Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI53C13SE00011

Record: MDI53C13SE00011

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Lead, Zinc, Silver, Gold

Location

Township or Area: Setting Net Lake Area

Latitude: 52° 50' 23.15"    Longitude: -93° 38' 1.97"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 457303   Northing: 5854634    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Red Lake

NTS Grid: 53C13SE

Point Location Description: No. 1 shaft

Location Method: AMIS Site Visit

Access Description: 200 Km N of Red Lake. Access to the property is by aircraft equipped with floats or skis, which can land at South Trout Lake, 5 km north of the old mine site. A winter road, which can be used in February and March, runs from the former mine to Windigo Lake, where an all-weather road terminates, for a distance of approx. 205 km.

Exploration History

1887: Covered in reconnaissance survey by A.P. Low. 1926: Publication of ODM GR by G.V. Douglas initiated mineral exploration in the area 1927-28: Claims were staked by K.C. Murray, J. Ziode, and D.G. Oliver 1928-29: Favourable Lake Mining and 1887: Covered in reconnaissance survey by A.P. Low. 1926: Publication of ODM GR by G.V. Douglas initiated mineral exploration in the area 1927-28: Claims were staked by K.C. Murray, J. Ziode, and D.G. Oliver. 1928-29: Favourable Lake Mining and Exploration Company optioned much of the staked ground and conducted Pr, Tr, and DDH(29)=1646m. Discovered 4 mineralized veins (Nos. 1 through 4). 1929: Severn Mines Ltd. completed prospecting in the area of Berens River Mine. 1936-48: Berens River Mines Ltd. completed 2900 m of DD. Began U/G development on No. 1 vein in 1938 and started milling in late 1939. Between 1939-1948 they produced 157 696 oz Au, 5 796 177 oz Ag, 6 105 872 lbs Pb, and 1 797 091 lbs Zn from 560 607 tons of ore. The U/g workings included 7066 m of drifts and 5140 m of crosscuts in 21 levels accessed by a 623 m shaft and an internal winze sunk from the 558 m level to 1071 m depth. From 1941-1947 No. 2 shaft was sunk on the No.3 vein to 168 m, with 3 levels, but this zone was not brought to production. 1959: W.C. Arrowsmith acquired the property by staking and formed Golsil Mines Ltd. 1961-69: Golsil Mines Ltd dewatered No. 2 shaft and completed surface DDH(24)=7195m and U/G DDH=3295m. Shaft was deepened to 225 m and drifting was carried out. No production was completed. 1971: Ducanex Resources optioned the property and completed GM and GEM surveys. 1974: Eastwest Resources optioned the property, dewatered No. 2 shaft and drilled 2 U/g holes. Option dropped in 1976. 1980-87: Getty Canadian Minerals entered a JV with Zahavy Mines Ltd. (formerly Golsil Mines Ltd.) and completed DDH(41)=6600m on the No. 3 vein. Between 1982-83 the JV completed 350m of drifting on the 225 m level and completed U/G DDH(26)=9450 m on the No. 3 vein. Ore reserve calculations, geological interpretation and compilation were completed. Between 1986 and 1987, Zahavy Mines Ltd. completed DDH(10) and updated the No. 3 vain ore reserves calculations. The JV was terminated in 1987. 1988: Zahavy Mines Ltd. completed 9 DDH. 1988: Noramco Explorations Ltd. acquired the property and completed an VLF-EM, AEM and AM surveys. Noramco completed additional drifting and exploration of the No. 3 vein to the west on the 225 m level. They drilled 6 DDH underground totalling 330 m. 1988-89: Zahavy Mines Ltd. completed 12 DDH. 1988-89: Numerous reports written on Au/Ag potential on the property. 2000: D. B. McKay completed prospecting for Wolfden Resources Inc. on the property. 2002: Anaconda Gold Ltd. staked the mine site and it became part of a claim group referred to as the Borthwick Lake Project. 2003: Anaconda a performed Pr, GL, Samp, Tr, MMI survey, and GEM survey on several of the known mineralized veins away from the mine workings. 2004: Anaconda completed AEM and AM survey over the entire property. 2005: Anaconda completed GEM and GM surveys. The site underwent rehabilitation work, including the demolition of all remaining structures, the removal of the remaining machinery, and the decommissioning of the airstrip. 2007: Anaconda Gold Corp. Conducted a prospecting program. 2010: Golden Share Mining Corporation acquired the property from Nanoose Gold Ltd. and conducted a preliminary field program including geological mapping, prospecting and sampling. 2011: Golden Share contracted InnovExplo to compile all historical data on the project. 2012: Golden Share released an NI 43-101 technical report. 2013: Golden Share and Silvore Fox Minerals Corp. merged. Golden Share drilled 3 DDH totalling 786 m. 2014: lithogeochemical sampling program collecting 53 whole rock samples to define alteration envelope about the deposit,

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Sachigo

Terrane: North Caribou

Belt: Favourable Lake

Geological Age: Archean  

Metamorphism Type: Contact

Metamorphism Grade: Greenschist

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Nov 21, 2014 (Mark Puumala) - Whittaker (1989) indicates that the Berens River Mine property is underlain by a sequence of folded metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks that strike north-south and dip steeply to the east. The metasediments are reported to consist of laminated chert, argillite, siltstone, fine-grained tuff, marble and banded iron formation (Whittaker 1989), while the metavolcanics were mapped by Ayres (1970) as consisting largely of felsic lapilli tuff and tuff breccia. These rocks form part of the 2926 Ma Setting Net Assemblage of Thurston et al. (1991). The supracrustal rocks were subsequently intruded by a mafic intrusion that occurs immediately to the west of the mine property, while a north-northeast striking diabase dike has been mapped immediately to the east. Significant structures that have been mapped in the vicinity of the mine site include an approximately north-south-striking fault to the west, and an approximately north-northwest-striking fault located to the east.

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Nov 21, 2014 (Mark Puumala) - Adams (1976) proposed that the mineralized vein system at the Berens River Mine developed synvolcanically as the result of hydrothermal activity along fault zones that developed as a result of caldera collapse and/or doming by subvolcanic intrusions. However, more recent assessments reported by McKay et al. (2002) have rejected this hypothesis, based on the identification of similar vein systems in the overlying (i.e., younger) metasedimentary rocks. Therefore, the mineralization is more likely to be related to late-tectonic activity along the nearby Bear Head Fault Zone that was associated with the circa-2722 to 2700 Ma collision between the Uchi Domain and the Winnipeg River Terrane (Percival et al. 2006). Although numerous mineralized veins exist, historical production and exploration on the Berens River property has been focused on the No. 1 (almost all production came from here) and No. 3 vein systems (McKay et al. 2002). Whittaker (1989) reported that the ore zone associated with the No. 1 vein plunged approximately 70 degrees to the southwest, with ore shoots within the vein ranging in strike length from 18 to 106 m, and having a vertical extent of 25 to 150 m. The width of the ore zone varied from 1 to 5 m. Two other approximately parallel mineralized veins are located within approximately 300 m to the north and south of the No. 1 vein. These are illustrated as the No. 2 and No. 8 veins respectively by Lichtblau et al. (2005). 2007 Prospecting report completed, no significant assays reported. 2010: Golden Share Mining Corporation reported 0.15 g/t Au and 2-3% pyrite on Vein 2, 7.53 g/t Au and 70% sulphides, on vein 1 and a sample with 3.51 g/t, all in the vicinity of this MDI point.

Feb 27, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - The results of the 2013 drill program found several mineralized zones in all three holes, with higher grade gold zones varying between 5.35 and 7.82 g/t Au. Hole GSH-13-01 collared in mineralization and opened up the Vein No. 3 mineralized system towards the west with at least three separate zones corresponding to Veins No. 3, 10 and 19 with a highest grade intercept of 7.82 g/t Au over 1.20 m (101.60 to 102.80 m). Hole GSH-13-02 was collared near the central part of the Vein No. 3 system and further defines the presence of several mineralized zones, including a broader intercept of 1.20 g/t Au over 10.90 m (100.10 to 111.00 m) including 5.35 g/t Au over 1.50 m (118.50 to 120.00 m). Hole GSH-13-03 targeted the Vein No. 3 system at depth and also returned several zones with a notable interval of 0.77 g/t Au over 23.15 m (304.30 to 327.45 m) including 2.64 g/t Au over 1.00 m and 2.17 g/t Au over 1.25 m. Silver closely follows the gold mineralization and the best silver intercepts are: GSH-13-01 : 102.80 g/t Ag over 2.10 m (40.80 to 42.90 m), GSH-13-01 : 184.90 g/t Ag over 1.20 m (101.60 to 102.80 m), GSH-13-02 : 420.90 g/t Ag over 0.90 m (102.30 to 103.20 m), GSH-13-02 : 263.00 g/t Ag over 1.25 m (321.90 to 323.15 m). Zinc is also associated with the gold-silver mineralization with a value of 5.23% Zn over 1.25 m from 321.90 m to 323.15 m in hole GSH-13-03 (Golden Share press release Oct 31, 2013). Grab samples from the No. 1 vein returned up to 31.88 g/t Au and 547 Ag and those from the No. 3 vein returned 37.71 g/t Au and 1,630 g/t Ag (Golden Share 43-101, 2012). The most significant mineralization in the area is the precious and base metal mineralization on the Berens River property. Two types of precious and base metal mineralization have been identified on the property: 1) Quartz-actinolite sulphide veins containing gold, silver and base metal sulphides; 2) Stratiform pyrrhotite-pyrite bodies with low-grade base and precious metal values in the vicinity of the No. 2 shaft. All mine production has been from the quartz-actinolite-sulphide veins. A series of subparallel veins, dipping 65º to 70º to the south to southeast, occur in east-trending zones within felsic volcanics. Mineralization consists of silicification, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, minor chalcopyrite, gold, and silver minerals. It occurs in shoots within structures offset by faulting. The veins contain variable sulphide and precious metal contents and vary in width from 15 cm to 5 m, forming characteristic pinch and swell structures. They also vary in length from a few metres to hundreds of metres. Gangue minerals are quartz, actinolite, calcite, chlorite and biotite, plus accessory spessartine and tourmaline. The sulphide minerals, in order of abundance, include pyrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, dyscrasite, native silver, ruby silver and gold, plus traces of arsenopyrite, native antimony and bornite (Golden Share 43-101, 2012).

Alteration Comments

Feb 27, 2015 (Therese Pettigrew) - There are two types of alteration present at the Berens River property: 1. Quartz-sericite, in variable amount, described in drill logs as buff coloured alteration. This alteration is thought to be the first to have developed alteration zone. It occurs as plugs, or sheet-like formations, along fracture fault systems in close association with the quartz veins and mineralized ore shoots. 2. An assemblage of magnetite, garnet, chlorite and actinolite (MGCA) is considered the second alteration zone. There may be a special relationship associated with this alteration and areas of gold-silver mineralization. Earlier geological descriptions did not recognize this alteration due to the masking effect chloritization and silicification in the wall rock. Pyrite mineralization is also associated with this alteration (Golden Share 43-101, 2012).

Mineral Record Details

References

Thesis - Precious Metal Veins of the Berens River Mine, Northwestern Ontario

Publication Number: M.Sc. Scale:     Date: 1976

Author: Adams, G.W.

Publisher Name: unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario

Location:

Part - Geology of the area between Favourable Lake and Sandy Lake, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: ARV38-02.002 Scale:     Date: 1998

Author: Hurst M.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Part - Recent developments in the Favourable Lake area

Publication Number: ARV47-07.003 Scale:     Date: 1997

Author: Bateman J.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Gold deposits of Ontario, part 1, districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay

Publication Number: MDC013 Scale:     Date: 1971

Author: Ferguson S.A., Groen H.A., Haynes R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines and Northern Affairs

Location:

Mono - Geology and mineral possibilities in northern Patricia District, Ontario

Publication Number: MP028 Scale:     Date: 1969

Author: Ayres L.D., Bennett G., Riley R.A.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Mono - Report of Activities 2004, Resident Geologist Program, Red Lake Regional Resident Geologist Report: Red Lake and Kenora Districts

Publication Number: OFR6146 Scale:     Date: 2005

Author: Lichtblau A.F., Hinz P., Ravnaas C., Storey C.C., Kosloski L., Raoul A., Gula R.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Map - Favourable Lake to Sandy Lake area, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion), Ontario

Publication Number: ARM38A Scale: 1:126,720    Date: 1997

Author: Hurst M.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Trout Lakes, Kenora District

Publication Number: M2270 Scale: 1:31,680    Date: 1973

Author: Ayres L.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Division of Mines

Location:

Map - Trout Lakes area, South Trout Lake sheet, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P0422 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1997

Author: Ayres L.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Setting Net Lake area, District of Kenora (Patricia Portion)

Publication Number: P0538 Scale: 1:15,840    Date: 1997

Author: Ayres L.D.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

Map - Precambrian Geology, Favourable Lake

Publication Number: P3226 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1993

Author: Stone D., Fogal R.I., Fitzsimon S.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Publication - 43-101 Technical Report on the Berens River Property.

Publication Number: 2012 43-401 Scale:     Date: 2012

Author: Pelletier, C., Turcotte, B.

Publisher Name: InnovExplo for Golden Share Mining Corp.

Location: SEDAR

Book - Getty-Zahavy Joint Venture Favourable Lake project, northwestern Ontario, geological ore reserve estimates of the #3 vein system

Publication Number: AF RL53C13SE 42 Scale:     Date: 1983

Author: Bevan, P.A.

Publisher Name:

Location: Red Lake RGP

Book - Geological Report on the Berens River East Property (Greystar Resources), District of Kenora (Patricia Portion), 53C/13 for Noramco Explorations Inc.

Publication Number: AF RL53C13SE 53 Scale:     Date: 1989

Author: Whittaker, P.J.

Publisher Name:

Location: Red Lake RGP

Book - Report to Evaluate and Recommend an Exploration Program on Anaconda Uranium Corporation's Borthwick Lake Property

Publication Number: AF RL53C13SE 60 Scale:     Date: 2002

Author: McKay, D.B., Cullen, D. and Nelson, B.

Publisher Name:

Location: Red Lake RGP

Publication - Canadian Mineral Deposits not Being Mined in 1989

Publication Number: MR 223 Scale:     Date: 1990

Author:

Publisher Name: Energy Mines and Resources Canada

Location:

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