Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52N08NW00020

Record: MDI52N08NW00020

General

Mineral Record Identification
Record Name(s) Horseshoe Island - 1935, Pants Island - 1935
Related Record Type Simple
Related Record(s)
Record Status Developed Prospect With Reported Reserves or Resources
Date Created 1991-Mar-20
Date Last Modified 2023-Aug-25
Created By
Revised By

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold



Location

Township or Area: Casummit Lake Area

Latitude: 51° 22' 32.11"    Longitude: -92° 26' 15.6"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 539139.13   Northing: 5691742.91    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Red Lake

NTS Grid: 52N08NW

Point Location Description: Precise

Location Method: Data Compilation



Exploration History

1935: Harding mapped an east-trending quartz vein on the south shore of Horsehoe Island. 1937: property was staked by E. McDougall, E. Bergstrand, and O. Peterson. The property was sampled by Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting Company. No records are available regarding assays and locations. 1944-46: Leta Exploration Ltd (a JV between Leitch Gold Mines Ltd. and Moneta Gold Mines Ltd.) optioned the property and drilled 20 DDH totalling 1418 m and conducted trenching. 1954: claims were allowed to lapse. 1957: claims were restaked by L. Staunton but work was not recorded and the claims were allowed to lapse. 1969: property was staked by K. Koezur. Airborne mag, EM and gamma-ray spectrometer surveys were flown immediately north of Horseshoe Island. Drilled 3 DDH totalling 793 m in the Birch Lake area. 1970: Sudbury Contact Mines Ltd. optioned the property from K. Koezur and conducted ground mag and EM geophysical surveys and drilled 6 DDH totalling 948 m. 1971: Sudbury Contact Mines drilled 6 DDH totalling 948 m. 1974: property was staked by H. Sander s and transferred to Goldsearch Ltd., who conducted fluxgate ground magnetic and VLF surveys and EM surveys. 1975: claims were allowed to lapse. 1981: Minorex Ltd. staked and sampled the property. Claims were allowed to lapse.1982: St. Joe Canada staked claims, conducted reconnaissance geological mapping, trenching, sampling, humus geochemical surveys and a waterborne IP survey on and around Horseshoe Island. 1983: St. Joe Canada conducted detailed geological mapping of Horseshoe Island, completed a ground IP survey and magnetic surveys, and drilled DDH totalling 990 m. 1984: St. Joe Canada conducted a mag survey and drilled 24 DDH totalling 4397 m. Two mineralized zones (Zone A and Zone B) were identified. 1985: St. Joe Canada conducted geological mapping, sampling, overburden stripping and drilled 8 DDH totalling 978.5 m. 1986: St. Joe Canada drilled 59 holes totalling 11,114.48 m and conducted airborne vertical gradient magnetometer and VLF EM surveys. 1987: St. Joe Canada drilled 18 DDH totalling 3398.1 m and reported a mineral resource. 1988: St. Joe Canada was renamed to Bond Gold Canada Inc. Bond Gold drilled 1 DDH totalling 407 m. 1989: Noranda Exploration Co. acquired the property from Bond Gold. Hemlo Gold Mines Ltd. released a resource calculation. 1990: Noranda drilled 3 DDH totalling 402.7 m. 1995: Lac Minerals Ltd. conducted mapping and prospecting. 1997: Freewest Resources Ltd. conducted line cutting, prospecting, sampling and a soil geochemical survey. 1998: Colby Resources Corp. conducted IP, magnetics and VLF surveys. 2000: Jonpol Exploration Ltd. and Wolfden Resources ltd. drilled 2 DDH totalling 490.5 m. 2005: Vital Resources Corp. optioned the property from P. English. 2007: Vital Resources conducted MMI-M soil survey. Vital Resources assigned its interest in the property to Gold Canyon Resources. Gold Canyon also conducted a soil sample as well as few grab samples (no assays reported). 2008: Gold Canyon completed MMI sampling in the area.


Assessment Work on File

Assessment Work on File
Office File Number Online Assessment File Identifier Online Assessment File Directory
AF # RL5083; AFRO# 2.34226 20000001960 20000001960
AF RL 1982-83 52N/SE #140; OM82-1-JV-191 52N08NW0133 52N08NW0133
AF RL 1987 52N/SE #117 52N08SW0041 52N08SW0041
AF RL 1985 52N/SE #122; AFRO # 63.4844 52N08NW9950 52N08NW9950
AFRO# 63.4414 52N08NW0040 52N08NW0040
AFRO # 2.13705 52N08NW0119 52N08NW0119
AFRO # 56 (DD Database) 52N08NW0475 52N08NW0475
AFRO# 27 (DD Database) 52N08SW0044 52N08SW0044
AFRO# 30 (DD Database) 52N08SW0047 52N08SW0047
AFRO # 12 (DD Database) 52N08SW0018 52N08SW0018
2.13369 52N08SW0048 52N08SW0048
AFRO # 2.14365 52N08SW9383 52N08SW9383
AFRO# 23 (DD Database) 52N08SW0038 52N08SW0038
AFRO# 18 (DD Database) 52N08SW0031 52N08SW0031
AFRO# 32 (DD Database) 52N08NW9909 52N08NW9909
AFRO# 26 (DD Database) 52N08NW9831 52N08NW9831
AFRO # 64 (DD Database) 52N08NW9822 52N08NW9822
AFRO# 2.13662 52N08NW0120 52N08NW0120
AFRO# 28 (DD Database) 52N08NW0083 52N08NW0083
AFRO# 2.16182 52N08NW0053 52N08NW0053
RL 2503 / 2.37077 20000002888 20000002888
52 52N08NW0104 52N08NW0104
58 52N08NW9824 52N08NW9824
11 52N08SW0017 52N08SW0017
13 52N08SW0030 52N08SW0030
28 52N08NW0083 52N08NW0083
52N08NW0074 20000005604 20000005604
2.18822 52N08NW2004 52N08NW2004
2.48882 20000007596 20000007596

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Birch-Uchi

Geological Age: Archean  



Geology Comments

Apr 10, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - The property lies within the Birch-Uchi Greenstone Belt between the Red Lake and Pickle Lake camps. Within the Birch-Uchi Belt Cycle III Archean-aged mafic and folic volcanic rocks and related sediments have been intruded by a late multi-phase gabbros to granodiorite intrusion, known as the Horseshoe Island Intrusion Complex. A principal structure known as the Swain Lake Deformation Zone trends northeast along the north shore of Birch Lake, about 800 m northwest of Horseshoe Island. A secondary splay off of the Swain Lake Deformation Zone trends eastward and passes approximately 400 m south of Horseshoe Island. The Horseshoe Island Property occurs in the wedge between these two faults.




Lithology

Lithology Data
Rock Type Rank Composition Texture Relationship
Intermediate lava flow-unsubdivided 1 Fine To Coarse-Grained Fragmentals And Massive Fp Contains
Granodiorite 2 Phaneritic Contains

Mineralization

Mineralization and Alteration
Rank Mineral Name Class Economic Mineral Type Alteration Mineral Type Alteration Ranking Alteration Intensity Alteration Style
1GoldEconomicOre
2PyriteEconomicOre
3MagnetiteEconomicOre
4IlmeniteEconomicOre
5ChalcopyriteEconomicOre
6PyrrhotiteEconomicOre
CarbonateAlterationCarbonatization1StrongDisseminated
SericiteAlterationSericitization2ExtremeDisseminated
SilicaAlterationSilicification3StrongDisseminated

Mineralization Comments

May 25, 2007 (D Saunders) - The Horseshoe Island deposit consists of two discrete zones situated near the contact between granodiorite of the Horseshoe Island stock and intermediate metavolcanic rocks. The metavolcanic host rocks consist primarily of fine to coarse-grained intermediate fragmentals and a massive, feldspar crystal-bearing phase referred to as feldspar-porphyry. The host intrusive rocks include granodiorite and trondhjemite. Mineralization and associated alteration occur in both the metavolcanic rocks and the intrusive stock (Figure 4). The largest zone, the AB zone, occurs near the south margin of the intrusion and is characterized by a strong linear tectonic foliation suggestive of a high strain zone. The smaller C zone has an irregular shape with mineralization paralleling both the stratigraphy and the margin of the stock. Alteration includes intense pervasive, sericitization, carbonatization, pyritization, silicification as well as the presence of epidote and hematite. Disseminated pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral and occurs in abundance between D-5%, but averages less than 207o. The tenor of gold mineralization appears to be associated with the abundance of pyrite and also magnetite. Other sulphide minerals include chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. Drill-indicated geological reserves for the deposit are 893,508 grading 0.14 oz/t Au. - from AFRI# 52N08NW2003, p. 24


Apr 10, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - The “Highly Altered and Deformed Granodiorite” unit is the host for gold mineralization exposed in a series of old trenches on the south shore of Horseshoe Island. The bulk of the unit appears to be under Birch Lake. There is an average of 1% disseminated pyrite and locally up to 10%. High gold values generally correspond to an increase in pyrite content. The “Highly Altered and Deformed Granodiorite” unit is not observed on surface outside the trench area in the southern part of the island. The “Altered Granodiorite (Chloritized)” unit is a lesser altered equivalent of the unit described above. This unit can have local pyritic (0.5-3%) silicified sections less than 1 m wide and can carry elevated gold values. The “Feldspar Porphyry” unit appears to be a sill-like subvolcanic intrusive. A zone of silicification has been traced for 250 m in a series of old trenches (C Zone). Gold values from grab samples can reach 4 gpt Au from trenches, and hole HI83-03 assayed 0.67 gpt Au across 3.2 m. Exploration for Au has been focussed at or near the contact of the Horseshoe Island Intrusive Complex with the upper intermediate volcanics. These programs were successful in outlining an intense pervasive alteration zone 450 m long as part of a deformation zone. Within this alteration envelope, two mineralized zones were recognized: Zones A and B. The main alteration zone is subparallel to the regional strike but does cut the major lithologies. Some of the better grades occur along the altered contacts of major lithologic units. The A-B Zone trends E to ENE for approx. 450 m along the S and SE shore of Horseshoe Island. This zone is a linear feature, described as a listric shear which trends parallel to the strike of bedding and has a moderate to strong tectonic foliation. The A and B Zones occur along the south contact of the granodiorite stock and extend along strike into the stock and surrounding metavolcanic rocks. The A and B Zones are subparallel but locally coalesce and dip N to NW at about 65-70 degrees and in places are separated by about 10-20 m. The zones range from 1-10 m thick. Diamond drilling by Leta Exploration Ltd. outlined the A-B Zone as a mineralized zone 375 m long and 2.15 m wide with an average grade of 0.195 opt Au. St. Joe Canada reported grades of 0.13 opt Au across 4.2 m. The C Zone is located about 100 m north of the A-B Zone and is hosted by feldspar crystal tuff. This zone has an irregular T-shape and is oriented parallel to the north-trending margins of the stock and partly oriented parallel to the east-trending stratigraphy. The zone has a vague subparallel trend to the A-B Zone and appears to terminate at the granodiorite contact (Huston, 2009).


Apr 10, 2015 (Q Unknown) - grade 1982-85: surface sampling and ddh assays include 0.32/3m (85-36) and 0.156/10.5m (84-08)



Mineral Record Details

Characteristics
Rank Characteristic            
1 Sheared

Mineral Zones - Size and Shape

Zone Name: Detour Lake - Rank 1
Shape Length Thickness Depth Strike Dip Plunge Trend Age Reference
Unknown 450 2 80 65 AFRI # 52N08NW2003, p. 24
Zone Name: Detour Lake - Rank 1
Shape Length Thickness Depth Strike Dip Plunge Trend Age Reference
Irregular AFRI # 52N08NW2003, p. 24
Reserves or Resources Data
Zone Year Category Tonnes Reference Comments Commodities
Horseshoe Island 1990 Unclassified 810500 OGS OFR 6180, Table 14; Northwest Prospector, March/April 1990, p. 27; AFRI# 52N08NW2003, p. 25 Grade 4.80 g/t Au (893 508 tons of 0.14 opt Au) Gold 0.14 oz/T
Horseshoe Island 1989 Unclassified 892872 Huston (2009), p. 23 Historic resource, not NI 43-101 compliant Gold 0.134 oz/T
Horseshoe Island 1987 Unclassified 825000 Huston (2009), p. 23 Historic resource, not NI 43-101 compliant Gold 0.13 oz/T

References

Publication - Technical Report on the Horseshoe Island Property

Publication Number: 2009 43-101 Date: 2009

Author: Huston, C.D.

Publisher Name: Gold Canyon Resources Inc.

Location: SEDAR


Map - Birch-Springpole lakes area, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion), Ontario

Publication Number: ARM45C Scale: 1:63,360    Date: 1997

Author: Harding W.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:


Map - Geology and Tectonostratigraphic Assemblages, East Uchi Subprovince, Red Lake and Birch-Uchi Belts, Ontario

Publication Number: P3460 Scale: 1:250,000    Date: 2004

Author: Sanborn-Barrie M., Rogers N., Skulski T., Parker J.R., McNicoll V.J., Devaney J.R.

Publisher Name: Geological Survey of Canada, Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Precambrian Geology, Trout Lake Area

Publication Number: P3383 Scale: 1:250,000    Date: 1998

Author: Stone D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology of the Birch Lake area, Kenora District (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P2387 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1981

Author: Thurston P.C., Jackson M.C., Pirie J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology of the western Birch Lake area, southern half, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P3118 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1989

Author: Beakhouse G.P., Forsyth D.M., Scott K.V., Wallace H.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology of the western Birch Lake area, northern half, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P3117 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1989

Author: Beakhouse G.P., McNeil A.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Compilation series, Trout Lake-Birch Lake sheet, Kenora District

Publication Number: P2386 Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1981

Author: Thurston P.C., Bartlett J.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


Map - Trout Lake-Birch Lake sheet, District of Kenora, geological compilation series

Publication Number: P0406 Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1997

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

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:


Folio - Cassumit Lake Area - Red Lake Mining Division

Publication Number: GDIF601 Date: 1990

Author: Dutka R.J.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:


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