Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52O09SE00009

Record: MDI52O09SE00009

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Secondary Commodities: Arsenic

Location

Township or Area: Connell

Latitude: 51° 30' 51.12"    Longitude: -90° 4' 37.7"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 702801   Northing: 5711059    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 52O09SE

Point Location Description: Location table in Assessment report 20000007731

Location Method: Data Compilation

Exploration History

1950: Pic-Pat Syndicate drilled 1 DDH totalling 99.5 m. 1960: Savoy Copper Mines Ltd. drilled 6 DDH. 1974: Gold Search Ltd. conducted ground magnetics and VLF-EM surveys. 1984: Van Horne Gold Exploration Inc. acquired the property and conducted ground magnetics and VLF-EM surveys. 1985: Oracle Resources optioned the property. 1987: Marietta Resource Corp. drilled 4 DDH totalling 336.2 m. 2008: PC Gold Inc. purchased the property from Premier and conducted an exploration program including locating historical drill collars, surveying historical shafts, geological mapping, sampling, and a LiDAR survey. 2010: PC Gold drilled 7 DDH totalling 2262 m. 2011: PC Gold drilled 32 DDH totalling 9695.1 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Pickle Lake

Geological Age: Mesoarchean  

Geology Comments

Dec 19, 2006 (Mark Puumala) - The Tarp Lake area gold prospects and occurrences are located in the northern portion of the Pickle Lake Greenstone Belt. These occurrences are found within a mafic metavolcanic rock dominated supracrustal sequence identified by Young (2003) as being part of the > 2860 Ma Pickle Crow Assemblage. According to Young (2003), the Pickle Crow assemblage is dominated by massive and pillowed mafic metavolcanic flows with subordinate (likely synvolcanic) gabbroic sills. MacTavish (2006) describes the mafic metavolcanic flows as being commonly well-foliated to schistose, amphibolitized, and often finely-amygdaloidal. In addition, MacTavish (2006) indicates that the mafic metavolcanics include units of pillow and hyaloclastite breccia. The gabbroic sills are described by MacTavish (2006) as fine- to coarse-grained gabbro, melagabro and ferrogabbro sills up to 200 m thick. The mafic metavolcanics are intercalated with thin, laterally continuous banded iron formation and small, discontinuous lenses of intermediate to felsic metavolcanics. A significant 90 to 125 m thick northeast-trending unit of felsic to intermediate tuff breccia to pyroclastic breccia has been reported in this area by MacTavish. Relatively thin units (up to 70 m thick) of clastic metasedimentary rocks have also been reported by MacTavish (2006). All lithologies are intruded by semi-concordant feldspar porphyry dikes. These dikes are reported by MacTavish (2006) to vary widely in thickness and lateral continuity. MacTavish (2006) also indicates that all lithologies are crosscut by late biotite lamprophyre dikes that are up to 5 m in thickness. One of these dikes is reported to contain ultramafic and country rock xenoliths, red garnets and greenish diopside. Stratigraphy in the Tarp Lake area generally faces toward the northwest, except where asymmetric folding (mainly further to the southeast in the Pickle Crow mine area) has caused reversals in the younging direction (Young 2003). The dominant geological structure in the Tarp Lake area is the Tarp Lake Shear Zone. This structure strikes northeast and forms a wide, diffuse and anastamosing deformation zone that is poorly exposed and characterized (MacTavish 2006). The mafic metavolcanic rocks affected by this shear zone are characterized by moderate to intense carbonatization, sericitization and local silicification (MacTavish 2006). This alteration zone hosts the numerous gold occurrences throughout the area. Many of the more significant gold prospects appear to be located where the Tarp Lake Shear Zone is intersected by splays and/or later fault/shear zones, or relatively competent lithological units such as porphyry intrusions, gabbro and iron formation. The cross-cutting deformation zones are most commonly reported to strike approximately northwest, east-west and north-northeast. Similar complex faulting/shearing patterns have been noted nearby by MacQueen (1987) in the vicinity of the Pickle Crow gold mine, and by McAuley and Winter (1990) in the vicinity of a number of gold occurrences in the July Falls area.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Dec 19, 2006 (Mark Puumala) - This occurrence is reported by Roach and Adams (1987) as being hosted within an iron formation horizon on the northern limb of the Central Patricia anticline. The mineralized iron formation is part of a mafic metavolcanic-dominated sequence that is reported to contain relatively thin clastic metasedimentary units. These rocks are also reported to be cross-cut by lamprophyre dikes. The diamond drill hole record for Pic-Pat Syndicate ddh No. 1 (AFRI# 52O09SE0405) indicates that the mineralized iron formation horizon is brecciated and contorted with fine disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite. The most favourable assay was reported in a section of the iron formation containing narrow fractures filled with blue/grey quartz. The most significant reported assay was 0.27 oz/ton Au over 2.5 feet.

Jan 21, 2022 (Therese Pettigrew) - Disseminated arseno altered cherty BIF and minor quartz-arseno veinlets, part of the Central Pat East Zone (Assessment report 20000007731). Savoy Copper Mines drilled DDH 4 nearby in banded iron formation containing fine pyrite and/or pyrrhotite, and quartz veining. The highest reported assay was 0.03 oz/ton Au over 1.5 feet (reported as $1.05/ton based on 1960 gold price of $35/oz). In 1950, the Pic Pat Syndicate drilled a hole on the magnetic high near the southern boundary of claim PA 718808. The hole had several gold intersections with the best being 0.27 oz/t Au over 2.5 feet in iron formation (Assessment report 52O09SE0054). The mineralization possesses a preference for chert-rich iron formation by may also occur in argillite, and intermediate tuff, mafic volcanics are the least prospective. The higher grade mineralization also appears to be localized arsenopyrite-quartz veinlets, which are at a high angle to bedding. The Central Pat East mine was famous for similar high angle structures that occurred at almost 90 degrees to the bedding of the iron formation. As a result of this, drilling at Central Pat East has occurred in two directions the 140º azimuth to delineate the geology, and the 230º azimuth to intersect the high grade, high angle arsenopyrite-quartz veinlet structures. The zone possesses the largest gold-arsenic footprint in the Pickle lake greenstone belt and bears many similarities to the nearby historic Central Patricia mine, which produced ~650,000 oz Au at 13.03 g/t Au. Highlights from the 2011 drilling by PC Gold include 1.69 ppm Au and 6044 ppm As over 6.9 m in DDH PC-11-121, 8.9 ppm Au and 863 ppm As over 0.58 m in DDDH PC-11-122, 8.87 ppm Au and 8837 ppm As over 0.7 m in DDH PC-11-124, 8.74 ppm Au and 2349 ppm As over 0.71 m in DDH PC-11-125, 15.86 ppm Au and 31,221 ppm As over 1 m in DDH PC-11-139, and 13.6 ppm Au and 19,428 ppm As over 2 m in DDH PC-11-145 (Assessment report 20000007731).

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