Platinum and Gold Ore

MO1A:   is from the Detour Mine, located northeast of Cochrane, Ontario. The principal host material (gangue) is in the form of white quartz veins. Due to the amount of pyrite (iron sulphide) contained, the sample has been partly covered with a special coating to reduce the oxidation and deterioration of the iron, and thus prevent the sample from eventually falling apart.

MO1 B:  is another sample in which white quartz veins are host to gold mineralisation. This one comes from the Dome Mine in South Porcupine, Ontario a deposit that was among the big three that essentially founded the Timmins camp in the early 1900's.

MO1C:  represents one of Ontario's newest gold mining camps - the Hemlo camp near Marathon, Ontario. In this case, the gold is once again associated with pyrite. The mineralisation was deposited within a layer of volcanic tuff, which originally started as an ash layer from a violent volcanic eruption.

MO1D:  In these examples, the rock is obviously layered and the layers are folded. This iron formation is typical of the Geraldton area. The gold, again microscopic, and difficult to see, is found within this formation. Spots of scheelite (tungsten ore) can also be seen under short wave ultra violet light. The rock itself, is known as `iron formation', of which there can be several types (e.g. several samples from the Sherman and Adams mines at Temagami and Kirkland Lake respectively will be seen later in this tour). 

MO1E:  All along the Kirkland Lake Larder Lake belt, and extending well into Quebec towards Val D'Or, there is a gold bearing zone that follows a fault called the Larder Lake Cadillac Break. This belt is often marked by the presence of green fuchsite mica, mixed with white carbonate veins. The Kerr Addison deposit at Virginiatown is a good example of this type. Here, we have a similar example from the Armistice property just west of Virginiatown.

MO1F:  This sample comes from what was the Owl property of Kinross Mining in the Porcupine camp of Ontario. Once again the gold is microscopic and disseminated through the pyrite mineralisation of the white quartz veins. The host rock is another example of an intermediate volcanic rock type.

MO1G: This sample comes from the Matachewan area of Ontario, famous for some unique deposits such as the Young Davidson and Matachewan Consolidated. One of the unique features here is the presence of red coloured syenite intrusive dykes, with which the gold mineralisation was typically associated. As a result, may of the mine tailings piles which can still be seen around Matachewan are a unique brick red colour.

MO1H: The Canadian Arrow property near Ramore, Ontario, was, originally, a small scale underground producer and fairly low grade. Most recently, ore was mined from an open pit and trucked to Timmins. The host rock is intermediate volcanic rock intruded by reddish syenite.

MO1I: The Harker Holloway gold camp is situated along Highway #101, northeast of Kirkland Lake. This sample is from the Barrick Gold property, and shows similarities to the Hemlo camp. The host rock is volcanic tuff, likely a type of volcanic called dacite, although alteration has contributed to a general `lightening' of the colour. The gold is associated with the disseminated pyrite, and has been assayed at 1.5 oz/ton.

MO1J: This is another example from the Harker Holloway camp, to this case from the Battle Mountain deposit. Once again, the gold is associated with pyrite in volcanic tuffs, although in this sample, it tends to be confined to green and tan coloured seams cutting through the syenite. carbonate, and quartz.

M0IK: There are 15 pieces here, all from the Victoria Creek deposit near Kirkland Lake. These samples all come from a low grade pile, which failed to make `ore' due to low grade, metal prices, and a convoluted orebody.

M01L: This gold ore comes from the Hislop pit of St. Andrew's Goldfields near Holtyre. There are two types illustrated: the large reddish piece of syenite host rock is leaning on a sample of volcanic tuff (?) that shows grey and tan coloured fragments, dark green to black chlorite alteration, and disseminated pyrite throughout.

M01M: This sample comes from the Queenston, McBean pit, of the Kirkland Lake camp. The white veins are carbonate, and it is with these that the microscopic gold grains are found.

M01N: A second sample from the Queenston, McBean pit shows the white carbonate veinlets again, but also some narrow reddish syemte dykes similar to the examples of MO 1 a. Both MO 1 m and MO 1 n show some traces of the green fuchsite mica that can be common along this gold bearing belt.

M02A: This ore consists of various sulphide minerals such as pentlandite (nickel) (brown to bronze in colour), pyrrhotite (mainly iron, but can contain nickel) (bronze coloured and somewhat magnetic), and chalcopyrite (copper)(yellow coloured). The sample comes from the 'Gertrude' open pit of INCO in the Sudbury region, and is one of the original deposits discovered. The rock material is essentially gabbro forming inclusions within the sulphide matrix. Note that this type of ore can contain PGE (Platinum Group Elements). This sample has been coated, in an attempt to reduce the amount of natural weathering, which would eventually disintegrate the sulphides.

M02B: This is another sample, from the same location and similar to that of M02a, except that this one shows natural weathering, without an applied coating.

M03A: There are three samples included in this batch, all from the Lac des Iles deposit north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. These samples represent the PGE or platinum/palladium mineralisation that has been extracted from three different distinct parts of the deposit (South `B', Centre `G', and North `S'). The actual platinum, however, is too minute to be seen with the naked eye. The host rock is part of an ultramafic intrusion. meaning that it is very rich in iron and magnesium, which in turn makes it dark in colour, and `heavy' in weight.