Nickel Deposits of North America
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Nickel Deposits of North America By H. R. CORNWALL GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1223 Geology, resources, and reserves of nickel sulfide and nickeliferous laterite deposits in 7 Provinces of Canada and 15 States of the United States UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1966 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director l!'irst printing 1966 Second printing 1967 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printint Office Washintton, D.C. 20402- Price 25 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract---------------------------------------------------------- 1 Introduction __________________________ --.- _____________________ ---- 1 Types of deposits __________________________________________ ---- 2 Sulfide deposits------------------------------------------- 3 Nickeliferous laterite deposits _______ ------------------------ 4 Nickel minerals _____________________________ -----___ ---------- 4 Native nickel-iron _____________________________________ ---- 6 Sulfides-------------------------------------------------- 7 PenUandue___________________________________________ 7 Bravoite and violarite ______________________________ ---- 7 Vaesite----------------------------------------------- 8 8 Heazlewoodite_~illerite---------------------------------------------- __ __ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _____ 8 Linnaeite, polydymite, siegenite, and violarite_____________ 8 Other minerals ___ ------___________________________________ 8 Nickel arsenide, sulfarsenide, antimonide, and other minerals_ 8 Hydrated nickel arsenate, sulfate, and carbonate__________ 9 Garnierite ___ ._______ ___ __ __ ___ __ ___ __ __ ___ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ __ 9 Nickel resources_______________________________________________ 9 Nickel deposits of Canada__________________________________________ 15 British Columbia ____ ----________________________________ ---___ 16 Hope---------------------------------------------------- 16 ~anitoba----------------------------------------------------- 17 Lynn Lake district----------------------------------------- 17 Thompson-~oak Lake district_ _________ -------------------- 20 NewBrunswick----------------------------------------------- 23 St. Stephen----------------------------------------------- 23 Northwest Territories ______ ----_____________________ ----------- 24 Rankin Inlet____________ -------______________________ ----- 24 OntariO------------------------------------------------------ 25 Alexo Nickel mine ____________________________________ - ___ - 25 Kenora district ______ -----___________________________ ------ 25 GordonLake------------------------------------------ 25 PopulusLake----------------------------------------- 25 Limerick township ___ ---------_---------------------------- 26 Raglan township ____ --------________ ---------------------- 26 ShebandowanLake---------------------------------------- 26 Sudbury district______ ------_________________ -------------- 26 Timmins-------------------------------------------------- 32 TroutLake----------------------------------------------- 33 Quebec------------------------------------------------------- 33 Belleterre ________________________________________ -----_--- 33 La ~otte township ___ ------------------------------------- 34 U nga va district ______________________________ - _- ---------- 34 UI IV CONTENTS Nickel deposits of Canada-Continued Page 1rukon------------------------------------------------------- 35 Canala.sk (White River)------------------------------------ 35 Quill Creek (Kluane Lake)---------------------------------- 35 Nickel deposits of the United States--------------------------------- 36 Alaska------------------------------------------------------- 36 Bohemia Basin, 1rakobi Island______________________________ 36 Brady Glacier ___________________________ -----________ ----_ 37 Funter Bay, Admiralty Island______________________________ 37 Mirror Harbor, Fleming Island------------------------------ 38 Snipe Bay, Baranof Island---------------------------------- 39 Spirit Mountain, Copper River area_________________________ 39 Arkansas----------------------------------------------------- 39 Saline CountY--------------------------------------------- 39 California---------------------------------------------------- 40 Julian---------------------------------------------------- 40 Oldlronsides_____________________________________________ 41 ColoradO----------------------------------------------------- 41 Boulder CountY------------------------------------------- 41 Connecticut--------------------------------------------------- 42 MountProspect------------------------------------------- 42 Hodges--------------------------------------------------- 42 Idaho-------------------------------------------------------- 42 Montgomery---------------------------------------------- 42 Maine------------------------------------------------------- 43 JGnox CountY--------------------------------------------- 43 Minnesota---------------------------------------------------- 43 ElY------------------------------------------------------ 43 Missouri______________________________________________________ 44 FredericktoVfn-------------------------------------------- 44 Montana----------------------------------------------------- 45 Mouat--------------------------------------------------- 45 Nevada------------------------------------------------------ 46 Bunkerville district________________________________________ 46 CottonlVood Canyon--------------------------------------- 47 Gibellini deposit___________________________________________ 48 North Carolina________________________________________________ 48 Webster-------------------------------------------------- 48 Oregon and California------------------------------------------ 49 Nickeliferous laterites______________________________________ 49 Nickel Mountain ____ -------------------------------------- 51 Pennsylvania-------------------------------------------------- 52 Gap Nickel mine_----------------------------------------- 52 Washington--------------------------------------------------- 53 BlelVett deposit _______________________________ ---------___ 53 CleElum------------------------------------------------- 54 JumboMountain------------------------------------------ 55 MackinalV------------------------------------------------ 56 ReferencesWinesaP-----------------------------------------------·-- cited ______________________________________________ ----- 5857 CONTENTS v ILLUSTRATION Page FIGURE 1. Nickel deposits of North America__________________________ 11 TABLES TABLE 1. Nickel minerals ____ ------------------- ____ -------- __ ----- 5 2. Nickel deposits of North America___________________________ 10 3. Total nickel resources of North America____________________ 10 4. Nickel reserves of North America___________________________ 12 5. Marginal and submarginal nickel resources of North America__ 13 6. Nickel-copper reserves of Lynn Lake, 195L_________________ 18 7. Ore reserves in the Sudbury district_________________________ 33 8. Nickel-iron resources at Cle Elum, Wash____________________ 35 NICKEL DEPOSITS OF NORTH: AMERICA By H. R. CoRNWALL ABSTRACT Nickel is estimated to be the fifth most abundant element of the earth, having an average bulk percentage of 2.7. The average nickel content of the earth's crust, however, is estimated to be only 0.008 percent. The minimum concentra tion of nickel in deposits that can be economically mined is about 1.2 percent, or 150 times the content of the crustal rocks in which the deposits occur. There are two principal types of nickel deposits : ( 1) sulfide deposits consist ing mainly of pyrrhotite and pentlandite, with or without accompanying chalcopyrite, and closely associated with norite and peridotite, and (2) nick eliferous laterite deposits, occurring as weathering mantles that overlie per idotite (the nickel silicate variety) and serpentinite (the nickeliferous iron variety). The largest nickel sulfide deposits in the world are in Canada-in the Sudbury district, Ontario, and the Thompson district, Manitoba. Smaller deposits of this type are scattered throughout Canada and the United States. Small nickel cobalt deposits, characterized by sulfides, sulfosalts, and arsenides and related to intermediate or salle igneous intrusives, also occur in Canada and the United States. Nickeliferous laterite deposits have been explored in parts of the Northwestern and Southeastern United States. Mining of one deposit in Oregon was begun in 1954. Nickeliferous laterite clearly appears to be the result of weathering under tropical to subtropical conditions, probably mostly in Tertiary time. The sulfide deposits are generally believed to have resulted, in part, from magmatic segre gation of immiscible sulfides and concentration by gravity sorting of the lighter and heavier fractions. This theory is contested by some geologists, however, particularly for deposits in several of the larger districts. The most popular alternate theory is that the deposits formed by deposition from hydrothermal solutions that migrated upward from igneous sources at depth along permeable zones of fracturing and faulting. One large recently discovered deposit possibly formed by the leaching effect of sulfur-bearing solutions on peridotite during regional metamorphism. Resources and reserves in individual deposits are given if the information is available. INTRODUCTION Nickel is widespread, in fact,