Mineral Deposit Inventory for Ontario

Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines

Deposit: MDI53B09NW00003

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: gold

Location

Township or Area: Skinner Lake Area

Latitude: 52° 38' 37.22"    Longitude: -90° 25' 36.26"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 674096   Northing: 5835742    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Thunder Bay North

NTS Grid: 53B09NW

Point Location Description: Near the operating Musselwhite Mine

Location Method: conversion from mdi

Source Map: OGS 1987 MAP P.3080 OPAPIMISKAN-NEAWAGANK L AREA (W)

Sources Map Scale: 1:25 000

Access Description: Access is gained by drivng 130km north of Pickle Lake Ontario along a large well kept gravel highway.

Exploration and Mining History

1962: H. Musselwhite and A. Musselwhite of Kenpat Mines Ltd. discovered the showing. 1963: drilled 12 DDH totalling 773 m. 2002-04: Geophysical and geochemical surveys and diamond drilling (16 DDH totalling 4292 m) by Placer Dome. 2006-07: Goldcorp Canada Ltd. drilled 10 DDH totalling 8349 m. 2008-09: Goldcorp drilled 6 DDH totalling 5117 m.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Sachigo

Belt: North Caribou

Terrane: North Caribou

Geological Age: Mesoarchean   

Tectonic Assemblage: McGruer - South Rim Unit

Geology Comments

09/09/1999 (M A Puumala) - The Kenpat Vein is described by Piroshco, Breaks and Osmani (1989) as a massive to locally lineated, milky white quartz vein with a minimum strike length of 210 m, and a width ranging from 1.0 to 6.1 m. The vein is hosted in locally pillowed mafic metavolcanic rocks and strikes approximately northwest. Lengyel (2003) reported that the veining in this area occurs parallel to shear zones located along strike with the main deformation zone that hosts the T-Antiform deposit at the nearby Musselwhite Mine (MDI53B09SW00007), which is located approximately 6 km to the southeast. These structures are also axial planar to the East Bay synform, a major fold structure that hosts most of the significant gold mineralization in the Musselwhite area.

Mineral Deposit Lithology

Lithology Comments

08/28/2019 (T Pettigrew) - Rocks hosting the Musselwhite gold deposit belong to the Opapimiskan-Markop and have been subdivided into a detailed stratigraphy that is relatively consistent over the property although major facies changes are locally observed along and across strike. The lowermost units observed in drilling to date are fine-grained siliciclastic sediments with minor felsic volcanics that occur ~500 m east of the mine. It is assumed that these are underlain by mafic-ultramafic flows which crop out 2.5km southeast of the mine along the eastern edge of the belt on the shores of Lake “282”. These are followed by largely komatiitic basalts and ultramafic flows/intrusions with local andesite flows. This predominantly high-Mg series of volcanic rocks is overlain by two major banded iron formations (BIF) separated by 10-30 m of mafic-ultramafic volcanics. The lowermost BIF is locally termed the Southern Iron Formation (SIF) and is a generally monotonous sequence of thinly laminated magnetite and chert. There is generally little or no silicate, sulphide, or other facies within this horizon in the mine area. The SIF commonly occurs in two principal horizons, each anywhere from 5 to 20 m thick, separated by 5-10 m of basalt. About 20-30 m above the SIF is the Northern Iron Formation (NIF), the main ore host at Musselwhite. This is a complexly layered horizon typically ~40 m thick in total and comprised of several different facies with locally intense overprinting alteration, shearing and mineralization. Overlying the NIF is a variable thickness of basalts ranging from <2 m in the Esker fold area to 30-50 m in the T-Antiform area. There are little or no komatiitic basalts or ultramafics above the NIF (Assessment report 20000003409).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

09/09/1999 (M A Puumala) - The surface exposure of the Kenpat quartz vein is mineralized with less than 1% fine to medium grained crystalline pyrite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite (Piroshco, Breaks and Osmani 1989). Masses of medium to coarsely crystalline black tourmaline are also present in amounts of up to 10%. Localized blebs of up to 5% light brown iron carbonate also occur in the vein. The vein is surrounded by a 0.6 m wide, well-foliated, biotite-rich alteration halo. Piroshco, Breaks and Osmani (1989) reported that the best assay values obtained from surface sampling of the vein were 8.0 g/t Au over 5.5 m and 8.0 g/t Au over 6.1 m (sampling method unknown) during a 1962 Kenpat Mines Limited exploration program, while Lengyel (2003) reported that Kenpat Mines obtained a surface assay of 34.7 g/t Au over 11.3 m (sampling method unknown) from the vein system. Kenpat Mines was also reported to have obtained a diamond drill assay from the vein of 13.4 g/t Au over 0.4 m in 1963 (Piroshco, Breaks and Osmani 1989). Between 2002 and 2004, Placer Dome carried out a diamond drilling program to target historic showings, Mobile Metal Ion anomalies, and chargeability high anomalies generated from inverted IP data in the area of the Kenpat vein (Lengyel 2003 and 2005). The drill program was reported to have encountered a minimum of three northwest-trending shear zones with biotite, chlorite and sericite alteration, quartz-carbonate and disseminated sulphides. Numerous feldspar +/- quartz porphyry dikes were also encountered by the drill holes advanced in this area. Significant assays reported from the Kenpat vein system as part of this exploration program include 2.39 g/t Au over 4.4 m in diamond drill hole 02-059, 3.76 g/t Au over 3.95 m in drill hole 02-062 (Lengyel 2003), and 1.82 g/t Au over 4.0 m in drill hole 03-KPT-001 (Lengyel 2005). Lengyel (2003) also reported the discovery of significant gold mineralization in a parallel quartz-carbonate vein system located immediately to the west of the main Kenpat vein system. The most significant gold values reported from this zone included 59.83 g/t Au over 1.10 m in drill hole 02-054, 2.31 g/t Au over 1.0 m in drill hole 02-061 and 6.96 g/t Au over 1.1 m in drill hole 02-062 (Lengyel 2003). The gold mineralized zones were interpreted by Lengyel (2003) to have a potential strike length of 500 m.

08/28/2019 (T Pettigrew) - Significant intercepts from the 2006-07 drill program included: DDH 06-NSD-001: 5.65 g/t Au over 4 m including 14.52 g/t Au over 1.3 m. DDH 06-NSD-002: 7.0 g/t Au over 6 m, 8.80 g/t Au over 1 m, and 10.51 g/t Au over 1.6 m. DDH 06-NSD-003: 6.61 g/t Au over 6 m including 15.01 g/t Au over 1.95 m DDH 07-NSD-001: 39.70 g/t Au over 0.75 m DDH 07-NSD-002: 30.70 g/t Au over 0.6 m, 5.47 g/t Au over 1.95 m DDH 07-NSD-005: 17.60 g/t Au over 1.6 m, 15.46 g/t Au over 4.1 m including 21.85 g/t Au over 2.7 m DDH 07-NSD-008: 12.25 g/t Au over 1 m (Assessment report 20000003409).

Alteration Comments

09/09/1999 (Q Unknown) - A 0.6M WIDE, WELL FOLIATED, BIOTITE-RICH ALTERATION HALO IS EXOSED ADJACENT TO THE VEIN'S CONTACTS NEAR TRENCH 4. IRREGULAR (FOLDED) QUARTZ-CHORITE VEINLETS LESS THAN 5MM WIDE TYPICALLY OCCUR WITHIN THIS ZONE.

Mineral Deposit Details

References

Map - Precambrian Geology, Opapimiskan-Neawagank Lakes Area, Western Part, Marginal Notes

Publication Number: P3080    Scale: 1:31 680    Date: 1987

Author: de Kemp, E.A., Fogal, R.I., Woytiuk, K., Osmani, I.A., Cortis, A.L., Arias,

Publisher Name: OGS

Publication - Operation Winisk Lake, p. 60-61

Publication Number: OFR5119    Date: 1975

Author: Thurston, P.C., Siragusa, G.M., Sage, R.P.

Publisher Name: OGS

Publication - Geology of Winisk Lake Area, p. 85-86

Publication Number: R193    Date: 1979

Author: Thurston, P.C., Sage, R.P., Siragusa, G.M.

Publisher Name: OGS

Publication - The Geology of Gold Prospects in the North Caribou Lake Greenstone Belt, District of Kenora, Northwestern Ontario, p. 13-15

Publication Number: OFR5698    Date: 1989

Author: Piroshco, D.W., Breaks, F.W., and Osmani, I.A.

Publisher Name: OGS

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Ministry Contact Information

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