therese Pettigrew) - Miller (1903) reported that Symmes’ Prospect was located on BG 138 and adjoining claims. The strike of the vein which occurs in granite is approximately north and south and the dip is to the westward. The vein has been stripped for a distance of about one hundred feet. The north shaft is about twenty-five feet distant from the south one and has a depth of about fifteen feet. Stripping has been done for a distance of twenty feet west of the north shaft and east fifteen feet. The quartz at the bottom of the north pit is said to have a width of eighteen inches. The vein cannot be traced very far as the south end of the exposure disappears under a swamp and the north is covered. The vein is about 9 feet wide just north of the north shaft, but its width is variable. The vein matter consists of rather dark quartz, carrying pyrites, dark sphalerite and occasionally visible gold. The granite through which the vein runs is porphyritic in character like that which shows at various points on the shores of Sturgeon lake
Map - Map of the Sturgeon Lake gold field, District of Thunder Bay, Ontario
Publication Number: ARM20B Scale: 1:31,680 Date: 1998
Author: Moore E.S.
Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines
Location:
Part - The Sturgeon Lake gold field
Publication Number: ARV20-01.005 Scale: Date: 1998
Author: Moore E.S.
Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines
Location:
Publication - Region Southeast of Lac Seul; In: Summary Report of the Operations of the Geological Survey for the Year 1901; Geological Survey of Canada, Annual Report vol. 14
Publication Number: GSC AnnRep 14 Scale: Date: 1901
Author: McInnes, W.
Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada
Location: https://doi.org/10.4095/297202
MonoMap - Geology of the Squaw Lake-Sturgeon Lake area, District of Thunder Bay
Publication Number: R227 Scale: Date: 1983
Author: Trowell N.F.
Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey
Location:
Part - Mines of northwestern Ontario
Publication Number: ARV12.006 Scale: Date: 1998
Author: Miller W.G.
Publisher Name: Ontario Bureau of Mines
Location:
Part - Sturgeon Lake gold area, districts of Kenora and Thunder Bay
Publication Number: ARV39-02.002 Scale: Date: 1998
Author: Graham A.R.
Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines
Location:
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