Radioactive Occurrences in the Grenville of Quebec: Mont-Laurier
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Documents complémentaires / Additional files Licence / License QUEBEC DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES MINERAL DEPOSITS SERVICE RADIOACTIVE OCCURRENCES IN THE GRENVILLE OF QUEBEC MONT LAURIER — CABONGA DISTRICT Ministère des Richesses Nature}les, Quebec r;. LA DtJCI: Nï`c:N'; t;T tON TECHNIQUE Date:...21 ~. ../ .q: No L. Kish 1975 INTRODUCTION The predominant portion of Quebec's radioactive occurrences are found in the Grenville geological Province. The occurrences can be grouped into radioactive districts by their areal concentrations, such as can be outlined around Kipawa lake, in the Gatineau Park area north of Ottawa, in a broad belt NNW of Mont Laurier, and in several other places along the north shore of the St-Lawrence river. The subject of this report is the district that extends north of Mont-Laurier and east of Cabonga reservoir. The geological map that accom- panies this report is limited by longitudes 75° and 76°45' and latitudes 46°45' and 47°30' and covers an area of about 4000 square miles. Subsequent- ly this map is referred to as "the compilation map". PREVIOUS WORK The first published geological reconnaissance work and the earliest reference to radioactivity in the area is by Retty (1934) (p. 147), who noted that the "pegmatite dykes are a possible source of radioactive minerals". Systematic geological mapping on a scale of one mile to one inch by Quebec Department of Natural Resources started around Cabonga reservoir in 1959. Preliminary reports used in the compilation are by Laurin (1960, TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Previous Work 1 Sources of information 2 GEOLOGY 3 Rocks of the Pre-Grenville Group 4 Rocks of the Grenville Group 5 Migmatites 6 Intrusive rocks (except granite and pegmatite) 7 Granite 7 Pegmatites 7 Structural relations 9 RADIOACTIVE OCCURRENCES AND ANOMALIES IN THE MONT LAURIER - CABONGA DISTRICT 11 Canadian Johns-Manville Property 11 Mont Laurier Uranium Mines Inc. Property 14 Gulf Minerals Canada Ltd. Property 17 Scandia Mining and Exploration Ltd. 17 Other occurrences 19 Baskatong occurrences 20 Capri Mining Corp. Ltd. Property in Sicotte township 21 Stream sediment Geochemistry in the Cabonga Area 21 Airborne Radiometric Survey east of Gatineau river 23 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 24 References 27 MAP Mont Laurier - Cabonga Compilation map (in pocket) Page ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Plasticly deformed Grenville gneisses 28 Figure 2 Boudinage in the Grenville gneisses 28 Figure 3 Partially mobilized feldspathic quartzite from a radioactive zone 29 Figure 4 Autoradiograph of the feldspathic quartzite 29 Figure 5 Hand specimen of a radioactive pegmatite 30 Figure 6 Autoradiograph of the radioactive pegmatite 30 1961), Sabourin (1963) and Jacoby (1966, 1968). The eastern half of the district was mapped on a scale of four miles to one inch by the Geological Survey of Canada (Wynne-Edwards et al., 1966). The radioactive mineral occurrences of Quebec, known up to 1955, are summarized in a report by Shaw (1958). SOURCES OF INFORMATION The sources of the data presented in the compilation map are diverse government publications, assessment work on file with the Mineral Deposits Service of the Department of Natural Resources, and the writer's field work during the summer of 1973. Samples for elemental analysis were chosen from the hand specimens collected in the field. These are representative with the restrictions des- cribed in the text. The distribution of the radioactivity in the field was studied by a scintillometer, which discriminates between the energies of the characteristic gamma rays from thorium and uranium isotope series, and so permits on-the- spot estimates of the Th/U ratios. -o4541V.!011.....M GEOLOGY The Mont Laurier - Cabonga radioactive district is in the Grenville Province and the majority of the rocks are highly metamorphosed gneisses, which have been deformed in a plastic state and completely recrystallized. Some of these gneisses clearly derive from sediments, and the origin of some others is unknown. The common igneous rocks are granite and pegmatite. Syenite and gabbro are present in minor quantities. The compilation map presents the geological relations in a simpli- fied form, and groups the gneisses into two major associations: One association is characterized by the abundance of those rocks, which derive from mature siliceous and aluminous sediments, or calcareous chemical sediments. Conforming to the general usage in the Gatineau area, the rocks of this association are referred to as the rocks of the Grenville Group. Another association consists of quartzofeldspathic gneisses or granitic gneisses, which are devoid of the metamorphic equivalents of mature or chemical sediments. These rocks are stratigraphically below the Grenville gneisses and are thus assigned to the Pre-Grenville Group. Table of Formations Precambrian Pegmatite Pink granite Syenite Intrusive rocks Gabbro Gneisses of the Paragneisses, quartzites Grenville Group Calcsilicate rocks, marble, "Metamorphic pegmatites", granulites Gneisses of the Quartzofeldspathic and Pre-Grenville granitic gneisses Group For a detailed discussion on age relations in the Grenville the interested reader is referred to the article and the exhaustive list of refer- ences given by Wynne-Edwards 0972), ROCKS OF THE PRE-GRENVILLE GROUP The formations of the Pre-Grenville Group are exposed in a broad belt that extends from Lecointre lake southwestward and includes the areas around Bark lake, and Cabonga reservoir. They are made up of quartzofelds- pathic rocks which have a restricted variation of mineral composition and texture. In the Cabonga area the hornblende-biotite granitic gneisses are thinly layered (Laurin, 1960, 1961). Layering is shown by "differences in texture" or by "the variation in the proportions of certain minerals such as... biotite or hornblende". These rocks are well exposed along the road that joins highway 58 with Cabonga dam. The Pre-Grenville formations, which are exposed between Lecointre lake and Petawaga lake, are "leucocratic gneisses of granitic and quartz-dioritic composition" (Wynne-Edwards et al., 1966, pp. 11-12). These gneisses are des- cribed as "equigranular, grey or pink in color and well foliated". The Pre-Grenville formations north of Baskatong lake were mapped by Jacoby (1968, p. 3) as quartz-dioritic and granitic greisses. ROCKS OF THE GRENVILLE GROUP In this association of formations a great variety of gneisses of sedimentary origin is present, many of which derive from mature siliceous and aluminous sediments and chemical precipitates. Most of these rocks were recrystallized in the amphibolite grade of regional metamorphism, but in some places granulite facies mineral assemblages are found. The compositional variation is abrupt on outcrop scale. Grenville gneisses occur in abundance in the eastern part of the Mont Laurier district and east of Cabonga reservoir. Quartzites are associated with biotite paragneisses, and sillimanite garnet gneisses south of Patibre lake, in the south east corner of the area. The quartzites are coarse in grain, and the quartz is dark-colored and intensively cracked. Ortho-quartzite, biotite quartzite and feldspathic quartzite are the main varieties. Some of the coarse feldspathic quartzite is often mistaken for a granitic pegmatite. East of Cabonga reservoir the quartzite is interlayered with silli- manite -garnet gneiss and graphite-bearing, rusty weathering gneiss in a sequence that is several thousand feet thick. The sillimanite gneiss may contain up to 25% of garnet. Marble and calcsilicate rocks are especially abundant around Baskatong reservoir. Part of the south east corner of the area in underlain by granulite- grade gneisses which were assigned by We nne-Edwards (1966) to a "green-rock complex" (shown on the compilation map). Granulite--grade rocks are not favour- able for radioactive exploration and they are not discussed further in this report. The amphibolite-grade gneisses are described in some details in the chapter on mineralized zones, MIGMATITES Migmatites(also referred to as injection gneiss by some authors) occur in both Grenville and Pre-Grenville gneisses. In some gneisses around Cabonga reservoir "layering is pronounced by introduction of leucocratic material" (Laurin, 1961, p. 6). In the Grenville formations of the Baskatong area the migmatite mapped by Jacoby (1968, p. 7) is a "mixture of paragneiss and granite... in all ratios". In the Pre-Grenville gneisses some quartz-diorite gneisses are thoroughly injected by "stringers of pink granitic material". INTRUSIVE ROCKS (EXCEPT GRANITE AND PEGMATITE) Diverse intrusive rocks form discrete units in the area: syenite, monzonite and gabbro are present in relatively small quantities and are not shown separately on the compilation map. GRANITE A pink granite cuts both the Grenville and the Pre-Grenville gneisses. This rock is a fine-to-medium-grained, two-feldspar granite with less than 5% dark minerals. PEGMATITES By definition a pegmatite is "an exceptionally coarse-grained igneous rock... usually found... at the margins of batholiths", and represents" the last and most hydrous portion of magma to crystallize..." (Glossary of Geology, AGI, 1972, P. 253). In the Mont Laurier area pegmatite is a loosely used collective term for coarse, quartzofeldspathic rocks, and, in fact, very few of these rocks satisfy the above definition. A large part of the so-called pegmatitic rocks are in intimate mixture with gneisses and have transitional contacts. The pegmatitic fraction contains