Iron Ore Properties in Lake Albanel Area
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GM 35440 IRON ORE PROPERTIES IN LAKE ALBANEL AREA IX 0911 ISOPUTISS 01 MI8TAW/N1 12PIORATIOMS, D. rti LAKE AIM= AMA 41111. 41.16 ION Ministère de itnergie et des Ressources Gouvrrnament du Quebec Docurnntation iachnique DATE: "Ad No. G.M.. 35440 4rovambex, 194? Alexander R. Tait,, P. ug., Manager, C OWN NTb Sur+doaary. Page 1 ~ Pro pe rty. ••• 2 His t or y " 2 Accessibility of Region . 4 " Raw urasm t Power. •• ... 6 Mining.. a a Timber +IP 6 Geology t Regions 1 " 7 11 Rook types.......•• $ Structure.. ...... " 9 w Ore Deposits... ...... 0••• •.......... • e 10 Development . • • ..... • • • . ••••••• .....••." 12 v~ Conclusions......... e...••. 13 Appendix I Test result — Mines cperintent Station, University of Minnesota. — Mineral Dressing and Metallurgy Division, Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa. Avendix II Notes on Sleotric melting. 1. Local Geology "Lake 1aanel—Tecaisesmia River .Arec" Scala }mile to 1 iztoh 2, Geology 1 0 "Plateau Lake Area" Seale 400 tt to 1 inch 3, Geology ~o a~~ "Ise du Milieu Area" Seale 400 ft to 1 inch F y 4. Typical Cross Sections Horizontal scale t- mile to 1 inch Yertioal ;wale SA* ft to 1 inch 5. Sketch of Clf, ims staked Saale mile to 1 inch B. Part of Province of quebec "Topography and Tranaportati on" Scale 20 miles to 1 inch. SILIMARY The discovery of a bed of magnetite iron ore was made in AugUat 1946 by the employees of Mieteesi ni >bcployatione, Limited end a group of 90 Milli rig clamp was staked to cover the known extent of thin bad. Since then, further examination of the whoJe general axes of iron tbramtion has shown good beds of siderite pertly altered to hematite and structural conditions favourable to the occurrence of residual hematite deposits by SAW Maxi enrichateit. $J more claimts were staked in March and a further 118 in September so that the iron properties now comprise 258 claims approximately 10,000 acres. The location of this property is on the East si de of Lake Allbennel in the District of Mistassini, Province of auebec, It is about 150 air miles frac the nearest tarn Dolbeau on Lake St. John which is at the end of the Canadian National Railway. Present access is by truck and boat on the Peribonka River to a bass at lake Onistagan followed by air Trans— portation for 75 mils. Transportation by air direct may also be had fran Dolbeau or Ohicoutirai. At the top of the Mis tassi ni Series of limestones and dolomites there is an area 4 miles wide by 30 miles long that is iron formation as reported by Dr. G. W. H. Norman in his paper "Thrust Faulting of Grenville Gneisses against Sedi tanks of the Mistassini Series", journal of Geology, Vol.. XLVIII, No.5, 1940. One bed of this formation is caaposed of magnetite and jaspilite. It is 5 to 5) fet thick, dips slightly to the east at 4 to 6 degrees, 'axed is seen to lie at the top of an escarpment parallel to the R. Et shore of Lake Alabnel. Along the s;r strike, the bed is known to occur inconsistently over a length of miles and wailer occurrences have been noted at other points. Chip sampling of this bed gave a weighted average of 41.3% Fe over 24 feet. A rough estimate of the tonnage easily available is 40 million tom l a with possibilities of doubling that. Considerable geological mapping end further prospecting of the vthole area has been carts ed cut in 1E47, The whole seraies of rocks in the iron formation has been noted, and the folded and fault structures partly de- tenaired. This has lad to the discovery of indioat ions of soft hest tits deposits from the alteration of siderite and leaohing of silica item a thick banded formation. Some of the L. durite beds are massive up to 21) feet in t.~wfiis+n thickness a ndAen 'interesting pe roe tags of ma nget rse. Typical hand specimens in unaltered surface outcrops run 5$ le, 1.4% Mn, 12% 810d, and negibiblee amounts of Sulphur old Phosphorus. The formation is reported by Dr. Wahl of the Zuebec Department of Mines to be characteristic of that of the "'soft areas of the Mesabi range. The ore is too easily weathered to be found in surface outcrops and would occur in low-lyiee or synclinal cress. It is seen that such favourable structurer are found within the area and isolated small samples of altered meat erial were uneovered. These run 57% Fe, 7% silica and 1.4% Mn. A great deal of mapping, test pitting, and diamond drilling would be necessary to prove the existence of large bodies of this soft hematite ore. A reliable estimate of the possible value of tease iron ore ,Properties can only be made from exanination by engineers and./or geologists experienced in fee lake Superior iron cr e country. A large number of hand specimens are to be seen at our ttrvi da Office and many of them lave been split ire half and assayed. Assessment work has bee completed to keep properties in good stan- ding until august 1948. However, the iron fbr►nation le much larger than the area of our present elates and 5)0 more claims would have to be strkeci to protect any series development effort. I estimates a minimum of $50,000.00 would have -1b ~ to be spent in order to complete staking end do enough preliminary testing to decide *Miler formation of e development company WO tt 1l be warranted. Alexander H. sit, P. Ing. Arvi da, November 28%, 1947. .~..~PROPIETY The properties described in this repot are in the area between the Nast shore of Lake Albanel and the Teniecemie River. 1. Near Laie Albf:nei from Lac Au Bout to East of Plateau Lake, le area 4 milts long by 1* miles wide, Staked Sept. 16th, 1946... , .....90 claims. 2. Adjoining to the southeast from middle of lallio Lake to lao au Coin, in area 6 miles long by 1 mile wide.* Staked August 25th, 1947. 98 claims. 3. Adjoining to the Southeast near Ten is ramie hiver from bend inriver at rapids to &et of lac du Milieu, in area *mile wide by 64 miles long. Staked March let, 1947 ... .5) alai na. 4. Southwest of Einar lake covering lake Sandra and lake Phyllis in area 14 miles long by 1 mile wide. Staked Sept. 22nd, 1947. 20 claims. Total 258 claims. All were staked by employees of Mistassini Explorations Limited. HISTORY Mistassini Explorati one, Limited was organized in April, 1945 to examine and report on the mineral =sources of the District of Mistassini and to explore and prospect in the completely unknown necti ou from Lake Mis t as al ni north east to the Labrador boundary i n Ungava. Reports on earlier explorations in the region were studied, the most useful being a brief description by Dr. G. ~4 . H. Norman of the Geological Survey of Canada is hie paper entitled ~Thrust Faulting of Grenville Gneisses Northwestward again t the Mistasai.ni Series of Lake Mistassini, Qvebee°. This sae publiai ed in the Journal of Geology, Vol. XLVIII, No. 5, 1940. The map illustrating this paper ehorsffi an area, about 15 miles long by 4 miles wide, described as iron lb rotation, nor th- east of lake Albanel, between the east ahane of the lake and the Testis., oasis River. Dr. Norman's repart vas the result of a six weeks trip to lake Mistassini in 1959 and he did not pretend to describe the details of the very complicated geology of this regL on. In the summer of 1946, a party of four men, under James M. Neilson, geologiat, was assigned to ttre late Aibanel area, more par- ticularly to examine the dolomites of the Mistessird series for evidence of lead mineralization. At the end of August, their traverses cut across the area of iron earreation at fzeÿaent intervals, end this work led to the discovery of a particular bed, outcropping in several places, where the formation consisted almost completely of a mixture of magnetite and jaspilite. Sixty claims wen immediately staked to cover this ibr. mati ou, and a small amount of trenching; :r as done for sampling purposes. A. f urt i er thirty cl aims wen stated during the winter to protect a pox- Bible extension of the formation to the west, but no exposures were seen at&h.ie groundanti 1 the summer of 1947. The fifty claims to the south- east of the above group were staked in the %,inter to reserve for examin- ation an area that was thought to cover a fault zone as suggested by the topography. During the 1947 field season, assessment work vas planned for the claims already staked. This consisted of stripping, trenching, ste•pling and geological mapping with the object of getting mono detailed information. on the extent and value of the ma lietite formation. In this work it wee noted that beds of siderite partly altered to hematite tbmed a tl, ick upper member of the iron Deviation and covered a large proportion of the central area between the two groups of claims previously stakes. The structure was also seen to be folded and faulted parallel to the strike of the beds giving conditions favourable to the ibrmation of deposits of hematite by alteration and secondary enrichment. ith this information, it was decided to do intensive prospecting in the area from the main base at Xenia Lake. Traverses by J.