Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52O06NW00024

Record: MDI52O06NW00024

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Silver

Location

Township or Area: Meen Lake Area

Latitude: 51° 23' 50.86"    Longitude: -91° 15' 12.39"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 621501   Northing: 5695473    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 52O06NW

Point Location Description: Diamond drill holes

Location Method: Data Compilation

Access Description: The Tonsil Lake deposit is located about 71 km west of Pickle Lake and about 500 m to 1 km northwest of Tonsil Lake (local name for the first lake downstream from Dorothy Lake on the Dobie River system). Tonsil Lake is marginal for float- and ski-equipped aircraft. Access to the deposit is best gained by helicopter.

Exploration History

1973: Umex Corp. Ltd. drilled a hole near or on the Tonsil Lake deposit as part of a follow-up program to a regional airborne geophysical survey. 1986: St. Joe Canada Inc. commissioned airborne mag and EM surveys over an area that included the Tonsil Lake deposit. 1988: Bond Gold Canada Inc. did geological mapping, ground mag and EM surveys and an IP survey which covered the area of the Tonsil Lake deposit. 1990: Bond Gold Canada Inc. discovered the Tonsil Lake deposit through diamond-drilling. Bond conducted additional detailed geophysical surveys and drilled off the deposit to a depth of about 200 m over a strike length of 1.1 km. 2007: Geological compilation, geological mapping and diamond drilling by Trillium North Minerals Ltd. 2017: Ardiden Ltd. acquired the property from White Metal Resources. 2022: Ardiden drilled 11 DDH totalling 1607.4 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Meen-Dempster

Geological Age: Mesoarchean  

Geology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - The drilling program completed on the Tonsil Lake Detailed Grid consisted of 62 holes (totalling 5654.5 m) that tested a narrow, locally auriferous quartz vein over a strike length of 1100 m. All but one of the holes, MD90-109, intersected a regular and predictable stratigraphy with the following observed progression of rock-types with depth: 1. mafic metavolcanic flows (massive, pillowed, banded); 2. an upper sheared felsic unit, associated with banded iron formation; 3. an intermediate feldspar porphyry dyke; 4. a deformed and altered 'amphibolite unit'; 5. a narrow biotitic alteration zone containing: A. a very narrow quartz vein; B. a lower, sheared felsic unit; C. mafic metavolcanic flows. The most important portion of this sequence of rocks is the variably sheared, locally silicified, mineralized, biotitic alteration zone, that contains, at or near its base, a narrow, crack-seal, greyish, cherty quartz vein. The alteration zone is aphanitic to fine-grained, brownish-green to brown in color, and generally contains 1% to 5% disseminated and stringered pyrrhotite. The associated quartz vein is locally auriferous, and commonly contains numerous chloritic wisps and inclusions and some finely disseminated pyrrhotite. It varies in thickness from 2 mm to 28 cm, and is generally within 10 cm of the base of the alteration zone. Gold values obtained from this zone range from <1 g/ton to 20 g/ton, and are sporadic in nature. All of the above rock types are locally cross-cut by dark green, aphanitic to fine-grained, variably sheared mafic dykes up to 2 m in thickness. Drilling has inferred the presence of some cross-cutting, strike/slip faults that have produced dextral offsets of up to 20 m to the south. The drill program has determined that this zone is presently too narrow, and gold values too sporadic, to be economic. NOTE: The Tonsil Lake deposit may be contiguous with the Golden Patricia vein.

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Dec 07, 2005 (B Nelson) - The mafic metavolcanic flows are green to dark green in color, aphanitic to fine-grained, massive to pillowed, variably sheared (weak to intense), locally silicified, occasionally carbonatized or biotitic, and invariably chloritic. Weak amphibolitization occurs rarely. Trace of very finely disseminated pyrrhotite and pyrite is common. A banded variety of flow is produced when pillows are highly deformed. The upper felsic unit is moderately to highly sheared, very sericitic, fine-grained, and locally contains elongated, greyish to bluish quartz eyes up to 2 mm in diameter. Commonly associated with this unit is a disrupted, banded iron formation interbedded with siltstone. The biotitic intermediate feld-porph dyke (0.5 to 3 m thick) is composed ot 30-40% elongated, greyish plagioclase phenocrysts up to 4 mm in diameter. The thickest rock unit is 'amphibolite' (20 to 30 m thick). This unit is moderately to intensely sheared and contains numerous elongated, relatively unsheared remnants that contain radial aggregates of coarse-grained actinolite. Surrounding rock is distinctly foliated and schistose, highly chloritic, and locally talcose. Where relatively undeformed, the rock acquires an intrusive appearance, and may have once been a porphyritic hornblende melagabbro or a coarse mafic flow centre.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 20, 2007 (Mark Puumala) - The Tonsil Lake deposit yielded gold values up to 20 g/t Au over an unspecified width. Assay reports submitted to the assessment files indicated assays up to 26.40 g/t Au, again over an unspecified width. Bond Gold concluded that 'this zone is presently too narrow, and gold values too sporadic, to be economic' (52O06NW-0071). Trillium North Minerals Ltd. reported encountering the gold mineralized quartz vein that hosts the Tonsil Lake zone (re-named the Golden Patricia Extension) during a diamond drilling program carried out on their Dorothy-Dobie property during 2007 (new releases dated November 22 and December 19, 2007). Diamond drill hole DOR-07-005 was reported to have encountered visible gold in an approximately 0.18 m wide quartz vein, with assay values of 153.5 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag reported across a sampled width of 0.43 m.

Jun 14, 2022 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Tonsil Prospect is 1.2 km long and is composed of mafic metavolcanic flows and a banded iron formation that is associated with an overlain sheared felsic unit and an intermediate feldspar porphyry dyke. Outcropping greenstone in the Tonsil area suggests the area is entirely underlain by Lower Meen Lake Group with chlorotic alteration and possible ankerite alteration in shear zones. Metre-wide moderate to intense shear zones can be observed on two outcrops. Quartz carbonate veins appeared in the shear zones with veinlets up to 5 cm wide (Ardiden news release February 18, 2020). Ardiden's DDH DD-22-04 returned 33.6 g/t Au over 0.3 m from a silicified metasediment with quartz-carbonate veins with 6% pyrite and pyrrhotite as well as 15 specs of visible gold. DDH DD-22-03 returned 9.45 g/t Au over 0.7 m from a chlorite-rich shear zone in a medium-grained gabbro with 1% disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite (Ardiden news release June 14, 2022).

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Cat Lake-Pickle Lake, geological compilation series, Kenora and Thunder Bay districts

Publication Number: M2218 Scale: 1:253,440    Date: 1976

Author: Sage R.P., Breaks F.W., Troup W.R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of the Cat Lake-Pickle Lake area, districts of Kenora and Thunder Bay

Publication Number: R207 Date: 1982

Author: Sage R.P., Breaks F.W.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Geological series, Precambrian geology, Meen Lake area, eastern part, Kenora District (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P2620 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1983

Author: Stott G.M., LaRocque C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Mono - Mineral Deposits of the Central Portion of Uchi Subprovince, Volume 1, Meen Lake to Kesagiminnis Lake Portion

Publication Number: OFR5869 Page: 308  Date: 1993

Author: Seim G.Wm.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Book - News release re: Golden Patricia Extension intersected, dated November 22, 2007.

Publication Number: Date:

Author: Trillium North Minerals Ltd.

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

Book - News release re: Trillium drills high grade gold at Golden Patricia Extension, dated December 19, 2007.

Publication Number: Date:

Author: Trillium North Minerals Ltd.

Publisher Name:

Location: Thunder Bay RGP

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Thunder Bay North Resident Geologist District Office