Magnetic Survey of the Natashquan Iron-Sands, North Shore of the Saint-Lawrence Magnetic Survey Pu Vi C 1

GM 24160 MAGNETIC SURVEY OF THE NATASHQUAN IRON-SANDS, NORTH SHORE OF THE SAINT-LAWRENCE MAGNETIC SURVEY PU VI C 1 Ministère des Richesses Naturelles, Ruébec OF SERVICE DES GÎTES Tv1INÉRAUX No GM- :2...1//60 THE NAT ASHQUAN IRON—SANDS NORTH SHORE OF THE SAINT-LAWRENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS F.ge INTRODUCTION 1 General Statement 1 Location of the area 2 Means of access 3 Previous exploration work 4 Acknowledgments 6 DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA 7 Topography 7 Drainage 8 Natural resources and climate 8 Settlements 10 GEOLOGY 11 Consolidated rocks 11 Unconsolidated deposits 12 OUTLINE OF THE.1951 FIELDWORK 13 Airborne survey 13 Ground magnetometer survey 15 SAMPLING 21 TONNAGE ESTIMATION 25 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF THE IRON-SANDS 27 Granularity ......,, 27 Chemical composition 28 Mineralogical composition 28 Concentration of the magnetite 29 Concentration of the ilmenite ...,,......p•.••.• 29 Radioactivity and concentration of the monazite 30 Conclusion .. • . , . ,F 30 -II- Page ORIGIN OF THE IRON-SANDS 30 OTHER ECONOMIC POSSIBILITIES 32 Peat 32 Clay 33 Ochre 33 Cement sand _ 3+ CONCLUSION 31f BIBLIOGRAPHY _ 36 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS Map A.' Airborne Magnetoneter,Survey,Area, from,Natashquan To Kégashka Bay ... (in pocket) ►' t wAAUL eit.iirov. Map B.'- Map of the Drilling done by Mackenzie-Parsons in 1912-1912 ... (in, pocket) t.".-4- ‘Qa4).6 Map C.- Ground Magnetometer Magnetic Profiles.... (in,pocket) Map D: - Ground Magnetomeer Magnetic Contours of part_of the Deposits ... (in pocket) 1"1=k000' Map E. Ground Magnetometer Magnetic Profiles ... (n p ocket € avloia Map F." - Airborne Magnetometer Pr•lesofi over lain Deposits ... (in pocket) 1"1-,°°°' I'' (acs verges nod' ) Map G:"- Airborne Anomalies verified by Ground Magnetometter Survey ....(in pocket) 1" =- o o®pi+eds Map H. - Deposit outlined by Magnetometer Survey .., (in pocket);"ziooe' Map I.' - Dip Needle Sûrvey Profiles ... (in pocket)t"=to®o' ue"ti Map J« - Airborne Magnetometer Contours over the Main Deposit ... (in pocket) t"Moon° A. - Part of Natashquan village, south of Petite Natashquan river. 1- B. - Na t shquan harbour. 11- A. - Tractor used by the writer's party for travelling along the beach. 11- B. - Mont-Joli, two, miles east of Natashquan lighthouse. 111- A. - Typical peat bog area. 111- B. - Thick, short: and even-topped forest. 1V- A. - Forest destroyed by Insects. 1V- B, - Montagnais Indians of Natashquan post. V- A,.- Natashquan lighthouse. V- B. .. Cross-bedding in sand dunes. V1- A. - Channel sample in iron-sand. V1- B. - Black sand beds near Mont-Jolt. Vil- A. - Vieux Poste point. Viii- - Aerial photograph mosaic of the vicinity of the mouth of Natashquan river, THE NATASRQUAN IRON.-SANDS by Jean Dugas INTRODUCTION Gànéral Statement Black sands containing iron ores have been known to be present along the north shore of the lowerSt-Lawrence since the early days of mining in•Canada. Some'of the largest occurrences of them have been described such as those at Betsiamites, Moisie river, St-John river, and Natas'hquan x (MacKenzie 1912). There has been from time to time serious References to bibliography (et the end of the report) are given by the author's or authors' names and the year of publication, but if the author's or authors' names appear in the text, the year only is given. moves to work out some of those deposits and, in fact, iron ore was successfully extracted and shipped to the United States from The Moisie River occurrence, near Seven Islands, between the years 1867 abd 1875 (Mackenzie 1912) until a higher duty on foreign iron ore imported into that country forced the operators out cf the market.. Considerations have also been given to work out some of the other occurrences, especially the deposits of the region of Natashquan which seem to be the largest of the whole north shore of the St-Lawrence. The present need for steel and the high price offered for iron ore increase the interest in these occurrences. The magnetic survey of the Natashquan iron bearing sands which is described in this report was undertaken in 1951. by the Quebec Department of Mines to check the extension of the kwnon deposits and the possibility of the presence of other occurrence in the sandy area in which, they lie. Location of the Atea The area covered by the survey (Map A ) extends along the north shore of the gulf of St-Lawrence between longitudes 0 61 510 and 61° 30' W. It covers, from west to east, the ground included between the village of. Natashquan and Ile Verte, about one mile east of the village of Vgashke. It is roughly trape- ziform in shape being 10 miles wide at Natashquan and only 3 miles at K4geshka. It extends about one and a half miles into the sea and includes the whole of Duval and K4gashka townships. nine-tenths of Natashquan, and one-third of Musquaro township, all in Saguenay county. The village of Natashquan itself (Plate l-A) is situated about 530 and 72 miles respectively downstream from the city of Quebec and Havre St-Pierre, the loading point of the Allard Lake Ilmenite ore. It is also approximately 55 miles due north of the eastern extremity of Anticosti islands Means of Access A weekly or semi-weekly boat service, maintained by the Clarke Streamship Company Ltd.9 connects the area with the cities of Quebec or Montreal. There is a good deep water harbour at Natashquan (Plate 1-.B3). During the winter, a bi-weekly plane mail and passenger service is maintained to the area by Canadian Pacific Airlines. The area can also be reached in the summer by chartered hydroplanes or flying hosts but landing is only possible by quiet sea and in well sheltered bays. A project of landing ground near the village of Natashquan is, however, presently being studied. The rest of the region, save in exceptionally quiet ,'ays, is accessible by small boat only both shores of Natashquan and K4gashka rivers and at the village Kégashka. Telegraph offices are maintained at the villages of Natashquan and Kegahska. A very rough road joins Natashquan harbour and village to the Village du Poste, along the northern IMF shore of Natashquan river. A tractor road on the southern shore of the river joins the Vieux Poste to the light-house. The road section between the harbour and the village of Natashquan vas being repaired for `ate by motor vehicule during the fall of 1951. Previous Exploration Work Richardson visited the present area prior to 1863 (Logan 1863) but does not appear to have considered the economic possibilities of the black sands of this part of the North Shore. S.T. Iluht (1870) studied in 1869 the magnetic sands of the mouth of Natashquan river and presented analyses of smaples he _collected from then. De Puyjalon (1899. and 1900) also did some geological work in the area at the turn of the century and Obalski (1901) mentioned the Natashquan sands in his paper on the North Shore magnetic sands. He figured out a tannage of one and half mill ions tons of 'pure ore' a mile for a distance of 20 miles along the coast. Dulieux ,(1911) wrote a brief report on the black sands of the North shore with special reference to the Moisie and St-John River deposits. In 1911, the Mines Branch of ttte Ottawa Department of Mines undertook a thorough study of the Natashquan sands and Mackenzie and Parsons made a three year investigation of them. Mackenzie (1912) first outlined, by drilling, a deposit on the south shore of the mouth of Natashquan river containing approximately 500,000 tons of magnetic iron ore at 68 per cent - 5 - iron. The section drilled is included within a zone 12,000 feet long along the sea shore and from 500 to 1.,000 feet wide. The drilling was done by auger drill to an average depth of about 15 feet and not beyond the water level. During the following summer, the ground of the point was tested again with an Empire drill to a depth of about 30 feet and the area explored was appreciably extended ( cf. Map B). In 1913, Parsons (1914) examined an area stretching from Natashquan point to Mont-Joli, a distance of about two miles, and discovered by drilling a deposit of iron-bearing sands larger and richer than the one previously known. The two deposits were explored by drilling on a grid pattern and the area was blocked out into squares of 500 foot sides with drill holes at each corner and one in the centre of eachsquare. The depth of the holes varied between 20 to 40 feet and averaged 23i feet. Theaverage specific gravity of the material was determined, t`-,o sand was assayed and concentrated in the laboratories of the Department of Mines in Ottawa and the tonnage of the deposits was calculated by the prismoid or prism formula depending upon the shape of the blocks (Mackenziel9.15). x This three year investigation :indicated that 27,384,890 tons of iron-bearing sands, averaging 6.54 per cent magnetite, were present between the mouth of Natashquan river and Mont-Joli.x x From a blue-print issued by the Department of Mines, Ottawa. IMMENIMIANRIF This would yield 1,776,195 tons of magnetic concentrated: 490'812 tons west of Natashquan point and 1,285,383 east of it. Claveau (1950) mapped geologically the section of the north shore of the guld of St-Lawrence between the village tif Aguanish and Washicoutai bay thus including the present area. He collected 14 samples of the iron-bearing sands and had them assayed in the laboratories of the Quebec Department of Mines.

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