Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI52O11SW00013

Record: MDI52O11SW00013

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: McVicar Lake Area

Latitude: 51° 33' 30.78"    Longitude: -91° 29' 24.63"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 604664.003   Northing: 5713020.995    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 52O11SW

Point Location Description: Transfer

Location Method: Conversion from MDI

Exploration History

1950: Chellow Gold Mines Ltd. Conducted geological mapping, trenching and diamond drilling in the Lower McVicar Lake area. 1959-1961: Kenlew Mines Ltd conducted geological mapping, stripping, trenching and diamond drilling in the lower McVicar Lake area and the area to the east of McVicar Lake. 1968-1969 New Jersey Zinc Exploration Company (Canada) Limited conducted geological mapping, geophysics, trenching and limited diamond drilling for VMS mineralization in the area north of north of McVicar Lake. 1971 Hoey Syndicate conducted geological mapping, trenching and geophysics for Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization in the lower half of the McVicar Lake area. 1977-1981, 1987, 1991 Cominco Ltd conducted extensive airborne geophysical surveys as well as diamond drilling over the McVicar Lake and Andy lake areas, well as limited diamond drilling in McVicar and Cannon Lake areas for gold and base metals. 1985-1994 Utah Mines, later BHP-Utah Mines, and then simply BHP conducted extensive grid mapping, geophysics and diamond drilling on the area surrounding McVicar Lake resulting in the discovery of the Altered Zone and Lower McVicar Lake structural zones and several associated gold showings. Utah Mines also conducted extensive work in the western Lang Lake area. 2001-2003 Prospector Consolidated Inc and Continuum Resources Ltd, conducted extensive trenching and limited diamond drilling for gold on the old BHP-Utah Mines property in the McVicar Lake area.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Lang Lake

Geological Age: Neoarchean  

Geology Comments

Mar 27, 2007 (Mark Puumala) - Stott and Corfu (1991) describe the Lang Lake greenstone belt as being dominated by tholeiitic basalt flows and calc-alkalic pyroclastic deposits, with the eastern portion of the belt containing a significant clastic metasedimentary sequence that also includes iron formation horizons. The supracrustal rocks of this belt have been provisionally assigned to the Confederation Assemblage by Stott and Corfu (1991) based on a single age determination from a dacitic tuff in the lowermost (i.e., interpreted to be oldest) portion of the supracrustal rock sequence. The entire belt has been isoclinally folded into an east-trending and east-plunging syncline (Thomas 1988). Thomas (1988) also indicates that the belt contains two significant intrusions, including an east-west trending mafic stock in the Sor-McVicar Lakes area, and a later north-south trending felsic intrusion in the Shonia-McVicar Lakes area. The mafic intrusion has a number of Cu-Ni-PGE occurrences that have been documented near its northern contact, while the felsic intrusion hosts several gold occurrences. The dominant structural feature in the area is the Bear Head Fault Zone, which is located immediately to the southwest. This is an approximately northwest-southeast striking, regional-scale, dextral shear zone that has been classified by Stott and Corfu (1991) as a transcrustal megafault. This fault zone extends approximately 515 km from Lake Winnipeg to the northern boundary of the Meen-Dempster Greenstone Belt (Osmani and Stott 1988). Two additional WNW-ESE trending deformation zones referred to as the Lower McVicar Fault and Altered Zone Fault (McKay 2004) are also present in the area and are associated with a number of gold occurrences. Fumerton (1997) suggests a relationship between the Altered Zone Fault and the axial plane of the regional syncline. Fumerton (1997) indicates that supracrustal rocks between the Bear Head and Lower McVicar Faults have been folded into sigmoidal S-folds, and that a number of splay faults also exist in this area. The geometry of these structures has been interpreted as being consistent with a dextral sense of displacement.

Lithology

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Mar 27, 2007 (Mark Puumala) - Allen (1986) indicates that this gold occurrence is located near the contact between the Sor Lake felsic sill and a mafic (gabbro) intrusion. A number of easterly to ESE-striking and steeply southward-dipping shears containing quartz stringers, pods and lenses have been mapped by Allen (1986) in both rock types, although shearing is indicated to be more strongly developed in the felsic intrusive. The most notable reported assay form this zone was 0.029 oz/ton Au over 1.0 m from a channel sample across a major east-west-striking fracture plane in the felsic intrusive.

Mineral Record Details

References

Article - Uchi subprovince

Publication Number: SV04-01.006 Date: 1997

Author: Stott G.M., Corfu F.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Article - Regional-scale shear zones in Sachigo Subprovince and their economic significance

Publication Number: MP141.006 Page: 53-67  Date: 1997

Author: Osmani I.A., Stott G.M.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

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