2015

Yellowknife Geoscience Forum

Abstract and Summary

AbstractVolume and Summary

Volume

Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Cover photograph

Low water levels in NWT; Val Jackson, recently retired from the Northwest Territories Geological Survey

The picture was taken near the Hornaday River and shows ripples in silt to mudstones of the upper Nelson Head Formation of the Neoproterozoic Shaler Supergroup, Brock Inlier

Compiled by D. Irwin, P.X. Normandeau and S.D. Gervais, Recommended Citation: Irwin, D., Normandeau, P.X. and Gervais, S.D. (compilers), 2015. 43rd Annual Yellowknife Geoscience Forum Abstracts; Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Yellowknife, NT. YKGSF Abstracts Volume 2015

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 2 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Contents ordered by first author (presenting author in bold)

Abstracts - Oral Presentations

A 2015 Geophysical Update for Kennady North Project, NT. Belcourt, G...... 16

Nunavut 2015: Exploration Overview. Bigio, A...... 16

Regulating Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation North of 60. Birchall, C., and Donihee, J...... 17

Community-Based Aquatic Effects Monitoring Program in the Marian Watershed (Tłı̨ chǫ Government). Birlea, M...... 18

Ekati Diamond Mine UAV's. Blacklock, S...... 18

Northwest Territories Geological Survey – Minerals and Bedrock Mapping – 2015 Activities. Cairns, S...... 19

Into the Unknown: Surficial Geological Investigations in the South Rae, Northwest Territories. Campbell, J.E., Lauzon, G., and Dyke, A.S...... 20

Coppermine River Basin Hydrological Modelling in Support of Jay Project Environmental Assessment. Casson, D., Bourke, R., Vanwerkhoven, C., Schmidt, N., and Lee, C...... 21

Development of Geochemical Exploration Technologies for the Discovery of Concealed Kimberlites Under Glacial Overburden, NWT. Cayer, E.M., Winterburn, P.A., and Elliott, B...... 22

Towards Sustainable Mining. Chalmers, B...... 23

Opportunities and Obstacles: Keys to Energy Production in Northern Canada. Chatenay, A...... 24

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 3 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Caribou Relevant Environmental Changes Around the Ekati Diamond Mine Measured in 2015. Chen, W., Leblanc, S. G., White, H. P., Milakovic, B., O'keefe, H, Croft, B., Gunn, A., and Boulanger, J...... 24

Tracking the Environmental Fate of Legacy Mining Pollution in Yellowknife Bay, Great Slave Lake. Chételat, J., Black, J. , Cott, P., Cousens, B, Amyot, M., Muir, D., and Evans, M...... 25

An Overview of the Regulatory Framework in the Mackenzie Valley, NWT. Chouinard, R., and Mullaney, T...... 26

Cool Tools: Innovative Environmental Monitoring Techniques. Christensen, J...... 27

The Build in Canada Innovation Program, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Chuka, D., and Mikawoz, I...... 27

The Coppermine Project – A New Look at an Old District – 2015 Exploration Update. Clay, S., Flood, Z., and Broughton, D...... 28

The Development of Remote Sensing Tools for Mapping Linear Disturbances in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories. Cole, S.C., Mcdermid, G.M., Cranston, J.C., Hall-Beyer, M.H.B., Palmer, M.J., and Tigner, J.T...... 29

Liabilities and Financial Assurances - Year in Review and Future Preview. Conkin, C., and Steele, J...... 30

Constructive Insights Into Navigating the Regulatory Process and Earning Social Licence. Connelly, D.M...... 31

Increasing Communities' Understanding of Prospecting: 2015 Introduction to Prospecting Courses. Connelly, D.M., and Powell, L...... 31

Effects of Fire and Development on Bathurst Caribou Winter Range Habitat Selection. Coulton, D., Dawe, K. , Virgl, J., and Karras, A...... 32

Proxima Diamonds Corp.: Exploring for Diamonds in the Fertile Slave Craton. Counts, B., and Power, M...... 33

Water and Hydraulic Fracturing: Where Knowledge can Best Support Decisions in Canada. Courtenay, S...... 33

Prairie Creek Mine, NWT: Update. Cupit, K. Taylor, A, and Kuipers, J...... 34

Developments in the Law Related to Land and Water Regulation in the Mackenzie Valley, NWT. Donihee, J...... 35

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 4 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Planning for Resource Regions in Northern Canada. Drylie, M...... 35

Slave Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study Overview - Revitalizing Multi-Commodity Mineral Exploration and Facilitating Sustainable Development in a Key Economic Region. Elliott, B...... 35

Slave Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study Concluding Presentation. Elliott, B...... 36

2015 Exploration Overview. Falck, H., and Gochnauer, K...... 37

GSC Bedrock Mapping and Stratigraphic Studies of the Colville Hills, Northwest Territories. Fallas, K.M. Macnaughton, R.B., and Maclean, B.C...... 38

Acquiring Crustal Dilution Data and Kimberlite Compositional Information From Drill Core Using SWIR Hyperspectral Imagery From the Tango Extension Kimberlite. Feng, J., Tappert, M.C., Rivard, B.A., Fulop, A., Rogge, D., and Tappert, R...... 39

Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) Petroleum Group Summary of Activities: December 2014 to November 2015. Fiess, K.M...... 40

Bluefish and Canol Shale Mapping Project – Mackenzie Plain, Northwest Territories. Fiess, K.M...... 40

Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations (OROGO) - Update. James, F ...... 41

NWT Mining Industry Value Chain. Gauthier, F., and Pelletier, P...... 41

Measuring the Efficiency of Grease Recovery at Differing Feed Rates and Scrape Intervals. Grant, A...... 42

The Slave Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study: Rationale and First Results of the Permafrost part of the Project. Gruber, S. , Brown, N. , Peart, C., Riddick, J., Subedi, R., Karunaratne, K., and Kokelj, S.V...... 42

Glacial History and Landform Genesis in the Lac de Gras Area and Implications for Kimberlite Drift Prospecting. Haiblen, A.M., Ward, B.C., Normandeau, P.X., and Prowse, N.D...... 43

Successes and Challenges Encountered in Defining Natural Variability for Northern Aquatic Systems. Hall, T., Machtans, H., Sharpe, R., Darwish, T., Barrett, T., Kovats, Z., and Chapman, P...... 44

Geology, Structure and Alteration of the Mazenod Lake Region, Great Bear Magmatic Zone, NWT. Hamilton, M.S.H...... 45

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 5 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Assessing Mycorrhizal Spore Density and Inoculum Potential of Soils Obtained From Steeves Lake Shoreline: A Remediation Site at the Colomac Mine, NWT. Hamp, R., Stevens, K., Maccoll, K., Erenfellner, W., Hewitt, M., and Richardson, A...... 45

Constraining Hydrothermal Events Responsible for Regional Polymetallic Vein Mineralization in the Southern Slave Provinces and Links to Deposits in the Great Bear Lake Magmatic Zone. Hanley, J.J., Trottier, C.R., Burke, J., and Ootes, L...... 46

An Introduction to the NWT Environmental Studies Research Fund. Hansen, K...... 47

Improving the Utility of Eclogitic Garnet in Diamond-Exploration – Examples From Lac de Gras and Worldwide Localities. Hardman, M.F., Stachel, T., Pearson, D.G., Kinakin, Y.B., and Bellinger, J...... 47

Early Cambrian Carbonate Ramp Signatures in the Mount Clark Formation, Dodo Canyon, NT. Herbers, D.H, Gingras, M.K, Bobey, B., Kolenosky, S, Bilak, G, and Lagrange Rao, M...... 49

To Be or Not to Be Conservative – A Water Quality Modelling Case Study in the Northwest Territories. Herrell, M.K., Faithful, J., and Lee, C...... 49

Revegetating Colomac Mine, NT: Five Years Later - Update on the Bioengineering Techniques for Revegetation of Riparian Areas At the Colomac Mine, NT. Hewitt, M., Mcpherson, M., and Tokarek, M...... 50

Rayrock (Kwetı̨ĮɁaà) Watershed Tour. Hum, J., Lafferty, G., and Breadmore, R...... 51

Gamma-Ray Spectrometry and Uranium Prospectivity of the 1.9 Ga Kilohigok Paleosol in Melville Sound, Nunavut. Ielpi, A., Rainbird, R.H., Greenman, J.W., and Creason, C.G...... 52

On Traditional Knowledge Research, Industrial Development and Barren-Ground Caribou. Jacobsen, P., and Judas, J...... 53

Speciation of Arsenic in Soils on the Giant Mine Property. Jamieson, H.E., Bromstad, M.L., Dobosz, A., Nash, T.J., Cole, A., and Fiddler, S...... 54

Shale Oil and Shale Gas in Canada's North: Recent Findings and Current Projects. Johnson, M., Doubrovina, G., Fiess, K.M., and Rocheleau, J...... 55

The Distance Divide: Addressing Infrastructure Gaps to Unlock Northern Resource Potential. Kara, N...... 56

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 6 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Towards A Ground Temperature Database for the Northwest Territories. Karunaratne, K.C, Kokelj, S.V, and Gervais, S...... 56

Developing the Framework Geology for Mapping 3D Dispersal Patterns in the Northeastern NWT. Kelley, S.E., Ross, M., Janzen, R.J.D. , Elliott, B., and Normandeau, P.X...... 57

Overview of 2015 Activities at the Northwest Territories Geological Survey. Ketchum, J...... 58

Retrogressive Thaw Slumps and the Landscape Sensitivity of Northwestern Canada. Kokelj, S.V., Tunnicliffe, J., Lacelle, D., Lantz, T.C., Fraser, R., Pisaric, M.F.J., and van der Sluijs, J...... 58

Gahcho Kue Project Update Presentation. Kruger, T.D...... 59

Polar Knowledge Canada: Arctic Science and Technology Program. Leclair, A., and Miller, D...... 60

Impacts of Wildfires on Tǫdzi (Boreal Caribou). Legat, A., Nitsiza, C., and Nitsiza, T...... 60

Trace Element Chemistry and Fluid Inclusion Systematics of Skarn Minerals at the Cantung W-Cu Skarn, NWT. Lentz, C., Hanley, J.J., McFarlane, C., and Falck, H...... 61

Examining the Relationship Between Climate Variability and Metal Cycling in Pocket Lake. Macumber, A.L., Galloway, J.M., Crann, C.C., Swindles, G.T., Falck, H., Palmer, M.J., and Patterson, R.T...... 62

Terra Incognita; Highlights From the South Rae Mapping Project, Southeast NWT. Martel, E., Acosta-Góngora, P., Pehrsson, S.J., Davis, W.J., Thiessen, E., and Jamison, D...... 63

The Surface Rights Board: Creating a New Regulatory Regime for Land Access. Matthews, A...... 64

Using Property-Scale Surficial Geology Mapping to Refine Kimberlite Indicator Mineral Dispersal Patterns at the Redemption Project, NWT. McKillop, R.J., and Sacco, D.A...... 64

Quaternary Geology Interpretation for the Slave Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study. McKillop, R.J., Turner, D.G., and Sacco, D.A...... 65

Diavik Mine Operational Update. McLachlan, C...... 66

Developing an All Season Road – Challenges and Triumphs on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway. McLeod, W., and Coyne, P...... 66

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 7 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Why Did the Caribou Cross the Road? – Permeability of a Mine Road to Barrenground Caribou. Milakovic, B., O'keefe, H., Rock, C., and Sharam, G...... 66

Monitoring Grizzly Bear Populations in the Central Canadian Arctic to Support Management and Cumulative Effects Assessment: A DNA Based Approach. Milakovic, B., O'Keefe, H., Wells, D., Sharam, G., Rock, C., and Corey, L...... 67

Development of Soils and Plant Communities for Reclamation in Northern Diamond Mines. Miller, V.S., and Naeth, M.A...... 68

Comparative Study of Composition and Occurrence of Apatite in Snap Lake and Ekati Kimberlites. Milligan, R., Fedortchouk, Y., Normandeau, P.X., and Fulop, A...... 69

Supporting Northern Development Through Environmental Monitoring, Capacity Building and Community Engagement. Morinville, G...... 70

Disturbed Permafrost Environments: Research Opportunities. Morse, P.D., and Wolfe, S.A...... 71

CCGP Land-Based Project: Advances and Challenges in Geoscientific Research and Monitoring. Morse, P.D., Wolfe, S.A., Zhang, Y., and Kokelj, S.V...... 72

High Spatio-Temporal Resolution Assessment of Arcellinina (Testate Amoebae) as Bio-Indicators of Legacy Mine Contamination in the Canadian Subarctic: Implications for Environmental Monitoring. Nasser, N.A., Patterson, R.T., Macumber, A.L., Gregory, B.R.B., Galloway, J.M., and Falck, H. .... 73

Mitigating the Effects of Roads on Caribou Migratory Movements and Behaviour: A Novel Approach From the Jay Project. Nichol, E., O'Keefe, H., Coulton, D., and Virgl, J...... 74

Northquest Ltd. Pistol Bay Gold Project: Intrusion-Hosted Gold in Kaminak-Type Greenstone Belt, Eastern Nunavut. North, J.N ...... 75

Ekati Long Lake Containment Facility Reclamation Research. Novy, L., and Petherbridge, W...... 76

Overview of the Geological Survey of Canada's Geo-Mapping for Energy and Minerals Program. Ozyer, C.A...... 76

Goldsim Water Balance Modeling of Waste Rock Piles, Ekati Waste Rock Storage Area (Ekati WRSA) - Northwest Territories. Paget, M., and Chiaramello, P...... 77

Petrology, Geochemistry, and U-Pb Geochronology of the Prestige Pluton and Related Pegmatites, NWT : Petrogenetic Implications. Palmer, E.M., Lentz, D.R., and Falck, H...... 78

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 8 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Removing the Cobwebs From Past Exploration and Mining Research. Palmer, E...... 79

The NWT Inventory of Landscape Change: A Web-Accessible Platform for Viewing and Managing Natural and Human Disturbance Information. Palmer, M.J., McPherson, J., Laing, I., and Kirizopolous, E...... 80

The Concentration of Arsenic in Lakes of the Yellowknife Area. Palmer, M.J., Galloway, J.M., Jamieson, H.E., van den Berghe, M., Patterson, R.T., Kokelj, S.V., Swindles, G.T., Falck, H., Howell, D., Stavinga, D.B., Nasser, N.A., and Roe, H...... 81

Current Use of Geophysical Methods to Identify and Monitor Permafrost Related Thaw Settlement in the North. Parry, N.S...... 82

Using Earth Science Data to Inform Risk Assessments and Management Decisions at Historical Gold Mines in Nova Scotia. Parsons, M.B., Jamieson, H.E., Walker, S.R., and Little, M.E...... 82

Who Killed Frame Lake? Progress Report on Efforts to Rehabilitate an Important Yellowknife Recreation Area. Patterson, R.T., Nasser, N.A., Gregory, B.R.B., Sabourin, M., Menard, E., Macumber, A.L., Cott, P.A., Ellis, S., Hanna, B., Galloway, J.M., Falck, H., and Palmer, M.J...... 83

Using the Past to Inform the Future: A Paleoecological Perspective of Climate and Environmental Change in the Northwest Territories. Pisaric, M.F.J ...... 84

Giant Mine Remediation Project Consultation & Engagement in Project Planning. Plato, N...... 85

A Geochemical Study of Diamond Indicator Minerals from the NWT Interior Platform. Poitras, S.P...... 86

Morphology and Sedimentary Architecture of the Exeter Lake Esker in the Lac de Gras Area, Northwest Territories. Prowse, N.D., and Cummings, D.I...... 87

Devonian and Cretaceous Shale Resource Systems, Peel and Mackenzie Plains, Northwest Territories. Pyle, L.J., Fiess, K.M., and Rocheleau, J...... 88

Fine-Scale Variability in Permafrost Terrain and its Control on Ground Temperature. Riddick, J., Gruber, S., and Karunaratne, K.C...... 89

2015 Northwest Territories Petroleum Resources Division & Petroleum Industry Activity Overview. Ritchie, J.R...... 90

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 9 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Reconstructing Early to Mid-Holocene Landscape Evolution in the Central Northwest Territories, Canada: Insights From Biological Proxy Data. Roe, H.M., Patterson, R.S., Trainor, P., Wolfe, S.A., Patterson, R.T., and Vermaire, J.C...... 91

Giant Mine Remediation Project Regulatory Context. Ross, K., and Paradis, A...... 92

The Gahcho Kué Mine Dewatering Experience, Winter 2014-2015. Schmidt, N., and Kramers, P...... 93

Yellowknife City Gold Project-Exploration Update and MIP Research Results. Setterfield, T., Campbell, J., and Sexton, A...... 94

Yellowknife City Gold Project- Update on Drilling and New Discovery. Sexton, A., Herbert, E, McAllister, B., Studd, D., and Findley, A...... 95

Post-Calving and Summer Habitat Selection by a Declining Caribou Herd in the Central Canadian Arctic: Applications for Cumulative Effects Management and Conservation. Sharam, G., and Milakovic, B...... 96

Geochemical Insights Into the Origin of Union Island Group Mafic Magmatism, East Arm Basin, Great Slave Lake. Sheen, A., Heaman, L., Ootes, L., and Kjarsgaard, B...... 97

Diamond Formation in Earth's Mantle. Stachel, T., and Luth, R.W...... 98

Tehery-Wager Geoscience Project: Findings from the 2015 Bedrock Mapping Campaign. Steenkamp, H.M., Wodicka, N., Lawley, C.J.M., Peterson, T.D., and Guilmette, C...... 99

A Community Stewardship Option for Fisheries Productivity Offsetting in the Northwest Territories. Stevens, C., Clipperton, K., Vecsei, P., Schmidt, N., Bargery, R., and Lee, C...... 100

Mineral Development Strategy Implementation Progress Report. Strand, P.D., and Knotsch, C...... 100

Geochemistry and Carbon Content of Permafrost and Active Layers in Tundra Landscapes of Lac de Gras, Northwest Territories, N.W.T. Subedi, R., Gruber, S., and Kokelj, S.V...... 101

Holocene Fire Regimes and Treeline Migration Rates in Subarctic Canada. Sulphur, K.C., Goldsmith, S.A., Galloway, J.M., Hills, L.V., Macumber, A.L., Swindles, G.T., Patterson, R.T., and Falck, H...... 102

Hyperspectral Imagery: A Novel Way to Analyze Kimberlite Indicator Minerals and to Detect Kimberlite Micro-Float. Tappert, R., and Tappert, M.C...... 102

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 10 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Contamination from Gold Mining Reorganizes Multiple Trophic Levels in Pocket Lake (Yellowknife, NT, Canada). Thienpont, J.R., Korosi, J.B. , Hargan, K.E., Williams, T., Eickmeyer, D.C. , Kimpe, L.E., Palmer, M.J., Smol, J.P., and Blais, J.M...... 103

Economic Analysis of Frontier Projects - the Need for Realism. Tippett, C.R...... 104

Polymetallic Ni-Co-As-Bi-Ag-U Veins With Co-Precipitating Bitumen at Copper Pass, Southern Slave Province, Northwest Territories. Trottier, C.R., Hanley, J.J., Burke, J., and Ootes, L...... 105

Aboriginal Mineral Development Policies and Strategies. van Aanhout, M., and Fryer, A...... 106

Landscape Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing Development and Operations on Surface Water and Watersheds. Van der Byl, C.A...... 106

How the Kwe Beh Working Group and the T ł ı̨ chǫ Land Use Plan Can Help Your Future Development on T ł ı̨ chǫ Lands. van der Wielen, S...... 107

Geomet: Using Exploration and Resource Data to Inform Mine Planning and Metallurgical Processing. van Geffen, P.W.G., and Bluemel, E.B...... 107

Salty Fluids, Subducted Slabs and NWT Diamonds. Weiss, Y., Pearson, D.G., Mcneill, J., Nowell, G.M., and Ottley, C.J...... 108

Diavik Mine Environment Update. Wells, D...... 108

Adapting to Change: Update on Environmental Assessment Policy and Process Initiatives in the Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories. Wheler, B., and Cliffe-Phillips, M...... 109

Kennady North Property: 2015 Field Season Update. White, D., Bezzola, M., Hrkac, C., and Vivian, G...... 109

NWT Post Devolution – Intergovernmental Council and Resource Revenue Sharing. Woodward, S...... 110

Geological and Structural Interpretation of the Jay Kimberlite Host Rocks. Zorzi, L., Crawford, B., and Ferguson, K...... 110

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 11 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Abstracts - Poster Presentations

Preliminary Lithogeochemistry and Geochronology of Pegmatites of the Hall Peninsula, and Implications for REE Mineralization Potential. Bigio, A...... 112

Developing a Hydrothermal Model for Polymetallic Ni-Co-Bi-Ag-Sb-As-U Veins at Blanchet Island and Copper Pass, Southern Slave Province, Northwest Territories. Burke, J...... 112

Northwest Territories Geological Survey Collections Programs 2015: Urgency to Preserve Deteriorating Resources. Cairns, S...... 113

Lena West Chromites. Davies, R., and Davies, A.W...... 114

Geophysical Evidence for Great Bear Fault Zone. Davies, A.W., and Davies, R...... 115

Slave Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost Study Summary Poster. Elliott, B...... 116

Cryptic Structural Controls on Metallogeny Patterns as Revealed By the Distribution of Heavy Minerals in Stream Sediments from the Flat River Area, Mackenzie Mountains, NWT. Falck, H., Martel, E., Day, S., Pierce, K., Fischer, B.J., and Mirza, A.M...... 117

Updated Bedrock Geology of Part of the Misty Creek Paleo-Embayment, Mackenzie Mountains (NTS 106b). Fischer, B.J...... 117

Geoscience Tools for Supporting Environmental Risk Assessment of Metal Mining. Galloway, J.M., and Patterson, R.T………………………………………………...... 119

Integrated Freeze Core - Itrax Micro-XRF Scanning as a Non-Destructive Method to Determine Baseline Geochemical Concentrations: Preliminary Results From Milner and Daigle Lake, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Gregory, B.R.B., Patterson, R.T., Galloway, J.M., Falck, H., Setterfield, T., Nasser, N.A., and Macumber, A.L...... 119

Surficial Geology Mapping from High-Resolution Lidar and Orthophotos in the Lac de Gras Area - Preliminary Results. Haiblen, A.M., Ward, B.C., and Normandeau, P.X...... 120

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 12 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Mycorrhizal Density and Inoculation Potential of Soils Obtained from the Truck Lake Channel: A Site at the Remediated Colomac Mine. Hamp, R., Stevens, K., Maccoll, K., Erenfellner, W., Hewitt, M., and Richardson, A...... 121

Mantle Composition Beneath the Darby Kimberlite Field, West Central Rae Craton. Harris, G.A., Pearson, D.G., and Hardman, M.F...... 122

Potential Tidal Influence on Sedimentation in the Mount Clark Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, NT. Herbers, D.S., Gingras, M.K., Bobey, B., Lagrange Rao, M., and Harris, B...... 123

Multi-Species Monitoring Using Winter Wildlife Track Surveys in the Sahtú Settlement Region. Hodson, J., Hanlon, J., Simmons, D., Tigner, J., and Wright, W...... 124

Deformation History of the Black Bay Fault and Implication for Fault-Controlled U and REE Mineralization. Jamison, D., Lin, S., Martel, E., and Pehrsson, S. J...... 125

Glacial Dynamics, Sediment Dispersion, and Preliminary 3D Framework Near Lac de Gras, NWT: Year 1 Results. Janzen, R.J.D., Kelley, S.E., Ross, M., Normandeau, P.X., and Elliott, B...... 126

Ecological Responses to Legacy Contaminants from Historic Gold Mining Operations in Yellowknife Lakes. Korosi, J.B., Palmer, M.J., Smol, J.P., and Blais, J.M...... 127

Application of Fe-Ti Oxide Dissolution Experiments to the Petrogenesis of the Ekati Diamond Mine Kimberlites, Northwest Territories, Canada. Kressall, R., Fedortchouk, Y., Mccammon, C., and Elliott, B...... 128

Sedimentology and Ichnology of the Mixed Carbonate and Siliciclastic Beds of the Mount Clark Formation at Dodo Canyon, Mackenzie Mountains, NT. Lagrange, M., Herbers, D., and Gingras, M.K...... 128

Tectonic Evolution of the Talston Magmatic Zone: A Reconnaissance Study. Lemkow, D. R., and Bostock, H. H...... 129

An Assessment of Plant Performance and Mycorrhizal Infectivity in Soils Collected From Baker Creek: A Watershed Impacted by Giant Mine. Maccoll, K., Hamp, R., and Stevens, K...... 130

An Assessment of the Accuracy of Radiocarbon Dates From the Central Northwest Territories Based on the Occurrence of the A.D. 833-850 White River Ash in Pocket Lake, Yellowknife, NT. Macumber, A.L., Crann, C., Cutts, J.A., Courtney Mustaphi, C.J., Nasser, N.A., Galloway, J.M., Falck, H., and Patterson, R.T...... 131

Variability in Soil Geochemistry in the Yellowknife Region Beyond Mine Lease Boundaries. Maitland, K.M., Jamieson, H.E., and Palmer, M.J...... 131

Dominion Diamond Jay Project Integrated Environmental Assessment and Design. Mason, K., Cunning, J., Lee, C., and Schmidt, N...... 132

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 13 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Overview of Surficial Geology Activities in the Tehery-Wager GEM-2 Rae Project Area, Nunavut. McMartin, I., Randour, I., Byatt, J., Roy, M., Larocque, A., Leblon, B., Day, S., Steenkamp, H.M., and Wodicka, N...... 133

Geophysical Data Projects 2015-2016. Mirza, A.M., and Fischer, B.J...... 134

GEM Mackenzie Project: Preliminary Surficial Geology Map, Wecho River, NTS 85-O, NWT. Morse, P.D., Kerr, D.E., and Wolfe, S.A...... 135

Historic Caribou Trail Classification Using GIS and Ground-Based Surveys At Ekati Diamond Mine. Mulders, T., Nichol, E., Coulton, D., and Panayi, D...... 136

Intra-Lake Assessment of the Utility of Arcellinina (Testate Amoebae) as Bio-Monitors of Lacustrine System Health in Frame Lake, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Nasser, N.A., Patterson, R.T., Macumber, A.L., Gregory, B.R.B., Sabourin, M., Menard, E., Galloway, J.M., and Falck, H...... 136

A New Geological Compilation of Banks Island, Northwest Territories – Challenges, Complications and Contributions. Okulitch, A.V., and Irwin, D...... 137

What Is New for Sedex Deposits of the Canadian Cordillera? Paradis, S., Dekemp, E.A., Falck, H., Gadd, M.G., Gleeson, S.A., Hillier, M.J., Jamieson, H.E., Layton-Matthews, D., Lydon, J., Magnall, J.M., Montsion, R., Peter, J.M., Schetselaar, E.M., Stavinga, D.B., Taylor, B.E., Thomas, M.D., and Turner, E.C...... 138

Relationship Between Forest Structure and Near-Surface Ground Ice Conditions, North Slave Region, NWT. Paul, J., Kokelj, S.V., and Baltzer, J.L...... 139

Laser Scanning Issues on Tundra and Man-Made Surfaces. Peart, C., Gruber, S., and Heim, L...... 140

Unravelling the Kinematic History of the March Fault, Nahanni Region, NWT. Penner, B., Kennedy, L., Hickey, K., and Martel, E...... 141

Reconnaissance Mapping, Stratigraphy and Magnetotelluric Survey of the Brock Inlier, Northwest Territories. Rainbird, R.H., Craven, J.A., Turner, E.C., Jackson, V.A., Fischer, B.J., Bouchard, M., Greenman, J.W., and Gibson, T...... 142

Exshaw Formation Study – Liard Basin, Northwest Territories, Canada. Rocheleau, J., and Fiess, K.M...... 143

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 14 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Spatial Variations in Arsenic Geochemistry in Sediments and Their Associated Porewaters From Lakes in the Yellowknife Region. Schuh, C.E., Jamieson, H.E., Palmer, M.J., and Martin, A.J...... 144

Camera Traps as a Monitoring Tool for Large Mammals at Industrial Sites in the Canadian Arctic – Strengths and Weaknesses. Sharam, G., Milakovic, B., Buckman, A., Rock, C., and Bol, L...... 145

A Validation of Hydroacoustic Surveys for Fish in Small Arctic Lakes. Stevens, C., Clipperton, K., Nuspl, K., Day, M., Mason, K., and Lee, C...... 145

Quantitative Palynological Analyses of Albian-Cenomanian (Lower to Upper Cretaceous) Strata in the Sverdrup Basin: Insights Into Paleoecology, Paleoclimatology and Palynostratigraphy. Sulphur, K.C...... 146

Using Paleolimnology to Establish Baseline Sediment Metal Concentrations and to Reconstruct Hydroecological Conditions, Marian River Watershed, NWT. Telford, J.V., Wolfe, B.B., Hall, R. I., and van der Wielen, S...... 146

The Mobility of Arsenic in Sediments and Co-Existing Pore Waters From Three Small Lakes West of Giant Mine, NWT. van den Berghe, M...... 147

Mine to Micron: Synchrotron Science for Mineral Exploration, Production, and Remediation. van Loon, L.L., Banerjee, N.R., Stromberg, J.M., and Feick, K...... 148

The Industrial Mineral Inventory of the Northwest Territories. Watson, D.M...... 149

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 15 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Abstracts - Oral Presentations Presenting Author denoted by *

A 2015 GEOPHYSICAL UPDATE NUNAVUT 2015: EXPLORATION FOR KENNADY NORTH OVERVIEW PROJECT, NT. BIGIO, A. BELCOURT, G. ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN AURORA GEOSCIENCES LTD., DEVELOPMENT CANADA, IQALUIT, NU YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] [email protected] Mining and mineral exploration companies This presentation will provide an update of continued to be active in Nunavut in 2015. geophysical surveys performed in 2015. Spending intentions for mineral exploration These surveys were undertaken to aid in the and deposit appraisal reached nearly $175 delineation of known kimberlites and million, up from estimated expenditures of discovery of potential kimberlite targets on $145 million in 2014. Senior companies' Kennady Diamonds Inc.'s Kennady North estimated spending intentions were $101 Property. million, a 35% increase over 2014; in a more modest increase, junior companies In 2015, Kennady Diamonds Inc. focused estimated spending at $73 million, which is most of their geophysical budget on still an improvement over last year's $69.8 expansion of the known kimberlites. million (NRCan February 2015 estimates). Previous OhmMapper surveys were expanded in the Doyle & MZ Areas in order Gold continues to be the commodity of to provide locations for exploration drilling. primary interest in Nunavut, accounting for Ground based Gravity surveys were almost three-quarters of all estimated completed using an increased sample exploration expenditures. Agnico-Eagle's density in key areas. This increased density Meadowbank gold mine produced 179,799 in the gravity data proved to be very helpful ounces of gold in the first half of 2015. At in the detailed drilling of the Kelvin and the company's Meliadine gold project, work Faraday kimberlite bodies. continued on extending the underground ramp, and an Inuit Impact Benefit Late in the summer season, a small scale Agreement was signed with the Kivalliq marine seismic system was utilized on the Inuit Association. At its Amaruq project, Kelvin and Faraday lakes. This data will AEM completed over 75,000 metres of hopefully be used to discover potential areas drilling and released an Inferred Resource of new or thicker kimberlite under the lake. Estimate of 2 million ounces of gold. TMAC As the Kelvin and Faraday kimberlites are Resources continued underground not the typical pipe-like bodies, many development of the Doris deposit and drilled different geophysical tools from our toolbox over 18,000 m at the Madrid North, Nartok, must be utilized. and Suluk deposits to better delineate their mineralization and to take samples for metallurgical analysis. After its successful acquisition of 100% of North Country Gold and its Committee Bay project, Auryn

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 16 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Resources added to the tenure on that REGULATING CLIMATE project with the staking of over 158,000 CHANGE MITIGATION & hectares of claims, bringing the total tenure ADAPTATION NORTH OF 60 to over 217,000 hectares.

BIRCHALL*, C.1 and DONIHEE, J.2 Peregrine Diamonds completed an extensive field program that included significant work (1) WILLMS & SHIER ENVIRONMENTAL on the CH-6 and CH-7 kimberlites. A bulk LAWYERS LLP, TORONTO, ON (2) WILLMS & SHIER ENVIRONMENTAL sample was collected from CH-7 using large LAWYERS LLP, CALGARY, AB diameter reverse circulation drilling. Core [email protected] sampling was carried out on both CH-6 and New northern mines are designed with CH-7, and a total of 3,345 kg of kimberlite climate change in mind. The signs and material was sent for microdiamond effects of climate change are clear in analysis. North Arrow Minerals reported its Canada's north. The Northwest Territories diamond valuation results from last year's government has spent more than $140 bulk sample at Qilalugaq in June and million in the last two years responding to completed till sampling at its Mel property problems linked to global warming and there in September. is no end in sight. Canada's new government

was elected with a commitment to take The first shipment of iron ore left immediate action on climate change. New Baffinland's Mary River mine in August for legislative and policy initiatives are likely. processing in Europe. The company has also Consideration will be given to the extent to applied to the Nunavut Impact Review which federal laws or programs should or Board for a change to the mine's project must play a role in addressing climate certificate that would allow it to increase change in the North. tote road traffic and ship more ore at Milne

Inlet; a decision from NIRB is pending. This presentation will review the legislative

and regulatory status of the three territories Base metals saw limited activity in the relating to mitigation and adaptation to territory this year. Aston Bay Holdings ran a climate change. Gaps in territorial short summer geophysical program at its legislation to address air quality including Storm copper project on Somerset Island in greenhouse gases and other territorial the Qikiqtani region, while Kaizen government mechanisms will be discussed. Discovery was active at its Coppermine The presentation will also canvass other copper-silver project in the western possible solutions with a focus on mining Kitikmeot. activities. We will review the legislative and regulatory responses of other jurisdictions Although the mining industry as a whole such as Alaska and Finland. Included in this remains in an economic slowdown, the analysis is an evaluation of the role and continued presence of advanced, established effectiveness of guidelines setting out best and early stage projects in Nunavut indicates practices and procedures as a way that the territory remains an attractive addressing the rapidly evolving and destination for exploration and development. changing effects of climate change in the North.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 17 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

COMMUNITY-BASED AQUATIC Monitors worked with scientists to EFFECTS MONITORING investigate the concerns of the elders and PROGRAM IN THE MARIAN community members.

WATERSHED (T ł ı̨ c h ǫ A workshop was organized by the GOVERNMENT) Department of Culture and Lands Protection (DCLP) in the spring of 2014 as well as BIRLEA, M. 2015 in order to bring back the results from T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, Behchokǫ̀ , NT the K’eàgotì (Hislop Lake) camp as well as [email protected] Behtsotì (Shoti Lake) and to develop a long Tłı̨chǫ Government is working together with term monitoring plan that truly addresses the Wek'èezhìi Land and Water Board (WLWB) concerns of the elders. and other partners to develop the Marian We identified five important field sites along Watershed Community-Based Aquatic the Marian River from K’eàgotì (Hislop Effects Monitoring Program. This is a Lake) to Marian Lake, which will be visited community-based monitoring program that on a four-year cycle. is being developed based on the questions and needs of the Tłı̨chǫ people. The DCLP organized the third field program this fall at Marian Lake near Marian Village. Tłı̨chǫ Lands have been under Moratorium Where the freshly trained Environmental since the signing of the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement in Monitors worked with the scientist to 2005 and on June 1, 2013, the Moratorium investigate the concerns from the elders and was lifted as the Tłı̨chǫ Wenek’e or Land communities. Use Plan came into force. With the potential for future development of Tłı̨chǫ The ongoing program will facilitate Lands, the Tłı̨chǫ people have expressed enhanced understanding of fish health and concern about impacts on the water and water chemistry each year, ensure active wildlife they are so dependent upon. The monitoring of Tłı̨chǫ waters by Tłı̨chǫ objective of the Marian Watershed people, and prioritize meaningful Monitoring Program is to begin collecting communication back to community baseline information about the water and members. A results workshop will be fish on Tłı̨chǫ lands and in locations the scheduled for the spring of next year. Tłı̨chǫ feel are the most important, prior to any major development pressure (such as the EKATI DIAMOND MINE UAV'S NICO mine by Fortune Minerals), and to continue collecting this data over time. BLACKLOCK, S. Community members are being trained to DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORP, collect samples, analyze the samples, and YELLOWKNIFE, NT report findings back to the rest of the [email protected] community members. Dominion Diamond Ekati Corporation A pilot project was conducted at K’eàgotì (DDEC) purchased two unmanned aerial (Hislop Lake), upstream of the planned vehicles (UAV's) in 2014 to assist in NICO Mine site, in the fall of 2013. This surveying the active open pits and kimberlite project included the training of eight stockpiles at the mine. UAV technology has community members and a field program allowed the team to survey various aspects where the newly trained Environmental of the mine in a safer and more accurate

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 18 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 manner. Along with making day to day work more efficient, DDEC surveying now has In the Cantung area, a stream sediment the ability to complete various other requests sampling program was completed to follow from departments at the mine. These up on excellent indicator mineral results include; large area photographs of lay obtained in an earlier survey. MDBM piggy- downs, new road alignments, projects and backed several graduate student research environmental areas of interest. projects with the stream sediment program.

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES Industrial Mineral research continues to GEOLOGICAL SURVEY – present lucrative, often low capital cost, MINERALS AND BEDROCK investment ideas. This year efforts focused around artisanal salt opportunities in the MAPPING – 2015 ACTIVITIES Dehcho and Akaitcho, as well as progress on an NWT Atlas of Industrial Minerals. CAIRNS, S. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Diamond Mining continues to drive the SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT economy of the NWT so it is no coincidence [email protected] that the MDBM is conducting several The Northwest Territories Geological diamond related research initiatives. These Survey (NTGS) carries out government activities included projects to explain geological survey activities for the occurrences of, and characterize the Government of the Northwest Territories potential for diamonds in frontier areas. (GNWT). Within the NTGS, the Minerals Additional diamond related projects aim to Deposits and Bedrock Mapping (MDBM) characterize the mantle beneath, and carries out geological, geochemical and physiochemical conditions of, known geophysical research to enhance our diamondiferous kimberlites. knowledge of NWT geology. CanNor funds allowed the completion of a MDBM draws research funding from a research program studying the surficial variety of sources including core “A-Base” geology of the central Slave Province funding, targeted GNWT Mineral diamond fields. The program utilized Development Strategy funds and federal drilling, surficial mapping, geophysics and a Strategic Investment in Northern Economic host of innovative tools to model indicator Development funds from the Canadian mineral entrainment, develop new 3D Northern Economic Development Agency surficial material maps and contribute to (CanNor). glacial transport models for use by industry diamond explorers. This program included a MDBM is mapping freshly exposed permafrost component to advise the volcanic rocks, cleaned by forest fires, to development of infrastructure in the region, test their potential to host undiscovered and monitor the lands response to climate Volcanic Massive Sulphide deposits. This change. detailed mapping serves as a framework for geochemical and stratigraphic mineral The addition of a geophysicist to the deposit studies. Multiple metallogenic and MDBM has enabled us to organize, thematic studies are also underway to understand and maximizing the utility of our elucidate the tectonic history and mineral publically available geophysical collection potential of the East Arm.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 19 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 as well as to add a geophysical component Quaternary framework necessary for the to many of our field research projects. implementation of successful mineral exploration, sustainable resource MDBM conducts collaborative projects with development and land-use management is Natural Resources Canada Geoscience for lacking. In order to address this knowledge Energy and Minerals research programs. gap, the Quaternary geological component These programs include; mapping in the of this project will: 1) increase the surficial Brock Inlier, mapping and lake sediment mapping coverage; 2) define the regional sampling in the Churchill Province, drift composition and glacial transport indicator mineral research on Banks Island, characteristics; and 3) reconstruct the glacial and the development of new indicator history and ice-flow sequences, particularly mineral and indicator mineral chemistry as they relate to the central Keewatin Ice techniques for mineral deposits in the Sector and migrating ice divides. Wopmay Orogen. During the 2015 field season, surficial MDBM oversaw the construction of the geological mapping and regional till Geological Materials Storage Facility, a sampling were completed in NTS map warehouse and examination facility for sheets 75A and B. Targeted reconnaissance NTGS geological collections. The MDMB sampling, focused primarily on 4 transects, also initiated the first year of a two year core resulted in till samples collected at 88 sites rescue program. for provenance, geochemistry, indicator minerals and gold grains. Multiple small and INTO THE UNKNOWN: meso-scale erosional ice-flow indicators SURFICIAL GEOLOGICAL (e.g. striations, grooves, roches moutonnées) INVESTIGATIONS IN THE were measured at 55 locations. To help establish a minimum age for deglaciation in SOUTH RAE, NORTHWEST this area, 2 beach sand samples and 1 basal TERRITORIES peat sample were collected for respective optically stimulated luminescence and 1 2 CAMPBELL*, J.E. , LAUZON, G. , and radiocarbon dating. 3 DYKE, A.S. (1) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, Preliminary mapping has identified at least OTTAWA, ON 4-5 phases of ice flow with 3 main flowsets (2) UQÀM, MONTRÉAL, QC variably affecting the study area. The oldest (3) CONSULTANT, EASTPORT, NL regional ice flow was to the south (pre-last [email protected] glacial maximum (LGM) ?). The main The Geological Survey of Canada, as part of regional ice flow, comprised of 2 flowsets its Geo-Mapping for Energy and Minerals (LGM and deglaciation) was generally to the Program (GEM2), in partnership with the southwest. A younger, late stage, west Northwest Territories Geological Survey, flowing paleo-ice stream overprinted this has begun a three-year (2015-2017) project southwest flow in the northern part of the to upgrade the bedrock and Quaternary study area. Rare SSE/NWW trending ice geoscience knowledge for the underexplored flow indicators were noted but their relative and predominantly drift-covered South Rae age is unknown. Distinctive erratics, such as region in southeastern Northwest Territories. Dubawnt Supergroup lithologies, are Little is known with respect to the surficial derived from sources located at greater than geology in this region and as a result, the

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 20 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

200 km to the north-northeast and suggest Desteffany Lake basins, in the Coppermine sustained transport and dispersal of glacial River basin. debris by the older southward flow. The water balance model was developed to Drift cover of variable thickness is allow the surface hydrology be characterized extensive, ranging locally from 40 to 100% on a finer spatial scale over a broader region coverage. The dominant surficial material is and time period than represented by till of varying composition, thickness and historical or site-specific data. It allowed depositional environment. The landscape, changes to be evaluated for waterbodies particularly in map sheet 75B, is dominated with limited or no gauging data, with by streamlined landforms with organic consideration of long-term natural terrain in the lows. Numerous parallel variability. Existing hydrometric data were subglacial meltwater corridors trend WSW- supplemented by an intense, short-term field SW (>200km) across the map area with two program. Due to project time constraints, the types of signature landform/sediment model was developed within six months of assemblages: 1) eskers and parallel trains of the start of baseline studies. either ice-contact glaciofluvial (hummocks and ridges) deposits or terraced glaciofluvial The model was developed using deposits, and 2) trains of hummocky till GoldSimTM software and used a (generally a product of erosion), boulder meteorological daily time series from 1959 lags with small discontinuous eskers and to 2013, derived based on local and regional related deposits. New mapping indicates data. Lake outlet characteristics were proglacial lakes were more extensive in this derived from hydrometric field data and area than previously thought. model parameters were calibrated to site- specific data in the Lac du Sauvage and Lac COPPERMINE RIVER BASIN de Gras basins. Runoff coefficients were HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING calibrated to the mean annual water yield of IN SUPPORT OF JAY PROJECT a hydrometric station on the Coppermine River. Frequency analyses performed for ENVIRONMENTAL key nodes provide a derived historical ASSESSMENT baseline of lake stage and discharge regimes. 1 1 CASSON, D. , BOURKE*, R. , 2 VANWERKHOVEN, C. , SCHMIDT, Qualitative model validation was performed 2 3 N. , and LEE, C. based on short-term hydrometric data from (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., Lac de Gras and from three tributary lakes in YELLOWKNIFE, NT the Lac du Sauvage basin. Quantitative (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., EDMONTON, model validation was performed using AB additional data from a hydrometric station (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT on the Coppermine River, not used during [email protected] the calibration. Using a quantitative statistical evaluation, model performance A water balance model was developed to was assessed as satisfactory in terms of provide a baseline and to assess the effects predicting the timing and magnitude of of the Dominion Diamond Jay Project on flows and water levels. lake water levels and outlet discharges in the Lac du Sauvage, Lac de Gras and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 21 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

located in the Lac de Gras region of the Jay Project effects, including changes to Northwest Territories are one of the many lake water levels and lake outlet discharges, deposit types in Canada covered by glacial were modeled by modifying the baseline overburden, and are therefore challenging to model to consider project infrastructure and detect. This paper presents initial results water management activities. Effects to from an investigation of the DO-18 surface hydrology were predicted for kimberlite (Peregrine Diamonds), buried construction (including the dewatering under 5-20m of glacial cover, to identify period), operations, and closure phases of surface geochemical responses directly the Project, and the post-closure period. The related to the buried kimberlite and main focus of the assessment was the effect differentiate between physical and chemical of major Project activities (e.g., dewatering, transport mechanisms. diversions, operational water management, back-flooding in closure) on discharge and A detailed grid of 150 samples over an area water levels at the outlets of Lac du of 0.5km2 sampled the oxidized upper B soil Sauvage, Lac de Gras, and Desteffany Lake, horizon in till above and off the DO-18 as compared to baseline conditions. kimberlite into background. Regolith mapping was conducted and included The water balance model provided a surficial soil type and rock fragments, satisfactory basis for environmental topographic variation and physical features, assessment and project design. However, e.g. bogs, swamps, vegetation and glacial uncertainties exist for some model nodes direction indicators. This allows an and are currently being addressed by a assessment of surface controls on the supplemental hydrometric program. geochemistry, including the generation of false anomalies from chemical traps such as DEVELOPMENT OF swamps. Multi-element geochemistry GEOCHEMICAL comprising 4-acid, Aqua-Regia and distilled EXPLORATION water extraction coupled with ICP-MS was undertaken using commercial techniques to TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE identify and differentiate between those DISCOVERY OF CONCEALED elements migrating by chemical process KIMBERLITES UNDER from those migrating by physical GLACIAL OVERBURDEN, NWT. transportation. Hydrocarbons were analysed using the SGH-technique (ActLabs) and the CAYER*, E.M.1, WINTERBURN, P.A.1, Gore-sorber technique (AGI) to characterize and ELLIOTT, B.2 type and abundance of complex hydrocarbons above the kimberlite relative (1) MDRU, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER, BC. to the host granite gneiss. Preliminary (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL results from the 4-acid digestion data show a SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT. clastic dispersion of Nb, Ni, Mg, Co, Cr and [email protected] Cs from directly above the kimberlite to the Attention is being focused on the edge of the sampling grid 500 metres development of deep penetrating northwest of the buried kimberlite. Surface geochemical exploration methods as the material exhibits a strong control on discovery rate of world class deposits geochemistry with trace elements being decreases. Diamondiferous kimberlites controlled by major elements (Al, Fe, Mn)

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 22 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 found within each surface material type, and in some cases are heavily influenced by the • Engaging with communities presence of organic carbon. Evaluation of • Driving world-leading environmental these relationships allows clarification of the practices natural background noise and enhancement • Committing to the safety and health of the geochemical responses and contrasts. of employees and surrounding communities

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE Today, communities expect more of mining MINING companies and the industry expects much more of itself. TSM helps mining companies CHALMERS, B. meet society's needs for minerals, metals and energy products in the most socially, MINING ASSOCIATION OF CANADA, ON economically and environmentally [email protected] responsible way. At its core, TSM is: This presentation will introduce the Mining Association of Canada's (MAC) award- Accountable: Assessments are conducted at winning Towards Sustainable Mining the facility level where mining activity takes (TSM) initiative. The presentation will place – the only program in the world to do summarize the business case for TSM, the this in our sector. program architecture and describe how the different components of the program are Transparent: Members publicly report their applied at mining facilities across Canada performance against 23 indicators annually and abroad. TSM is the only mining specific in MAC's TSM Progress Reports and results standard that includes facility level annual are externally verified every 3 years. public reporting and independent verification. The presentation closes with a Credible: TSM is overseen by an review of the results from the soon to be independent Community of Interest (COI) released 2015 TSM Progress Report, Advisory Panel, which shapes the program demonstrating the measurable progress for continual advancement. made by the industry since verified reporting began in 2006, and a summary of some of MAC's other priorities such as transparency of payments to governments from Canadian mining companies.

About TSM

The TSM initiative is MAC's commitment to responsible mining and participation in the program is mandatory for our members. It is a set of tools and indicators to drive performance and ensure that our members are doing the right things for the right reasons at each of their facilities. Adhering to the guiding principles of TSM, mining companies demonstrate leadership by:

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 23 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

OPPORTUNITIES AND the herd (Mackenzie et al. 2013): caribou OBSTACLES: KEYS TO migration routes deflected away from the ENERGY PRODUCTION IN mines probably due to seeing mining activities or hearing the noises; and skinny NORTHERN CANADA caribou or abnormal smells and materials in caribou meat, liver, or the hide linings CHATENAY, A. probably related to changes in caribou EXPLOR, CALGARY, AB [email protected] forage and quality of water and air. In other words, the potential influences of mining A non-technical talk highlighting the operations on caribou were most likely opportunities that await northerners and the through altering what caribou can see, hear, various obstacles standing in their way. smell (e.g., dusts and fine particle matter < Ideas and thoughts around unlocking those 2.5 ?m (PM2.5) in the air, and from acidity opportunities and removing those barriers in the soil), and taste (e.g., dust on foliage, will be presented in a provocative and vegetation composition change). Boulanger interactive way. et al. (2012) estimated the size of a zone of influence (ZOI) of the Ekati-Diavik mining CARIBOU RELEVANT complex in the Bathurst caribou summer ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES range, using caribou presence dataset. They AROUND THE EKATI also explored the mechanisms of ZOI using DIAMOND MINE MEASURED IN the spatial distribution of the total suspended particles, which was simulated with an 2015 atmospheric transport and dispersion model (Rescan, 2006). CHEN*, W.1, LEBLANC, S. G.1, WHITE, 1 2 3 H. P. , MILAKOVIC, B. , O'KEEFE, H , While these studies have added to our CROFT, B.4, GUNN, A.5, and 6 understanding of the possible impacts of BOULANGER, J. mining operations on caribou, knowledge (1) NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, OTTAWA, ON gaps remain. One outstanding gap is the lack (2) ERM-RESCAN ENVIRONMENTAL of direct measurements about the caribou SERVICES LTD., VANCOUVER, BC relevant environmental changes caused by (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI mining operations. For example, exactly CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT from how far away can caribou clearly see (4) ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, GNWT, YELLOWKNIFE, NT the vehicles driving on a mining road, or the (5) CIRCUMARCTIC RANGIFER MONITORING buildings and the elevated waste piles in a AND ASSESSMENT NETWORK, SALT SPRING camp? From how far away might caribou ISLAND, BC hear the noise caused by mining operations? (6) INTEGRATED ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH To what spatial extent had the dusts and LTD., NELSON, BC [email protected] PM2.5 from mining operations influenced the tundra ecosystems? And how the dusts How would a large open pit mine on caribou and PM2.5 from mining operations might range (e.g., the Ekati Diamond Mine in the have influenced caribou forage quality? Bathurst caribou's summer range) have Potentially these questions can be answered influenced caribou? A traditional knowledge by in-situ measurements and satellite remote study on the cumulative impacts on the sensing. For example, studies have showed Bathurst caribou herd qualitatively described that it is possible to remotely sense PM2.5 how mining activities might have influenced

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 24 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 distribution using twice-daily MODIS data health of Yellowknife Bay has been at a spatial resolution of 1 km (Lyapustin et impacted by releases of pollution from gold al., 2011; Chudnovsky et al., 2013; Hu et al., mining since the 1940s. Although 2014). The objective of this study is thus to environmental monitoring has been quantitatively measure these changes around conducted on the bay in recent decades, the Ekati Diamond Mine, by means of in- local concerns remain about the long-term situ surveys and satellite remote sensing. fate of legacy mining pollution. Since 2013, we have measured water and sediment We conducted field surveys at more than quality as well as metal accumulation in the 100 sites around the Ekati Diamond Mine food web to address complex and during August 14-23, 2015, a collaborative outstanding questions on the ecosystem effort of the NWT CIMP project entitled health of Yellowknife Bay. We have used “Satellite Monitoring for Assessing specialized field sampling techniques Resource Development's Impact on Bathurst (diffusive gradient in thin film samplers, Caribou (SMART)”, and the Dominion porewater samplers, dated sediment core Diamond Ekati Corporation. In this profiles) and specialized analytical presentation, we will report preliminary techniques (lead isotopes, arsenic results and lessons learned from our first speciation) to investigate processes year's study. controlling the movement and bioaccumulation of legacy metals. TRACKING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FATE OF Dated sediment cores show that the greatest LEGACY MINING POLLUTION inputs of metals to Yellowknife Bay occurred during the initial years of mining IN YELLOWKNIFE BAY, operations (late 1940s and 1950s) when few GREAT SLAVE LAKE pollution control measures were in place. Significant accumulation of antimony, 1 2 CHÉTELAT*, J. , BLACK, J. , COTT, arsenic, copper, lead, mercury and zinc 3 4 5 P. , COUSENS, B , AMYOT, M. , MUIR, occurred in sediments at that time. 6 7 D. , and EVANS, M. Concentrations of those elements have (1) ENVIRONMENT CANADA, OTTAWA, ON declined to near pre-mining levels in (2) YELLOWKNIVES DENE FIRST NATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT younger surface sediments, reflecting the (3) GNWT WATER RESOURCES, burial of legacy pollution after deposition. YELLOWKNIFE, NT One exception is arsenic, which is (4) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON concentrated in younger surface sediment of (5) UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL, Yellowknife Bay, indicating that legacy MONTRÉAL, QC (6) ENVIRONMENT CANADA, arsenic has been mobile after initial BURLINGTON, ON deposition and diffused towards the surface. (7) ENVIRONMENT CANADA, SASKATOON. SK Using lead isotopes to trace the spatial [email protected] extent of mining pollution, we estimate that Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake is a the zone of atmospheric deposition of metals water body of cultural, subsistence and from ore roasting extended approximately recreational importance for the 20 km south of Giant Mine and into the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and main body of Great Slave Lake. We also residents of Yellowknife. The ecosystem estimate that nearly half of the lead currently

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 25 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 accumulating in surface sediment of Back AN OVERVIEW OF THE Bay originates from mine pollution, REGULATORY FRAMEWORK reflecting on-going inputs from the Giant IN THE MACKENZIE VALLEY, Mine site or lateral transport of legacy pollution within the bay. NWT

In 2014, surface water concentrations of CHOUINARD*, R., and MULLANEY, T. MACKENZIE VALLEY LAND AND WATER arsenic were relatively low (<3 µg/L) in BOARD, YELLOWKNIFE, NT Yellowknife Bay, although levels were four [email protected] times higher at Back Bay in comparison to The Land and Water Boards of the the mouth of Yellowknife Bay and the main Mackenzie Valley regulate the use of land body of Great Slave Lake. Surface water and water and the deposit of waste into arsenic was predominantly in the dissolved +5 water to provide for the conservation, fraction as arsenate (As ) although up to +3 development, and utilization of land and 50% of inorganic arsenic was arsenite (As ) water resources for the optimum benefit for at two sites close to Giant Mine. all Canadians and, in particular, for the Bioavailable arsenic (measured using residents of this region. The key legislation passive samplers) also increased in that is used by the Land and Water Boards concentration with proximity to the Giant are the Mackenzie Valley Resource Mine. Management Act (MVRMA) and the Waters

Act (and their associated Regulations). This Preliminary results indicate that the talk will give an overview of the regulatory exposure of fish to arsenic has declined in system in the Mackenzie Valley, the key Yellowknife Bay in recent decades. Arsenic applicable legislation, the land use concentrations in muscle of northern pike permitting and water licensing process, are higher than in reference areas but are regulatory tools that have been jointly still relatively low due to the physiological developed (including policies and behaviour of this element. guidelines), and some exciting initiatives

that are underway. An update will be This presentation will highlight preliminary provided on how devolution and legislative findings on the long-term environmental fate amendments impact the Land and Water of legacy mining pollution in a northern Boards' regulatory processes. aquatic ecosystem. These findings are relevant for decision makers who have an interest in the ecosystem health of

Yellowknife Bay or who are tasked with predicting and managing environmental impacts of new developments.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 26 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

COOL TOOLS: INNOVATIVE higher quality data. These advances allow us ENVIRONMENTAL to do things not previously possible – MONITORING TECHNIQUES environmental monitoring just needs to catch up! It doesn't have to be expensive, just “cool”. CHRISTENSEN, J. STANTEC CONSULTING LIMITED, VICTORIA, BC THE BUILD IN CANADA [email protected] INNOVATION PROGRAM, AND Industries face environmental monitoring NATURAL SCIENCES AND challenges throughout the lifetime of a ENGINEERING RESEARCH project from both regulatory and social (i.e. COUNCIL public approval) perspectives. Conventional approaches and techniques to environmental CHUKA*, D.1 and MIKAWOZ, I.2 monitoring may not adequately address site- (1) PWGSC-OFFICE OF SMALL & MEDIUM specific issues or they may not be ENTERPRISES, EDMONTON, AB financially feasible. Here we present some (2) NSERC, WINNIPEG, MB common industry challenges and describe [email protected] emerging “cool tools” that hold the potential The Government of Canada has several of allowing industry to cost-effectively programs in place designed to help Canadian address pressing regulatory and social companies grow and move forward. Two concerns around the monitoring of Government of Canada representatives will environmental effects. We will discuss the present details on the Build in Canada following: Innovation Program (BCIP) and opportunities through the Natural Sciences • Techniques to differentiate the effect of and Engineering Research Council one effluent from that of multiple other (NSERC). effluents in the same environment; • Powerful non-invasive methods for Public Works & Government Services monitoring the presence (and, in some cases, Canada's Office of Small and Medium habitat use) of terrestrial and aquatic Enterprises will present the Build in Canada species, without even having to see any; Innovation Program, which is a program • Analytical tools for the differentiation designed to assist Canadian businesses with between global and local contaminant products and services at the later stages of exposure in migratory species, such as Research and Development (R&D) move salmon or birds, to characterize a project- their innovations from the laboratory to the specific contribution to exposure; marketplace. The procurement program • Socially-acceptable, non-invasive provides the opportunity for innovators to: approaches to dealing with real versus perceived health risk in situations such as • Sell their pre-commercialized goods and the potential contamination of subsistence services to the Government of Canada foods. through an open, transparent, competitive and fair procurement process; Technology has come a long way in recent • Connect with potential clients in federal decades, particularly in regard to non- government departments and showcase their invasive and non-lethal approaches to cost- innovations to them; effectively obtaining the same or even • Get feedback on the use of their

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 27 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 innovations in an operational setting before THE COPPERMINE PROJECT – taking them to market. A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD DISTRICT – 2015 The presentation will cover the approach of the Build in Canada Innovation Program EXPLORATION UPDATE including how companies can participate in the Call for Proposal, how the proposals are CLAY*, S., FLOOD, Z., and evaluated, how companies become BROUGHTON, D. TUNDRA COPPER CORP., VANCOUVER, BC prequalified, and how innovations are [email protected] matched with a test department. It will feature a demonstration of buyandsell.gc.ca, Tundra Copper’s Coppermine Project is where participants would gain a level of centered approximately 70 km southwest of comfort in finding the Call for Proposal. the Hamlet of Kugluktuk, in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. The Project comprises a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research district-scale exploration target, with Council (NSERC) works with companies to tenements covering 3,685 square kilometers help them find solutions and benefit their of Proterozoic volcanic rocks and overlying businesses through a suite of targeted sedimentary rocks prospective for volcanic- partnership offerings that connect companies hosted copper-silver, and sediment-hosted to experts at Canada's universities and stratiform copper. colleges. Sediment-hosted stratiform copper-silver Working with a research team from a mineralization occurs at the base of the university or college can help you achieve Neoproterozoic Rae Group. The target business goals, solve problems and get horizon is a gently north-dipping dark shale results. and siltstone overlying red beds and basalt of the Coppermine River Group. This setting These programs can help: is analogous to globally significant copper- producing districts such as the Central • Reduce your time to innovate: access African Copperbelt, the Polish world-class knowledge, facilities and Kupferschiefer, and the Keweenaw district, students at colleges and universities. Michigan. Previous work by Cominco in the • Address an immediate challenge or a early 1990s and Teshierpi Mines in the late longer-term innovation need. 1960s intersected stratiform copper • Manage costs: NSERC's funding mineralization in a series of shallow drill underwrites up to 100% of project costs. holes over a strike distance of approximately • Identify future hires for your business. 40 kilometers in the eastern part of Tundra’s licences, but little to no follow-up work was A total of 92% of participating companies conducted in the years following. report that their NSERC Engage project helped develop a new product or prototype. Tundra’s exploration plan for 2015 was to This presentation would cover the details of evaluate this historic work, conduct detailed these programs. stratigraphic mapping to develop a modern understanding of key elements of the sedimentary, stratigraphic and structural setting of mineralization, and to test the previously unexplored western extension of

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 28 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 this mineralization at shallow depths, with to vector towards higher-grade copper in the widely spaced, reconnaissance drill holes. central parts of such systems.

Tundra’s drilling program included seven Tundra’s 2015 drilling has doubled the regionally spaced, relatively shallow, confirmed strike length of mineralized basal vertical diamond drill holes through the base Rae Group strata, from approximately 40 to of the Rae Group, over a strike distance of 80 kilometers, and the system remains open approximately 40 kilometers westward from along strike. To date, only the shallow, up- the historical drilling, and totalling 1,949 dip portion of the gently north-dipping target meters. Copper mineralization was horizon has been tested along this 80- intersected in all seven holes, and in most kilometre strike, and approximately 18 intersections consisted of disseminated kilometers of down-dip extent remains copper sulphides (chalcocite, bornite and untested on Tundra’s licenses. chalcopyrite). THE DEVELOPMENT OF The last holes of the program, CP15-DD008 REMOTE SENSING TOOLS FOR and DD009, stepped 17 and 27 kilometers MAPPING LINEAR westward, respectively. The final and furthest west hole, CP15-DD009, was DISTURBANCES IN THE SAHTU collared above a north-south structural block REGION OF THE NORTHWEST within the underlying basalt-red bed TERRITORIES sequence, and was characterized by significantly higher grade and width of COLE*, S.C.1, MCDERMID, G.M.1, mineralization than encountered in previous CRANSTON, J.C.2, HALL-BEYER, holes through the Rae Group. From 197.0 M.H.B.1, PALMER, M.J.3, and meters, hole DD009 returned 29 meters TIGNER, J.T.4 grading 0.57% copper (Cu), including a one- (1) UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CALGARY, AB meter interval grading more than 3.04%, and (2) GEOSPATIAL CENTER, ALBERTA BIODIVERSITY MONITORING INSTITUTE, a separate six-meter interval grading 1.06% EDMONTON, AB Cu. The copper sulphides are disseminated, (3) CUMULATIVE IMPACT MONITORING banded, replacive after interpreted former PROGRAM (GNWT), YELLOWKNIFE, NT pyrite nodules, and in thin steeply dipping (4) EXPLOR, CALGARY, AB sulphide and sulphide-calcite veinlets. The [email protected] copper sulphide species within this 29-meter Boreal regions across Canada are under intersection are vertically zoned from increasing pressure from human chalcocite at the base through bornite to development related to natural resource uppermost chalcopyrite, with anomalous extraction. Roads, seismic lines, cut blocks, zinc values overlying the copper-rich zone. pipelines, and other elements of human Hole DD008 also intersected anomalous disturbance exert cumulative environmental zinc mineralization grading 0.18% over 3.11 effects that can harm biodiversity, water metres, stratigraphically above a moderately quality, and the habitat of threatened species mineralized copper zone (0.26% Cu over such as woodland caribou (Rangifer 5.06 metres). Zinc mineralization is tarandus caribou). The Sahtu region of the commonly found laterally to copper in Northwest Territories has significant stratiform copper systems, and can be used untapped opportunities for natural resource development, including an abundance of

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 29 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 shale oil reserves. Regulatory and average height of vegetation) will be government agencies responsible for extracted from high-density airborne LiDAR managing resource development in this area data to assist in characterizing linear require a comprehensive understanding of features. The results produced from each the environmental impacts of current and remote sensing dataset will be compared to proposed future development. However, determine which dataset provides the best there is currently a lack of detailed foundation for mapping linear disturbance information on the location, identity and features in this northern boreal environment. vegetative state of human disturbances related to petroleum development in the The approaches developed will enhance our region. This in turn hinders the capacity to capacity to map human disturbances in the adequately assess the effects of these Sahtu region, and support ongoing efforts to disturbances on woodland caribou, and understand the environmental effects of make informed regulatory decisions on resource extraction in Canada's north. future resource development. Current remote sensing tools have been shown to LIABILITIES AND FINANCIAL provide an effective foundation for mapping ASSURANCES - YEAR IN and characterizing linear disturbances, but REVIEW AND FUTURE have never been applied systematically in the Sahtu region. PREVIEW

The primary goal of this research is to CONKIN*, C., and STEELE, J GNWT LIABILITIES AND FINANCIAL develop remote sensing tools and protocols ASSURANCES, YELLOWKNIFE, NT for mapping linear disturbance features in a [email protected] northern boreal environment by (i) The Liabilities and Financial Assurances comparing the capacity of various remote Division is a new Division that has been sensing data sources to characterize linear established to manage the government's disturbances, (ii) developing remote sensing responsibilities for environmental liabilities protocols for mapping the occurrence and and financial assurances inherited from the characterizing the attributes of linear Government of Canada under the disturbances that are suitable for use across Devolution Agreement. The presentation large areas of boreal forest, and (iii) will review the activities of the LFA producing map layers that accurately portray Division in the past year and discuss the the location and physical attributes of linear upcoming initiatives, including the disturbances in the Sahtu. development of Financial Assurance Guidelines. These Guidelines are intended to UAV and LiDAR data will be compared in provide a framework for estimating closure their ability to extract linear features using a and reclamation costs and determining least-cost path derived from Digital appropriate forms of security for resource Elevation Models (DEMS) and Digital development projects in the NWT. These Surface Models (DSMS). Spectral metrics initiatives will be discussed within the (i.e., NDVI) will be extracted from high- broader framework of establishing locally resolution Quickbird, mid-resolution SPOT driven policy development to provide and low-resolution Landsat to provide visual environmental protection and strong patterns to assist in an object-based economic growth. classification and structural metrics (i.e.,

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CONSTRUCTIVE INSIGHTS harvesting trails and portages had become INTO NAVIGATING THE the play ground for the City's multiple REGULATORY PROCESS AND community recreational groups and in hot demand by the recreational cabin EARNING SOCIAL LICENCE community. These additional communities of interest had not previously been parties to CONNELLY, D.M. permitting processes. ILE ROYALE ENTERPRISES LTD., YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] Yet with multiple letters of support and non- objection the Permit was granted in near It is hard to imagine a more challenging record time. place and time than the Yellowknife City

Gold Project in early 2014 to apply for a TerraX Mineral's set the stage for navigating Land Use Permit for mineral exploration. It the regulatory process and earning its social was immediately prior to devolution of lands licence by meeting with Yellowknife Dene and regulatory responsibilities to the NWT. First Nation before ever setting foot on the Multiple responsible departments were land package it purchased and by entering being restructured. Yellowknife City Gold into projects to promote co-usage of safer Project straddles Commissioner's Lands and improved trails with recreational groups. (Territorial) and Crown Lands (Federal). It includes the Old Crestaurum mine site and 80 years of 100s of exploration workings – a INCREASING COMMUNITIES' hybrid of land pending discussions on UNDERSTANDING OF sharing government responsibilities for PROSPECTING: 2015 clean up post devolution – and a road in INTRODUCTION TO need of repair whose ownership was PROSPECTING COURSES unclear. CONNELLY, D.M.1 and POWELL*, L.2 The environmental history of gold mining in (1) ILE ROYAL ENTERPRISES LTD., the City cast a plume of anxiety over every YELLOWKNIFE, NT discussion of revitalising the industry. (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Aboriginal memories were of exclusion and SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] damaging the land and the scares of labour strive were painfully close to the surface. Introduction to Prospecting courses were Like many projects, the Yellowknife City held in Yellowknife and the neighboring Gold Project is in Chief Drygeese Territory, communities of Behchoko and Dettah. an unsettled claim area, with over lapping These two-day courses involved both settled claims and asserted interests. It is the classroom and field learning opportunities, first project in the NWT in which the and took place between September 26th to community of greatest impact is a non- October 4th 2015. aboriginal community and public institutions such as the Department of Transportation The courses were organized by a working and NWT Power Corporation have assets group with members from Government of crossing the project. the Northwest Territories departments of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and The Yellowknife City Gold Project and its Education Culture and Employment, as well hundreds of miles of historic drilling and as the NWT Mine Training Society, the

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NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, cow data from 1996 to 2015 to assess factors Skills Canada, TerraX Mineral Inc., and the important to caribou distribution on their Tlicho Government. Additional sponsorship winter range. These data were used to was provided by Aurora Geoscience. determine the relative importance of This presentation will discuss the 2015 different vegetation communities, and the Introduction to Prospecting courses': goals size, age and frequency of fire, different and objectives, out-reach efforts, pre-course types of development, density dependence planning and organization, course (herd size) and the segment of the Bathurst curriculum, outcomes, and attendance. We herd that remains on the barren-grounds will also present the improvements made during winter. This was accomplished by from the Introduction to Prospecting course comparing locations used by caribou with a that was offered last year in Yellowknife, random sample of locations describing and the lessons-learned that can be applied available habitat. Available habitat was to future outreach programs. defined as the area outside of individual home ranges but within the cumulative area EFFECTS OF FIRE AND used by all other collared caribou cows. We DEVELOPMENT ON BATHURST used a hierarchical approach of information CARIBOU WINTER RANGE theory to identify the most supported resource selection models representing HABITAT SELECTION different ecological hypotheses with variables supported by Traditional COULTON*, D.1, DAWE, K. 2, VIRGL, 3 3 Knowledge in mixed-model logistic J. , and KARRAS, A. regression. Our study builds on work from (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., YELLOWKNIFE, NT two previous Bathurst caribou winter habitat (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., VANCOUVER, selection studies and uses more recent BC techniques to determine indirect effects (3) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., SASKATOON, (zones of influence) to habitat quality SK associated with different development [email protected] including active mines, exploration camps, Barren-ground caribou are a migratory power transmission lines, winter roads and species and their ability to locate suitable communities. The results of this study will resources on different seasonal ranges is be informative to land use plans, caribou important to their survival and reproductive management and future environmental success and coping with environmental assessments. variability. The winter range is important because it immediately precedes the calving period and represents a time when energetic costs of thermoregulation and foraging are high and body reserves required to maintain cow pregnancy are typically decreasing. For Bathurst caribou, the winter range has historically included a large area of boreal forest, which is subject to spatial and temporal variation of wild fire and human development disturbance. A new resource selection model for the Bathurst caribou winter range was developed with collared

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PROXIMA DIAMONDS CORP.: WATER AND HYDRAULIC EXPLORING FOR DIAMONDS FRACTURING: WHERE IN THE FERTILE SLAVE KNOWLEDGE CAN BEST CRATON SUPPORT DECISIONS IN CANADA COUNTS*, B., and POWER, M. PROXIMA DIAMONDS CORP., YELLOWKNIFE, COURTENAY, S. NT CANADIAN WATER NETWORK, WATERLOO, [email protected] ON Proxima Diamonds Corp. is a private [email protected] Canadian diamond exploration company The rapid rise in the development of exploring diamond targets in the heart of the unconventional oil and shale gas reserves diamond producing region of the Slave over the last decade has been accompanied Geological Province. The company holds 17 by an explosion of discussion and debate on target-rich properties that were selected the topic. Central to the vast majority of based on a review of publicly available data, conversations about hydraulic fracturing is a proprietary kimberlite indicator mineral the issue of water - its use, its management sample database and a wealth of experience and protection and its ecological and socio- exploring for diamonds in Canada's north. economic importance. What has been lacking is a clear and trusted articulation of Focused kimberlite indicator mineral (KIM) the key questions facing decision makers, a sampling conducted by Proxima in 2014 prioritization of knowledge gaps tied identified a potential source area on the directly to those decisions, and an Sancy Property, located near the northern assessment of how addressing them can lead boundary of the Ekati Diamond Mine. to actionable solutions for government and Follow-up ground geophysical surveys industry. completed over the area in spring 2015 have returned compelling results. Ground gravity, In 2014, five projects - involving over 70 total magnetic field and capacitively coupled researchers from 18 universities across resistivity surveys identified a large, new Canada, were funded by CWN to investigate target approximately 300 m from the where knowledge gaps are most centrally diamondiferous T-10 kimberlite pipe. On connected to our needs and questions this and other Proxima properties, focused involving water and hydraulic fracturing KIM till sampling is defining likely source activities. Building on these five national areas which will be surveyed with ground research projects and drawing on other geophysical methods this winter. leading international work, CWN compiled a national overview report, which takes a high-level look at where the knowledge base is relative to the key questions being asked.

The report:

• frames and articulates the key questions that underpin decisions on hydraulic fracturing;

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• presents and strategically organizes geographic contexts across the country. an updated state-of-the-knowledge within the context of the key questions; and, Based on the outcome of the national • identifies the most relevant assessment and forum, CWN will release a opportunity areas to address key questions. National Water and Hydraulic Fracturing Priorities Report on behalf of the individuals The report found that the majority of the key and organizations that provided input into questions underpinning decisions can be the prioritization of knowledge gaps. The grouped within one of three decision objective of the priorities report is to frame contexts: the work and decisions for government and industry to get the most value from their • deciding where and when hydraulic research investments as they address critical fracturing makes sense based on the overall questions. benefits and costs; • informing best practices and PRAIRIE CREEK MINE, NWT: regulations with an understanding of the UPDATE risks, and how to mitigate them; and • achieving constructive and effective CUPIT*, K. TAYLOR, A, and engagement to move discussion and KUIPERS, J. decisions forward to achieve progress. CANADIAN ZINC CORPORATION, VANCOUVER, BC The key questions being asked within each [email protected] of these decision contexts provides an The Prairie Creek Mine high grade base accessible entry point and organizing metal deposit located in the Mackenzie framework for assessing what the overall Mountains, 200km west of Fort Simpson in knowledge base can offer. The outcome of the Northwest Territories was fully the report's analysis is to identify practical permitted in 1982 and mine infrastructure opportunities to move the knowledge base was built, however, the mine never achieved forward to directly inform decisions. production. Canadian Zinc has, through many years of exploration, continued to Following the release of the national successfully expand the Pb, Zn, Ag, and Cu overview report, CWN launched a broad mineral resource to ensure a significant life consultation process to identify which of mine can be incorporated into mine knowledge areas are both practical to economics. advance and will address the most important questions facing decision makers. The two- Exploration drilling in early 2015 revealed stage consultation includes a national survey that a previously-inferred 70m offset of the of decision makers, research providers, and primary orebody, the Main Quartz Vein, is other key influencers, followed by an in- in fact a partially parallel vein with a person forum to identify shared national sizeable and mineralized translation zone, priorities as well as region-specific termed the Stockwork Zone, occurring priorities. This process will ensure that between the two. It is postulated that results can be used to achieve success mineralization within this Stockwork zone through broad collaboration across occurred as a precursor to the faulting and jurisdictions, while recognizing the movement of the Main Quartz Vein but that significant differences in regulatory and the actual stress event is similar for both.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LAW Limited support for pre-existing local RELATED TO LAND AND economies and livelihoods, particularly WATER REGULATION IN THE Aboriginal communities; Significant influx by others hoping to benefit from resource MACKENZIE VALLEY, NWT spin-offs; Potential for significant environmental degradation. A multi- DONIHEE, J. stakeholder approach to planning for WILLMS & SHIER LLP, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] resource regions can be the most effective way to establish a comprehensive In April 2014, the ‘Northwest Territories framework for regional development. Lands and Resources Devolution rePlan's recent regional planning processes – Agreement’ was implemented. The one in northern Alberta and the other in legislation giving effect to Devolution was northern Manitoba – address the challenges accompanied by a series of changes to inherent in managing the long-term federal laws driven by Canada's Northern sustainability of resource regions. Regulatory Improvements Initiative including a series of amendments to the SLAVE PROVINCE SURFICIAL Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA). Additional MVRMA MATERIALS AND amendments were set to come in to force in PERMAFROST STUDY 2015 and 2016. This presentation will OVERVIEW - REVITALIZING survey these changes and provide an MULTI-COMMODITY overview of the new regulatory landscape. MINERAL EXPLORATION AND In addition, recent developments and FACILITATING SUSTAINABLE northern cases on s.35 consultation will be summarized and discussed. DEVELOPMENT IN A KEY ECONOMIC REGION PLANNING FOR RESOURCE ELLIOTT, B. REGIONS IN NORTHERN NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL CANADA SURVEY, YELLOWKINFE [email protected] DRYLIE, M. In 2014 the Northwest Territories REPLAN, TORONTO, ON Geological Survey (NTGS) initiated the [email protected] Slave Province Surficial Geology and Increasingly, regional planning in northern Permafrost Study (SPSMPS) in NTS sheets Canada must address the dynamics 76C and 76D. The SPSMPS is a two year particular to resource regions. Resource collaborative government –industry – regions are characterized by: Numerous academic research project funded through resource operations within a defined the Strategic Investments in Northern regional geography/landform, which is often Economic Development program of the remote; Significant infrastructure investment Canadian Northern Economic Development and development is required to support Agency. The main objectives of the resource operations and communities; SPSMPS are to: Workers are typically accommodated in work camps, following fly in/fly out • Produce a 3D database of indicator lifestyles which are socially destructive; minerals to identify areas of high mineral

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 35 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 potential; • A 3D GPR survey of the Exeter Lake • Advance our understanding of Esker to better understand esker formation, glacial history to aid in mineral exploration; material transport distances and ideal • Update surficial maps in targeted sampling mediums for indicator minerals; areas; • LIDAR and drill assisted surficial • Study the impact of climate change mapping of enigmatic landforms associated on permafrost and terrain sensitivity to with glacial outwash corridors in the region; inform potential infrastructure development. • Drill assisted surficial mapping to determine detailed local ice flow direction In order to accomplish these objectives, 235 and glacial history associated with sourced boreholes were drilled to sample a wide and un-sourced indicator mineral trains in variety of glacial sediment, over 1250 areas with complex and poorly understood samples were collected, and approximately surficial geology; 240 thermistors were installed at 41 LIDAR • A network of thermistors was surveyed sites. In addition, over 1500 km2 of established to determine variability in field mapping and approximately 150 line ground temperatures and monitor the impact km of ground geophysics were carried out. of climate change on permafrost in a wide Large proprietary indicator mineral and variety of terrain types; remote sensing datasets along with logistical • A comparative surficial geochemistry and support were generously provided by our soil gas study over a buried kimberlite; industry partners. • Developing and refining a reliable methodology for rapidly identifying Our industry partners include the Canadian indicator minerals below 500 µm in size Mining Institute Research Organization using hyperspectral imaging; (CAMIRO), Dominion Diamond Ekati • Developing a snowmobile towed ground Corp, Diavik Diamonds Mines Inc., North geophysical method for rapidly determining Arrow Minerals Inc., Peregrine Exploration overburden depth to bedrock. Ltd., Artic Star Exploration Corp., New Nadina Explorations Limited, and TNT SLAVE PROVINCE SURFICIAL Mineral Science. Academic Partners include MATERIALS AND Dr. Martin Ross (University of Waterloo), PERMAFROST STUDY Dr. Brent Ward (Simon Fraser University), Dr. Stephan Gruber (Carleton University) CONCLUDING PRESENTATION Dr. Don Cummings (Carleton University) and the Dr. Peter Winterburn (University of ELLIOTT, B. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL British Columbia). This work was carried SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE out by or with support from Aurora [email protected] Geosciences Ltd. In 2014 the Northwest Territories

Geological Survey (NTGS) initiated the The SPSMPS also included numerous Slave Province Surficial Geology and targeted studies such as: Permafrost Study (SPSMPS) in NTS sheets

76C and 76D. The SPSMPS is a two year • A 3D indicator mineral entrainment collaborative government –industry – study to show how indicators get from academic research project funded through source to surface; the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development program of the

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Canadian Northern Economic Development and the proposed time frame for Agency. The main objectives of the development of the Jay pipe with the SPSMPS are to: potential for construction in the latter half of 2016. NWT diamond production figures for • Produce a 3D database of indicator the first six months of the year were also minerals to identify areas of high mineral augmented by .68 million carats produced potential; from Snap Lake. • Advance our understanding of glacial history to aid in mineral exploration; Despite the economic climate, some positive • Update surficial maps in targeted notes were generated by the De areas; Beers/Mountain Province construction • Study the impact of climate change updates on the advancement of Gahcho Kué on permafrost and terrain sensitivity to towards production status and the results of inform potential infrastructure development. bulk sampling from Kennady Diamonds' This presentation will summarize the property. A highlight in metals exploration preliminary results of this study and will is the continuing advancement of Canadian present some potential ideas for future work Zinc's Prairie Creek Zinc-Lead project to the in the region. development stage with the initiation of underground rehabilitation work. Despite a 2015 EXPLORATION poor financial market for gold exploration, OVERVIEW two projects had continues to drill including Nighthawk's Colomac Gold Project and FALCK*, H., and GOCHNAUER, K. TerraX's Yellowknife City Gold project. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT Less fortunate are the NICO and Nechalacho [email protected] development projects which have been put The Northwest Territories (NWT), which on hold, lacking funds for construction and has led Canada in diamond and tungsten challenges over processing plants; while production, will change back to a single Fortune Minerals and Avalon Rare Metals commodity producer. Cantung will shut focus on southern projects. This is also the down and move to a care and maintenance case for advanced projects such as the status as North American Tungsten moves Ormsby and Courageous Lake gold projects. through a creditor protection process. While diamonds did not suffer as great a Natural Resources Canada's March depression in the commodity prices as estimates of $43.5 million in intended tungsten and the base metals, the poor rough expenditures on exploration and deposit diamond sales prices did slow the diamond appraisals for the NWT largely demonstrate staking resurgence that was seen last year. a substantial drop in expenditures. The announced spending for this year had not Production from the Ekati and Diavik reached half of the $95.8 million predicted diamond mines met expectations with Ekati for 2014. Of the current estimate, the bulk of producing 1.7 million carats during the first the expenditures were for major capital six months and Diavik producing 4.9 million expenditures at advanced diamond projects carats by the end of September. Positive (NRCAN, February 2015). Grassroots results from Ekati also included the exploration spending continues to languish. prefeasibility work on the Sable kimberlite

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By October, 17 new claims totaling 6,956 data, and relate these features to the hectares had been staked in the Northwest petroleum system. Territories. This marks a notable low level when compared to 2014 levels (411 new To improve upon reconnaissance-scale claims totaling 433,950 hectares). In mapping by the Geological Survey of contrast to staking, the statistic for dropped Canada in 1968, some effort was made to claims have risen to 179 claims covering subdivide the Franklin Mountain and Mount 139,943 ha and 4 mineral leases covering an Kindle formations, address lithologic additional 2,122 ha. The depressed diamond variations in the Bear Rock interval – prices were part of the reduced interest in including identifying strata possibly land acquisitions this year. Since 2005, the belonging to the Delorme Group – and amount of land covered by mineral tenure resolve the Cretaceous succession. It is has fallen from 19.8% to the current level of hoped that samples collected for 2%. Daily updates can be viewed on-line biostratigraphy will be able to confirm initial through the Government of Northwest impressions from field observations. These Territories' (GNWT) Mineral Tenure Map initial impressions suggest that each of these Viewer (www.geomatics.gov.nt.ca). unconformity bounded intervals is variably preserved across the study area, providing GSC BEDROCK MAPPING AND indications of different periods of deposition STRATIGRAPHIC STUDIES OF versus uplift and erosion related in part to THE COLVILLE HILLS, the Keele Arch.

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES Published maps based on the 1968 reconnaissance work interpreted the region's FALLAS*, K.M. MACNAUGHTON, prominent topographic ridges to be R.B., and MACLEAN, B.C. underlain by elongate anticlines. Recent GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, CALGARY, AB reflection-seismic data interpretations [email protected] suggest the presence of thrust faults and/or steeper reverse faults associated with the As a contribution to the Mackenzie Project major structures and 2015 field work has of the Geological Survey of Canada's Geo- locally confirmed these relationships at mapping for Energy and Minerals Program, surface. Efforts to subdivide stratigraphic bedrock mapping and stratigraphic studies units have also revealed additional faults in of the Colville Hills petroleum exploration the southern part of the study area, at the area was undertaken in July and August of northern edge of the Franklin Mountains. 2015. Outcrops were examined for Tilting of Cretaceous strata on the flanks of stratigraphic and structural relationships major structures suggests that the formation within NTS map areas 96K, 96L, 96M, and of surface structures in the Colville Hills 96N. Known petroleum seeps within the was later than the Early Cretaceous, likely as area were also visited to examine their part of the development of the adjacent geological setting and collect samples. The Franklin Mountains and Mackenzie aim of this work was to improve existing Mountains. The Colville Hills differ, geological maps of the area, clarify the however, in that the orientation of the major stratigraphic history of the region, refine the structures is more variable and generally at structural relationships in conjunction with high-angle to Cordilleran structural trends. available public-domain reflection-seismic Based on reflection-seismic evidence, this

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 38 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 may be the result of reactivation of older dilution components were identified in the normal or reverse faults in the subsurface. compositional maps: carbonate, a carbonate- mudstone mixture, and mudstone. Five Petroleum seeps visited in 2015 were noted spectrally distinct types of kimberlite were to occur in close proximity to interpreted identified, which differ mainly in their level steeply-dipping faults. Since the Devonian of hydration and the amount of crustal source-rock, the Canol Formation, is known micro-dilution they contain. to be absent in the Colville Hills, it is suspected that the petroleum may have Accompanying the compositional maps are migrated to surface from Cambrian Mount depth profiles that provide quantitative Clark or Mount Cap strata along the mapped abundance information for each faults. Samples collected in 2015 will be compositional component (dilution and geochemically fingerprinted to compare kimberlite). These profiles show the with known regional petroleum sources to abundance of macro-dilution relative to test this hypothesis. kimberlite and the spatial distribution of the different kimberlite types. Using depth ACQUIRING CRUSTAL profiles, compositional boundaries along the DILUTION DATA AND length of the drill core were identified and KIMBERLITE compared to the unit boundaries from the visual lithological log. The boundaries COMPOSITIONAL identified using the hyperspectral imagery INFORMATION FROM DRILL correlate well with the boundaries recorded CORE USING SWIR during visual logging. HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY FROM THE TANGO This study demonstrates that hyperspectral EXTENSION KIMBERLITE imagery is well suited to the task of mapping the distribution of spectrally distinct kimberlite types, and quantifying kimberlite FENG, J.1, TAPPERT*, M.C.1, RIVARD, micro- and macro-dilution by crustal rocks. B.A.1, FULOP, A.2, ROGGE, D.3, and TAPPERT, R.4 (1) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB (2) DE BEERS CANADA, TORONTO, ON (3) GERMAN REMOTE SENSING DATA CENTER, WESSLING (4) TNT MINERAL SCIENCE, GIBSONS, BC [email protected] Short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1.90-2.36 µm) hyperspectral imagery collected from 171 meters of drill core from the diamondiferous Tango Extension kimberlite using a high spatial resolution imaging system (pixel size: 1.43 x 1.43 µm) was analyzed to create compositional maps that show the distribution of different crustal (dilution) components and different kimberlite types along the drill core. Three types of crustal

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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES BLUEFISH AND CANOL SHALE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (NTGS) MAPPING PROJECT – PETROLEUM GROUP MACKENZIE PLAIN, SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES: NORTHWEST TERRITORIES DECEMBER 2014 TO NOVEMBER 2015 FIESS, K.M. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT FIESS, K.M. [email protected] NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT The Northwest Territories Geological [email protected] Survey (NTGS) “Regional Geoscience The NTGS Petroleum Group advances Studies & Petroleum Potential of Mackenzie petroleum geoscience knowledge of the Plain Area, Central Northwest Territories” Northwest Territories by conducting field project spanned the 2009 to 2014 time and subsurface research studies and provides period. The primary goal of this project was related technical advice to industry, to characterize the hydrocarbon potential of communities and government. The the Devonian age Bluefish and Canol shale. Petroleum Group's current active project Field and subsurface studies results and data areas include the Mackenzie Plain, also sets were reported at petroleum conferences known as the Central Mackenzie Valley and published annually in NTGS Open Files (CMV) and the Liard Basin. The Petroleum and Reports. The Bluefish and Canol shale Group initiated three new major projects in are kerogen rich siliceous source rocks with 2014-15. These included two low clay content and are thermally mature unconventional petroleum resource for oil throughout most of the study area. assessment studies initiated with the This study helped propel the Bluefish National Energy Board (NEB) and a Member of the Hare Indian Formation (Fm.) Northwest Territories Petroleum Atlas and Canol Fm. shale into an emerging Scoping Project study. The first study unconventional shale oil play. Industry evaluated the resource potential associated acquired fourteen exploration licenses for the Devonian age Bluefish and Canol shale work bid commitments of close to 630 in the CMV and was completed in May million dollars and drilled five vertical and 2015. A similar study was undertaken with two horizontal wells to further evaluate the the Yukon and BC geological surveys and play over the 2011 to 2014 time frame. the NEB to assess the resource potential of the Exshaw Formation in the Liard Basin. In June of 2014, the NTGS Petroleum Group This study will be completed in January determined there were adequate data sets 2015. available to initiate an unconventional hydrocarbon resource assessment of the Bluefish and Canol oil shale in the Mackenzie Plain area of the Northwest Territories. NTGS and the National Energy Board (NEB) entered into a research agreement in the fall of 2014 and the resource assessment project was initiated. In January 2015, the NTGS Petroleum Group provided the NEB with detailed geological

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mapping of Canol and Bluefish shale data NWT MINING INDUSTRY sets for resource assessment modelling using VALUE CHAIN probabilistic methods they recently developed to assess the unconventional oil GAUTHIER, F., and PELLETIER, P. resources in the Montney Fm. of British LES CONSULTANTS FRÉDÉRIC GAUTHIER ET Columbia and the Bakken Fm. of PIERRE PELLETIER, QUÉBEC, QC Saskatchewan. This presentation will review [email protected] the results of the Canol and Bluefish shale Mineral wealth in the Northwest Territories mapping project. represents great potential in attracting investments to the region, and, by the same OFFICE OF THE REGULATOR token, economic development. Along with OF OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS the adoption of its NWT Investment (OROGO) - UPDATE Attraction Strategy, the Conseil de développement économique des Territoires JAMES, F. du Nord-Ouest (ÉTNO) commissioned outside consultants to conduct a study on the OFFICE OF THE REGULATOR OF OIL AND GAS NWT mining industry value chain in order OPERATIONS [email protected] to clarify the roles, relationships and interactions of this activity sector. The study The Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas conducted in March 2015 presents the Operations (OROGO) assumed regulatory synergies among the various stakeholders responsibility for oil and gas operations in and sheds light on development the NWT onshore outside of the Inuvialuit opportunities in the Northwest Territories. Settlement Region and federal areas on April 1, 2014. While carrying out its Methodology: The consultants conducted in- statutory responsibilities, OROGO strives depth documentary research and collected to: data from 142 NWT businesses working in • Be as transparent and open as the mining sector. In order to grasp possible about its work; stakeholders' thoughts on the sector's • Build effective working relationships challenges and opportunities, the consultants with other regulators, GNWT also communicated with 21 representative agencies and Aboriginal entities of stakeholders involved in the Northwest Territories' mining industry value governments; and chain. Based on the information collected, a • Educate stakeholders about its role matrix of the Northwest Territories' mining and the role of the GNWT Regulator. industry value chain was designed to illustrate the main activities covered by the The presentation will provide an update on stakeholders involved in the value chain, the OROGO’s efforts to meet these objectives goal being to identify development while maintaining its readiness for a return opportunities. of exploratory activity.

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MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY THE SLAVE PROVINCE OF GREASE RECOVERY AT SURFICIAL MATERIALS AND DIFFERING FEED RATES AND PERMAFROST STUDY: SCRAPE INTERVALS RATIONALE AND FIRST RESULTS OF THE GRANT, A. PERMAFROST PART OF THE DIAVIK DIAMOND MINES (2012) INC., YELLOWKNIFE, NT PROJECT [email protected] GRUBER*, S. 1, BROWN, N. 1, PEART, As a secondary method of diamond 1 1 1 recovery, a series of grease tables are C. , RIDDICK, J. , SUBEDI, R. , KARUNARATNE, K.2, and KOKELJ, currently employed at the Diavik Diamond 2 Mines (DDMI) process plants. They exploit S.V. (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON the oleophilic properties of diamond, (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL whereby diamonds will adhere quite SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT strongly to grease. At DDMI, this grease in [email protected] manually applied by an operator in a thin The Slave Geological Province is one of the layer on a multi-layered table, then scraped foci of resource extraction in the Canadian off, melted, and sorted for diamonds at North. Its tundra areas form a large and defined intervals of time. Measuring the diverse landscape in which comparably few recovery performance of grease has systematic permafrost observations exist. As traditionally been difficult due to an inability the region contains layers of icy till, it is to accurately control input feed grade. By susceptible to modification upon thaw. The employing two different experimental strong consequences that permafrost protocols, the performance of the tables was thawing can have on infrastructure and the measured at varying feed rates and intervals natural environment motivate baseline between grease scrapes. In the first case, the investigations. tables were bisected, with one side being scraped and analyzed every 4 hours and the This project contributes to better other scraped and every 6 hours for a variety understanding the ground thermal regime of material flow rates. In the second case, and ground ice content, as well as the each tier of the table was scraped geochemical properties of permafrost. simultaneously, but analyzed separately and Specifically, we investigate how differing evaluated for diamond recovery as a parts of the landscape differ in ground percentage of total carats recovered. The temperature dynamics and subsurface ice result of this investigation is an indication of content. A network is put into place to track the performance degradation of the recovery changes in ground thermal regime and ice efficiency of grease at increasing scrape content over time in more than 40 locations. time intervals. This type of data provides infrastructure planners, industry and regulators an advantage in designing projects, anticipating impacts and planning mitigation. Additionally, measurements in boreholes are complimented with distributed logging of near-surface ground-temperature as well as surface observations suitable for

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 42 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 parameterizing land-surface models. This prospecting datasets a more thorough will allow using the data collected for understanding of the detailed glacial history advancing scientific understanding of of the area is required. atmosphere-permafrost interactions and for evaluating the quality of global or We spent six weeks in the Lac de Gras area continental scale climate models in in summer 2015. Field mapping was simulating permafrost dynamics. complimented by a number of other techniques to elucidate the glacial history of This presentation provides a synopsis of the the area. Enigmatic landforms were project rationale and summarizes the work examined in detail and pits were dug to accomplished in 2015 with respect to examine their sedimentology. Samples of measurements made and instruments matrix material were collected to compare deployed. First results will be highlighted, grain size distribution between different some of which are shown in more detail in sediment types. Pebble counts were done to other presentations at this conference. An consider sediment provenance. We also outlook on future work and benefits will collected ground-penetrating radar profiles finish the presentation. to look for stratified sediments within enigmatic mounds. High-resolution GLACIAL HISTORY AND orthophotos and a one metre LiDAR digital LANDFORM GENESIS IN THE elevation model of the area, obtained by LAC DE GRAS AREA AND Dominion Diamond Ekati Corporation, have also been used to investigate landform IMPLICATIONS FOR genesis and the glacial history of the area. KIMBERLITE DRIFT PROSPECTING In the Lac de Gras area many meltwater corridors can be identified in the high- HAIBLEN*, A.M.1, WARD, B.C.1, resolution imagery. These corridors are NORMANDEAU, P.X.2, and PROWSE, typically 300-1500 m wide and form N.D.3 dendritic networks. Between the corridors, (1) SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, BURNABY, sandy till of varying thickness overlies BC bedrock. Within corridors, glaciofluvial (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT landforms and scoured bedrock are (3) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON common. Also associated with corridors are [email protected] many mounds of enigmatic origin. These During the last glaciation, bedrock was mounds commonly occur in groups and are eroded, transported and deposited by the typically 20-100 m wide and rise 5-15 m Laurentide Ice Sheet across much of above the surrounding area. They are Canada. The complex ice and meltwater usually composed of an unstratified to processes that resulted in sediment poorly-stratified sandy diamicton containing deposition are not completely understood. In no clay and minor silt. Matrix grain size the central Slave Craton, Northwest distribution and pebble lithology results Territories, glacial sediments overly many from some mounds are similar to those of diamond-bearing kimberlites. Diamond nearby regional till. However, patches of deposits in the Lac de Gras area were well-stratified sediments, exhibiting discovered in the early 1990s by drift laminated silts as well as climbing ripples in prospecting. To better interpret drift sand, do exist on parts of some mounds.

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GPR data suggests that these patches are SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES discontinuous, and that the majority of ENCOUNTERED IN DEFINING mounds are composed largely of sandy NATURAL VARIABILITY FOR diamicton. Variation in the sedimentology of the mounds does not appear to be related to NORTHERN AQUATIC variations in mound morphology. SYSTEMS

1 2 It is likely that the majority of the HALL*, T. , MACHTANS, H. , 3 4 glaciofluvial sediments in the Lac de Gras SHARPE, R. , DARWISH, T. , 5 5 area were deposited during the final stages BARRETT, T. , KOVATS, Z. , and 6 of ice retreat across the area when meltwater CHAPMAN, P. volumes were high. We suggest that the (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., CALGARY, AB (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD, WHITEHORSE, corridors were formed by subglacial YK meltwater flow. This is because glaciofluvial (3) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD, EDMONTON, deposition almost exclusively occurs within AB corridors, very little till is found within (4) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD, MISSISSAUGA, corridors and the corridors have an ON (5) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD, CALGARY, AB undulating elevation profile in the direction (6) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD, CHAPEMA of ice flow. Water must have played a role ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES LTD. in the deposition of the well-stratified [email protected] patches of sediment found on some mounds, Characterizing natural variability in aquatic however, the mounds may not be solely the systems is necessary for differentiating product of subglacial meltwater flow. A anthropogenic influence from natural thorough understanding of sediment changes. Regulatory boards in the Northwest transport and depositional processes is Territories are clear that monitoring critical if kimberlite indicator mineral data is programs are to be developed such that they to be accurately interpreted. provide a solid foundation for detecting change, assessing impact, and implementing adaptive management. The benefits of adequately characterizing natural variability are clear and widely accepted among stakeholders; however, the approach to defining this is widely variable. Some variation in approach may be warranted, depending on data type and availability. The presentation will outline successes and challenges encountered in defining natural variability within the northern regulatory framework. Discussion will be related to consistent data collection, filling data gaps, case studies, and recommendations for on- going collaboration. Participants will be encouraged to provide input and perspective from their work in furtherance of this topic.

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GEOLOGY, STRUCTURE AND characteristics share similarities to parts of ALTERATION OF THE the Echo Bay and Conjuror Bay districts of MAZENOD LAKE REGION, the northern GBMZ. GREAT BEAR MAGMATIC ASSESSING MYCORRHIZAL ZONE, NWT SPORE DENSITY AND HAMILTON, M.S.H. INOCULUM POTENTIAL OF BRANDON UNIVERSITY, MB SOILS OBTAINED FROM [email protected] STEEVES LAKE SHORELINE: A The ~70 km2 Mazenod Lake region is REMEDIATION SITE AT THE located in the southern Great Bear Magmatic COLOMAC MINE, NWT Zone (GBMZ) between the NICO (gold- cobalt-bismuth-copper) and Sue-Dianne HAMP*, R.1, STEVENS, K.1, (copper-gold-silver) iron oxide copper-gold MACCOLL, K.1, ERENFELLNER, W.1, (IOCG) deposits. Detailed field mapping HEWITT, M.2, and RICHARDSON, A.3 and sampling were completed during the (1) DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, WILFRID summer of 2013, and have now been LAURIER UNIVERSITY, WATERLOO, ON compiled and augmented with a structural (2) FLAT RIVER CONSULTING, SUDBURY, ON lineament analysis based on satellite (3) CONTAMINANTS & REMEDIATION DIRECTORATE, ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND imagery, geology and geophysics. The NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT CANADA, Mazenod region comprises a c. 1870 - 1.866 YELLOWKNIFE, NT Ga suite of calc-alkaline rocks that range in [email protected] composition from basaltic andesite to The Colomac mine, located 220 km north of rhyodacite ignimbrite sheets, volcaniclastic Yellowknife, was an open pit gold mine rocks, associated high-level intrusions, a active throughout the 1990s. In 1999 metasedimentary suite, and marginal Aboriginal Affairs and Northern intermediate to felsic batholiths. Structural Development Canada began closure and analysis reveals several stages including pre- reclamation efforts at Colomac. Heavily and syn-volcanic deformations to post contaminated near-shore sediments and the volcanic disruption. Complex and regionally continuing presence of free phase diesel in extensive hydrothermal alteration affects the the adjacent bedrock required remedial entire suite of rocks within the region. Noted action along the shoreline of Steeves Lake. effects include extensive sodic, potassic, A new shoreline was constructed to cap the iron, and silica metasomatism, with sediments and act as buffer to diesel significant areas of calcium, boron and migration into the Lake. The construction of sulphide alteration. Mineralization identified the shoreline was completed and to date includes skarn, disseminated revegetation efforts were initiated in 2010. sulphides and minor pitchblende with Ten thousand square meters of new riparian copper being the most commonly observed area were added alongside 750 m of the metal of interest. The Mazenod region is original shoreline. The design of the characterized by several overlapping shoreline included an infill area extending hydrothermal cells with varying styles of out from the original shoreline contained mineralization and alteration that are within an outer armoured wall, as well as a consistent with IOCG type systems. Parts of trench in the armoured wall lined with the system are most similar to that observed landscape fabric and peat/sand infill. The around Sue-Dianne, while other areas and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 45 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 peat/sand infill material was obtained onsite. CONSTRAINING After infilling, the area was revegetated HYDROTHERMAL EVENTS using local transplants and native seed mix. RESPONSIBLE FOR REGIONAL The purpose of this study was to quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) POLYMETALLIC VEIN propagules in soils along Steeves Lake MINERALIZATION IN THE shoreline. AMF are soil dwelling, SOUTHERN SLAVE PROVINCES endophytic fungi that form symbiotic AND LINKS TO DEPOSITS IN associations with vascular plants, THE GREAT BEAR LAKE exchanging nutrients for carbohydrates and MAGMATIC ZONE have been shown to play an important role in plant survival in revegetation efforts. In HANLEY*, J.J.1, TROTTIER, C.R.1, order to determine if AMF were present, BURKE, J.1, and OOTES, L.2 fungal propagules were isolated and (1) DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, SAINT bioassays conducted to measure propagule MARY'S UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS infectivity. Phalaris arundinaceae and (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Epilobium angustifolium seedlings were SURVEY/BRITISH COLUMBIA GEOLOGICAL transplanted into soils from the site and SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT AND VICTORIA, BC grown under growth room conditions for a [email protected] 4-week (P. arundinacea) or 6-week (E. angustifolium) period. Plants were then Small polymetallic (U-As-Ni-Co-Cu-Ag-Bi- harvested and colonization assessed using Sb) hydrothermal vein systems are dispersed standard procedures. Abiotic factors such as throughout the Southern Slave province soil nutrient levels (K, P), distance of the (e.g., Copper Pass, Blanchet Island) and samples from historic spills, and soil have similar paragenetic characteristics to moisture were also considered. AMF deposits at Great Bear Lake (Eldorado-Echo propagules have been confirmed in all soil Bay, Contact Lake, Terra-Norex, Silverbear, samples with spore densities ranging from 2 Normin) but are very low in grade and to 338 spores per gram of dry soil. In the tonnage at their surface expression, and colonized roots of both trap plants, hyphae, lacked productive U and Ag ore stages. arbuscules and vesicles were observed, and all plants were colonized by AMF, dark Current studies of these deposits at Saint septate endophytes, or both. In P. Mary's University are focusing on the arundinaceae AMF colonization ranged systematic application of a variety of from 1 to 78%, and 5 to 98% in E. microanalytical techniques to aid in the angustifolium. Colonization levels were development of exploration criteria for consistent throughout the area sampled. polymetallic vein systems and revise the current model for this deposit style, specifically with respect to metal sources, metal precipitation mechanisms, and timing of metal precipitation, and the reasons for variability in metal tenor on a regional scale. In one study, we utilizing petrographic and thermometric (CL, SEM, fluid inclusion microthermometry) and isotopic methods (SIMS, LA-ICPMS) to identify thermal, salinity and metal concentration gradients in

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these hydrothermal systems. In another and gas industry (2), and the general public study, we are re-examining historic gamma (1). surveys for deposit-characteristic U/Th This presentation will serve as an ratios as proxies for basinal metalliferous introduction to the NWT Environmental fluid migration to delineate areas likely to Studies Research Fund, its mandate, and its contain these deposits. progress and achievements to date.

The integrated results of several studies will IMPROVING THE UTILITY OF be examined, highlighting (i) major ECLOGITIC GARNET IN compositional changes to metal-carrying DIAMOND-EXPLORATION – fluids resulting from suspected isothermal mixing of very different fluid reservoirs, as EXAMPLES FROM LAC DE the driving mechanism for metal deposition; GRAS AND WORLDWIDE (ii) the critical role of organics in LOCALITIES transporting and precipitating uranium and other metals; and (iii) the regional resetting HARDMAN*, M.F.1, STACHEL, T.1, of U-Pb systematics, leading to erroneously PEARSON, D.G.1, KINAKIN, Y.B.2, and young ages for mineralization, a result BELLINGER, J.3 consistent with other recent attempts at (1) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, resolving the age of similar polymetallic AB (2) DIAVIK DIAMOND MINES (2012) INC., vein systems in the Great Bear Lake YELLOWKNIFE, NT magmatic zone. (3) RIO TINTO CANADA DIAMOND EXPLORATION INC., RIO TINTO DIAMONDS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GROUP, THUNDER BAY, ON [email protected] NWT ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES RESEARCH FUND In diamond exploration, the use of compositional data to identify diamond- related peridotitic xenocrysts has long been HANSEN, K. a widely used and powerful tool. In contrast, HUSKY OIL OPERATIONS LTD. [email protected] the application of similar methods to eclogitic garnet chemistry remains a The Northwest Territories Environmental challenge. The inability to unequivocally Studies Research Funds (ESRF) is a classify certain “eclogitic” garnet research program which supports compositions as either mantle- or crust- environmental and social studies to inform derived implies that a high abundance of decision-making related to oil and gas lower-crustal garnets will increase diamond- exploration and development on lands exploration expenditures by introducing a within the NWT. The NWT ESRF program number of “false positives”. Revising replaces the federal ESRF established in existing classification schemes (e.g., 1987 and will be a collaborative effort Schulze, 2003) to reduce the abundance of between the GNWT, industry and the public. “false positives” may, however, increase the Funding for the ESRF will be collected number of “false negatives” through the through levies paid by all interest holders of misclassification of mantle-derived garnets lands in the Northwest Territories. The as crustal. ESRF is directed by a five member Management Board which has This study presents new geochemical and representation from the GNWT (2), the oil

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 47 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 petrographical data for garnet and geochemical character, for example in clinopyroxene from 724 kimberlite-hosted, garnet Ca# vs. Mg# space (discrimination crust- and mantle-derived xenoliths from diagram of Schulze, 2003), where localities worldwide, with a focus on approximately 66% of our crust-derived samples whose lithology is constrained garnet analyses plot in the “mantle” field. petrographically, rather than single mineral This percentage varies among locations. A grains from concentrate. Mantle samples are selection of particularly high-Mg#, low-Ca# primarily eclogitic and pyroxenitic, as garnets derived from crustal, plagioclase- constrained by mineral assemblage and bearing lithologies in this study highlights garnet and clinopyroxene mineral chemistry, the potential for crust-mantle confusion, as while crustal samples are dominantly these garnets have Mg# in-excess of many plagioclase-bearing garnet-granulites. mantle-derived eclogitic/pyroxenitic garnets. As a consequence, Fe-Mg-Ca-based For those localities where an established classifications alone cannot reliably geothermal gradient is available from discriminate mantle and crustal garnets. literature resources, garnet-clinopyroxene pairs are employed in the estimation of The next step in this project will be to obtain pressure-temperature conditions of trace element data for the entire sample equilibration through the iterative coupling suite. This will allow us to test the Li- of the Krogh (1988) geothermometer and the geobarometer of Hanrahan et al. (2009) for relevant geothermal gradient. Our eclogites and to search for trace element preliminary results suggest that closure signatures that can be used as robust temperatures for Fe-Mg exchange exceed indicators of a diamond-facies origin of the temperatures of residence of many eclogitic garnets. Trace element data will lower-crustal samples, as geotherm-based also be employed in the refinement of the calculated pressures of equilibration exceed crust/mantle division discussed above. the apparent stability of plagioclase (see Green and Ringwood, 1972). Comparison of equilibration pressures with sodium contents in garnet for mantle-derived samples (the diamond-facies criterion of Gurney, 1984) shows a positive correlation at localities for which an adequate range of pressures is observed (e.g., the Diavik mine). Other populations, such as mantle eclogitic garnets from Roberts Victor, plot at a much more restricted range of pressures and hence fail to demonstrate this correlation; instead, these samples may reflect the influence of a broader range of bulk-compositions, providing varying amounts of sodium to their constituent garnets.

The results presented here demonstrate clearly that garnets from mantle- and crust- derived samples show significant overlap in

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EARLY CAMBRIAN skeletal packstones and wackestones CARBONATE RAMP comprised of brachiopod and sponge SIGNATURES IN THE MOUNT spicules. These newly identified observations and interpretations provide CLARK FORMATION, DODO evidence of physio-chemical stresses and an CANYON, NT energetic carbonate environment: 1) we associate the low-diversity and locally HERBERS*, D.H, GINGRAS, M.K, impoverished trace fossil suite to an increase BOBEY, B., KOLENOSKY, S, BILAK, of marine salinities, potentially related to G, and LAGRANGE RAO, M. supratidal and intertidal conditions; 2) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB burrowed wackestone and packstone beds [email protected] are taken to represent energetic mid-ramp The Cambrian Mount Clark Formation conditions; and 3) abundant soft-sediment forms a potential hydrocarbon reservoir deformation features can be associated with within the Central Mackenzie Valley (CMV) synsedimentary collapse events perhaps of the Northwest Territories, Canada. This driven by active tectonics. At Dodo Canyon succession lies unconformably over we interpret the presence warm water Proterozoic rocks and represents a complex carbonate ramp with evaporitic intertidal to shoreline to offshore setting flanked by supratidal conditions. paleotopographic highs to the West (Mackenzie Arch) and East (Mahony Arch). TO BE OR NOT TO BE CONSERVATIVE – A WATER The Mount Clark Formation has been studied by the Geological Survey of Canada QUALITY MODELLING CASE and Northwest Territories Geological STUDY IN THE NORTHWEST Survey in regional and primary investigation TERRITORIES programs. However from a general viewpoint, the Mount Clark Formation's HERRELL*, M.K.1, FAITHFUL, J.2, and depositional affinities are poorly understood LEE, C.3 with fluvial to shallow marine environments (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., VANCOUVER, proposed within an existing BC (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., CALGARY, AB lithostratigraphic scheme. This new research (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI aims to better identify depositional CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT environments using detailed ichnological [email protected] and sedimentological investigations. Dominion Diamond Ekati Corporation submitted a Developer's Assessment Report Within the mixed Carbonate-Clastic Mount (DAR) for the Jay Project (the Project) in Clark succession present at Dodo Canyon November 2014. A component of the DAR carbonate peritidal facies associations have was to evaluate the impact of Project been identified in the upper portion of the discharges on surface water quality in Lac section near the Mount Cap boundary. du Sauvage and Lac de Gras during Newly described observations include: 1) operations, closure, and post-closure. A unbioturbated ?microbial dolomitic water quality model was developed to laminites ; 2) impoverished trace-fossil predict Project effluent water quality, and suites, 3) unbioturbated micritic deposits, 4) the water quality in the receiving massive penecontemporaneous soft- environment as a consequence of the Project sediment deformation structures, and 5)

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 49 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 effluent discharge, so as to assess the increased post-closure density gradient in influence of the effluent on downstream the Jay Pit, strengthening the pit stability. receptors. The model relied on conservative assumptions for each of the inputs to ensure This presentation provides a case study of future operational discharge concentrations the comprehensive water quality modelling would not be underestimated. that was completed as part of the Project DAR and subsequent model iterations that Diamonds will be mined from the Jay Pit, were completed to address stakeholder which will be developed within a diked and comments and concerns. Several water dewatered portion of Lac du Sauvage. Open quality scenarios were evaluated to address pit mining at the Project has the potential to uncertainty in the DAR predictions and to result in saline groundwater upwelling into include appropriate conservatism into all the Jay Pit. To minimize the total load of aspects of the surface water quality saline water requiring discharge over the life assessment to ensure the Project is designed of the mine, and to minimize the risk of and operated in an environmentally adverse effects to the receiving environment, protective manner. The need for a multi- water reporting to the Jay Pit will be faceted modelling approach for evaluating pumped to the bottom of the mined out surface water quality impacts from northern Misery Pit during operations. This process mines will also be discussed. maintains a surface water quality in Misery Pit, which can be subsequently discharged to REVEGETATING COLOMAC Lac du Sauvage after the Misery Pit design MINE, NT: FIVE YEARS LATER storage elevation is reached, and maintained - UPDATE ON THE until the end of mine operations. BIOENGINEERING The upper 50 metres of saline mine water TECHNIQUES FOR stored in the Misery Pit will be pumped to REVEGETATION OF RIPARIAN the bottom of the mined out Jay Pit at AREAS AT THE COLOMAC closure. The saline water will be capped MINE, NT with freshwater pumped from Lac du Sauvage to produce meromictic conditions HEWITT*, M.1, MCPHERSON, M.2, and in the Jay Pit, permanently isolating the TOKAREK, M.3 saline water from interacting with (1) FLAT RIVER CONSULTING, SUDBURY, ON freshwater in the overlying Lac du Sauvage. (2) FISHERIES AND OCEANS CANADA, Similarly, the 50 metre freeboard in Misery YELLOWKNIFE, NT Pit will be capped with freshwater from Lac (3) CONTAMINANTS AND REMEDIATION DIRECTORATE, ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND de Gras or Lac du Sauvage. The stability of NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT CANADA, meromixis in both pits is dependent YELLOWKNIFE, NT primarily on the density difference between [email protected] water stored in the pit lake mixolimnions Factors such as nutrient poor soils, harsh and monimolimnions. Therefore, increases climate, remote locations, and high costs in conservatism in operational effluent water make revegetating disturbed areas in quality predictions can reduce the northern environments a challenge. We conservatism in post-closure pit lake present a case study where innovative stability predictions since increases in bioengineering and project planning salinity concentrations will result in an techniques were employed to revegetate and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 50 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 remediate two riparian areas at Colomac only be accessed by airplane, helicopter, dog Mine, an abandoned gold mine 220 km team, skidoo, or canoe. north of Yellowknife, NT. The revegetation plan focused on establishing pioneer species In 2015, the Tłı̨chǫ Government-Department and facilitating natural recovery and of Culture and Lands Protection (DCLP) and succession. A “rough and loose” technique Aboriginal Affairs and Northern was used to allow the soil to capture and Development Canada (AANDC)’s retain moisture, trap windborne seed, Contaminants and Remediation Division promote easy root penetration and prevent (CARD) worked together to roll out a erosion. Harvesting and planting of local Community Engagement plan. It meant willow cuttings, alder seeds, and sedge plugs months of logistical planning with members ensured that the vegetation at these sites was of the Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà Elders Committee, adapted to local climate and soils. Multi- interpreters, environmental monitors and year monitoring was initiated which staff from both governments. The Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà included vegetation counts and photographic Elders Committee has been meeting over documentation. Results have shown success several years to discuss site monitoring rates of 60-100% plant survival on the results and future plans for Rayrock. This majority of areas where bioengineering Committee is comprised of Tłı̨chǫ elders techniques were used. In contrast, poor from Behchokǫ̀, Gamètì, Wekweètì and revegetation success rates of 8 to 33% plant Whatì with experience on and knowledge of survival were experienced in areas where the site, as well as Tłı̨chǫ Government techniques were either used incorrectly or representatives. Its purpose is the exchange implemented too late in the season. The of traditional and scientific knowledge with bioengineering techniques implemented at AANDC-CARD, the department responsible Colomac Mine provided a successful, cost for contaminated sites in the Northwest effective, and local approach to revegetation Territories. in a northern environment. In August 2015, after a reconnaissance RAYROCK (K w e t ı̨ ı̨ ɂ a à ) helicopter tour, a group undertook a WATERSHED TOUR watershed tour by canoe along the Marian River. They travelled from the Rayrock HUM*, J.1, LAFFERTY, G.2, and Mine Site (Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà) to Marian Lake to BREADMORE, R.2 provide Tłı̨chǫ participants a first-hand (1) T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, Behchokǫ̀ , NT account of the watershed’s state downstream (2) ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN of Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà while collecting scientific DEVELOPMENT CANADA, YELLOWKNIFE, NT samples to determine the ecological and [email protected] environmental conditions of the area. The The Rayrock (Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà) Mine Site is a group ate coney and jackfish while camping decommissioned uranium mine located in at sites to which the Ancestors travelled. one of the ‘donut holes’; that is, Crown During the Tour, participants collected fish Land located within Tłı̨chǫ Lands and water samples to analyze for boundaries. It operated between 1957 and contaminants of concern. Over four days, 1959. Eighty-thousand tonnes of ore were the group of Tłı̨chǫ and AANDC milled at the mine, creating 208 tonnes of representatives paddled a total of 90 km to uranium materials. Located approximately end their trip in Behchokǫ̀. 75 km northwest of Behchokǫ̀, the site can

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Meanwhile, remediation and monitoring Many Precambrian fluvial basins work at Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà continues. On October 1, superimposed on the Canadian Shield 2015, a group of Tłı̨chǫ Elders and demonstrated in the past prospectivity for Wek’èezhı̀i Land and Water Board uranium, while others remain largely representatives travelled by floatplane to unexplored. A prominent example of the visit the site and perform a Site Blessing. In latter is the Paleoproterozoic Kilohigok this traditional ceremony, elders provide Basin, located in the Kitikmeot Region of advice and best wishes for relatives and Nunavut. Its northeastern reach includes a 1 friends, pray for safe travel in remote areas km thick siliciclastic succession (Burnside of their land, and ask to return home safely. River Formation) dated to ~1.9 Ga and They also ask for the safety of all workers nonconformably sitting atop Archean (~2.7 travelling to and working on remediation Ga) basement rocks of the Canadian Shield. sites and for workers’ safe return to their In Melville Sound (~150 km southwest of families, as well as to keep the land, water, Cambridge Bay), this nonconformable and wildlife safe from harm. This is done in contact is underlain by a paleosol horizon the form of a feeding the fire ceremony, developed on either granitoid rocks of the where bread and herb (tobacco) offerings Slave Province, or meta-igneous and meta- and Holy Water are given to Mother Earth. sedimentary rocks of the Hope Bay At Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà, a prayer was spoken for all greenstone belt. We present stratigraphic life forms to return to the area and for the and gamma-ray spectrometry data collected land and water to be restored to their natural along a transect of ~80 km, and discuss the states. results in terms of uranium prospectivity, and development of Precambrian profiles of In this co-presentation, representatives from sub-aerial alteration. Tłı̨chǫ Government-DCLP and AANDC- CARD will share findings from the site Well-developed paleo-saprolites derived assessments, ongoing remediation and from granitoid rocks are up to 15 m thick monitoring, and community engagement and show a distinctive three-fold zonation in with the Kwetı̨ı̨ɂaà Elders Committee. fabric and mineralogy. A lowermost, fresh syenogranite (Kfs±Qz±Pl±Ms) is overlain GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETRY by a “lower saprolite” devoid of plagioclase, AND URANIUM enriched in iron oxide (Qz±Kfs±Ms±Hem), PROSPECTIVITY OF THE 1.9 and showing mild fracturing. The overlying “upper saprolite” is devoid of plagioclase GA KILOHIGOK PALEOSOL IN and feldspar, shows pervasive seriticization, MELVILLE SOUND, NUNAVUT and is heavily fractured. The Burnside River Formation sharply overlies the paleosol and 1 2 IELPI*, A. , RAINBIRD, R.H. , consists of pebbly sandstone with quartz- 3 GREENMAN, J.W. , and CREASON, overgrowth cement, sericite, and iron-oxide 4 C.G. mineralization. Profiles of natural (1) CANADA-NUNAVUT GEOSCIENCE OFFICE radioactivity indicate that peak / GOVERNMENT OF NUNAVUT, IQALUIT, NU (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, concentrations of uranium (up 30 ppm) OTTAWA, ON feature in the lower saprolite. Lower (3) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON concentrations of uranium (up to 15 ppm) (4) OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY, CORVALLIS, also occur in a pebbly sandstone that OR immediately overlies the paleosol. [email protected]

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ON TRADITIONAL A paleo-saprolite is also weakly developed KNOWLEDGE RESEARCH, on meta-igneous and meta-sedimentary INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT rocks of the Hope Bay greenstone belt. Examples are up to 5 m thick and display a AND BARREN-GROUND two-fold zonation. A lower parent rock CARIBOU (typically consisting of gabbro or tholeiitic 1 2 basalt) shows mild fracturing, and JACOBSEN*, P. and JUDAS, J. hydrothermal alteration highlighted by iron- (1) Dedats’eetsaa: Tłı̨chǫ RESEARCH AND TRAINING INSTITUTE, T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, oxide enrichment (Cpx±Pl±Hem±Ol). The YELLOWKNIFE, NT parent rock is overlain by a saprolite zone (2) Dedats’eetsaa: Tłı̨chǫ RESEARCH AND composed of highly altered basalt and meta- TRAINING INSTITUTE, T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, pelites. The overlying Burnside River Wekweètì, NT Formation consists of an open framework [email protected] pebble-conglomerate hosted in erosional The range of the Bathurst caribou, on the depressions interpreted as paleovalleys. barrenlands of Northwest Territories, has Elsewhere, sandstone cemented by quartz undergone environmental changes during overgrowth and iron-oxide directly overlies the last decades; the establishment of large- the saprolite. Profiles of natural radioactivity scale mines, increased exploration, climate reveal uranium concentrations of ~10 ppm change and increased human activity. These in the paleovalley-hosted pebble- factors impact the dynamic between the conglomerate. Elsewhere, background hunting culture of the indigenous peoples concentrations are were recorded from and the barren-ground caribou herds. The greenstone-derived saprolite and overlying direct effect is experienced by hunters in sandstone deposits. mainly two ways: the dramatic and rapid decline of the Bathurst caribou herd Results indicate that uranium is more likely population, which has brought about tight to be concentrated in saprolite derived from hunting regulation for the indigenous granitoid rocks and developed in mature hunters, and large changes to the migration interfluves that were subject to prolonged routes of the herds, altering access to sub-aerial exposure. By comparison, poorly hunting. developed saprolite underlying a nonconformity with significant erosional The Tlicho Government established topography demonstrate less prospectivity Dedats’eetsaa: the Tlicho Research and for uranium mineralization. These results Training Institute and investigated the shed light on possible styles of uranium cumulative impacts on barren-ground mineralization in under-explored caribou (Bathurst caribou herd) from the sedimentary basins of Arctic Canada. traditional knowledge (TK) perspective of the elders and hunters in Wekweètì, a small isolated community on the migration routes of the Bathurst caribou. The TK research is founded on indigenous research methodologies such as participatory-action- research based on indigenous “ways of knowing” with an on-the-land focus to address these bio-cultural issues.

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following aqua regia digestion indicate that The TK studies demonstrate (1) increasing the total arsenic (As) concentrations range numbers of abnormal observation in caribou from 4.9 µg/g to 17,000 µg/g, and 3 samples physiology and health, (2) a decrease in have As concentrations greater than 10,000 quality of forage areas in proximity to the µg/g As (1 % As). All samples with As mines, causing (3) altered caribou migration greater than 3600 µg/g come from outcrop routes to avoid the centers of development soil sites and the highest concentrations are activities on the barrenlands, and away from from outcrops southeast and northwest of traditional Tlicho hunting grounds. Further, the roaster. At most sites where depth TK studies demonstrate the underlying stratified samples were taken, As factors as mainly the activities of the concentrations decrease sharply with depth. resource extraction industry, the previous Most As concentrations greater than 1000 out-fitting companies and changed social µg/g came from samples located <20 cm behavior towards caribou. from the surface, and all samples with As concentrations greater than 3600 µg/g came As the Tlicho harvesters daily track, hunt, from samples located <10 cm from the butcher and eat traditional country food, surface. they are the eyes and ears of the land. Continuation to record their intimate A subset of 50 samples from 23 sites were knowledge of the habitat and the animals is selected for As speciation using an of vital importance and provides a unique automated imaging and analysis technique opportunity to understand the dynamic based on scanning electron microscopy between caribou, their habitat and the areas which characterized hundreds of thousands of development on the Bathurst caribou of soil particles in each sample. Selection range. As caribou is the center of the criteria favored samples with high As economy of hunting, the continuous concentrations, samples from adjacent depth challenge is the sustainability to practice the strata at selected sites, representatives of all caribou hunting culture. soil site types, and samples that covered most of the area of the Giant mine lease. SPECIATION OF ARSENIC IN Arsenic trioxide was observed at all 23 sites. SOILS ON THE GIANT MINE The As-hosting species identified included PROPERTY arsenic trioxide, arsenopyrite, arsenic sulfide (likely realgar), and several species with trace amounts of As including roaster- JAMIESON*, H.E.1, BROMSTAD, generated iron oxides, iron-arsenic-bearing M.L.1, DOBOSZ, A.1, NASH, T.J.1, rims on pyrite and other sulfides, organic COLE, A.2, and FIDDLER, S.1 (1) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON material with As, and complex iron (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES, EDMONTON, AB oxyhydroxides that include manganese, [email protected] calcium and aluminum as well as As. A A suite of 359 soil samples was collected on further subset of 24 samples, which the Giant mine property at 104 outcrop, contained more than 100 grains of either forest, and wetland soil sample sites in arsenic trioxide, arsenopyrite, or As-sulfide, September and October 2014. Most sample and/or high total As concentrations (usually sites were undisturbed by ground-based above 3000 µg/g), were used to calculate the mining and processing activity. Total distribution of As between the various As- elemental analysis by ICP-OES and ICP-MS hosting species. For this calculation, three

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 54 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 different values (0.1, 1 and 5%) were not yet publicly available and there is still assumed for the As concentration in the uncertainty about whether these shales are weathering products (the organics and the capable of production. However, if only one iron oxyhydroxides) since these phases per cent of the in-place resource could be remain incompletely characterized. recovered from the Canol Shale, it would represent a marketable resource of 1.45 Application of the automated imaging and billion barrels. As based on the limited analysis method has successfully geological data available, the analysis distinguished natural from anthropogenic assumed that both shales are saturated with As. The distribution of As between different oil throughout the study area. solid species in a soil sample can be calculated, but the uncertainty regarding the Currently, the NEB is working with the concentration of As in weathering products NTGS, as well as the Yukon Geological suggests this is best considered semi- Survey, the British Columbia Ministry of quantitative. Our study also confirms our Natural Gas Development, and the British previous research demonstrating that arsenic Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, to trioxide is present in undisturbed soils from evaluate the shale gas resources of the Besa various locations on the Giant property but River Formation of the Liard Basin. The restricted to the top few cm of soil. The Besa River Formation is a thick succession presence of trace arsenic associated with of Devonian- and Mississippian-aged shale organics and iron oxyhydroxides suggest with two prospective intervals. The lower that some primary As species are dissolving interval is equivalent to the producing shales and As is adsorbed on soil particles. of the Horn River Basin immediately to the east while an interval higher in the rock SHALE OIL AND SHALE GAS IN section contains shale that is CANADA'S NORTH: RECENT stratigraphically equivalent to the Exshaw FINDINGS AND CURRENT Formation of Alberta and the Bakken Formation of Saskatchewan. PROJECTS This talk will summarize the results of the JOHNSON*, M.1, DOUBROVINA, G.1, 2 2 Canol and Bluefish assessment and provide FIESS, K.M. , and ROCHELEAU, J. some initial findings on the geological (1) NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD, CALGARY, AB characteristics of the Exshaw-equivalent (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL rocks in the Liard Basin. SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] In May 2015, the National Energy Board (NEB) and Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS) assessed the Middle Devonian Bluefish Shale of the Mackenzie Plain to contain 46 billion barrels of oil in place and the Middle to Upper Devonian Canol Shale of the Mackenzie Plain to contain 145 billion barrels of oil in place. The amount of marketable (i.e., recoverable) oil was not estimated because well tests are

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THE DISTANCE DIVIDE: infrastructure design and performance ADDRESSING monitoring. The Government of the INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS TO Northwest Territories (GNWT) supports the collection of ground temperature data UNLOCK NORTHERN through research projects and infrastructure- RESOURCE POTENTIAL related contracts. These research and monitoring programs typically summarize KARA, N. the ground thermal regime in academic PROSPECTORS & DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION publications or reports which are submitted OF CANADA, TORONTO, ON [email protected] to the GNWT. However, the actual temperature data used to compile the report This presentation outlines the importance of typically reside with the research institute or fiscal policy in supporting exploration and consultant, and are often not retained by the mining in Canada's territories. It presents a GNWT. As ground temperature data are broader analysis of the state of the mineral expensive to collect, especially in remote industry in Canada today, and then focuses areas, it is beneficial for the GNWT to house on the importance of the territories in these data and make it accessible for use in addressing some key challenges facing the future projects for the GNWT, the wider industry. It explains the genesis of a project research community, industry and other that outlines the costs of operating in the users. north and the findings, as well as how infrastructure deficits impact the movement The first step towards housing this of projects from discovery into production. information in a database is to establish a In conclusion, a discussion of what actions metadata reporting template so that ground the PDAC believes could be taken to temperature information is described in a support responsible exploration and mining common and standardized way. Although in the North. the majority of ground temperature records are accompanied by some form of metadata, TOWARDS A GROUND the nature of the documented metadata TEMPERATURE DATABASE varies widely depending on the purpose of FOR THE NORTHWEST the data collection. For example, engineers TERRITORIES and environmental researchers may be interested in different metadata, and may KARUNARATNE*, K.C, KOKELJ, S.V, document this information using different and GERVAIS, S. terminology. The metadata template was NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL developed and revised based on feedback SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT received from: permafrost researchers and [email protected] thermal modellers; geotechnical engineers; The Northwest Territories Geological public and private sector geologists; and Survey (NTGS) is in the initial stages of civil servants (federal, territorial, and developing a database of ground municipal) involved with infrastructure temperatures collected across the territory. performance monitoring. At this time, we Knowledge of the ground thermal regime is are finalizing the metadata template which is an essential component of permafrost divided into seven sections: (1) Project research, environmental monitoring, Details; (2) Location of Ground resource development projects, and Temperature Measurements; (3) Installation

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 56 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 of Ground Temperature Cable; (4) Ground system where the basic two dimensional Temperature Record; (5) Site Conditions; application of the method fails to identify a (6) Permafrost Conditions; and (7) Related source from mapped dispersal trains. In an Publications and Data. effort to help elucidate these processes an RC drilling campaign was undertaken in Once the metadata template has been March of 2015, combined with coring and finalized there are three tasks that will be field mapping in July of 2015 to characterize undertaken. First, a data management plan the till column across the region. The overall will be developed. Second, existing ground goal of our project is to use subsurface data, temperature datasets belonging to the NTGS such as kimberlite indicator mineral counts and our research collaborators will be and till geochemistry derived from published as NWT Open Reports so that this boreholes, in concert with field mapping, to information can be accessed as soon as create 1) a broad regional understanding of possible. Finally, we will communicate this regional till production and dispersal and; 2) initiative to other GNWT departments and a detailed three-dimensional model of other northern agencies, and work with them indicator entrainment from a known to develop strategies to leverage ground kimberlite source. This work will allow for temperature data and make it accessible the investigation of variables controlling through this database. dispersal, such as the effect of bedrock topography at the ice sheet's base and DEVELOPING THE discontinuous till production. In total, this FRAMEWORK GEOLOGY FOR work represents a contribution of ~350 new MAPPING 3D DISPERSAL boreholes, which will yield improved mapping of till thickness, as well PATTERNS IN THE contributing a significant dataset of indicator NORTHEASTERN NWT mineral and till geochemistry to the public domain, and a new perspective on the glacial 1 1 KELLEY*, S.E. , ROSS, M. , JANZEN, history of the area which is critical for the 1 2 R.J.D. , ELLIOTT, B. , and next phase of exploration. NORMANDEAU, P.X.2 (1) UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, WATERLOO, ON (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGIC SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] Drift prospecting is a commonly used tool in mineral exploration in Canada's north, and is based on the core concept that mineral material entrained by glaciers will be dispersed down ice from a buried target over a broader area. This concept has been employed to great success in many localities; the Lac de Gras kimberlite field being a prime example. However, factors such as past ice flow history, basal topography, basal thermal regime, and post- glacial reworking can create a complex

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OVERVIEW OF 2015 southeastern NWT, Banks Island, and the ACTIVITIES AT THE Darnley Bay area. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES The Petroleum Group initiated a Northwest GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Territories Petroleum Atlas Scoping Study

1 as well as two unconventional petroleum KETCHUM*, J. resource assessments for the Central (1) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT Mackenzie Valley and Liard Basin in [email protected] collaboration with the National Energy Board. This presentation provides information on

2015 activities and new developments at the This year, the Mining Incentive Program has Northwest Territories Geological Survey. committed a total of $400,000 to mineral

exploration projects proposed by six On April 1st, 2015, the Northwest licensed NWT prospectors and seven Territories Geoscience Office (NTGO) companies. Our staff geophysicist is changed its name to the Northwest generating enhancements to geophysical Territories Geological Survey (NTGS). The data submitted in company assessment new name better reflects the government- reports. A complete overhaul of NTGS web focused mandate of this organization and the applications is underway. An additional range of services that it provides. The NTGS highlight is the construction of a new continues many of the activities of the database for storage and discovery of NTGO and also continues to grow in a archived geological records from past number of areas. exploration projects and closed mines.

Highlights for 2015 include the start of construction of a new geological materials RETROGRESSIVE THAW storage facility and the successful SLUMPS AND THE LANDSCAPE completion of the first year of the Slave SENSITIVITY OF Province Surficial Materials and Permafrost NORTHWESTERN CANADA Study. The latter project is a two-year, collaborative government –industry – KOKELJ*, S.V.1, TUNNICLIFFE, J.2, academic research project mainly funded by LACELLE, D.3, LANTZ, T.C.4, the Canadian Northern Economic FRASER, R.5, PISARIC, M.F.J.6, and Development Agency. This project advances VAN DER SLUIJS, J.7 understanding of glacial history and the (1) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL impact of climate change to inform future SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT mineral exploration and infrastructure (2) UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, AUCKLAND, NZ development. (3) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, ON (4) UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, VICTORIA, BC The NTGS also conducted minerals-related (5) CANADA CENTRE FOR REMOTE SENSING, field research in the Slave Craton, East Arm OTTAWA, ON Basin, and Cordillera. Through the (6) BROCK UNIVERSITY, ST CATHARINES, ON (7) NWT CENTRE FOR GEOMATICS, Geological Survey of Canada's Geo- YELLOWKNIFE, NT mapping for Energy and Minerals program, [email protected] NGS staff also conducted field work in

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Retrogressive thaw slumping is an important GAHCHO KUE PROJECT driver of geomorphic change in ice-rich, UPDATE PRESENTATION glaciogenic landscapes. Here we summarize research on the processes of thaw slump KRUGER, T.D. development, with focus on research from DE BEERS GROUP OF COMPANIES, northwestern Canada. In the Peel Plateau, YELLOWKNIFE, NT individual disturbances commonly exceed [email protected] 20 ha in area. These “mega slumps” displace When it goes into operation in late 2016, the 6 3 downslope up to 10 m of previously frozen Gahcho Kué Project will be the fourth materials, reconfigure slopes and drainage diamond mine in the Northwest Territories networks, and significantly increase stream and De Beers' third mine in Canada. Gahcho sediment and solute loads. The significant Kué is a joint venture between De Beers acceleration of slump activity has caused (51%) and Mountain Province Diamonds this process to become a dominant driver of (49%). De Beers is the operator. It is located geomorphic change in several ice-rich at Kennady Lake, about 280 km northeast of environments across the western Arctic. Yellowknife and about 80 km southeast of Landsat satellite imagery (1985 to 2011) and De Beers' Snap Lake Mine. high frequency climatic and photographic time-series from the Peel Plateau indicate During a mine life of approximately 12 that an increase in rainfall has accelerated years, three kimberlite pipes will be mined downslope sediment flux from slump scar in sequence, starting with 5034, Hearne, zones, perpetuating slump activity and then Tuzo. The deposit was discovered by intensifying this disturbance regime. Mountain Province Diamonds in 1995 and Cascading effects include progressive De Beers jointed the joint venture in 1998. growth of debris tongue deposits comprised Applications for a water licence and land of hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of use permit required to build and operate the sediment, development of debris dammed mine were submitted in 2005. Following an lakes, enhanced valley-side erosion and environmental assessment and an initiation of secondary slumps. environmental impact review the project received its water licence and land use Remotely sensed mapping of slump- permit and other authorizations in 2014, 2 impacted terrain across a 1,275,000 km area allowing for the commencement of full- of northwestern Canada indicates the close scale construction in 2015. association with ice-rich hummocky moraine landscapes deposited at the margins Gahcho Kué has a life of mine of of the former Laurentide Ice Sheet. This approximately 12 years during which an mapping provides a quantitative basis for average of 4.5 million carats of diamonds evaluating the potential for climate-driven will be recovered annually. landscape change and assessing the spatial distribution of ice-cored permafrost across The presentation will provide a brief northwestern Canada. overview of the project history and an update on construction and timeline for commencement of operations, including the capital cost, construction and operations workforce, and De Beers' commitment to sustainable development.

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POLAR KNOWLEDGE process understanding of cryospheric CANADA: ARCTIC SCIENCE elements. In the case of (4), Baseline AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM Information Preparedness for Development, POLAR is leading an effort to strengthen the information base for assessment, regulatory LECLAIR*, A.1 and MILLER, D.2 (1) POLAR KNOWLEDGE CANADA, OTTAWA, approvals, and management for resource ON development. This will increase certainty for (2) POLAR KNOWLEDGE CANADA, industry investment, support tracking the net YELLOWKNIFE, NT benefits of a stronger economy, and provide [email protected] management tools for decision-makers in Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) is a the private and public sectors. POLAR's Government of Canada agency established Geoscience Forum presentation will also on June 1, 2015 to advance Canada's report progress on the construction of the knowledge of the Arctic, strengthen Canadian High Arctic Research Station Canadian leadership in polar science and (CHARS), due to begin operations in 2017. technology (S&T) and direct the operations of a new world-class federal research station IMPACTS OF WILDFIRES ON being built in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The TǪDZI (BOREAL CARIBOU) Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) will complement existing research LEGAT*, A.1, NITSIZA, C.2, and facilities distributed across Canada's North NITSIZA, T.2 while conducting its own cross-cutting S&T (1) GAGOS SOCIAL ANALYSTS, INC, programs in alignment with Canada's YELLOWKNIFE, NT Northern Strategy. This presentation will (2) COMMUNITY OF Whati`, Whati`, NT focus on the priorities of the current five- [email protected] year S&T program, already underway, many Traditional knowledge research of boreal aspects of which have significance for the caribou has been undertaken by a number of northern environments and the natural Aboriginal communities throughout the resources development sector. Those Canadian boreal forests. Based on a priorities are: 1) Alternate and Renewable literature review this research is important Energy; 2) Improving Design and for habitat use and impacts of industry. Our Maintenance of Physical Infrastructure for initial research with the elders and Economic and Social Development; 3) harvesters of Whati` is providing a unique Underwater Situational Awareness; 4) understanding on how tǫdzı use particular Baseline Information Preparedness for landscape and associated habitat, and the Development; and 5) Predicting the Impacts significance of continuous habitat. of Changing Ice, Permafrost and Snow on

Shipping, Transportation Infrastructure and According to the Whati` elders, tǫdzı require Communities. The presentation will briefly continuous habitat to accommodate their expand on (4) and (5), which are of behaviour and characters as well as their particular importance to the resource sector. ability to forage and protect their calves. To The latter aims at spanning the gap between monitor and manage effectively, accurate decision makers who need to understand Tłı̨chǫ knowledge (and scientific data) is how cryospheric changes will affect their required on the relationship between organizations, and the modeling wildfires and healthy tǫdzı population. Our communities who seek to advance basic three-year research and monitoring project is

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 60 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 working towards answering when burn areas interpretation of the microthermometric data will be usable from the perspective of the as a means to delineate specific Tłı̨chǫ elders and harvesters who know mineralization events in this multistage tǫdzı. skarn development. Additionally, fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures were TRACE ELEMENT CHEMISTRY pressure-corrected using sphalerite AND FLUID INCLUSION geobarometry (from earlier researchers), but SYSTEMATICS OF SKARN the absence of pyrite in equilibrium with sphalerite from all samples suggest this MINERALS AT THE CANTUNG pressure correction may be inaccurate. W-CU SKARN, NWT Samples were collected from the different 1 2 LENTZ*, C. , HANLEY, J.J. , skarn facies present within different parts of 1 3 MCFARLANE, C. , and FALCK, H. the deposit with the aim of better (1) UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, understanding the factors controlling FREDERICTON, NB (2) SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS scheelite grade and the overall distribution (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL of metals in the hydrous and anhydrous SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT skarn. The primary objective is to determine [email protected] if the composition (major and trace The Cantung W-Cu skarn deposit is located elements) of skarn minerals (and their fluid within the Canadian Cordillera in the inclusions) can be used as exploration Northwest Territories, approximately 400 vectors towards finding higher grade km northeast of Whitehorse, Yukon scheelite mineralization. Characterizing the Territory. The deposit is associated with an major and trace element variations in skarn intrusion which is part of the Tombstone- minerals (clinopyroxene, amphibole, apatite) Tungsten plutonic suite, a series of Mid- will be accomplished using a combination of Cretaceous granites emplaced into SEM (BSE imaging and EDS analyses) and Neoproterozoic rifted margin and Paleozoic LA ICP-MS methods. A secondary objective passive margin rocks originating from is to resolve the timing and conditions of Laurentia. The Cantung W-Cu skarn formed hydrothermal events through the analysis of as a result of a contact metasomatic fluid inclusions with a specific focus on hydrothermal system in which a developing a better understanding of the peraluminous biotite monzogranite intruded complex skarn paragenesis, as well as the into, and reacted with, Lower Cambrian fluid chemistry and multiple overprinting marbles. This produced a zoned array of mineralizing events responsible for the anhydrous and hydrous reduced skarn development of high grade tungsten (facies assemblages). The most recent intervals. A better understanding of the resource estimate suggest an indicated physiochemical conditions responsible for resource of 3.84 Mt @ 0.97 % WO3. scheelite precipitation may help to identify prospective areas. Understanding the Previous studies have described skarn styles distribution of scheelite within the different at Cantung and their associated grades and types of skarn may provide insight into styles of scheelite mineralization, as well as potential areas of ore upgrading. fluid inclusion studies. However, textural constraints on the fluid inclusions analyzed are oversimplified, limiting the

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EXAMINING THE cores suitable for carrying out a geochemical RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN time series analysis. Previous work used a CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND paleolimnological approach to reconstruct climate and chemical change over the 3000 METAL CYCLING IN POCKET year record and identified three groups of LAKE elements to be likely influenced by regional climate variability. One group represents 1 MACUMBER*, A.L. , GALLOWAY, catchment hydraulic energy (Ti, Zr, Al, Sc), 2 3 4 J.M. , CRANN, C.C. , SWINDLES, G.T. , the second group can be used to track redox 5 6 FALCK, H. , PALMER, M.J. , and conditions (Mo, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Al, V, Zn), 7 PATTERSON, R.T. and a third group that showed a visible (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, ON relationship to past climate events and were (2) GSC CALGARY, CALGARY, AB (3) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, ON elements of chief concern (As, Cu). (4) UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, LEEDS, UK (5) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Time series analysis revealed that common SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT frequencies within the majority of elements (6) GNWT, YELLOWKNIFE, NT fall between 40-60 years, 70-90 years and (7) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON [email protected] 110-150 years. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation is an ocean-atmospheric pattern The depositional conditions of lakes vary in of variability centered over the Pacific response to regional climate variability, Ocean that is known to influence the climate which affects the abundance of elements of of North America and has an oscillatory concern (i.e. As, Cu). Regional climate is pattern within the range of 40-60 years. the product of several large scale oceanic Research has shown that the pacemaker of systems (e.g. ENSO, PDO). These systems the Pacific Decadal Oscillation is the fluctuate between positive and negative Gleissberg Cycle one of the slightly longer phases over time each phase linked to a solar cycles. It has a characteristic split into range of climate conditions. Understanding a low-frequency band signal of 50-80 years how the region responds to past climate and a high frequency signal between 90-140 variability provides a model for how the years. Associating environmental processes region will respond to future climate to known climate processes aids in the effort variability and the fate of metals of concern. of producing models of regional climate variability The Yellowknife region is a valuable area for this research as lakes there record both the natural variability of metals and the impacts of previous resource development. Pocket Lake is a small (~4 ha) circular pond within the Yellowknife, NT city limits. Two freeze cores were collected from the deepest part of the lake and both contained a white lamination identified as the White River Ash. The first visible occurrence of the WRA this far east of Mt Logan allows for the construction of an age-depth model based on three independent dating methods (14C, 210Pb and the tephra) making these

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TERRA INCOGNITA; comprises 2.66 Ga intermediate orthogneiss, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE mafic to ultramafic rocks and rare SOUTH RAE MAPPING paragneiss, all injected by widespread migmatitic granitoids. This domain shows PROJECT, SOUTHEAST NWT. evidence for 1.894 Ga granulite

1 metamorphism at 8-11 kbar and subsequent MARTEL*, E. , ACOSTA-GÓNGORA, decompression to 4-6 kbar at amphibolite P.2, PEHRSSON, S.J.3, DAVIS, W.J.2, 4 5 conditions around 1.84 to 1.80 Ga. Farther THIESSEN, E. , and JAMISON, D. west, little is known about the Ena domain (1) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT in the NWT but in Saskatchewan it includes (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CANADA, 3.0 Ga, 2.6 and 2.3 Ga orthogneiss and 1.93 OTTAWA, ON Ga crustal melt. 2.3 and 1.93- 1.82 Ga (3) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CANADA, supracrustal sequences are also present. ONTARIO, ON Finally, the northwestern McCann domain (4) SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, VANCOUVER, ON consists of mafic to ultramafic metagabbro (5) UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, WATERLOO, injected by tonalitic melt, megacrystic ON granite, granulite diatexite and paragneiss [email protected] and 2.15 Ga Orpheous metagabbro dykes. It The South Rae Province in Northwest records high temperature Arrowsmith Territories (NWT) has seen little research orogenesis at 2.45-2.3 Ga and 1.88 Ga since it was first mapped by canoe and float metamorphism at minimum 8 kbar. plane at reconnaissance scale in the 1950- 1960s. The new, 3 year, 1:250,000 scale The newly discovered Wholdaia Lake shear South Rae mapping project of Geological zone forms the boundary between the Survey of Canada's Geo-mapping for Snowbird and Firedrake domains and has Energy and Minerals program was initiated been traced for nearly 100 km. Preliminary in collaboration with the Northwest observations suggest Firedrake up-to-the- Territories Geological Survey to improve northeast sense of movement understanding of its tectonic evolution and accommodating exhumation of its originally economic potential. deep crustal rocks. The Black Bay fault forms the boundary between the Ena and Field work in 2015 was focused in NTS 75A McCann domains to the west and the and 75B and provides insight on new Firedrake domain to the east. It is informally-named, geophysically and characterized by ductile high strain and isotopically defined domains, each with a appears to be the locus of multiple distinct record of magmatic and movements, culminating in dextral oblique tectonometamorphic events and shearing. metallogenic potential. Multiple types of ore-bearing systems have The Snowbird domain comprises 2.7- 2.55 been explored and mined along the Black Ga orthogneiss and <2.02 Ga paragneiss Bay fault (U-Au±REE, Hoidas deposit) and intruded by mafic and ultramafic sills that Snowbird tectonic zone (Ni-Cu±PGE, Axis host Ni-Cu mineralization (Nickel King Lake deposit) in northern Saskatchewan but deposit), all of which record metamorphic their presence and ecomonic potential in conditions of 6-8 kbar and 750-850°C at NWT are poorly defined. In 2015 several 1.91 Ga. The Firedrake domain to the west radiometric anomalies were identified along

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 63 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 the Black Bay fault in NWT. Some, closer to USING PROPERTY-SCALE the REE Hoidas system, are hosted by felsic SURFICIAL GEOLOGY alkali intrusions. 100 kilometres further MAPPING TO REFINE north clinopyroxene-feldspar-allanite- magnetite veins along the fault are hosted in KIMBERLITE INDICATOR syenite. Preliminary field observations MINERAL DISPERSAL indicate the presence of an extensive alkali PATTERNS AT THE magmatic event along the Black Bay fault REDEMPTION PROJECT, NWT with a similar mineralization style to Hoidas (REE) and other U-rich hydrothermal MCKILLOP*, R.J., and SACCO, D.A. systems in northern Saskatchewan. The PALMER ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING scope and character of these anomalies will GROUP, VANCOUVER, BC be further defined by targeted mapping and [email protected] results of a sediment sampling program. Surficial sediment (e.g., till) sampling is an effective tool for mineral exploration in the THE SURFACE RIGHTS BOARD: glaciated landscapes of Canada. Dispersal CREATING A NEW patterns identified through surficial REGULATORY REGIME FOR sampling are studied and used to identify their smaller, mineralized bedrock sources. LAND ACCESS Data compiled from multiple sampling programs, such as those included in the MATTHEWS, A. Kimberlite Indicator and Diamond Database DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, (KIDD), can produce misleading dispersal YELLOWKNIFE, NT patterns due to variability in sampling and [email protected] analysis protocols. The accurate delineation The Surface Rights Board is a new, of dispersal patterns requires an independent administrative body being understanding of the genesis, comparability established under the Surface Rights Board and distribution of sediment samples on Act. The five-member board, appointed by which the dispersal patterns are based. the Government of the Northwest Territories on April 1, 2015, will work to resolve Using an example from a recent study of the disputes that arise over access to lands. The South Coppermine indicator mineral train on Board will help to encourage economic the Redemption Project, we demonstrate a development through regulatory certainty, method for reducing the variability in the ensuring there is a timely and consistent data set that utilizes property-scale surficial process to handle the rare occasions where geology mapping to systematically filter and disputes cannot be addressed through normalize the data. The surficial geology negotiated agreements or mediation. The mapping identified the nature and Department of Lands is taking the lead role distribution of sediments, as well as specific in this effort, and will provide an update on till units that have been reworked to the current status of the Board and the work differing degrees by a combination of glacial being done to ensure it is operational and meltwater, modern drainage and periglacial independent for the start date of April 1, processes, which can affect the 2016. concentration of kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs). A derivative map depicting till sampling suitability based on

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 64 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 basal till potential and the level of reworking sediment (till) samples. Our systematic was used to classify and group samples into mapping of the LiDAR coverage area subset populations, from which less- resulted in the identification of 649 linear favourable samples were filtered. KIM features, including eskers, meltwater counts in the remaining sample data were channels, moraines, paleo-shorelines and then leveled (normalized) according to the streamlined bedforms, which strengthened thickness of the sampled till unit to reduce understanding of local ice flow histories and the bias produced by higher anomalies patterns of deglaciation. common to thin till units. The filtered and normalized data produced a sharper, more Based on a comprehensive review and re- accurate KIM dispersal pattern and a new evaluation of the data, we identified six basis for interpreting possible provenance important trends: (1) samples collected from envelopes, from which lower-risk till blankets have lower indicator mineral exploration targets can be identified. counts than those collected from till veneers and thick, hummocky till deposits; (2) QUATERNARY GEOLOGY indicator mineral counts from glaciofluvial INTERPRETATION FOR THE sediments were lower and show more subtle SLAVE SURFICIAL MATERIALS anomalies than those from till; (3) the =0.5 mm size-fraction in the mineralogy data set AND PERMAFROST STUDY has ~25-40% higher indicator mineral counts than the >0.5 mm size-fraction; (4) MCKILLOP*, R.J.1, TURNER, D.G.2, 1 when comparing the analytical results of and SACCO, D.A. different size fractions, Cr and La (1) PALMER ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING GROUP, VANCOUVER, BC concentrations are higher in the clay-sized (2) UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, fraction, while Ba concentrations are higher VANCOUVER, BC in the silt- and clay-sized fraction; (5) [email protected] anomalous Au concentrations in the The Northwest Territories Geological northern portion of the study area likely Survey recently funded a strategic represent a lithological change and overburden drilling program in the Lac de subsequent glacial dispersion, rather than Gras (NTS 076D) and Alymer Lake (NTS significant mineralization; and (6) local 076C) map areas of the Slave Province, variations in pyrope and Cr-diopside counts Northwest Territories. This program was in the study area may affect interpretations designed to help stimulate mineral of kimberlite indicator mineral dispersal exploration, and to collect permafrost and plumes. We also delineated 60 areas of geotechnical data required for future interest that present unique research infrastructure development. To provide opportunities, or represent important data guidance for the drill program and a basis gaps that compromise the understanding of for interpreting the results, we compiled, glacial history, mineral dispersal and analyzed and interpreted an unprecedented permafrost conditions within the region. collection of privately-collected and public data. The data set included extensive LiDAR-derived hillshade models; regional surficial and bedrock geology mapping; and mineralogical, geochemical, grain size and sample description data from surface

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DIAVIK MINE OPERATIONAL UPDATE Crews hit the ground in the winter of 2013/2014 and the project is now entering MCLACHLAN, C. its third and final winter construction DIAVIK DIAMOND MINES INC., season. The project team (designers, YELLOWKNIFE, NT constructors and the Owner) contended with [email protected] several challenges in bringing the project to Since 2003 Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. has fruition. Some of these included: been mining diamonds from kimberlite pipes located below the waters of Lac de • Fast track schedule Gras. Diavik produces 6-7 million carats • Weather constraints annually and in 2012 Diavik transitioned to • Data refinements a fully underground mine. Diavik's 9.2 • Climate change considerations megawatt award winning wind farm has • Large complexity of the project confirmed Diavik as a leader in cold climate, (requiring collaborative approach) off grid renewable energy. Diavik recently began construction on its A21 project, which When completed, the ITH will span over will bring its fourth kimberlite pipe into 140 km and provide a vital access route for production in 2018. This presentation will industry and the public. Stantec will discuss provide an operational update on the the challenges and triumphs in working on amazing Diavik operation. this diverse project working in this remote landscape. DEVELOPING AN ALL SEASON ROAD – CHALLENGES AND WHY DID THE CARIBOU TRIUMPHS ON THE INUVIK TO CROSS THE ROAD? – TUKTOYAKTUK HIGHWAY PERMEABILITY OF A MINE ROAD TO BARRENGROUND MCLEOD*, W., and COYNE, P. CARIBOU STANTEC CONSULTING LIMITED, YELLOWKNIFE, NT MILAKOVIC*, B.1, O'KEEFE, H.2, [email protected] ROCK, C.1, and SHARAM, G.1 The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) (1) ERM CANADA CONSULTANTS LTD., has been an idea for over 50 years. It was VANCOUVER, BC only in the past decade that the project (2) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT gained traction towards becoming a reality. [email protected] Once constructed, the ITH will be an all- weather link between these two Camera traps are becoming popular as a communities in the Mackenzie Delta region monitoring tool for wildlife and are of the Northwest Territories. Working increasingly being used at industrial sites to collaboratively with our aboriginal assess wildlife interactions with partnership company KAVIK-STANTEC in infrastructure. To examine how the presence Inuvik, Stantec has completed a variety of and use of roads may be affecting caribou tasks ranging from baseline environmental movement, the Ekati Diamond Mine assessment (wildlife, vegetation, and implemented a monitoring program in 2011 terrain), regulatory support and civil using motion triggered cameras to assess engineering design services. caribou behaviour along project roads.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 66 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Caribou numbers, movements, and volumes. behaviours were assessed to determine what, if any, effects that project roads have on (8) Daily differences in traffic were caribou behaviour: substantial, but differences in traffic between days was not correlated with the (1) This study determined temporal and number of caribou observations or the seasonal trends in caribou abundance, which behaviour of caribou, suggesting that the were consistent with data from GPS road itself with vehicle traffic deters caribou collaring studies and Traditional from crossing the road at a very low rate Knowledge, with a maximum abundance (less than 1%). during late summer (August) and fall. MONITORING GRIZZLY BEAR (2) The most common behaviours at the POPULATIONS IN THE group level at roads were foraging (135 CENTRAL CANADIAN ARCTIC observations), crossing or crossed the road running (15 observations), walking TO SUPPORT MANAGEMENT across/along roads (169 observations), and AND CUMULATIVE EFFECTS alert (88 observations). ASSESSMENT: A DNA BASED APPROACH. (3) The frequencies of behaviours of caribou groups was compared adjacent to and at MILAKOVIC, B.1, O'KEEFE, H.2, control sites away from the road - behaviour WELLS, D.3, SHARAM, G.4, ROCK, C.4, did not vary consistently between these and COREY*, L.2 groups (more stressed versus less stressed). (1) ERM CANADA CONSULTANTS LTD., VANCOUVER (4) The frequencies of behaviours differed (2) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT close to the road compared to control sites at (3) DIAVIK DIAMOND MINES INC., the group level; investigating camera, YELLOWKNIFE, NT walking, standing, foraging, bedded, and (4) ERM CANADA CONSULTANTS LTD., calm behaviours. VANCOUVER, BC [email protected] (5) Deflections occurred infrequently at We present results from a large scale project roads, representing <1% of (16,272 km2) regional Grizzly Bear DNA observations. Most deflections were in study in the central barrens of the Northwest response to a passing vehicle. Territories conducted between 2012 and 2013. The objectives for the two year (6) No effect of group size on susceptibility program were to establish a baseline for the to heavy or light vehicle was detected (i.e., long term regional monitoring of the relative both large and small groups behaved similar abundance and distribution of grizzly bears. to potential vehicles disturbances). A total of 1,902 hair samples were collected (7) Traffic on the road was relatively during the 2012 survey period, representing consistent in 2011 and 2012 and increased 112 grizzly bear individuals, including 42 substantially during 2013. The camera effort males and 70 females. During the 2013 field adjusted number of caribou road crossings program, 4,709 samples were collected. A did not change with changes in yearly traffic total of 136 grizzly bears were identified (60

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 67 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 males and 76 females), including 39 that had DEVELOPMENT OF SOILS AND no previous detections in the regional PLANT COMMUNITIES FOR database (22 males and 17 females). Eight RECLAMATION IN NORTHERN grizzly bears identified in the study area were also detected in other DNA study areas DIAMOND MINES in Nunavut. For the combined DNA dataset, the mean capture probability was 0.22 MILLER*, V.S., and NAETH, M.A. DEPARTMENT OF RENEWABLE RESOURCES, (range 0.14 – 0.35) in 2012, and 0.35 (range UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB 0.28 – 0.43) in 2013. [email protected]

Reclamation research in the north over the Based on Spatially Explicit Capture past 30 years has primarily focused on oil Recapture analysis, the expected number of and gas and transportation corridor male grizzly bears in the region was 59 disturbances. Among industries, (95%CI 43 to 81) in 2012 and 87 (95% CI disturbances caused by infrastructure and 67 to 113) in 2013. The expected number of transportation corridors are similar. females was 102 (95% CI 85 to 122) for However, each industry has its unique by both years. The best model based on AIC products that determine which reclamation likelihood estimated female density as 2 methods are most appropriate to achieve end 3.60/1,000 km (95% CI 2.85 to 4.56) in 2 land use goals and the relative ease of 2012 and 3.97/1,000 km (95% CI 3.17 to reclamation. The purpose of this research 4.98) in 2013. Male density was estimated 2 program is to develop methods to enhance as 1.96/1,000 km (95% CI 1.44 to 2.67) in 2 revegetation of disturbed sites at diamond 2012 and 2.85/1,000 km (95% CI 2.20 to mines in the north, in particular to create soil 3.70) in 2013. like substrates on sites where soil has been

removed with the use of onsite and These results suggest a stable population in commercial materials and to reestablish a the central barrens of the Northwest diverse native plant community. Territories relative to estimates for the Slave Reclamation substrates include by products Geological province in the late 1990's. from the diamond mining process like Through effective partnerships, we crushed rock, till/lake sediment, processed demonstrate that DNA mark-recapture kimberlite and various combinations of programs are a viable method to census till/lake sediment and processed kimberlite. grizzly bears in the Arctic to support Greenhouse experiments were also management and conservation initiatives, conducted at the University of Alberta to and suggest a protocol for implementation. test a range of substrates and amendments with potential to aid reclamation in the field. In 2013 and 2014, research sites were established at Diavik Diamond Mine using the best performing substrates to determine the effect of micro topography, addition of organic matter and erosion control on native grass and forb establishment; effective moss propagation techniques and; effective lichen propagation methods. Preliminary results and observations from completed greenhouse experiments and the first two

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 68 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 growing seasons will be discussed. This their different fluid histories, and the research directly enhances knowledge and potential for using apatite as an indicator of sustainability of northern regions. It will fluid content and composition in kimberlite lead to recommendations for enhanced magma. reclamation protocols to be used by industry and government in the north. The study uses polished sections from different kimberlite lithologies within the COMPARATIVE STUDY OF Snap Lake kimberlite and from six Ekati COMPOSITION AND Mine kimberlites. Apatite grains were OCCURRENCE OF APATITE IN examined using scanning electron microscope (back scatter imaging) and SNAP LAKE AND EKATI composition was obtained with wavelength- KIMBERLITES dispersive spectroscopy mode of electron- microprobe analyzes. Snap Lake is a single 1 MILLIGAN*, R. , FEDORTCHOUK, dyke of coherent kimberlite facies. The dyke 1 2 Y. , NORMANDEAU, P.X. , and FULOP, intruded in a near-horizontal orientation, and 3 A. has an average vertical thickness of 2.5 m. (1) DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, There is significant incorporation of crustal DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL material, and the kimberlite is highly altered, SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT possibly a result of interaction with (3) KIMBERLITE PETROLOGY UNIT, DE BEERS abundant xenoliths. The studied Ekati CANADA, TORONTO, ON kimberlites include: two coherent [email protected] kimberlites - Grizzly and Leslie, and four Kimberlites are volcanic ultra-potassic rocks kimberlites with resedimented volcaniclastic present mostly in cratonic settings and some kimberlite facies – Misery, Koala, Panda, are diamond bearing. Kimberlite magma is and Beartooth. These kimberlites show derived from the upper mantle, however, its significant variations in the apatite primary composition is still unknown. crystallizing from the melts. At Snap Lake Assimilation of mantle and crustal material, apatite occurs late, interstitially in the loss of volatiles during eruption and high groundmass. These anhedral apatites appear degree of alteration all result in variable to have no zonation, and crystallize around compositions of kimberlite magma reaching microphenocrysts of olivine and phlogopite. the surface. Studies have shown that There is also a late component of apatite, kimberlitic fluid has a significant effect on possibly associated with carbonate veins that the quality and preservation of diamonds fracture olivine macrocrysts. Sub- to carried to the surface. By better euhedral apatite grains (max 50 µm) understanding the primary composition of crystalize in a carbonate host within a kimberlites, and the processes that drive fracture or crack in olivine macrocrysts. In kimberlite eruption, we can attempt to gain the Ekati kimberlites, apatite is extremely some diagnostic knowledge of the economic rare to absent in Misery, Panda, and viability of a particular kimberlite. Apatite is Beartooth kimberlites, but abundant in a common mineral in kimberlite, which Grizzly, Koala, and Leslie. Leslie has plenty composition is sensitive to volatiles and the of euhedral zoned and unzoned apatite presence of magmatic fluid. This study will associated with monticellite set in carbonate look at the variation of apatite in matrix. Grizzly has abundant small (~10 kimberlites, how different geology indicates µm) anhedral apatite. Koala contains both

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 69 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 anhedral and euhedral apatite, some of including air and water quality, fish and fish which is zoned. The presentation will report habitat, and wildlife. the initial results of this study and possible applications for the behavior of volatiles in Building upon our experience in the North the studied kimberlite magmas and examine and our well-established expertise, for the their relationship with the features of the past 2 years, ERM and its employees have diamond population. been providing technical, volunteering and fundraising support in support of an SUPPORTING NORTHERN initiative launched to support the DEVELOPMENT THROUGH development of a commercially viable, ENVIRONMENTAL sustainable fishery for the Hamlet of Gjoa Haven, NU. This support has been provided MONITORING, CAPACITY through the ERM Foundation In BUILDING AND COMMUNITY collaboration with the Hunter and Trapper ENGAGEMENT Organization (HTO) of Gjoa Haven and Queen's University. The ERM Foundation, MORINVILLE, G. celebrating its 20th year of existence, ERM, YELLOWKNIFE, NT provides pro bono technical support and [email protected] grant funding for selected NGOs, In northern ecosystems and globally, ERM community groups and social enterprises provides sustainable solutions to various that share ERM's commitment to creating a non-technical risk challenges (i.e., health, more sustainable world. safety, environment and community) associated with project developments. There ERM has contributed directly to the is a heightened awareness amongst our sustainable fisheries initiative by exploring clients of a need to develop and maintain a the traditional, historical and current strong social license to operate and ERM knowledge of fisheries occurring in and supports them to do so. around Gjoa Haven. Using desk-based research paired with results from semi- In the pursuit of sustainable solutions to the structured interviews and a focus group, influence of project developments, ERM ERM researched and documented local best often conducts socio-economic research in fishing practices, current challenges and the North. Our research is centred on the community interests, with the objective of principle of proactive engagement with key determining the capacities and programs that stakeholders including Inuit organizations could be leveraged to develop a viable, and local governments. Over the years, sustainable fishery. Training has also been ERM and its team members have developed provided to local Inuit on fisheries data strong relationships in the communities in collection processes and techniques. The which we work. The results of our research knowledge gained through these initiatives have been used to inform project decisions will contribute towards the development of a and have also helped to build local capacity sustainable fisheries model and by involving community members in our establishment of best practices to be research. ERM has also increased local replicated in other arctic communities. capacity by training local community members to collect environmental field data,

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 70 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

DISTURBED PERMAFROST abandoned alignments and fate and ENVIRONMENTS: RESEARCH environmental impacts of the new OPPORTUNITIES alignments are difficult to predict.

The second is the influence of fire on MORSE*, P.D., and WOLFE, S.A. NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, OTTAWA, permafrost in previously disturbed areas and ON infrastructure. Following the forest fires of [email protected] 2014, preliminary results indicate that fire- We present three research areas from NWT, induced permafrost degradation is likely to with broad reaching implications, where be extensive, and may occur in ice-rich recent human and natural disturbances may terrain. Permafrost degradation affects affect previously impacted permafrost hydrological conditions and pathways, and environments, providing new opportunities likely the effectiveness of infrastructure. The for understanding. degree and rate of permafrost recovery are unknown and require long-term The first is GNWT Highway 3, crossing the consideration. Great Slave Lowland High Boreal ecoregion from Behchoko to Yellowknife, as an The last concerns icing development. Icings example of road infrastructure that traverses impinge on the safe operation and a highly heterogeneous landscape with management of infrastructure, either directly discontinuous permafrost. Permafrost is through accumulation of ice, or indirectly by widespread within undisturbed terrain diversion of flood water. In the North Slave underlain by fine-grained silty-clay region our research indicates icing sediments. Construction during the mid- distribution and dynamics are related to 1960s utilized locally available silt and clay permafrost and geology. Icing development excavated from shallow borrow pits, the is linked to precipitation conditions the alignment preferentially crossed natural preceding autumn, but overflow events terrain including peatland and clay-rich result from winter air temperature terrain, largely avoiding water bodies. conditions. Others have linked overflow Recently (1999 to 2006) major realignments events with increased ground water pressure were made to maximize bedrock traverses related to air temperature change, but the with new embankments constructed physical mechanism is unknown. Better primarily of open graded, blast-rock fill, and understanding of these processes may be to minimize crossing over thaw-sensitive used to develop effective prevention or permafrost and thus embankment settlement. mitigation measures. However, newly aligned sections extend across natural terrain that includes ponds, Knowledge gaps identified in these areas peatland, clay-rich terrain, and disturbed may lead to opportunities for future research terrain including the former highway and directions. associated borrow pits in addition to bedrock. Compared with contemporary conditions at natural sites, the status of environmental changes (permafrost, hydrology, and vegetation) at abandoned and new highway alignments are not well documented. Thus the long-term recovery of

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CCGP LAND-BASED PROJECT: geohazard indicative of winter hydrological ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES conditions. They develop over the winter by IN GEOSCIENTIFIC RESEARCH freezing successive overflows of groundwater to the surface, and we mapped AND MONITORING 5500 in the study region. Mapped icings indicate the extent of groundwater springs in MORSE*, P.D.1, WOLFE, S.A.1, 1 2 the region, information useful for ZHANG, Y. , and KOKELJ, S.V. hydrological monitoring of seasonal ground (1) NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, OTTAWA, ON water flow and chemistry. Regional (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL interannual variation is driven by winter SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT warming intervals and antecedent autumn [email protected] precipitation, but this is moderated by The Climate Change Geoscience Program geological conditions that vary intra- (CCGP) land-based project of Natural regionally. Future icings may develop less Resources Canada provides geoscientific frequently due to decreasing winter warming expertise on environmental baseline intervals, but increasing autumn rainfall may conditions. Primary research, monitoring, increase icing density in areas dominated by and modelling supports informed decision bedrock outcrop. making for resource development and land use. This project provides new geoscientific Overall, our key finding is that substantial knowledge to improve our understanding of changes in permafrost and seasonal the distribution and nature of permafrost and hydrological conditions are likely to occur seasonal hydrological conditions in the naturally within the lifetime of many North Slave. projects. Understanding the direct impacts from those changes requires future research Our research indicates that most permafrost to address a number of challenges. Driven is associated with forest areas, rather than by surface temperature change, the rate of only with peatlands that characterize just 2% permafrost degradation is regulated by of the regional area. Extensive discontinuous surface organic layer thickness, but also by permafrost conditions (65% of the regional ground ice content, which also determines area) relate primarily to the extent of the degree of terrain sensitivity to thaw with unconsolidated ice-rich fine-grained indirect effects related to water quality and sediments, with annual mean ground catchment-scale hydrology. However, unlike temperatures ranging from -1.4 °C to 0.0 °C. organic layer thickness, ground ice Monitored permafrost temperatures conditions are poorly understood. In reality, commonly illustrate thermal degradation in degradation of discontinuous permafrost is both natural and disturbed terrain. Modelling also driven by changes in heat flow adjacent indicates substantial reductions of to and beneath permafrost bodies, thus permafrost extent driven by climate-change, permafrost modelling should explicitly with a gradual transition by AD 2100 to consider 3-D boundary conditions. Soil isolated permafrost retained primarily within moisture strongly influences heat flow and peatlands. Modelling also indicates that on ground temperatures, but the dynamic average, fire accelerates permafrost relations are not well quantified. Icing disappearance by 5 years, though permafrost activity is likely affected by regional in forest areas is more sensitive to fire than meteorological differences, but at present in tundra and peatlands. Icings are a this variation cannot be accounted for due to

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 72 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 a lack of field data for validation. Finally, With the potential of developing new gold the physical process linking winter air mines along the productive Yellowknife temperature warming to overflow is not Greenstone Belt, a multidisciplinary and known, but this understanding would greatly quantitative investigation of lacustrine assist with prevention and mitigation sediments around GM is critical to provide measures. mine developers, planners and policy makers with: (1) a cost-effective and reliable HIGH SPATIO-TEMPORAL tool for assessing the intensity of As RESOLUTION ASSESSMENT OF contamination and remediation rates in ARCELLININA (TESTATE impacted lakes, and (2) quantitative geochemical background and baselines data AMOEBAE) AS BIO- for As in the region. INDICATORS OF LEGACY MINE CONTAMINATION IN One such cost-effective and reliable tool that THE CANADIAN SUBARCTIC: is sensitive to As is Arcellinina (or testate IMPLICATIONS FOR amoebae), which is a group of well- ENVIRONMENTAL preserved, benthic protist. Their rapid reproduction, abundance and sensitivity to MONITORING an array of environmental changes render them particularly useful for environmental NASSER*, N.A.1, PATTERSON, R.T.1, 1 monitoring and assessment of the health of MACUMBER, A.L. , GREGORY, lacustrine systems. For my M.Sc. thesis I B.R.B.1, GALLOWAY, J.M.2, and 3 studied the spatial relationship between FALCK, H. arcellininids and As contamination in lake (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, sediment samples (n=61) collected in CALGARY, AB August 2012 from 59 lakes spanning a (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL radius of ~30 km around GM. The results of SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT this research revealed a strong correlation [email protected] between high levels of As and stress- For seven decades (1948-2004), the gold indicating arcellininid taxa, thus providing mining industry was a substantial economic new insight into the sensitivity of driver for the Northwest Territories (NT), Arcellinina to As and indicating the with major mines like Con, Giant (GM) and suitability of using the group as a bio- Discovery mines, generating $5,510 million indicators for assessing the ecological in revenues for the territory. The operations impact of As contamination on lakes. of these mines, especially GM, left an enormous legacy of contamination by To build upon this line of research, arsenic (As) and serious environmental Arcellinina, As and other environmental concerns. This lead to the closure of GM in variables will be examined in an additional 2004 and the initiation of the GM set of surface sediment samples (n=32) and Remediation Project (estimated cost of ~ $1 freeze cores collected from the region billion). While current assessment of As around GM and Daigle Lake during the levels is largely focused on targeted areas of 2014 and 2015 field seasons, respectively. concern, little attention has been devoted to The additional surface sediment samples evaluating the impact of As contamination will aid in enhancing the spatial coverage of on lacustrine sediments beyond these areas. the 2012 survey, which is critical for

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 73 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 mapping As distribution in the region. proposing to develop the Jay kimberlite Freeze coring was used to capture pipe, which is expected to extend the life of undisturbed, high resolution sedimentary the mine by 10 years or more. The Jay sequences that will aid in: (1) examining the Project is located in the southeastern portion temporal response of arcellininid to As of the Ekati Mine claim block, prior, during and following the GM approximately 25 km from the main operation, and (2) determining geochemical facilities and 7 km northeast of the Misery baseline conditions of As in the region. Pit. The Project will require a road from the Multivariate analyses will be performed on existing Misery Road to the south abutment all proxies to quantify the spatio-temporal of Jay Dike. This will be referred to as the relationship between arcellininids, As and Jay Road, which will be approximately 5.1 other possible controls. km long.

Results from this research will provide mine This proposed road will cross through an developers and planners with a much needed area of land that has historically been an tool for assessing the intensity of As important migration route for the Bathurst contamination and rates of remediation in caribou herd. There is a great deal of impacted lakes in the YK region. Such concern about the potential effects this road results will also have significant could have on caribou. During the Jay implications for other impacted regions Project Technical Sessions in April 2015, around the world due to the cosmopolitan Dominion Diamond made the commitment nature of arcellininids. to provide a Caribou Road Mitigation Plan (CRMP) that gives further details on MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF mitigation strategies to reduce the impacts ROADS ON CARIBOU from the Jay and Misery roads. This is the MIGRATORY MOVEMENTS first road mitigation plan of its kind in the Northwest Territories, which included AND BEHAVIOUR: A NOVEL several revisions following engagement with APPROACH FROM THE JAY communities, government, technical PROJECT specialists for the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, and NICHOL*, E.1, O'KEEFE, H.2, the Independent Environmental Monitoring COULTON, D.1, and VIRGL, J.3 Agency. (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., YELLOWKNIFE, NT The objective of the CRMP is to avoid and (2) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT minimize (i.e., reduce) the risk of caribou (3) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., SASKATOON, and other wildlife mortalities from traffic, SK the barrier effect of the Jay and Misery roads [email protected] (and other Ekati Mine roads) to caribou The Ekati Diamond Mine (Ekati Mine) is movement and migration, and limit the owned and operated by Dominion Diamond effect of sensory disturbance from roads and Ekati Corporation (Dominion Diamond), traffic. A step-wise or hierarchical approach and is located in the Slave Geological that increases mitigation and monitoring was Province of the Northwest Territories, developed. Four levels of mitigation and approximately 300 km northeast of monitoring are proposed in an effort to Yellowknife. Dominion Diamond is also streamline the response protocols for

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 74 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 operators and employees at the mine site. It gabbro. Age determinations by Northquest also mirrors existing procedures in place at for the plutons and volcanic rocks are 2,695 the Ekati Mine and can be readily applied to to 2,668 Ma. The most advanced target is other developments requiring roads. the Vickers Target, where 17,195 metres of drilling in 69 drill holes has yielded some of NORTHQUEST LTD. PISTOL the best exploration gold intersections BAY GOLD PROJECT: obtained in Canada within recent memory INTRUSION-HOSTED GOLD IN including 8.23 grams per tonne over 156.5 m and 5.39 grams per tonne over 164.0 KAMINAK-TYPE GREENSTONE metres in 2012. The gold is concentrated in BELT, EASTERN NUNAVUT a siliceous alteration zone in the margin and footwall of a fractionated intrusion, and is NORTH, J.N. similar to the gold concentrations in the NORTHQUEST LTD., TORONTO, ON Golden Mile Dolerite, in the Yilgarn Craton [email protected] of Western Australia. The Vickers gold zone The Pistol Bay Project is located in eastern is approximately 20 to 100 metres wide, at Nunavut, on the west coast of Hudson Bay, least 600 metres long, and has been 60 km southwest of Rankin Inlet. The intersected from surface to a vertical depth project is within the Archean Rankin- of 300 metres. The gold occurs as free gold Ennadai greenstone terrain of the Hearne and fine-grained gold associated with Craton and covers a 90 kilometre strike secondary, hydrothermal silica and length of a west-trending series of surface disseminated pyrite with minor arsenopyrite. gold occurrences, and gold zones intersected This mode of gold concentration is very in drill holes by Northquest Ltd., known as different from gold deposits elsewhere in the the Pistol Bay Trend. The Pistol Bay Trend Archean cratons of the Canadian Arctic that is parallel to, and 80 kilometres south of, the are mostly in narrow, highly sulphidized Meliadine Trend of Agnico Eagle Mines, ribbons of banded iron formation or in which reportedly contains 3.0 million classical vein arrays. The mode of gold ounces of gold reserves, plus 2.2 million concentration, shape, and geometry of the ounces indicated and 2.9 million ounces Vickers gold zone suggest very strongly that inferred (www.agnico-eagle.com). Since the development of the deposit will take the field operations commenced in June 2011, form of an open pit with a very low and with exploration expenditures of stripping ratio and with high gold recovery approximately $15 million to the end of from metallurgically simple ore. 2015, Northquest has obtained economically interesting drilling results at several targets over a 20 kilometre long strike length of the Pistol Bay Trend. The most advanced target is the Vickers gold zone.

The Pistol Bay Project is in a Kaminak-type belt of the more widespread Rankin-Ennadai terrain. The belt has a fully fractionated volcanic sequence of basalt to rhyolite, abundant siliceous epiclastic rocks, banded iron formation, and numerous plutons varying in composition from granite to

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EKATI LONG LAKE porewater chemistry. Results from the CONTAINMENT FACILITY investigation indicated that permafrost has RECLAMATION RESEARCH aggraded into the kimberlite and surface zone pore water concentrations were higher when compared to process plant discharge. NOVY*, L.1 and PETHERBRIDGE, W.2 (1) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION (DDEC), YELLOWKNIFE In fall of 2013 various areas of Cell B were (2) ECONSENSE ENVIRONMENTAL, seeded with annual and perennial vegetation LETHBRIDGE ground covers. In the winter of 2013 rock [email protected] was placed in various configurations within The Ekati Diamond Mine is a surface and the seeded areas to evaluate its effects on underground diamond mine operated by vegetation growth and erosion control. Dominion Diamond Ekati Corporation. It is Further seeding of Cell B was completed in located near the Lac de Gras Northwest the summers of 2014 of and 2015. Seed Territories, Canada approximately 300 km from a variety of sources that includes north of Yellowknife and roughly 200 km locally harvested and commercially south of the Arctic Circle. The Ekati Long available native plants and farm crops was Lake Containment Facility (LLCF) is a five applied at different rates using different celled containment area for storage of seeding techniques. A total of 25 hectares processed kimberlite generated during the has been seeded in Cell B since the fall of processing and extraction of diamonds from 2013 and monitoring results are positive kimberlite ore. The LLCF has been in regarding establishment of long term ground operation since 1998 and deposition of cover on the kimberlite. processed kimberlite has occurred within the three northern cells with the remaining two OVERVIEW OF THE cells being used for water quality GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF “polishing” to help meet discharge criteria. CANADA'S GEO-MAPPING FOR

The Interim Closure and Reclamation Plan ENERGY AND MINERALS for Ekati outlines a plan to cover the LLCF PROGRAM kimberlite surface with a combination of rock and vegetation. The cover system looks OZYER, C.A. to fulfill the closure objective of physically GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, CALGARY, AB stabilizing the processed kimberlite and [email protected] creating a landscape safe for wildlife and human use. Cell B of the LLCF has reached The Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals its capacity and is being used as a (GEM) program advances and modernizes reclamation research area. The purpose of geological knowledge in the North to set the the reclamation research is to identify a long stage for long-term investment in term cover design that can be expanded to responsible resource development. the whole LLCF. The GEM program was first launched in A winter drilling investigation in Cell B of 2008 as a five-year, $100 million initiative the LLCF was undertaken in 2013. The to produce new, publically available, objective of the investigation was to regional-scale geoscience knowledge in characterize the processed kimberlite and its Canada's North. In 2013, the GEM program was renewed until 2020 with an additional

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 76 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

$100 million. The public geoscience engaged Northerners and their institutions to produced by the program supports increased seek input on how the program's research exploration for new mineral and energy activities can benefit Northerners. resources. This new knowledge will also enable northern communities to make GOLDSIM WATER BALANCE informed decisions about their land, future MODELING OF WASTE ROCK economy and society. PILES, EKATI WASTE ROCK

In its first five years (2008–2013), Geo- STORAGE AREA (EKATI WRSA) mapping for Energy and Minerals program - NORTHWEST TERRITORIES undertook: PAGET*, M., and CHIARAMELLO, P. • 20 field projects in the three GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., VANCOUVER, BC territories and the northern parts of six [email protected] provinces (Ontario, Quebec, British The Ekati Waste Rock Storage Piles Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and (WRSA) water balance model was Newfoundland and Labrador), developed in Goldsim as a module designed • Completed 35 regional geophysical to support water quality estimates. The surveys, water balance module accounts for direct • Released over 840 open files of new precipitation, snowmelt, seepage, runoff, geoscience maps and data, published on the and delays to flow within the WRSA. Natural Resources Canada Website, and • Delivered more than 800 technical As the Ekati Mine is located within a information sessions at venues frequented climate zone of continuous permafrost, a by industry, government and NGOs. portion of the water infiltrating the WRSA's becomes trapped within the waste rock as Taking into account remaining knowledge ice when it encounters sub-freezing internal gaps where modern geological mapping is temperatures. Seepage leaching from the most needed, both onshore and offshore, the WRSAs is thus limited to the outer surface GEM program defined the following six of the WRSAs (active layer) where water regions of interest: the Mackenzie Basin produced by melting of seasonal surficial ice region, the Northwestern Cordillera region, and snow. The active layer was modeled by the Rae Craton region, the Baffin Island detaining all water in the WRSA from region, the Hudson Bay / Ungava region, October to the end of June. After June the and the Western Arctic region. Key water was released from the layer using a activities of the GEM program involve on- delay function, which is described below. the-ground field observations, the assessment and analysis of legacy samples The model divides seepage and runoff into and data, targeted airborne geophysical three physically-based flow paths. surveys and remote sensing, and advanced laboratory investigations. • The primary flow path is of water that falls infiltrates vertically through the In 2015, the GEM program conducted 17 waste rock until it encounters an activities that were initiated following impermeable lens of ice-saturate rock, and extensive consultations with provincial and travels horizontally, to ultimately emerge at territorial counterparts. The program also the toe of the WRSAs.

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• The secondary flow path is water component was determined through model that falls on the outer slopes of the WRSAs calibration. and seeps under the outer slopes to the toe. • The third flow path is also of water PETROLOGY, that falls on the outer slopes of the WRSAs GEOCHEMISTRY, AND U-PB and travels along the surface of the WRSA GEOCHRONOLOGY OF THE to the toe as runoff. PRESTIGE PLUTON AND Water losses were accounted at the surface RELATED PEGMATITES, NWT : of the pile prior to infiltration and within the PETROGENETIC pile as follows; IMPLICATIONS

• water losses from evaporation is PALMER*, E.M.1, LENTZ, D.R.1, and represented by a runoff coefficients; and FALCK, H.2 • water loss to the pile is modeled (1) UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, based on a percentage of volume of waste FREDERICTON, NB rock. As each WRSA is saturation flows (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT exiting the pile increase. [email protected]

The Yellowknife Pegmatite Field Flat infiltration is the slowest flow path and 2 creates base flows that maintain flows out of encompasses an area of 12,000 km north of the WRSAs during late summer and early Great Slave Lake, and is host to both LCT winter periods. The slopes seepage is family rare-element and simple pegmatites released more slowly over several days or that are associated with granitoid batholiths. weeks. While slopes runoff is the fastest In the northwestern quadrant of the field lies flow path creating storm peaks during the Prestige pluton, one of 14 muscovite- rainfall events. Results of the total WRSA biotite S-type granites of the Prosperous discharge are a constant slow outflow at the Suite; it is ~4 km in diameter, surrounded by toe with small increases due to precipitation quartz-plagioclase-biotite-muscovite schist events and the freshet, which is consistent of the Burwash Formation. No previous with observations of waste rock drainage. dating of the Prestige pluton has been completed; however, it has been assumed to Flows are attenuated using a time delay, be coeval with the Prosperous Suite, which which was simulated for each flow path has a monazite U-Pb age of 2.596 ± 0.002 using an Erlang function. The Erlang Ga by dating of the Sparrow Lake pluton. function refers to a two-parameter Gaussian Previous lithogeochemical results on the distribution, where the shape parameter n is Prestige Pluton indicate a relatively high an integer. Hydrologically, the parameter n concentration of Li (mean of 700 ppm), corresponds to the number of hypothetical prompting economic interest in this pluton. linear reservoirs (Nash 1957). For the slopes Barren quartz-feldspar pegmatite dykes runoff, n = 1 is assumed, which gives an intrude the Prestige Granite (intrapluton exponential distribution. For the flats pegmatites) and also occur in the infiltration and slope seepage n = 2 is supracrustal rock. Interpluton beryl- assumed, which gives a typical unit columbite subtype pegmatite dykes are hydrograph shape with a delayed peak flow. hosted primarily within the Burwash The value of the lag parameter for each metasedimentary rocks, particularly within the southwest corner of the field area and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 78 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 locally contain rare-element minerals, such REMOVING THE COBWEBS as tourmaline (schorl), white-yellow FROM PAST EXPLORATION heliodore beryl, and rare columbite-tantalite; AND MINING RESEARCH however, pegmatites containing beryl and tourmaline have also been identified within PALMER, E. the granite. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT In the LCT pegmatite family, an increase in [email protected] Li, Cs, Rb, Ta, and Sn and sequential The Northwest Territories Geological decreases in ratios such as K/Rb, K/Cs, Survey (NTGS) is working on developing a Sr/Rb in minerals and whole rock data is searchable database for discovering typical as the degree of fractionation geological records from past exploration increases. These fractionation indices have projects and closed mines. The archives been evaluated using bulk- -rock represent millions of dollars of exploration geochemistry to determine how evolved the and mining research, and contain original granitic S-type igneous system is, and how data, such as field notes and maps, air the pegmatite dykes vary spatially. The photos, drill logs and assay results, onion intra- and interpluton pegmatites are skin drawings, linen maps, photographs, relatively enriched in incompatible annual reports, news clippings, and press elements, with averages of 21.0 ppm Cs, 9.5 releases. These materials are mostly from ppm Ta, 453 ppm Rb, 23 ppm Sn, 4.9 ppm the 1970's and 1980's, but some date back to U, and 2.3 ppm Th; granite averages of 7.6 the mid-1930's. Currently, many of the ppm Cs, 1.5 ppm Ta, 237 ppm Rb, 5.7 ppm physical files are stored in dusty, old Sn, 5.4 ppm U, and 16.1 ppm Th. The K/Rb cardboard boxes and filing cabinets that and K/Cs ratios indicate interpluton barely open. Some of the material is kept in pegmatites reach the greatest level of an unheated warehouse, which is not ideal fractionation, with averages of 67 and 2104, for preservation or year-round accessibility. relative to averages of 81 and 1697 for the Largely unorganized and unsearchable, there intrapluton pegmatites and 177 and 4333 for is no way to find anything easily and the granite. The observed spatial variation is periodic requests to view the archives have supported by new trace-element resulted in more disorganization and compositional data on muscovite. These randomly scanned files. Over the years, results are coupled with temporal constraints there have been sporadic initiatives to deal determined by monazite U-Pb with this material; however no useful geochronology via in situ LA ICP-MS to database was ever created. In 2015, the determine if the relationships between the NTGS began a formal project to develop a dykes and granites are upheld by the digital database so that the information in accepted single cogenetic intrusion and the archives can be easily accessed to dyking model. support future geoscience research and mineral exploration in the Northwest Territories. The NTGS is working on this initiative in collaboration with the Informatics Shared Service Centre - ENR/ITI/Lands, and a contractor specializing in this type of work.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 79 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

THE NWT INVENTORY OF agencies in the Northwest Territories was LANDSCAPE CHANGE: A WEB- used to identify and locate historical ACCESSIBLE PLATFORM FOR activities in the study area. Additional information for each activity was then VIEWING AND MANAGING gleaned from permitting records, so that the NATURAL AND HUMAN database contained detailed attributes for DISTURBANCE INFORMATION each activity. The location of these data was validated using a combination of remotely PALMER*, M.J.1, MCPHERSON, J.2, sensed imagery and hard copy maps that LAING, I.2, and KIRIZOPOLOUS, E.3 were submitted as part of the permitting (1) CUMULATIVE IMPACT MONITORING processes. The resulting database includes PROGRAM, GNWT, YELLOWKNIFE, NT information on the timing, location, extent (2) CASLYS CONSULTING, VICTORIA, BC (3) NWT CENTER FOR GEOMATICS, and nature of more than 500 human YELLOWKNIFE, NT activities within the NWT between 2000 and [email protected] present. The majority of validated features Information on the location and extent of produced from this project are accurate at a past development and natural disturbance is scale of 1:100,000 (or +/-100 metres of their required by regulators, industry, co- true location). The Inventory of Landscape management boards, wildlife managers, Change webviewer is a web-based communities and other stakeholders to make application that provides access to over 50 effective decisions about future development previously developed geospatial datasets in the Northwest Territories (NWT). It is from a range of data providers. Users can currently the responsibility of the interested add/subtract these layers from the party to compile information on webviewer to explore the extent of developments and natural disturbances in disturbance features in their area of interest. the area of interest in order to be able to An integrated toolbar allows users to conduct cumulative effects assessment. The perform simple analytical functions, lack of a comprehensive and standardized including querying of data by date and disturbance dataset leads to inconsistencies disturbance type. Users can also extract in assessments, and subsequently leads to layers of interest so that additional higher challenges in wildlife management and level analyses can be performed in a GIS. A regulatory and land use planning processes. built-in feedback form allows users to highlight errors and provide comments on This presentation will describe recent efforts specific datasets or on the ILC webviewer in by the NWT Cumulative Impact Monitoring general. A regular update schedule will Program to move towards a standardized, ensure that feedback is integrated into the publically accessible database of human and webviewer on a timely basis. natural disturbance in the NWT. Specifically, we will highlight the Initiatives such as this are critical as comprehensive human disturbance mapping resource managers and industry are approach that we have used in 4 of 5 increasingly responsible for determining and administrative regions of the NWT and the estimating cumulative effects of human and newly released Inventory of Landscape natural disturbance on wildlife and other Change (ILC) webviewer. A multiproxy valued parts of the northern environment. approach using existing geospatial datasets The intention is to further refine these and permitting records from regulatory products so that we continue to move

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 80 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 towards a robust database of human and Giant Mine than in the rest of the study area. natural disturbance in the NWT. Arsenic concentrations were highest in small lakes (< 100 ha) that were downwind and THE CONCENTRATION OF proximal to the historic stacks, suggesting a ARSENIC IN LAKES OF THE gradient in impact from historic roaster YELLOWKNIFE AREA operations at Giant Mine consistent with predominant wind direction in the region. Concentrations of As exceeded federal and PALMER*, M.J.1, GALLOWAY, J.M.2, Yellowknife specific guidelines for many of JAMIESON, H.E.3, VAN DEN BERGHE, the lakes sampled within 17 km of the M.3, PATTERSON, R.T.4, KOKELJ, roaster stacks, and in some lakes were more S.V.5, SWINDLES, G.T.6, FALCK, H.5, than 60 times the federal drinking water HOWELL, D.7, STAVINGA, D.B.3, guideline of 10 ppb and 60 times the NASSER, N.A.4, and ROE, H.8 (1) CUMULATIVE IMPACT MONITORING Yellowknife specific sediment quality PROGRAM, GNWT, YELLOWKNIFE, NT remediation guideline of 150 ppm. Median (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, dissolved As in surface waters from the CALGARY, AB entire study area was 9.8 ppb (mean = 49.0 (3) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON ppb; max = 1010 ppb; min = <0.5ppb). In (4) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON (5) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL lake sediments median concentration of As SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT was 107.9 ppm (max = 10 000+ ppm; min = (6) UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, LEEDS 6.3 ppm). The distance and direction of (7) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON lakes from the historic roaster stacks was (8) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST, BELFAST clearly associated with the concentration of [email protected] As in surface waters and lake sediments in The Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program the area. However, within the area of and the Geological Survey of Canada are elevated As there was substantial between- currently collaborating with several lake variation in water and sediment university and government partners in a chemistry, suggesting that within-lake multidisciplinary research program designed processes and lake and watershed to gain a better understanding of the nature, characteristics also drive differences in As extent and fate of legacy contamination in concentrations in these water bodies. the Yellowknife area. As part of this project, two lake surveys were conducted in fall of This study provides important information 2012 and 2014 to establish an understanding on how the legacy of arsenic contamination of regional water and sediment conditions in interacts with our ecosystem and the data the area. Surface water and lake sediments will inform future risk assessments to local were collected from approximately 100 ecosystems and human health. This large lakes within a 30 km radius of Yellowknife dataset also provides important baseline in the two sampling periods. Lakes across a information for future development in a range of size, landscape position (i.e. lake region influenced by more than 75 years of order, connectivity to other lakes and mining. streams), bedrock and surficial geology unit, and catchment type were selected.

Water and sediment chemistry results from the survey indicated higher concentrations of arsenic (As) in lakes within 17 km of

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 81 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

CURRENT USE OF USING EARTH SCIENCE DATA GEOPHYSICAL METHODS TO TO INFORM RISK IDENTIFY AND MONITOR ASSESSMENTS AND PERMAFROST RELATED MANAGEMENT DECISIONS AT THAW SETTLEMENT IN THE HISTORICAL GOLD MINES IN NORTH NOVA SCOTIA

PARRY, N.S. PARSONS*, M.B.1, JAMIESON, H.E.2, TETRA TECH EBA, EDMONTON, AB WALKER, S.R.3, and LITTLE, M.E.1 [email protected] (1) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA The use of Geophysics to identify thaw (ATLANTIC), NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, DARTMOUTH, NS settlement features is not new and has been (2) DEPT. OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND practised for the last 40 years. GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON Recent developments of note have seen an (3) AMEC FOSTER WHEELER ENVIRONMENT integrated approach marrying the results of AND INFRASTRUCTURE, MISSISSAUGA, ON [email protected] several different geophysical methods with a GIS database approach to organising the Gold mines frequently have high arsenic results. This allows the information (As) concentrations in mine wastes and collected, to be spatially referenced and nearby soils, sediments, streams, and tracked together with other site information. groundwater. Recent studies at historical This approach has a number of advantages, gold mines in Nova Scotia have shown that providing a more complete overview of the As is present in tailings at concentrations site conditions as well as means to track hundreds to thousands of times the Canadian whether mitigation procedures are Soil Quality Guideline (12 mg/kg), which successful. The data can also be used to may pose a risk to ecosystems and human identify other potential problem areas prior health. Following the closure of most mines to there being significant surface expression in the mid-1940s, ongoing residential of settlement based on key indicators that development, industrial construction, and may be site specific. recreational activities have increased the potential for human exposure to these mine Three primary geophysical methods are used wastes. In 2005, the Province of Nova in mapping permafrost related thaw Scotia established the Historic Gold Mines settlement, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Advisory Committee to better understand Capacitively Coupled Resistivity (CCR) and these risks and to help guide land-use Multi-Array Analysis of Surface Waves decisions (MASW). This presentation will provide a (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/contaminatedsites layman's overview of these geophysical /goldmines.asp). Detailed studies have been methods and why they are suited to mapping carried out to examine the concentration, permafrost related thaw settlement. This solid-phase speciation and bioaccessibility discussion will be illustrated with examples of As in tailings, airborne particulates and from recent projects completed with the forest soils near these sites to clarify the North West Territories Airports Division, spatial extent of mine tailings, the mineral Department of Transportation at the Inuvik hosts for As, and the fate of windblown and Hay River airports. tailings dusts. Environmental assessments have also been completed at two mines

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 82 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 where dusty, high-As tailings are located WHO KILLED FRAME LAKE? close to residential areas and are frequently PROGRESS REPORT ON used for racing off-road vehicles. EFFORTS TO REHABILITATE

Mineralogical characterization of the tailings AN IMPORTANT and windblown dusts show that As is hosted YELLOWKNIFE RECREATION in arsenopyrite and a variety of weathering- AREA related secondary phases including scorodite 1 1 (FeAsO4•2H2O), Ca-Fe arsenates, and As PATTERSON*, R.T. , NASSER, N.A. , bound to Fe oxides. These phases have GREGORY, B.R.B.1, SABOURIN, M.1, varying solubilities that strongly influence MENARD, E.1, MACUMBER, A.L.1, the environmental fate and bioaccessibility COTT, P.A.2, ELLIS, S.3, HANNA, B.2, of As in the tailings. Samples of surface soil GALLOWAY, J.M.4, FALCK, H. 5, and (0-5 cm) collected within two districts show PALMER, M.J.6 that the upper limit of natural As (1) OTTAWA-CARLETON GEOSCIENCE concentrations ranges from 31 to 139 mg/kg. CENTRE AND DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, CARLETON UNIVERSITY, In general, the concentrations of As are OTTAWA, ON higher down-ice of the ore zones in these (2) ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL gold districts, reflecting glacial erosion and RESOURCES GOVERNMENT OF THE transport of mineralized bedrock containing NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, YELLOWKNIFE, arsenopyrite and other sulphide minerals. NT (3) TIDES CANADA, YELLOWKNIFE, NT (4) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA - Results from this research have been used NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, CALGARY, by risk assessors and government regulators AB to evaluate the human health risks associated (5) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL with exposure to As-bearing tailings and SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT (6) CUMULATIVE IMPACT MONITORING soils, and to help guide management actions. PROGRAM, GNWT, YELLOWKNIFE, NT This presentation will describe specifically [email protected] how geochemical, mineralogical, and Frame Lake, located near the Yellowknife bioaccessibility data can be used to inform city center, is an important destination for environmental management decisions in local residents and tourists. It is ringed by historical gold mining districts across the Frame Lake Trail, with city hall and the Canada. territorial legislative assembly building on its shoreline. Prior to the early 1970s, the lake reportedly supported a fish population, and McNiven Beach was a well-known destination for swimmers. From traditional knowledge the population was large enough in the lake to support a fishing camp prior to the 1930s. Water quality in the lake deteriorated through the years, as a result of air fall from mine operations, and from the dumping of mine waste and sewage into the lake. The impact of urbanization coupled with restrictions to outflow following construction of a causeway led to

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 83 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 nutrification. The increased availability of estimation of the volume of the nutrients resulted in luxuriant aquatic plant contaminated horizon were generated using growth, which subsequently led to fish the Geospatial Analysis toolbox in ArcMap winter kill as decomposing plants depleted 11. Tentative results indicate that the total lake oxygen levels to create dysoxic volume of contaminated sediments in the conditions. The elimination of a year round lake is ~ 230,000 m3, divided into five fish population led to a significant change in distinct horizons. The thickest layers of lake ecology, notably the rise a significant contaminated sediment are found in the SW Euhirudinea population, which effectively corner of the southern lake basin. This put a stop to recreational swimming. The result supports anecdotal reports of sewage present-day lake is floored by a black, foul and mine waste being dumped into this part smelling and highly As contaminated of the lake. Levels of As in the substrate sediment layer up to 0.5 m thick. vary down core, and when compared against 210Pb dating results, closely correlate with 1) The research mandate is to: 1) establish a mining related air fall of As in the early days chronology correlated with a multi-proxy of mining, 2) dumping of contaminated analysis of freeze cores and modern sediment into the lake, and 3) construction sediments; 2) assess modern-day and past events around the lake. lake ecology to determine baseline limnological conditions and timing of USING THE PAST TO INFORM different phases of lake degradation; 3) THE FUTURE: A determine the general suitability of the lake PALEOECOLOGICAL to support fish in the past; and 4) provide guidance for development of a plan to PERSPECTIVE OF CLIMATE rehabilitate the lake to support a year-round AND ENVIRONMENTAL fish population, and re-establishment of CHANGE IN THE NORTHWEST McNiven Beach as a recreational TERRITORIES destination. PISARIC, M.F.J. One possible lake rehabilitation strategy is BROCK UNIVERSITY, ST. CATHARINES, ON to dredge the contaminated horizon. For any [email protected] dredging effort to be successful an accurate The impacts of climate change are predicted determination of the spatial extent, thickness to alter both the frequency and severity of and quantification of any stratigraphic disturbances across the globe. Across boreal variability in the levels of As present is regions of the sub-Arctic, the leading causes required. A series of Glew cores were of disturbance are wildfire and insect collected along a transect that spanned the outbreaks and these are predicted to become length of the lake to characterize intra-lake more frequent and severe during the current variation in the stratigraphic thickness of the century. Drought is also an important agent contaminated horizon. Shallow sub-bottom of disturbance that impacts many regions seismic profiling obtained using a HDS8 throughout the world. However, drought is Lowrance side-scan sonar and SyQwest not a disturbance often associated with the StrataBox subbottom profiler was carried Northwest Territories. The past two years, out along 14 transects and ground-truthed however, have shattered this perception as against the Glew core stratigraphy. low winter precipitation and non-existent Interpolative maps of thickness and spring/summer rains have caused lake levels

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 84 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 to decline and wildfire frequency and indicates periods of lower than average June severity to increase. Aside from this recent precipitation occurred in 1927–1979, 1880– two-year period, little is known about the 1893, 1842–1865, 1801–1821, 1776–1796, propensity for drought or drought-like and 1698–1739. Higher than average June conditions in the Northwest Territories. precipitation occurred between 1980–1995, Climate records from the region only 1890–1926, 1822–1841, 1756–1775, and provide information back to the 1940s. 1687–1697. Throughout the period of the Therefore, a long-term perspective of reconstruction there is agreement between climate and drought in the Northwest the reconstructed June precipitation in Territories is lacking. Paleoecology provides Yellowknife and other records of an opportunity to examine past climatic precipitation and drought from other parts of conditions and the occurrence of western North America, suggesting that the disturbances during a longer time span than controls on precipitation in Yellowknife are instrumental records can provide. probably controlled by large-scale Dendrochronology, the science of dating and atmospheric circulation patterns. analyzing tree ring growth records can provide annually-resolved data extending GIANT MINE REMEDIATION back 100s to 1000s of years. Paleolimnology PROJECT CONSULTATION & examines microfossils that are preserved in ENGAGEMENT IN PROJECT sediment from the bottom of lakes and can provide additional information over PLANNING timescales of 1000s to 10000s of years, albeit not normally at annual resolution. PLATO, N. ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT CANADA, YELLOWKNIFE, NT At twelve sites in the Yellowknife region, [email protected] approximately 50 jack pine (Pinus Following the discovery of gold in the banksiana) trees growing on rock outcrops Yellowknife, Northwest Territories area, were sampled. A tree-ring chronology was Giant Mine officially opened in 1948. After developed for each site. The average the mine closed in 2004 the care and control chronology length for the twelve sites is of the mine fell to the Department of approximately 180 years, spanning the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern period 1825–2005. The longest chronology Development Canada, and attention focused developed covered the time period from on the environmental issues left behind, 1679-2005, while the shortest only went including the arsenic trioxide stored in back in time to 1936. Each chronology from underground chambers. The Giant Mine the twelve individual sites is significantly Remediation Project was created in 2005 correlated with June, total May–July, June– with the overall goal to protect human health July, and June–August precipitation, and safety, and the environment. although relations with the single month of The site lies within the Mackenzie Valley June are strongest. The twelve individual watershed, and is regulated by the chronologies showed strong agreement Mackenzie Valley Resource Management between them and thus were averaged Act (MVRMA). The MVRMA is federal together to create a single chronology for the legislation aimed at protecting the lands and Yellowknife region. June precipitation was waters within the Mackenzie Valley reconstructed using this regionally averaged watershed. Since the site is under the care tree-ring chronology. The reconstruction and custodianship of AANDC, it is also

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 85 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 subject to other federal acts, such as the A GEOCHEMICAL STUDY OF Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the DIAMOND INDICATOR Fisheries Act and the Migratory Birds MINERALS FROM THE NWT Convention Act, among others. INTERIOR PLATFORM Giant Mine is also within the Akaitcho Dene asserted territory and is in the near vicinity POITRAS, S.P. UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation [email protected] (YKDFN) communities of N'dilo and Dettah. Giant Mine is also within the The Central Mackenzie Valley (CMV) area traditional land use area of the Tlicho, of the Northwest Territories (NWT) known as Mowhi Gogha De Niitlee, and it comprises a Phanerozoic sedimentary basin falls within the provisions of the Tlicho that lies between the western margin of the Agreement (2003). Slave craton and the Cordillera. Although the region is considerably outside the It is also situated within the municipal bounds of the exposed Slave craton, both boundaries of the City of Yellowknife, and LITHOPROBE and more recent regional- so is impacted by the City's bylaws and scale surface wave studies (e.g., Priestley permitting requirements. and McKenzie, 2006) indicate the likely presence of lithospheric mantle extending The site has always had a high profile within into the diamond stability field. the community, with special interest groups, and with the local media for both positive Recent work conducted by Olivut Resources and negative reasons. This interest, along Ltd. led to the discovery of 29 kimberlites in with specific requirements established the CMV. However, the indicator mineral through the MVRMA and other acts, chemistry of discovered kimberlites does not agreements, and by-laws make it incumbent appear to be a good match (www.olivut.ca) on the project team to engage with with those during regional till and stream community members and other stakeholders sediment sampling by the Geologic Survey when determining and implementing the of Canada (GSC) and Northwest Territories final remediation plan for the site. This Geologic Survey (NTGS) in August 2003 presentation will explore the methods the and July 2005. We present new geochemical project team will take to fulfill this data on the regional indicator minerals with requirement, and discuss the challenges this the aim of obtaining geotherm and depth of can present in order to deliver a successful mantle sampling constraints on those project to remediate the Giant Mine site. indicator minerals discovered to date. A statistical evaluation of the data will compare the similarities to indicator mineral chemistry with parts of the Slave craton to evaluate whether the CMV indicators may ultimately be derived from that region.

In total 3600 kimberlite indicator mineral grains were picked from the 0.25-2.0 mm size fractions. Peridotitic garnet grains dominate (46%), followed by magnesium ilmenite (26%), with decreasing individual

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 86 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 proportions >15% of chromite, low-chrome mounting grains, and the GSC for probing of diopside, olivine, chrome-diopside and the grains. eclogitic garnet. A sub-sample of these grains (3143) were analysed by EPMA. MORPHOLOGY AND Garnet grains classify (after Grütter et al., SEDIMENTARY 2004) as 1015 (62.1%) G9, 270 (16.5%) ARCHITECTURE OF THE G11, 113 (6.9%) G10, 103 (6.3%) G12, 57 (3.5%) G1, 46 (2.8%) G10D, and the EXETER LAKE ESKER IN THE remaining 31 (1.9%) as G0, G3, G3D, G4, LAC DE GRAS AREA, and G5. A sub-set of garnet grains (~700) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES were selected for LA-ICP-MS trace element analysis. Of the grains selected 74% G9, PROWSE*, N.D., and CUMMINGS, D.I. 14% G10 (and G10D), and 8% G11, with OTTAWA-CARLETON GEOSCIENCE CENTRE, only 4% G12 and G0 (Grütter et al., 2004). CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON Nickel concentrations from these grains [email protected] range from 2.6-168.2 ppm, with the majority (>80%) between 20-100 ppm, yielding TNi During summer 2015, a large integrated (Canil, 1999) values ranging from 643- dataset (ground-penetrating radar, grain size 1348°C, with the majority between ~1000- and drill holes) was collected from the 1200°C. Using a central Slave craton Exeter Lake esker, Lac de Gras area, geothermal gradient (Hasterok and Northwest Territories. Along with a 45 by Chapman, 2011), equilibration pressures for 70 km industry-donated LIDAR dataset, these garnet grains range from 20-80 kbars these data are being analyzed to investigate with the majority between 40-60 kbars (120- the processes behind esker deposition. The 185 km). Preliminary analysis has 581 Exeter Lake Esker is the longest in Canada (81%) of the erupted peridotitic mantle (over 700 km) and Kimberlite indicator garnet grains plotting within the diamond mineral (KIM) samples from this esker led stability field (Kennedy and Kennedy, to the discovery of the Lac de Gras 1976). kimberlite field in the 1990s. Current knowledge of esker genesis is limited, and Of the 128 clinopyroxene grains analysed, detailed studies of eskers on the Canadian only a few represent garnet peridotite Shield are sparse. Advancing the (lherzolite) facies KIM clinopyroxene grains understanding of esker deposition with a following compositional screening. focus on Canadian Shield examples could Thermobarometry of these grains (Nimis help constrain estimations of sediment and Taylor, 2000), assuming they were all provenance and transport distance, having derived from the same lithospheric section, important implications for mineral yields P-T arrays identical to the central exploration. Slave geotherm that was 220 km thick at the time of eruption. These results are Results are preliminary, but some encouraging for diamond exploration. meaningful interpretations can be made. For this study, the components of the esker have We thank Overburden Drilling Management been broken down into three main Ltd. for grain picking and recovery of the morphological types: (Type I) Narrow small diamond, SGS Lakefield Research for ridges (15-30 m high, 40-100 m wide), characterized by steep sides (23-27 degrees) and narrow peaks, with primarily cobble and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 87 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 boulder sized surficial sediments; (Type II) integrate GPR, LIDAR and surficial broad ridges, similar to the Type I ridges in observations to determine the depositional height, but much less peaked and generally history of the esker. wider (60-150 m) with flat to gently rounded tops and surficial material consisting of fine DEVONIAN AND CRETACEOUS sand to cobbles, the former locally scattered SHALE RESOURCE SYSTEMS, sparsely with angular boulders; (Type III) PEEL AND MACKENZIE “Pads”, which are large, wide (100-300 m), flat-topped elements, with steep to gently PLAINS, NORTHWEST sloping (25-15 degrees) sides, commonly TERRITORIES covered in sand to cobbles and typically 1 2 flanking or detached from the main ridge. PYLE*, L.J. , FIESS, K.M. , and 2 Evidence of landform collapse in all esker ROCHELEAU, J. elements, likely due to melting of subsurface (1) VI GEOSCIENCE SERVICES LTD., BRENTWOOD BAY, BC ice, can be readily observed in the LIDAR. (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Without the LiDAR, such an interpretation SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT is not obvious: from the ground, the [email protected] helicopter, and in standard air photos, many Organic-rich, marine shale deposits of of these features commonly appear to be Devonian and Cretaceous age are extensive complexes of Type I or II ridges. Ground within the Peel Plain and Mackenzie Plain Penetrating Radar (GPR) was used to image hydrocarbon exploration areas of the the shallow subsurface (6-30 m) of the mainland Northwest Territories. Shale esker, and the data obtained were of very resource systems contain mudrocks of high quality. Esker material is readily variable fine-grained lithologies that act as distinguished from adjacent till, and distinct both source and reservoir rock and meet the radar facies are found in each following criteria: good to excellent total aforementioned esker element. Abundant organic carbon (TOC), thermal maturity hyperbolas and a lack of any smooth, within the oil or gas windows, brittle rock parallel reflections in the Type I ridges fabric, and interbedding with organic-lean indicates that the surficial boulder material lithofacies. These criteria are being is likely massive and continuous to the base evaluated within prospective shale resource of the esker. GPR profiles across Type II plays in the Devonian Horn River Group elements indicate gently dipping (10-18 (Canol and Hare Indian formations), degrees) inclined reflections, and dispersed Devonian Imperial Formation, and hyperbolas, indicating relatively Cretaceous Slater River Formation. homogeneous, well bedded clinoforms in Refinement of the tectono-stratigraphic and sandy material, with sparse cobble sized depositional framework for these potential clasts. Type III Pad elements often show shale plays is also a priority. reflections consistent with a 1-1.5 m thick package of gravel and cobble size clasts at This study, initiated by the Northwest the surface, with a relatively abrupt Territories Geological Survey Petroleum transition to clinoforms and well bedded Group, is focused on the evaluation of sandy material, similar to type II. These source rocks for both shale resource play interpretations were aided by observations potential and source potential for from augured drill holes. The focus for the conventional petroleum plays. The goal is to remainder of this research is to continue to improve the source rock characterization

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 88 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 dataset from subsurface wells in both Tmax values indicative of immaturity along Mackenzie and Peel Plains, and integrate the eastern edge of Mackenzie Plain, the these results with analyses from outcrop Slater River Formation may be oil-prone due sections that serve as analogs. to high sulphur kerogens. Maturity trends Characterization includes Rock-Eval/TOC, and lithogeochemistry for both of these thermal maturation, inorganic units, in addition to a better understanding of lithogeochemistry, and mineralogical the Canol Formation play within Peel Plain, analyses. require more analyses as this project proceeds. The Canol Formation is a known source rock for the conventional oil reservoir at FINE-SCALE VARIABILITY IN Norman Wells, NWT. Unconventional oil PERMAFROST TERRAIN AND resources from Devonian shale within ITS CONTROL ON GROUND Mackenzie Corridor are estimated by the National Energy Board to contain 145 TEMPERATURE billion barrels of oil-in-place within the RIDDICK*, J.1, GRUBER, S.1, and Canol Formation and 46 billion barrels of 2 oil-in-place within the Bluefish Member KARUNARATNE, K.C. (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON (Hare Indian Formation). Thermal (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL maturation data suggests Canol Formation SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT strata are within the oil window throughout [email protected] much of Mackenzie Plain, with excellent Surface and subsurface conditions in source rock potential (median >4wt% TOC permafrost terrain control ground from outcrops and subsurface analyses). temperature. These conditions vary both Data is sparse within the Peel Plain, but new spatially and temporally. As means to subsurface analyses indicate TOC values measure permafrost temperature at depth, ranging from < 1wt% TOC to > 6wt% TOC, boreholes are drilled and instrumented. Due with an increasing maturity trend from east to heterogeneity of terrain in permafrost to west across the Plain. In the southern regions, it can be difficult to determine Mackenzie Plain, new subsurface exactly how a given condition influences the reflectance analyses suggest the Canol temperature in the ground. Spatial variation Formation is over-mature, and less organic- occurs at different length scales, and when rich (median 2.07wt%) compared to the one temperature series represents a large central and northern part of the plain. The area with undetermined variability, it Canol Formation is characteristically silica- becomes hard to pinpoint the relation rich (60-90% SiO2). between surface conditions and their control on ground temperature. Subsequently, when Rock-Eval/TOC data from field samples of one data series is applied to a large area it the Imperial Formation suggest it has good introduces a random component of whether to very good source rock potential (up to that one sample truly represents the 3.3wt% TOC) and is within the oil window population mean. This becomes problematic south of Peel Plain. Rock-Eval/TOC when that data is used describe and predict analyses of the Cretaceous Slater River temperature change over time. This research Formation in outcrop also indicate range of aims to describe and understand the local good to very good potential source rocks (up variability at a fine scale in order to better to 3.39wt% TOC). Despite low pyrolysis quantify that random component. Here,

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 89 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

“fine scale” is defined by a 15 m by 15 m 2015 NORTHWEST area. The method is to select four points TERRITORIES PETROLEUM within a site that are representative of the RESOURCES DIVISION & variation found there. One data logger is installed 10 cm below the surface at each PETROLEUM INDUSTRY point. By doing so, regional variables such ACTIVITY OVERVIEW as latitude, incoming solar radiation, wind, and precipitation are being applied to all RITCHIE, J.R. four loggers at the site. Any difference in PETROLEUM RESOURCES DIVISION (GNWT), INUVIK, NT temperature between the four loggers at a [email protected] site can be attributed more specifically to the conditions at the surface and subsurface A brief breakdown of the Government of above them. That difference will inform on Northwest Territories' post Devolution oil how representative one temperature and gas administration begins with the measurement can be for a heterogeneous Petroleum Resources Division, part of the site. Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. We are guided by the Oil and This method was applied to 43 sites in the Gas Operations Act and the Petroleum Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Resource Act along with several sets of Territories. The sites are divided into three regulations. The associated offices that have terrain types: organic, block field, and a role to play in oil and gas activities are the bedrock. Sites are located on hilltops, hill Financial Analysis and Royalty slopes, eskers, and valleys. The range in Administration, Office of the Regulator of terrain type allows for the local variability to Oil and Gas Operations (OROGO), Client be analyzed within a site and then compared Services and Community Relations, to a site of the same, or different, terrain Industrial Initiatives, Northwest Territories type to determine regional variability. The Geoscience Office (NTGO), and the surface conditions measured and Mackenzie Valley Petroleum Planning documented were local topography, Office (MVPPO). vegetation (type, height, and leaf area index), along with surficial permafrost PRD is currently working on an Oil and Gas landforms. The subsurface conditions Strategy. It will include the key elements measured and documented were soil that are required for a sustainable oil and gas properties, moisture content, and organic sector in the territory that will enhance layer thickness. An initial analysis based on transportation infrastructure, community one month of ground temperature data has education and outreach, marketing and shown temperature variation within fine- promotion, resource characterization and scale sites, as well as between sites of other factors that have constrained differing terrain types. development of NWT's conventional and unconventional petroleum resources. A public engagement report, Pathways to Petroleum Development, included the information and input received from industry, as well as NWT residents and was recently tabled in the Legislative Assembly and is currently available on our website. PRD was also involved in the development

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 90 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 of the hydraulic fracturing regulations. We RECONSTRUCTING EARLY TO visited 12 communities in the NWT and MID-HOLOCENE LANDSCAPE held public engagement meetings. These EVOLUTION IN THE CENTRAL regulations, though not yet finalized, are on hold until the establishment of the next NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, government. CANADA: INSIGHTS FROM BIOLOGICAL PROXY DATA During 2015, production operations were focused mostly in Norman Wells, a small ROE*, H.M.1, PATTERSON, R.S.1, amount from the Ikhil well north of Inuvik TRAINOR, P.1, WOLFE, S.A.2, and some in the Cameron Hills region. PATTERSON, R.T.3, and VERMAIRE, J.C.4 In 2015 the National Energy Board and the (1) SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY, ARCHAEOLOGY Northwest Territories Geological Survey AND PALAEOECOLOGY, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST, BELFAST, released a report assessing the NORTHERN IRELAND, UK unconventional petroleum resources in the (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, Canol and Bluefish shales of the Central NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, OTTAWA, Mackenzie Valley. The expected in place ON was calculated at a total of 191 billion (3) OTTAWA-CARLETON GEOSCIENCE CENTRE AND DEPARTMENT OF EARTH barrels, with 144.8 in and Canol and 46.3 in SCIENCES, CARLETON UNIVERSITY, the Bluefish. Although no one yet has the OTTAWA, ON data to estimate what percentage would be (4) INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL recoverable, vital to ever developing these SCIENCES AND DEPARTMENT OF deposits is the construction of the GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, Mackenzie Valley Highway. ON [email protected] The Imperial Oil Joint Venture in the In the Great Slave Lowlands of the central Beaufort Sea submitted a letter in June 2015 Northwest Territories, clay-rich sediments to the NEB and EIRB delaying any further from glacial Lake McConnell are work on their planned exploratory drilling widespread and commonly overlain by silty project. IOL cited not enough time to and sandy sediments derived from ancestral properly prepare for the project, given their Great Slave Lake and its inflow streams. two leases expire in 2019 and 2020 Despite the regional significance of this respectively. Chevron submitted a letter large proglacial lake, limited earlier in the year delaying their Beaufort palaeoecological work has been undertaken, sea drilling project due primarily to and few studies extend back to the early economic considerations. Imperial has also postglacial period. In this paper, we present submitted a request to the Federal Dept. of palynological, chironomid and diatom data Aboriginal Affairs for extensions to their from a series of peatland and lake sites two exploration licences in the Beaufort. located within and beyond the former glacial lake limits to shed light on the character of landscape evolution after proglacial lake drainage and climate-vegetation interactions in the early to mid Holocene. Peat initiation at White Truck bog and Cameron River bog in the North Slave region began at 7738-

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7943 cal BP and 6990 – 7134 cal BP, environment. respectively. Birch shrubland dominated the landscape during this time. Both peatland The site lies within the Mackenzie Valley records reveal evidence of a fen-bog watershed, and is regulated by the transition. The palaeoecological record from Mackenzie Valley Resource Management the two sites also display a number of Act (MVRMA). The MVRMA is federal differences, which reflect local variations in legislation aimed at creating an integrated hydrological conditions and fire histories. system for protecting the lands and waters The chironomid record from Matthew's within the Mackenzie Valley watershed. Lake (ca. 200 km beyond the glacial lake Since the site is under the care and limits) shows that oligotrophic and cold custodianship of AANDC, it is also subject stenothermic taxa prevailed during the to other federal acts, such as the Canadian earliest phases of clastic sediment deposition Environmental Protection Act, the Fisheries with a high species diversity. A transition Act and the Migratory Birds Convention from fine grained clay to gyttja is dated to Act, among others. It is also situated within 8423-8585 cal BP and correlates with a the municipal boundaries of the City of decline in cold-adapted species. This work Yellowknife, and so is impacted by the provides new insights into the timing and City's bylaws and permitting requirements. character of vegetation colonisation and northwards migration of forests as the The Project has recently completed a seven climate warmed during the early post-glacial year Environmental Assessment process period. under the MVRMA, which resulted in 26 legally binding measures being incorporated GIANT MINE REMEDIATION into the project scope. The Project Team is PROJECT REGULATORY now proceeding with a clearly defined list of CONTEXT requirements established through the process for the project, but faces many challenges going forward, including technical ROSS*, K.1 and PARADIS, A.2 (1) ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN considerations, regulatory & jurisdictional DEVELOPMENT CANADA, GATINEAU, QC constraints, consultation & engagement (2) ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN requirements, and resource pressures. A DEVELOPMENT CANADA, YELLOWKNIFE NT number of the measures will need to be [email protected] completed, or substantially completed, prior Following the discovery of gold in the to submitting an updated water licence Yellowknife, Northwest Territories area, application for the project. Specific Giant Mine officially opened in 1948. After components of the project require the mine closed in 2004 the care and control stakeholder input before being included in of the mine fell to the Department of the updated consolidated project description, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern and the measures require the creation of an Development Canada (AANDC), and independent oversight body to provide input attention focused on the environmental into options analysis as well as oversee issues left behind, including the arsenic research into a long-term solution for the trioxide stored in underground chambers. arsenic trioxide dust. The Giant Mine Remediation Project was created in 2005 with the overall goal to In addition to the requirements from the EA, protect human health and safety, and the the project will require a land use permit

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 92 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 from the MVLWB for specific project development. Potential adverse impacts activities, and various development and related to winter dewatering were identified demolition permits from the City of and were primarily related to aufeis Yellowknife. Various other permits or development. Aufeis is defined as an ice authorizations may be required during the deposit, formed by vertical growth of layers life of the project, such as fisheries as thin flows of water are exposed to authorizations, research permits (wildlife, freezing temperatures. These may have scientific, medical), archaeology permits and adverse effects on erosion, fish and fish migratory bird permits. habitat.

This presentation will describe the Action levels for winter dewatering were consultation and engagement requirements developed, based on site-specific that the project must follow in order to hydrological characteristics, and were obtain the necessary permits, and discuss the included in the Aquatic Effects Monitoring impacts the processes and measures will Program for the Mine. This allowed field have on the overall project schedule. measurements to be compared to action levels during the dewatering program. Field THE GAHCHO KUÉ MINE measurements included telemetry to monitor DEWATERING EXPERIENCE, lake hydrostatic water surface elevations, as WINTER 2014-2015 well as periodic visits to the receiving lake outlets and downstream areas to examine ice and flow conditions. SCHMIDT*, N.1 and KRAMERS, P.2 (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., EDMONTON, AB Winter dewatering commenced on (2) DE BEERS CANADA MINING INC., December 20, 2014, with pumping to YELLOWKNIFE, NT Kennady Lake Area 8. Pumping was [email protected] suspended on January 4, 2015, as the action Construction of the De Beers Gahcho Kué level for that location was approached. Mine required that a portion of Kennady Approximately 779,000 m3 of water was Lake be dewatered to provide access to released over 16 days. Dewatering kimberlite pipes on the lakebed. The discharges were then pumped to Lake N11, Construction Water Management Plan with pumping commencing on February 1, considered an initial dewatering volume of 2015 and continuing through the winter approximately 18.7 Mm3, to be discharged period, as the action level for that location to two downstream waterbodies (Lake N11 was not exceeded. Over the 103 day period and Kennady Lake Area 8). This dewatering through May 14, 2015, approximately was originally planned to occur during the 6,021,000 m3 of water was released. open water season, after the spring freshet peak. A total of 6,800,000 m3 of water was discharged from Kennady Lake over the The project received its Type A Water winter dewatering period, or about 36% of Licence from the Mackenzie Valley Land the planned initial dewatering volume. and Water Board on September 24, 2014, Winter and subsequent open-water season and before that date it had become apparent reconnaissance did not identify any adverse that winter dewatering would be required to effects due to winter dewatering. prevent a significant delay in the project

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 93 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

This presentation will discuss winter dewatering risks, action level development, Geological mapping identified the >500 m field program observations, and factors wide, north-northeast trending Barney contributing to the overall success of the Deformation Corridor, featuring several program. areas of extensive sericite alteration and significant sulphide concentration. Within YELLOWKNIFE CITY GOLD this corridor, channel samples from the PROJECT-EXPLORATION Hebert-Brent showing returned 11.0 m @ UPDATE AND MIP RESEARCH 7.55 g/t Au and 6.0 m @ 10.26 g/t Au. Mineralization is replacement style, and RESULTS unusually for the Yellowknife gold camp, there is a noticeable lack of quartz veining. SETTERFIELD*, T., CAMPBELL, J., and SEXTON, A. Two biogeochemical orientation surveys TERRAX MINERALS INC, OTTAWA, ON [email protected] were conducted over the Crestaurum structure and a test production survey was TerraX continued exploring the Yellowknife conducted over the Barney Shear. Four City Gold Project (YCGP) in 2015. The vegetation types were sampled: black YCGP is underlain by the Yellowknife spruce, mountain alder, juniper and Greenstone Belt, host to the past-producing, Labrador Tea. Samples were collected at 10 high-grade Con and Giant gold deposits. m intervals on 25 m (orientation) to 50 m TerraX continued drilling their advanced (production) spaced lines. The vegetation Crestaurum and Barney Shear targets, types had different background levels of discovered a new style of mineralization, metals, but each type had anomalous added to their land package, and continued concentrations of gold, arsenic and antimony prospecting and mapping activities. proximal to known surface mineralization. The approach is concluded to have potential TerraX staked the southern extension of the as an exploration tool. Yellowknife Greenstone Belt, adjoining the Con leases, bringing their total land position The chemical signature of alteration was to 116 sq km, encompassing 23 strike km of examined with a field gamma ray the greenstone belt. Preliminary spectrometer. In particular, the radio- reconnaissance yielded samples up to 94.9 assayed thorium/potassium ratios were g/t Au on this new property. Drilling at determined across mineralized structures. Crestaurum produced intersections such as Such structures commonly have a detectable 7.0 m @ 10.23 g/t Au in the South Shoot; at potassium enrichment within and Barney the best drill intersection in 2015 immediately adjacent (5 m) to them. The was 14.09 m @ 2.96 g/t Au. Highlights of Barney Shear and Gold Lake areas were the surface exploration program included good examples of detectable alteration using samples up to 108 g/t Au on a new shear the spectrometer. In theory, this means that near the Pinto Vein, a 20.6 g/t Au sample in alteration signatures might be detectable in a new area called JED West, and a chip airborne radiometric data. Field checking of sample of 2 m @ 21.4 g/t Au on Shear 17 actual airborne radiometric anomalies proximal to the Ryan Lake pluton. produced limited success. Numerous gold-molybdenum veins were sampled near this pluton. Approximately ten Hydrothermal alteration mineralogy was targets were advanced to drill-ready stage.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 94 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 examined by means of a Terraspec visible gold. The alteration zonation instrument. 544 mineralogical analyses from observed changes from distal calcite to drill core and surface samples were chlorite to proximal sericite. Within this collected. Preliminary examination of this zone some of the more significant drill data suggests that there is a general tendency intersections are: for chlorite spatially associated with mineralization to be more iron rich than • 33.60 g/t Au over 2.85 m (hole chlorite occurring further from TNB14-019) mineralization. It is not yet clear whether • 10.32 g/t Au over 7.00 m (hole this information can be used as an TCR15-003) exploration technique. Work on the Barney Shear Zone has YELLOWKNIFE CITY GOLD expanded the historic zone. There are PROJECT- UPDATE ON multiple generations of gold mineralized DRILLING AND NEW laminated to colloform quartz +/- ankerite veins. The two dominant mineralization DISCOVERY styles are gold-arsenopyrite dominant laminated veins and silver-lead with lesser SEXTON*, A., HERBERT, E, gold dominated bull to colloform veins. MCALLISTER, B., STUDD, D, and Some of the more significant drill FINDLEY, A. intersections are: TERRAX MINERALS INC., OTTAWA, ON [email protected] • 0.28 g/t Au, 86.70 g/t Ag and 7.73% The main focus for TerraX in 2015 was the Pb over 2.65 m (hole TNB14-010) Core Gold Area of the Yellowknife City • 3.62 g/t Au, 3.00 g/t Ag and 0.02% gold Project, which extends over a 4km x Pb over 4.00 m (hole TNB14-010) 2km area in the central portion of the property. During 2014-2015, 114 NQ drill A third style of gold mineralization within holes totaling 18,137 metres were the Barney Shear Zone is related to completed. The majority of this drilling was arsenopyrite replacement of pyrite in semi- on the advanced Crestaurum Shear Zone (86 massive pyrite zones. Within this zone the DDH totaling 11,227m) and Barney Shear most significant drill intersection is 18.40 g/t Zone (22 DDH totaling 5,957m) targets. Au over 5.16 m (hole NB95-16W1). The host rocks to the mineralization are shear Work on the Crestaurum Shear Zone has zones at the contact between gabbro dykes expanded the historic shoots, known as the and massive to pillowed mafic volcanic south, central and north shoots. The flows or quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes. dominant mineralization style consists of laminated quartz-ankerite veins that are Geological mapping completed during the hosted in sulphide bearing interflow summer of 2015 identified several areas of sediments, flow top breccia's and mappable and locally extensive sericite hyaloclastite units at the contact of gabbro alteration within the >500 m wide, north- dykes and massive to pillowed mafic northeast trending Barney Deformation volcanic flows. The gold mineralized quartz- Corridor. This work resulted in the ankerite veins are typically folded and discovery of a new surface showing, the boudinaged and contain arsenopyrite, Hebert-Brent Zone. This zone contains stibnite, galena, sphalerite and locally

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 95 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 replacement style mineralization consisting treeline and migrate to calving grounds of semi-massive arsenopyrite and pyrite currently to the west of Bathurst Inlet, the with only minor quartz veining associated herd's namesake. The Bathurst caribou herd with the anomalous gold. Other associated has experienced significant declines since metals in proximity to the higher grade gold the mid 1980's, to around 16,000 animals are antimony, lead and zinc. Channel currently. These population trends have been samples from the Hebert-Brent showing attributed to declining calf survival, and returned 11.0 m @ 7.55 g/t Au and 6.0 m @ concomitant declines in adult female 10.26 g/t Au. The host rocks to the fecundity, and low over-winter survival. mineralization are shear zones at the contact While the decline in caribou numbers may between gabbro dykes, a sequence of be a consequence of natural population bleached pillowed mafic volcanic flows, cycles, current low numbers make the felsic pyroclastic rocks, interbedded populations vulnerable to human harvest, chert/sulphide units and quartz and feldspar disturbance, disease, and weather events. porphyry dykes. Six drill holes totaling 953 Caribou vary in their response to m were completed on this zone with results disturbances based on the time of year and pending. age of calves. Caribou may be sensitive to population-level effects during calving and POST-CALVING AND SUMMER post-calving when calves are most HABITAT SELECTION BY A susceptible to predation and disturbance. DECLINING CARIBOU HERD IN Recent evidence suggests that over-winter THE CENTRAL CANADIAN survival of calves may be related to ARCTIC: APPLICATIONS FOR conditions on the summer range. Inadequate CUMULATIVE EFFECTS leaf biomass, late start date and early end MANAGEMENT AND date of green leaf biomass, and poor quality CONSERVATION. of leaf biomass in the summer range are generally believed to be detrimental to SHARAM*, G., and MILAKOVIC, B. caribou growth and pregnancy rate during ERM, VANCOUVER, BC the summer-fall period and calf:cow ratio in [email protected] the next year. Understanding the relative Barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus contributions of natural and anthropogenic groenlandicus) are a biologically and factors to population level changes is the culturally important species in the Arctic. goal of cumulative effects assessment, and Caribou not only sustain wild predator fundamental to developing sound populations such as wolves, grizzly bear and management practices to promote the long- wolverine, but also provide a critical term sustainability of the Bathurst herd. resource for human populations living in the North, particularly Aboriginal communities. Resource Selection Functions are Hunting, disease, and environmental increasingly being used to provide variability can all affect caribou numbers, information on essential resources needed to and the effects from industrial activities manage and conserve rare, threatened, and occurring within the species range are endangered species in complex socio- monitored for management of caribou. environmental landscapes. RSFs provide an objective and explanatory framework to The Bathurst caribou herd winters below the assess habitat selection and relative habitat

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 96 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 quality at multiple scales and across observations and results from a whole-rock individuals and populations. We present geochemical study of volcanic and intrusive results from RSF modeling for the Bathurst mafic rocks of the UIG. Two herd using GPS collar data collected stratigraphically and geochemically distinct between 2004 and 2011. The modeling volcanic units are recognized within the effort focused on the post-calving and Union Island Group: an alkaline to summer ranges as these periods are when subalkaline basaltic lower assemblage with caribou calves may be most vulnerable, and associated gabbroic feeder sills and dikes, conditions on these ranges may determine and a subalkaline basaltic to andesitic upper over-wintering success and recruitment. We assemblage. The lower assemblage is discuss these results in the context of geochemically more variable, characterized cumulative effects management, and explore by high TiO2 (2.2–3.4 wt%) and low Cr paths forward to understanding potential (<60 ppm). In contrast, the upper mechanisms that underly the declining assemblage has low TiO2 (1.6–1.7 wt%) and population trend. high Cr (280–330 ppm), with a significant negative Nb-Ta anomaly. Both assemblages GEOCHEMICAL INSIGHTS show LREE-enriched profiles, with the INTO THE ORIGIN OF UNION lower assemblage being more fractionated ISLAND GROUP MAFIC (average (La/Lu)N=7.6 compared to 4.8). Two geochemical profiles through basalts of MAGMATISM, EAST ARM the lower assemblage reveal that successive BASIN, GREAT SLAVE LAKE lava flows are derived from a common magma reservoir undergoing fractional 1 1 SHEEN*, A. , HEAMAN, L. , OOTES, crystallization. The restricted range of REE 2 3 L. , and KJARSGAARD, B. enrichment in the upper assemblage basalts (1) DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND indicates that they were derived from a ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB distinct magma batch that has undergone (2) BRITISH COLUMBIA GEOLOGICAL limited fractional crystallization. SURVEY, VICTORIA, BC (3) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, High Nb contents (~20–60 ppm), low Th/Nb OTTAWA, ON ratios (<0.2), and a within plate basalt [email protected] signature in the lower volcanic assemblage The Paleoproterozoic Union Island Group is consistent with a mantle plume origin (UIG) is a package of dominantly mafic with minimal crustal contamination. The volcanic and subordinant carbonate/shale upper assemblage has lower incompatible sedimentary successions in the East Arm element abundances and a pronounced basin and is one of the earliest post-Archean primitive mantle normalized negative Nb-Ta successions emplaced on the southeastern anomaly. The origin of the negative Nb-Ta margin of the Slave craton. New field anomaly remains to be elucidated. We observations indicate that the UIG rests recognize the need to test our interpretations unconformably on Archean basement, further with tracer isotope study and U-Pb challenging previous stratigraphic geochronology. interpretations in which the Wilson Island Group demarcated the base of the East Arm basin. The UIG therefore is a key stratigraphic unit in understanding the origin of the East Arm basin. We present new field

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 97 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

DIAMOND FORMATION IN Peridotitic diamond growth, however, EARTH'S MANTLE continued through Earth's history, with the youngest age date being ~90 Ma. Formation STACHEL*, T., and LUTH, R.W. of diamonds hosted by eclogite is UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB documented from the Mesoarchean to the [email protected] Neoproterozoic (2.9 and 0.6 Ga) and may Studies of mineral inclusions in diamond well continue up to the present. Multiple have conclusively established that the lines of evidence suggest that formation of principal diamond substrates in Earth's fibrous diamonds and diamond coats often is mantle are peridotitic (about 2/3) and penecontemporaneous to kimberlite eclogitic (about 1/3) domains located at 140- magmatism and hence, for the Central Slave, 200 km depth in the subcratonic lithosphere. may even extent into the Tertiary. There, the formation of the dominant harzburgitic diamond association generally When it comes to the actual process(es) occurred under subsolidus (melt-absent) driving the precipitation of diamond, our conditions. In eclogitic and lherzolitic knowledge is much less complete. Diamond substrates, however, diamond grew in the grows during the infiltration of carbon- presence of a melt, with relatively rare bearing fluids or melts into a suitable exceptions relating to formation from substrate. But what exactly is the diamond strongly reducing fluids or at relatively low forming reaction that occurs there? The pressure (<50 kbar) and temperature conventional view that redox reactions (<1050°C). between percolating fluids/melts and wall rocks are nature's diamond recipe is Complex internal growth structures indicate inconsistent with both the low redox that in many instances, diamond formation capacity of lithospheric mantle and the did not occur in a single short lived event. occurrence of large diamonds. Based on The observed close agreement of thermodynamic modeling, we instead radiometric ages involving different isotope propose that isochemical cooling or ascent systems and inclusion minerals for of carbon-bearing fluids is a key mechanism diamonds from individual occurrences, of diamond formation. It operates however, cannot be coincidental and implies particularly efficiently in chemically that the temporal extent of individual depleted mantle rocks (harzburgite), where a diamond growth events is contained within high melting temperature precludes dilution the uncertainty of the age dates. Diamond of the infiltrating fluid (see above), thereby formed through most of Earth's history, from explaining the long observed close the Paleoarchean to at least the Mesozoic. association between diamond and Diamond forming episodes occur on harzburgitic garnet. regional to global scales in response to tectonothermal events such as suturing, subduction and plume impact. Individual diamond forming episodes may be associated with particular substrates, with harzburgitic paragenesis diamonds generally yielding Paleoarchean (3.6-3.2 Ga) ages and lherzolitic paragenesis diamonds forming mostly in the Paleoproterozoic at ~2 Ga.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 98 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

TEHERY-WAGER GEOSCIENCE (likely correlative with the 1.85–1.81 Ga PROJECT: FINDINGS FROM Hudson Suite), and roughly coeval THE 2015 BEDROCK MAPPING ultrapotassic clinopyroxenite to syenite intrusions. CAMPAIGN

1 2 Most lithological units throughout the study STEENKAMP*, H.M. , WODICKA, N. , area maintain a pervasive shallowly- to LAWLEY, C.J.M.2, PETERSON, T.D.2, 3 steeply-dipping mineral fabric, referred to as and GUILMETTE, C. Smain in the field. Several areas with (1) CANADA-NUNAVUT GEOSCIENCE OFFICE, IQALUIT, NU mylonitic to strongly lineated fabrics were (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, identified well-away from known high-strain OTTAWA, ON zones such as the Wager shear zone and the (3) UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL, QUÉBEC CITY, QC Daly Bay complex. Shallowly to [email protected] moderately, NE-SW-plunging mineral and The Tehery-Wager Geoscience Project is a stretching lineations are locally present. four-year initiative conducted by the Their geometry is consistent with shallow- Geological Survey of Canada and the to moderately-plunging NE-SW-trending Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office. The fold hinges that define the main regional project aims to gather new geoscience map pattern. The relationships between information to create modern bedrock and deformation fabrics and metamorphic surficial geology maps, evaluate the mineral assemblages documented across the economic potential in the area, and area suggest that the development of Smain characterize the tectonic, magmatic, was contemporaneous with upper depositional, and metamorphic history of the amphibolite- to granulite-facies bedrock units therein. metamorphism. Regional, retrograde metamorphism to amphibolite-facies The first of two field seasons of regional conditions are interpreted based on bedrock geology mapping was conducted in ubiquitous plagioclase+biotite rims around the Tehery-Wager region, north of garnet porphyroblasts. Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, this past summer and focused on a better Targeted sampling to determine economic documentation and characterization of rock potential in the area was conducted on types and features across the eastern part of gossanous, presumed Proterozoic the study area. This area is believed to supracrustal rocks adjacent to till samples comprise rocks of the Rae Craton, and that were collected in 2012 and had returned includes the Wager Shear Zone, the elevated metal concentrations. Samples were granulite-facies Daly Bay Complex, and also collected from newly identified possibly part of the suture between the Rae gossanous horizons, mafic and ultramafic and Hearne cratons known as the Snowbird layers in these supracrustal rocks, and Tectonic Zone. Major rock units observed unusually low-grade metasedimentary rocks include Archean tonalite to syenogranite at the margin of the Daly Bay complex to gneiss, granitic gneiss to K-feldspar evaluate their metal content. Ultrapotassic porphyritic monzogranite (in part correlative intrusive rocks were sampled to quantify with the ca. 2.6 Ga Snow Island Suite), their rare earth element concentrations. presumed Proterozoic supracrustal rocks, undeformed monzogranite to syenogranite

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 99 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A COMMUNITY STEWARDSHIP when recruits return as adults and may OPTION FOR FISHERIES greatly exceed production losses from the PRODUCTIVITY OFFSETTING drawdown of a small, low-productivity lake. This offsetting option relies on community IN THE NORTHWEST engagement and will provide local TERRITORIES community members with the capacity to contribute to the successful implementation 1 2 STEVENS*, C. , CLIPPERTON, K. , of the project over the long-term. VECSEI, P.3, SCHMIDT, N.1, 4 4 BARGERY, R. , and LEE, C. MINERAL DEVELOPMENT (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., EDMONTON, AB STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., CALGARY, AB PROGRESS REPORT (3) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., YELLOWKNIFE, NT (4) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI STRAND*, P.D., and KNOTSCH, C. CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT (1) GNWT, DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY, [email protected] TOURISM AND INVESTMENT, MINERAL RESOURCES DIVISION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT The availability of measures to offset [email protected] negative impacts of remote mining The Government of the Northwest developments on fisheries resources in the Territories (GNWT) developed the NWT Canadian Arctic is limited, and options near Mineral Development Strategy (MDS) to such development generally have minimal build a foundation from which it might benefits to traditional users of fish. We encourage mineral exploration and mine present a community stewardship option to development, while protecting the improve migration conditions for spawning environment, respecting aboriginal and Northern Pike in a small creek near Lutsel northern residents and promoting a K'e, NT, for Dominion Diamond's Lynx sustainable economy. The Strategy guides Project. Baseline data identified a migration the NWT in balancing multiple priorities of Northern Pike from Great Slave Lake that and links decision making and planning encounter numerous barriers that can result tools that concern mineral exploration and in stranding, direct mortality, and impede mining across the NWT. passage to a network of ponds used for spawning and rearing. A remediation plan The MDS Implementation Plan, released in based on low-impact construction methods October 2014, commits the GNWT to fulfill was identified through engagement with the objectives following the Devolution of the local community as an effective method for responsibility for lands and resources. Based improving access to upstream ponds and on the five pillars of the MDS, the reducing fish mortality. The plan includes Implementation Plan laid out 28 action items channel remediation at identified blockages to be worked on during the 2014-15 fiscal and the modification of the main pond outlet year. In October 2015 the 2014-15 Progress to sustain flows through the migration Report was released and details the activities period. We predict that complete completed, those in progress, and others that remediation of the creek will add at least are in preparation to begin. This talk will 500 adults to the fishery, or greater than 700 summarize the progress to the end of kg of new harvestable biomass over a 10- October 2015. year period. Furthermore, we expect that fish production gains will magnify over time

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 100 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

GEOCHEMISTRY AND CARBON Understanding the geochemistry of CONTENT OF PERMAFROST permafrost is important as it may influence AND ACTIVE LAYERS IN the thermal and physical properties of frozen ground and may indicate the potential TUNDRA LANDSCAPES OF LAC consequences on soil and water chemistry if DE GRAS, NORTHWEST it were to thaw. TERRITORIES, N.W.T In the present study, soil cores were SUBEDI*, R.1, GRUBER, S.1, and extracted from depths up to 12 m using a KOKELJ, S.V.2 heli-portable diamond-drilling core. A (1) DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND number of sites were sampled, including: ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, CARLETON peatlands, eskers, hilltops, hill slopes, highly UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON (2) PERMAFROST SCIENTIST, NORTHWEST vegetated surfaces, and earth hummocks and TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, depressions in valleys to examine landscape- YELLOWKNIFE, NT scale variability. All core samples were [email protected] sectioned at 20 cm intervals, logged, and Permafrost and active layer samples from 25 double-bagged in the field and returned to a sites were collected to examine the vertical laboratory in Yellowknife. In the laboratory, and spatial distribution of cation samples will be analyzed for gravimetric concentrations and organic carbon from the water content, excess ice content, electrical 2+ 2+ Lac de Gras region, of the Northwest conductivity and major cations (Ca , Mg , + + Territories, Canada. While studies from K and Na ). Sub-samples will be sent to Mackenzie delta region and Herschel Island Carleton University's permafrost research report that the active layer and near-surface laboratory. These samples will be analyzed permafrost are geochemically distinct, to estimate organic carbon content using loss geochemistry of permafrost in the present on ignition method. study area is not well documented. Unlike previously studied regions, the Lac de Gras The study design, cores from multiple area is a bedrock-dominated environment deposits and from aggrading and degrading with a thin, patchy veneer of glacially surfaces, is novel and an important basis for derived surficial soils. The main aim of this the current research. It will help to research is to describe the ionic characterize the vertical and spatial characteristics of the active layer and variability of ion and carbon concentrations permafrost in glacial sediments of the Lac in permafrost for the Lac de Gras region. de Gras area. Moreover, it will also provide data on geochemical and organic carbon content At the moment, one of the major gaps in profiles to depths of up to 10 m. We literature related to permafrost geochemistry anticipate contrasts in the geochemistry and is the study of permafrost at depths of organic matter content between the active greater than a few metres below the surface. layer and permafrost. We also anticipate that This is especially true for the tundra areas of vertical profiles may vary between the Slave Geological Province. Field landscape types. observations from the northwestern Canada indicate that ground temperatures have increased in the upper 30 m of permafrost, by up to 2°C over the past 20 years.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 101 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

HOLOCENE FIRE REGIMES in temperature estimated for the Holocene AND TREELINE MIGRATION Thermal Maximum. Forest fires were RATES IN SUBARCTIC CANADA relatively frequent and severe during the early Holocene, with a mean (major) fire return interval of ca. <500 years before SULPHUR*, K.C.1, GOLDSMITH, S.A.1, declining in frequency in response to cooler GALLOWAY, J.M.2, HILLS, L.V.3, and wetter climate conditions associated MACUMBER, A.L.4, SWINDLES, G.T.5, with the Neoglacial. We document a trend of PATTERSON, R.T.4, and FALCK, H.6 (1) DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCE, increasing fire frequency in the 20th century UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CALGARY, AB in response to recent warming that has (2) NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, almost reached conditions experienced GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA/ during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. RESSOURCES NATURELLES CANADA, These dynamics south of modern treeline COMMISSION GÉOLOGIQUE DU CANADA, CALGARY, AB provide insight into factors creating (3) DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCE, heterogeneity in plant community responses UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CALGARY, AB to large-scale climate events in the subarctic (4) OTTAWA-CARLETON GEOSCIENCE and suggest that large scale reorganization CENTRE, CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, of boreal vegetation and fire regime can be ON (5) SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF expected over the coming decades. LEEDS, LEEDS (6) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY: A SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] NOVEL WAY TO ANALYZE KIMBERLITE INDICATOR Holocene climate change resulted in major vegetation reorganization in subarctic MINERALS AND TO DETECT Canada near modern treeline but little is KIMBERLITE MICRO-FLOAT known of the effect of long-term climate change on boreal forest composition and fire TAPPERT*, R., and TAPPERT, M.C. regime below treeline. We present a TNT MINERAL SCIENCE, GIBSONS, BC [email protected] vegetation and fire history from two sites within the modern boreal forest in the The collection and analysis of kimberlite central Northwest Territories, Canada to indicator minerals from heavy mineral provide new insight on subarctic vegetation concentrates is an integral part of the response to Holocene climate dynamics and diamond exploration process. However, the dynamic role of fire in boreal surficial sampling programs are often ecosystems. Palynological analysis of restricted by time-consuming mineral sediments retrieved from Waite and Danny's collection, processing, and analysis lakes (informal) is used to reconstruct procedures. To facilitate the development of regional vegetation dynamics and boreal fire a technique that can simplify and accelerate regimes. The longer Danny's Lake record the identification and classification of documents treeline expansion beginning at kimberlite indicator minerals, we explored ca. 7,430-7,220 cal yr BP. Integration of our the usage of hyperspectral imagery, which is new data with previous work shows that based on the analysis of reflected radiation treeline expanded between ca. 4,050 cal. yr in the visible and infrared parts of the BP and ca. 3,840 cal yr BP at a rate of ca. 20 electromagnetic spectrum. years/km in response to the 1-2°C increase The investigation was focused on the identification of indicator garnets.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 102 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Hyperspectral imagery was collected CONTAMINATION FROM directly from heavy mineral concentrates, GOLD MINING REORGANIZES and these images were de-noised and MULTIPLE TROPHIC LEVELS processed to isolate the spectral absorption features relating to mineral composition. IN POCKET LAKE These images were then analyzed to identify (YELLOWKNIFE, NT, CANADA) individual garnets. This portion of the 1 1 analysis was complemented by the results of THIENPONT*, J.R. , KOROSI, J.B. , 1 2 1000+ high-resolution spectra collected HARGAN, K.E. , WILLIAMS, T. , 1 1 from well-characterized crust- and mantle- EICKMEYER, D.C. , KIMPE, L.E. , 3 4 derived garnets to ensure that the garnets in PALMER, M.J. , SMOL, J.P. , and 1 the heavy mineral concentrates were BLAIS, J.M. accurately identified. (1) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, ON (2) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON (3) CUMULATIVE IMPACT MONITORING Preliminary results indicate that garnets can PROGRAM, YELLOWKNIFE, NT be readily distinguished from other (4) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON concentrate minerals using hyperspectral [email protected] imagery, and that the garnets can also be Large quantities of arsenic were released compositionally classified. The from the roasting of arsenopyrite ore at compositional classification allows crust- Giant Mine during its operational history. and mantle-derived garnets to be We assessed the long-term ecological distinguished accurately, while providing impacts of emissions on aquatic ecosystems concentration information about certain using a spectrum of chemical and biological transition elements, like chromium and indicators preserved in a radiometrically- titanium. dated lake sediment core from Pocket Lake, a small lake at the edge of the mine lease In addition to the garnet analysis, boundary of Giant Mine, receiving hyperspectral imagery was also used to emissions solely from airborne deposition. identify millimeter-sized fragments of Sedimentary metal profiles unambiguously kimberlite (kimberlite micro-float) in heavy tracked the striking increases (~1700%) in mineral concentrates and unprocessed arsenic concentrations coeval with the sediment samples. Preliminary results initiation of Giant Mine operations. Other indicate that kimberlite micro-float can be contaminants, including mercury from gold readily distinguished from other rock and extraction via amalgamation, also increased, mineral fragments due to its distinct along with antimony, lead, and polycyclic spectrum. Pending additional testing, aromatic hydrocarbons. Synchronous analytical techniques using hyperspectral changes in biological indicator assemblages imagery may serve as an alternative to the from multiple aquatic trophic levels in both costly and time-consuming indicator mineral benthic and pelagic habitats occurred identification methods currently being used. coincident with these incredibly high metal concentrations. At the peak of contamination, all Cladocera, a keystone group of primary consumers, as well as all planktonic diatoms, were functionally lost from the sediment record. No biological recovery has been inferred, despite

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 103 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 decreases in metal concentrations following weather, mechanical failure and seasonal emission reductions more than 50 years ago, effects. Using a model with full production and the cessation of all ore- 365 days a year is simply not realistic. roasting/processing activities in Yellowknife Models also obviously need to include in 2004. These results show the extent of appropriate full cost midstream processing contamination from gold mines in the NWT and transportation fees. prior to regulatory intervention, and show that aquatic communities remain highly Both technical and non-technical risks are disturbed. The results from Pocket Lake also critical as they can effectively kill a provide a basis for interpreting other project. In a Frontier setting where ecosystem changes as a result of calibration is poor, aspects such as reservoir contamination from Giant Mine using this risk, source risk and charge timing risk may paleoecotoxicological approach. lead to projects not being pursued - likewise for regulatory and related factors. These ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF scenarios are portrayed in decision trees as FRONTIER PROJECTS - THE multiple “off ramps”, each of which creates NEED FOR REALISM an economic burden.

As the time value of money has impacts on TIPPETT, C.R. RETIRED GEOLOGIST, CALGARY, AB both costs and revenue streams, the [email protected] chronology of a project is a critical factor. Models need to acknowledge that the Oil and gas projects are routinely assessed gradual growth of the knowledge base and using discounted cash flow analysis. Models de-risking of the project create an expensive developed for this purpose run the gamut legacy of front end costs that can only be from very simple to highly complex but in offset by strong ultimate project all cases depend on good calibration and performance. Significant delays, if proper collection of input parameters and of anticipated, can also throw an otherwise risks to provide reliable results. One can attractive project into the negative column certainly use a simple success case approach and off the table. with optimistic, high side values. In doing so, one creates the impression of a highly It is incumbent upon governments to robust project. This can be very misleading develop for their own use realistic models so and will create unrealistic expectations for that they can ensure that their level of take both profitability and production – and in does not create an excessive burden on turn for the amount of wealth that is to be projects. The prize offered to industry must generated for possible sharing amongst be adequate enough to carry the additional various stakeholders. burdens of dry holes and the “off ramps”.

Multiple scenarios can be created and Foremost amongst technical inputs are economic regimes with adequate flexibility reserve calculations (porosity, pay thickness, can be crafted. The added value of such water saturation, recovery efficiency and models is that it enables governments to various losses). Use of unrepresentative high identify those factors, be they technical or end values for these will sway the model. otherwise, that are creating the downward Likewise the production profiles selected pressures and to move to correct or at least may not be typical. Even when the project is to mitigate them. up and running, its reliability is impacted by

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 104 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

mechanisms for the co-precipitation of these This presentation will discuss many of the elements and characterizing their fluid real world issues that affect economic source using various petrographic analysis with the conclusion that it is techniques. Microscope- essential for all to realize that we are cathodoluminescence (CL) was used to generally dealing with ordinary geese and iden¬tify growth patterns within individual not the golden goose. quartz grains, which were subsequently analysed with secondary ion mass spec- POLYMETALLIC NI-CO-AS-BI- trometry (SIMS; University of Manitoba) to AG-U VEINS WITH CO- identify their oxygen isotope ratios. These PRECIPITATING BITUMEN AT ratios range from 3.9 to 25.3 ‰ δ18Oquartz V-SMOW, increasing from core to rim with COPPER PASS, SOUTHERN variations along specific growth zones. The SLAVE PROVINCE, uranium bearing zone in particular is NORTHWEST TERRITORIES consistently marked by a substantial outward increase in δ18Oquartz, implicating TROTTIER*, C.R.1, HANLEY, J.J.1, a major chemical shift during vein formation BURKE, J.1, and OOTES, L.2 (e.g. fluid mixing). Calculation of δ18Ofluid (1) DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, SAINT using δ18Oquartz and fluid temperatures can MARY’S UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS be used to deduce the nature of source fluid (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT mixing. Micro-thermometry of fluid [email protected] inclusions has provided a range of salinity and homogenization temperatures for the Polymetallic veins have a distinctive history trapped fluids, which were used to generate of precipi¬tation in stages. Nickel-cobalt constant density isochores in P-T space. A arsenides are ubiquitous in these veins while minimum entrapment temperature of about uraninite and other uranium minerals may be 160°C was determined from this preliminary lacking due to absent stages. Similar constraint. Further analysis of the inclusion polymetallic veins have been identified in phases, consideration of metamorphic few locations across North America and conditions and bitumen maturity may add Europe. Historically economic varieties of constraints to the P-T conditions of the these veins were mined in the Thunder Bay precipitating fluids. and Cobalt districts of Ontario and the Great

Bear Lake region of Northwest Territories. Compositional and textural features within The latter was mined for native silver and the uranium-rich inclusion-bearing growth uraninite. Veins at Copper Pass, near Great zone were identified using SEM and Raman Slave Lake, do not contain economic spectrometry. SEM-EDS analysis showed volumes of either resource but do host an different phases of chemical concentrations interesting relationship between a subdued within these inclusions (e.g. U-rich, Ni-As- uraninite stage and solid bitumen. rich, and S-rich). Although distinct, these

phases are often not associated with specific Mineral and fluid inclu¬sions are examined mineral compositions or grain boundaries. within vein quartz from Copper Pass. The As a result they tend to blend together. uraninite stage, along with solid bitumen Spectra collected using the Raman and Ni-Co arsenides, is hosted wholly spectrometer indicates similar mixing of within a specific layer of quartz growth. various vibrational signatures. Most spectra This study focuses on constraining the

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 105 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 do share common signatures from included provide clarity and put in place measures bitumen, which were compared with spectra that attract exploration and mining while of hydrocarbons from different deposits. respecting the goals and requirements of Hydrocarbons were also identified in rare communities, land claim agreements and examples of quartz fluid inclusions using existing land use plans. both Raman spectrometry and UV light microscopy, which supports the idea that This presentation will describe the current organics and uranium were transported in state of play in Aboriginal Government solution together during quartz precipitation. mineral development policies and strategies, This study may provide insight into the role discuss what has been learned, and how of organics in polymetallic deposits. these learnings can be applied in the North. Continued research will focus on determining the nature of fluid mixing that LANDSCAPE IMPACTS OF triggered the co-precipitation of these HYDRAULIC FRACTURING phases. DEVELOPMENT AND ABORIGINAL MINERAL OPERATIONS ON SURFACE WATER AND WATERSHEDS DEVELOPMENT POLICIES AND STRATEGIES VAN DER BYL, C.A. MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE FOR VAN AANHOUT*, M., and FRYER, A. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, STRATOS INC., OTTAWA, ON CALGARY, AB [email protected] [email protected] In the face of competitive and volatile world In this, one of five studies funded by markets and low commodity prices, many Canadian Water Network (CWN), jurisdictions have advanced mineral researchers from across Canada considered development positions in the form of mining gaps in the knowledge related to hydraulic policies or strategies to provide clarity and fracturing landscape impacts on surface put in place measures to attract and guide water and watersheds. There is uncertainty development. In a Canadian context, a about how complex social ecological number of provinces and territories have landscape and watershed systems function. developed these policies with mixed results. Through multi-disciplinary research, we In some cases, governments did not engage considered both social and natural science broadly in developing their positions and frameworks. A theme that emerged was the priorities, and Aboriginal Government or variability in physical, social and regulatory community perspectives were not infrastructure that exist across the country. necessarily reflected, leading to policies that Our team was struck by the complexity of did not recognize Aboriginal rights or the issues and by the need for better integrate and align with existing or proposed integration and coordination to address land use plans. knowledge gaps. In particular the need to move away from silos and the polarization In part as a response to this, a number of of social and natural science perspectives. Aboriginal governments have recently There are opportunities for innovative developed, or are in the process of approaches in bringing stakeholders together developing, their own mineral development and there needs to be better appreciation and policies or strategies. These policies seek to understanding of the differences between

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 106 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 economic and cultural land use and the of the Tłı̨chǫ language, culture and potential for conflict. This requires traditions. The Tłı̨chǫ Government will transparency and accountability as well as consider all applications and proposals for the ability to measure, disclose and engage uses on Tłı̨chǫ Lands, but will guide itself on cumulative effects. with the Tłı̨chǫ Land Use Plan.

HOW THE KWE BEH WORKING GEOMET: USING GROUP AND THE T ł ı̨ c h ǫ LAND EXPLORATION AND USE PLAN CAN HELP YOUR RESOURCE DATA TO INFORM FUTURE DEVELOPMENT ON MINE PLANNING AND T ł ı̨ c h ǫ LANDS METALLURGICAL PROCESSING VAN DER WIELEN*, S.1 T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, Behchokǫ̀ , NT VAN GEFFEN*, P.W.G., and [email protected] BLUEMEL, E.B. Formed in 2005 with the signing of the REFLEX GEOSCIENCES, VANCOUVER, BC Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, Tłı̨chǫ Lands occupy an [email protected] 2 area of approximately 39,000 km in the Many mining companies are faced with central Northwest Territories between Great communication breakdowns between the Slave and Great Bear lakes. The Tłı̨chǫ exploration and development stages of a Government has surface and sub-surface project. This siloing is generally right on these lands. Once the agreement unintentional, as a typical project may was signed the Chief Executive Council change ownership several times over several (CEC) decided to put a moratorium on decades before it reaches feasibility and Tłı̨chǫ lands, not allowing new development development. Whereas exploration projects until the Land Use Plan was developed. commonly generate plenty of high-quality, quantitative data with great spatial The Kwe Beh Working Group (KBWG) was resolution, this information is often ignored established in 2010 to manage relationships in subsequent deposit modelling and mine to the mining and exploration companies planning. Instead, deposit models tend to that could impact the Tłı̨chǫ people in any rely to a large extent on subjective, non- shape or form. The KBWG is the first standardized, qualitative classification of contact in the Tłı̨chǫ Government to manage geological materials obtained through visual files such as IBA's with industry, Roads, HR logging of drill core, such as rock type, relations in mines, explorations camps etc. texture, mineral abundance, and alteration The KBWG is not a management authority, styles and intensities. When exploration but rather gathers information and reports projects advance to feasibility studies, the directly to the CEC. required quantitative data are then obtained through expensive metallurgical test work The Land Use Plan came into effect the first and detailed mineralogical quantification of June 2013, with it the moratorium was (e.g. QEMScan, qXRD). However, these lifted and Tłı̨chǫ Lands were open once detailed tests are generally only performed again for industry. Tłı̨chǫ Lands are rich in on a small number of large composite resources and the Tłı̨chǫ Government want samples, the results of which are to strike a balance between sustainable extrapolated throughout the deposit, development and ensuring the preservation

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 107 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 inherently underrepresenting the true spatial diamonds trap an anomalously high variability of the measured parameters. proportion of fuids that are “salty” or high saline in composition, with high Na and Cl Fortunately, the available assay data from contents. The origin of these “salty” fluids exploration drilling can play an important has been something of a mystery. Here we role in bridging this divide at relatively low show the first clear chemical evolutionary cost. Geochemical data obtained during all trend identifying saline fluids as parental to stages of the project provide comprehensive silicic and carbonatitic deep mantle melts, in data coverage at much greater detail and diamonds from the Northwest Territories, spatial resolution. Lithogeochemical data Canada. Fluid-rock interaction along with analysis can be used to quantify mineralogy in-situ melting cause compositional and geological processes, which in turn transitions, as the saline fluids traverse allows for the estimation of key mixed peridotite-eclogite lithosphere. metallurgical performance parameters that Moreover, the chemistry of the parental are required for accurate deposit modelling saline fluids - especially their Sr isotopic and domaining. Early-stage implementation compositions - and the timing of host of an adequate sampling program and full diamond formation suggest a subducting utilization of the data are essential to assess Mesozoic plate under western North the true mineral potential of a deposit. America to be the source of the fluids. Our Although a geomet assessment may or may results imply a strong association between not increase the on-paper grade and tonnage subduction, mantle metasomatism and fluid- of a resource, it can dramatically reduce the rich diamond formation, emphasizing the uncertainty and risk involved with its importance of subduction-derived fluids in development and production. impacting the composition of the deep lithospheric mantle. SALTY FLUIDS, SUBDUCTED SLABS AND NWT DIAMONDS DIAVIK MINE ENVIRONMENT UPDATE WEISS, Y.1, PEARSON*, D.G.2, MCNEILL, J.3, NOWELL, G.M.3, and WELLS, D. OTTLEY, C.J.3 DIAVIK DIAMOND MINES INC., (1) LAMONT DOHERTY EARTH YELLOWKNIFE, NT OBSERVATORY, NY, USA [email protected] (2) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, Since 2003 Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. has AB (3) UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, DURHAM, UK been mining diamonds from kimberlite [email protected] pipes located below the waters of Lac de Gras. Monitoring and mitigating our impact Diamonds from the Ekati and Diavik mines on the local environment has been a core have provided a wealth of information on value at Diavik since our initial discovery. diamond forming processes beneath the The mine was designed, and is operated, in a Slave craton. Fluid-rich “fibrous” diamonds manner to reduce our overall environmental trap some of the fluid from which the footprint and ultimately allow for a safe and diamond is growing and hence provide a efficient closure. unique means to characterize directly the fluids that percolate through the deep A core team of scientists and technicians are continental lithospheric mantle. On a world- responsible for monitoring the air, water, wide basis, Ekatic and Diavik fluid-rich

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 108 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 wildlife and regulatory compliance at the The Kennady North Property, wholly owned mine site. This presentation will focus on the by Kennady Diamonds Inc. (KDI) is located work of this dedicated team. 300 km northeast of Yellowknife adjacent to the DeBeers/Mountain Province Gahcho ADAPTING TO CHANGE: Kué mine site. Exploration on the property UPDATE ON ENVIRONMENTAL dates back to the early 90's, during which ASSESSMENT POLICY AND time several kimberlites were discovered. Since 2012 Kennady Diamonds has PROCESS INITIATIVES IN THE completed a number of geophysical, hand MACKENZIE VALLEY, and RC till sampling and diamond drill NORTHWEST TERRITORIES programs.

WHELER*, B., and In 2015, KDI completed a large diameter CLIFFE-PHILLIPS, M. reverse circulation drill program to bulk MACKENZIE VALLEY REVIEW BOARD, sample the southern lobe of the Kelvin YELLOWKNIFE, NT kimberlite. Following the RC program, [email protected] diamond drilling and ground geophysical The Mackenzie Valley Review Board is surveys continued in the Kelvin-Faraday responsible for the Environmental Corridor (KFC) and at various exploration Assessment process in the Mackenzie targets on the property including the MZ Valley, Northwest Territories, a process Dyke and Doyle Sill. which is designed to prevent significant adverse environmental impacts and to The field season started in January with the ensure the views of aboriginal people and completion of the Kelvin camp and the the general public are considered. With an construction of the RC drill icepad on internal goal of ongoing improvement, and Kelvin Lake. The pad and a seasonal spur the need to respond to legislative road off the Gahcho Kue seasonal road were amendments (e.g., timelines), the Review completed to coincide with the opening of Board has undertaken numerous initiatives the Tibbit-Contwoyto winter road and aimed at enhancing environmental facilitated the mobilization of two large assessment in the Mackenzie Valley. We diameter RC rigs operated by Midnight Sun will outline the organization's general Drilling Inc. to the property. approach and priorities, and provide an overview of its current policy and process A total of 446 tonnes of the Kelvin initiatives, including: guidance documents, kimberlite were obtained via RC drilling timeline tracking, practitioner's workshops, between February 19 and April 2. The bulk and transboundary cooperation. sample was processed via DMS at the Saskatchewan Research Council in KENNADY NORTH PROPERTY: Saskatoon. 2015 FIELD SEASON UPDATE One diamond drill commenced drilling prior WHITE*, D., BEZZOLA, M., HRKAC, to the RC program and two other drills C, and VIVIAN, G. commenced on the heels of the RC program. AURORA GEOSCIENCES LTD., A total of 31,000 meters of NQ and HQ core YELLOWKNIFE, NT have been drilled during 2015 to the end of [email protected] October. Drilling at Kelvin has focused on

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 109 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 geotechnical and related environmental in that they not only provide Aboriginal baseline work as well as further delineation parties with a voice in lands and resource of the pipe-like body with the aim of management, the agreements also spell out generating a NI43-101 compliant resource in how resource revenues will be shared. This early 2016. Diamond drilling at the Faraday session will provide an update on the work group of kimberlites delineated the Faraday of the Intergovernmental Council and 1 and Faraday 2 kimberlites. These pipe-like outline the resource revenue sharing that has bodies share a similar pipe-like structure and occurred to date. internal geology to the Kelvin kimberlite. Aurora conducted 8848 stations of ground GEOLOGICAL AND gravity and 521.32 line-kilometers of STRUCTURAL OhmmapperTM capacitively coupled INTERPRETATION OF THE JAY resistivity in the KFC, MZ dyke, and Doyle Sill during March and April. A 87 line- KIMBERLITE HOST ROCKS kilometer bubble seismic survey over the ZORZI*, L.1, CRAWFORD, B.2, and Kelvin, Faraday and MZ complexes was 3 conducted in September. FERGUSON, K. (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., VANCOUVER, BC Kennady Diamond Inc. is very encouraged (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., KELOWNA, by the exploration results to date and BC anticipates a successful and exciting 2016. (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] NWT POST DEVOLUTION – INTERGOVERNMENTAL The Ekati property is located above an eastward-dipping Archean suture in the COUNCIL AND RESOURCE central part of the Slave Structural Province REVENUE SHARING of the Canadian Shield. The bedrock geology comprises supracrustal rocks WOODWARD, S. (metamorphosed greywacke-mudstone GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTHWEST turbidites) of the Neoarchean post- TERRITORIES, DEPARTMENT OF ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND Yellowknife Supergroup that are intruded by INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, syn to post-tectonic plutons, made up YELLOWKNIFE, NT predominantly of granite, granodiorite, and [email protected] tonalite. In addition, five mafic Proterozoic As part of the Devolution Agreement, the dyke swarms, ranging in age from ca. 2.23 Government of the Northwest Territories to 1.27 Ga, intrude the area. The area is and the Aboriginal parties to the Devolution intersected by several mafic dykes, Agreement signed two other agreements: belonging mainly to the Malley, MacKenzie, and Lac de Gras dyke swarms. • The NWT Intergovernmental Agreement on Lands and Resources To date, approximately 150 kimberlites have Management been discovered at Ekati ranging in age from • The NWT Intergovernmental ca. 45 to 75 Ma, intruding Archean Resource Revenue Sharing Agreement metasediments and granitoids of the Salve Craton. In addition to the 150 kimberlites on Both these agreements are ground breaking the Ekati property, more than 240 confirmed kimberlites have been discovered to date in

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 110 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 the region known as the Lac de Gras settings of the Jay host rocks were still not kimberlite field. The kimberlites represent well understood. the only evidence for Phanerozoic igneous activity within the area. Kimberlites on the This work represents the first Ekati property show an apparent bias in the comprehensive geological interpretation of type of host rock they intrude and are the host rocks within the Jay pipe setting. commonly associated with faults or dykes of The proposed interpretation will be based on various orientations. the following:

The Jay kimberlite pipe is located in the • a detailed review, compilation, and southeastern quadrant of the Ekati property. interpretation of previously published It is approximately 25 km southeast of the geological work in the area; Koala cluster (including Panda, Koala, • interpretation of high-resolution light Koala North and Beartooth kimberlite detection and ranging (LiDAR) data; pipes), and 7 km north-northeast of the • high-resolution orthophotos and airborne Misery Main pipe. Based on available geophysical data; geological data consisting of geophysical • geological data from delineation and surveys, geological maps and borehole data, geotechnical boreholes drilled between 2005 the Jay kimberlite pipe appears to be hosted and 2007, and the recent 2014 and 2015 within post- Yellowknife Supergroup drilling programs at the Jay pipe area. granitic rocks, ranging from granite to granodiorite in composition. It is interpreted An implicit modelling approach has been to be emplaced along a regional lithological used to develop a three dimensional contact between granitoid rocks and geological and structural model of the Jay Yellowknife Supergroup metasedimentary pipe host rocks based on the preliminary rocks that were covered by a now eroded interpretation. Ongoing studies aim to veneer of poorly consolidated muddy decode the geological and structural controls sediments. A diabase dyke trending on the Jay kimberlite emplacement, along approximately east-west occurs to the north with its relationship with the nearby Misery of the Jay kimberlite pipe. Despite the kimberlite cluster. available data, geological and structural

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 111 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Abstracts - Poster Presentations Presenting Author denoted by *

PRELIMINARY DEVELOPING A LITHOGEOCHEMISTRY AND HYDROTHERMAL MODEL FOR GEOCHRONOLOGY OF POLYMETALLIC NI-CO-BI-AG- PEGMATITES OF THE HALL SB-AS-U VEINS AT BLANCHET PENINSULA, AND ISLAND AND COPPER PASS, IMPLICATIONS FOR REE SOUTHERN SLAVE PROVINCE, MINERALIZATION POTENTIAL NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

BIGIO, A. BURKE, J. UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, SAINT MARY'S UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS FREDERICTON, NB [email protected] [email protected] Polymetallic veins (Ni-Co-As-Bi-Ag-Sb - A number of granitic pegmatites on the Hall U), traditionally defined as “five-metals Peninsula were sampled in 2014 as part of association” veins, occur in the southern an ongoing study to determine the Slave Province and East Arm basin of Great petrogenesis and composition of the Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. At pegmatites, and to evaluate their Blanchet Island and Copper Pass, this style metallogenic potential, with a particular of mineralization was previously mined, and focus on rare metals, rare-earth elements, are being investigated in this study using a and/or gems. To date, whole-rock variety of bulk and microanalytical lithogeochemistry, spot mineral geochemical (geochemical and geochronological) analysis via laser ablation multiple-collector techniques. These mines produced a minor inductively coupled-plasma mass amount of cobalt, nickel and native silver. spectrometry, and LA-ICP-MC-MS U-Pb Similar style deposits, albeit much larger, geochronology on zircons and monazites have also been mined in the Thunder Bay have been completed on various subsets of and Cobalt districts of Ontario and Great the more than 70 samples collected as part Bear Lake, Northwest Territories. The latter of the project. This poster presents selected has been mined for native silver and preliminary data available from these uraninite in the past. At Blanchet Island, analyses to date. vein hosted-styles of cobalt-nickel mineralization occurs within carbonate sedimentary rocks of the Paleoproterozoic Great Slave Supergroup, adjacent to (and within) monzonitic sills and skarns in host carbonates. At Copper Pass, located in the southern limit of the Slave Province, mineralization occurs as massive nickeline

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 112 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 veins that cross-cut Archean metavolcanic funding to take care of many large archival rocks and pegmatite dykes. Maximum vein collections in its care. Two initiatives were thickness reaches 8 cm, parallel to a local launched to preserve valuable sample shear zone, both striking 50 degrees. Veins collections using these new resources. bifurcate locally before anastomosing back to a single vein. Localized uranium at The NTGS Geological Materials Storage Copper Pass is generally most concentrated Warehouse and viewing facility was the where veins cut older aplite dykes, and flagship project of these new initiatives. uranium levels reach 230 ppm within the This project saw the construction of a new vein-aplite margins. However, when 920 m2 cold storage warehouse, along with compared to Echo Bay and Eldorado mines the partial renovation of an existing building of the Great Bear Lake district, Copper Pass to provide a heated examination area for the contains low uranium levels. In-situ barren collection. The warehouse is designed with quartz-carbonate veins run parallel to five tiers of racking to store the NTGS core mineralized veins demonstrating no cross- collection, rock samples, sample powders, cutting relationships at outcrop scale. thin sections, analytical rejects, and other Nickeline mineralization also occurs as geological materials A narrow aisle forklift cements to breccias of altered country rock, has been acquired in order to stow and but this is generally preserved in float only. retrieve pallets of materials, and deliver Analysis of the host rocks, mineralized them to the heated viewing area. The NTGS veins, and fluid inclusion analysis will be core collection is currently housed out of conducted through transmitted and reflected doors at the Giant mine site, and is showing light microscopy and scanning electron its wear from this less than ideal microscopy to determine paragenetic arrangement. Over one person-year has been history, paragenetic overprint and fluid spent getting the collection ready to move generations. Micro-thermometry of fluid into the new warehouse this coming spring, inclusions will reconstruct salinity and and there is still much more to do. homogenization temperatures of source fluids. Raman spectroscopy and LA-ICP- NTGS also launched a core rescue program MS will compliment micro-thermometry be this year allowing four projects aimed at used to determine fluid inclusion chemical preserving core in the field. NTGS staff composition and evolution of hydrothermal worked on core from Kidney Pond (Gordon fluids as they relate to ore formation. Lake, Au) and Sunrise (Beaulieu River, VMS). Activities at these mineral deposits NORTHWEST TERRITORIES included removing core from degraded GEOLOGICAL SURVEY racks, cross stacking, relabeling or re- COLLECTIONS PROGRAMS securing box labels, fire-smarting core storage areas, and related chores. 2015: URGENCY TO PRESERVE DETERIORATING RESOURCES Finally, contribution agreements supported core preservation initiatives at two other CAIRNS, S. sites. At the Terra past producing mine, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL DEMCo minerals removed over eight SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] kilometres of core from ailing core racks, This year the Northwest Territories then relabeled and cross-stacked the core. At Geological Survey (NTGS) received new the Dharma diamondiferous kimberlite,

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 113 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 northwest of Great Bear Lake, Sanatana similarity of Talmora and other Lena West Minerals collected, relabeled and returned to chromites and the possibility that they may Yellowknife representative samples of the have a common source area. pipe. The core samples from Dharma have been donated to the NTGS and entered into The clustering method approach used was the core collection. Expectation Maximization (EM) multivariate normal mixture modeling with LENA WEST CHROMITES covariances parameterized by Eigen value decomposition. The Bayesian information DAVIES*, R.1 and DAVIES, A. W.2 criteria (BIC) approximation determined the (1) TALMORA DIAMOND INC., TORONTO, ON likely number of components in the data set (2) TALMORA DIAMOND INC., HOUSTON, TX, that make up the clusters and the optimum USA covariance matrix model. The Mclust V5.0.2 [email protected] program based on Fraley and Raftery (2002) Most chromites found in kimberlites are not was used to process TiO , Al O , Cr O , unequivocally kimberlitic. Many can be 2 2 3 2 3 FeO, MnO and MgO oxide assays. found in other rocks. They are found widespread across Lena West and are Cluster analysis of the combined Sanatana important on the Talmora property where and Talmora database shows that the Lena paleo-lateritic weathering has destroyed West chromites can be divided into two most silicate kimberlite indicator minerals overlapping clusters, one dominating the (KIMs). Dharma area with a restricted range of

compositions and is probably non- Most chromites in the area of the Dharma kimberlitic and one that has a wider range of kimberlite have a restricted range of compositions, is probably kimberlitic and is compositions, are not related to the found elsewhere across Lena West. kimberlite and may not be kimberlitic. Peak Although many chromites in the Talmora chromite counts lie to the southwest of area have compositions similar to non- Dharma and similar chromites are kimberlitic chromites in the Dharma area recognised in glacial trains to the WSW and many are significantly different and have a NNW and some probably reached the different source. Division of only the Talmora property. The number of chromite Talmora chromites into two clusters shows grains decrease down-ice from Dharma that even chromites similar to those that are indicating that elevated counts on the probably non-kimberlitic at Dharma could Talmora property must have a local source. also be just part of clusters that have a Some Talmora chromites are similar to those source in the Talmora area and are rare in near Dharma but others have a wider range the Dharma area. of compositions. There are no surface exposures of non-kimberlitic chromite The long train of chromites decreasing bearing rocks on the Talmora property. numerically and systematically down-ice of However, weathered kimberlite overlain by Talmora is strong evidence that the Talmora glacial overburden could be a source. area is the source of these chromites. The

source of the Simpson and Ramparts KIM Cluster analysis was used to confirm anomalies has not been found. The statistically the difference between “possibly similarity of the chromites in the train down- non-kimberlitic” Dharma area chromites and ice of Talmora to those of the Simpson and those on the Talmora property and the

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 114 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Ramparts areas suggests that they may have (Mackenzie Craton) under the Lena West a common source. The Simpson and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The final Ramparts chromites could be related to model was made public at 3D grid spacing those on the Talmora property through of 0.25 degrees longitude and latitude dispersion in a pre-Cretaceous basin. covering North America from 25km to 575km depth at 25km intervals. Extractions GEOPHYSICAL EVIDENCE FOR from this grid were made to produce east- GREAT BEAR FAULT ZONE west cross-sections.

DAVIES*, A. W.1 and DAVIES, R.2 The character of the seismic velocity (1) TALMORA DIAMOND INC., HOUSTON, TX, response shows little change from the south USA end of the Slave craton to the north end of (2) TALMORA DIAMOND INC., TORONTO, ON the Mackenzie craton. However, a major left [email protected] lateral displacement (~250km) of deep The Slave “Diamond Corridor” is a north structures within the mantle (~200km to northwest trend that appears to have below 575km depth) is recognized in the controlled the emplacement of the most region of the Great Bear Fault Zone significantly diamondiferous kimberlites of suggesting that the Mackenzie Craton is the Slave craton of northern Canada and any simply the faulted northern extension of the extension of the corridor is prime diamond Slave Craton. There are marked changes to exploration country. A northern extension of the character of the seismic velocity model the corridor into the Lena West diamond across the recognized faults to the south area of the Northwest Territories that (Great Slave Shear Zone) and to the north includes the diamondiferous Darnley Bay (Tuk Fault). and Dharma kimberlites requires major left- lateral displacements (~350km) that are not Regional sampling programs across Lena generally recognized and are not identified West have recovered widespread kimberlite in the surface geology. indicator minerals with good diamond association chemistry, including 18 Major continental scale wrench faults were diamonds in field samples. However, the recognized by Zolnai (1991) including the source of these indicator minerals has not Great Bear Fault Zone. Analysis of the been found. Extension of the Slave available geomorphological and geophysical “diamond corridor” through Lena West is (magnetic, seismic and gravity) information incentive for further exploration of the supports his ideas. Euler deconvolution region, focused on a north northwest striking analysis of regional airborne magnetic zone that includes Darnley Bay and extends surveys covering Lena West shows little south to Great Bear Lake. response in the near surface platform rocks but outline strong linear breaks coinciding with other evidence of faulting in the deeper basement rocks.

A seismic velocity model of North America data SL2013NA computed by Scheffer et al (2014) on a ~280km triangular grid shows large scale regional structures and confirms the existence of a cratonic basement

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 115 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

SLAVE PROVINCE SURFICIAL MATERIALS AND Our industry partners include the Canadian PERMAFROST STUDY Mining Institute Research Organization (CAMIRO), Dominion Diamond Ekati SUMMARY POSTER Corp, Diavik Diamonds Mines Inc., North Arrow Minerals Inc., Peregrine Exploration ELLIOTT, B. Ltd., Artic Star Exploration Corp., New NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT Nadina Explorations Limited, and TNT [email protected] Mineral Science. Academic Partners include In 2014 the Northwest Territories Dr. Martin Ross (University of Waterloo), Geological Survey (NTGS) initiated the Dr. Brent Ward (Simon Fraser University), Slave Province Surficial Geology and Dr. Stephan Gruber (Carleton University) Permafrost Study (SPSMPS) in NTS sheets Dr. Don Cummings (Carleton University) 76C and 76D. The SPSMPS is a two year and the Dr. Peter Winterburn (University of collaborative government –industry – British Columbia). This work was carried academic research project funded through out by or with support from Aurora the Strategic Investments in Northern Geosciences Ltd. Economic Development program of the Canadian Northern Economic Development The SPSMPS also included numerous Agency. targeted studies such as:

The main objectives of the SPSMPS are to: • A 3D indicator mineral entrainment study to show how indicators get from • Produce a 3D database of indicator source to surface; minerals to identify areas of high mineral • A 3D GPR survey of the Exeter Lake potential; Esker to better understand esker formation, • Advance our understanding of material transport distances and ideal glacial history to aid in mineral exploration; sampling mediums for indicator minerals; • Update surficial maps in targeted • LIDAR and drill assisted surficial areas; mapping of enigmatic landforms associated • Study the impact of climate change with glacial outwash corridors in the region; on permafrost and terrain sensitivity to • Drill assisted surficial mapping to inform potential infrastructure development. determine detailed local ice flow direction and glacial history associated with sourced In order to accomplish these objectives, 235 and un-sourced indicator mineral trains in boreholes were drilled to sample a wide areas with complex and poorly understood variety of glacial sediment, over 1250 surficial geology; samples were collected, and approximately • A network of thermistors was 240 thermistors were installed at 41 LIDAR established to determine variability in surveyed sites. In addition, over 1500 km2 of ground temperatures and monitor the impact field mapping and approximately 150 line of climate change on permafrost in a wide km of ground geophysics were carried out. variety of terrain types; Large proprietary indicator mineral and • A comparative surficial remote sensing datasets along with logistical geochemistry and soil gas study over a support were generously provided by our buried kimberlite; industry partners.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 116 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

• Developing and refining a reliable methodology for rapidly identifying The results for the most recent survey indicator minerals below 500 µm in size demonstrate the Flat River region's using hyperspectral imaging; anomalously high metal potential. For some • Developing a snowmobile towed commodities, such as tungsten and lead- ground geophysical method for rapidly zinc, this elevated endowment is well known determining overburden depth to bedrock. and represented by two world-class deposits, Cantung and Howards Pass, respectively. CRYPTIC STRUCTURAL However for other elements, intriguingly CONTROLS ON anomalous samples contain suites of METALLOGENY PATTERNS AS minerals including gold, cassiterite and sapphire grains that are inconsistent with the REVEALED BY THE known showing types, suggesting that DISTRIBUTION OF HEAVY further exploration for different MINERALS IN STREAM mineralization styles is required in this area. SEDIMENTS FROM THE FLAT RIVER AREA, MACKENZIE Even for the known mineralization, the MOUNTAINS, NWT. geology of this region remains poorly understood. Structural controls, such as faults, have been suggested (Goodfellow + FALCK*, H.1, MARTEL, E.1, DAY, S.2, Jonasson, 1987; Hart + Lewis, 2006) as a PIERCE, K.1, FISCHER, B.J.1, and mechanism for focusing economic MIRZA, A.M.1 (1) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL mineralization but rarely have the faults SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT been identified, nor has the history of those (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, faults been defined to substantiate the OTTAWA, ON hypothesis. Reconnaissance mapping and [email protected] geophysical surveys along the March Fault In 2014, a silt, water, and bulk stream have supported the interpretation of the fault sediment survey was conducted along the as a long-lived crustal-scale structure, which western Mackenzie Mountains by the played an important role in controlling the Northwest Territories Geological Survey mineralization in the region. and the Geological Survey of Canada, collecting material and observations from 190 sites. Regional stream sediment surveys UPDATED BEDROCK have been carried out over much of the GEOLOGY OF PART OF THE Canadian Cordillera using the National MISTY CREEK PALEO- Geochemical Reconnaissance (NGR) EMBAYMENT, MACKENZIE methodology including a grab sample of silt- MOUNTAINS (NTS 106B) sized stream sediment, and a corresponding water sample, at a target sample density of 2 FISCHER, B.J. one sample per 13 km . The methodology NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL also includes the collection of a coarser- SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT grained and volumetrically-larger samples at [email protected] one sample per 26 km2 for heavy indicator An updated bedrock map that covers most of minerals, which are picked for kimberlite the Misty Creek paleo-embayment in the indicator mineral grains, magmatic massive northern Mackenzie Mountains will soon be sulphide indicator minerals, and gold grains. available. The embayment began to develop

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 117 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 in the western Laurentian margin during the stratigraphic units include the Middle Cambrian period and persisted, episodically Cambrian Hess River Fm. being deposited subsiding, until the late Middle Devonian. It on a deep slope or basin floor by low- is defined geologically by belts of platform- density turbidity currents and including both to-margin transition facies that trace the waning-flow and hemipelagic muds, and embayment margins, and a NW-trending Cambro-Ordovician Rabbitkettle Fm. being belt of basinal facies that follows the basin deposited above but near storm wave base axis. on a slope prone to collapse and allodapic shedding. The Ordovician-Silurian interval Previously published maps are preliminary includes Duo Lake Fm., Cloudy Fm., and an 1:250,000 scale. The Selma project unnamed skeletal carbonate unit. Cloudy undertook to provide more-detailed Fm. includes two large olistostromes, one geological knowledge of the basinal facies. previously unrecognized. The volcanic Data were compiled from recent field work, Marmot Fm. erupted from two magmatic previously published bedrock and centers, the Dudley Lake and Porter Puddle stratigraphic studies by government and complexes, both of which contain extensive academia, and maps, stratigraphic sections breccia/fragmental facies. An unusual and structural data provided by exploration Middle Devonian mixed volcanogenic and companies. Interpretations were refined skeletal-limestone unit underlying Tsetso using radiometric data from a 2011 NTGS and Camesll fms is tentatively identified as a airborne survey. A B.Sc. thesis on the variant of lower Tsetso Fm. It indicates the volcanic rocks of the Porter Puddle complex proximity of Middle Devonian volcanism. was completed in 2013 by B. Williams. Black shaley lime mudstone of Early- Lithogeochemical results and a preliminary Middle Devonian Hailstone Fm. overlies map were published in 2014. The Duo Lake and Cloudy fms., and passes stratigraphy and metallogenic potential of upward into black siliciclastic shale of the the region was described in Forum Middle-Late Devonian Horn River Fm., presentations in 2011-2013. often with a thin intervening succession that probably correlates with lowermost Hare The map shows Neoproterozoic and Indian Fm. Hailstone Fm. in the Cambrian units trending NW-SE on either southeastern domain exhibits a lateral side of a central belt of Lower Paleozoic transition to forereef-talus deposits of basinal sedimentary and volcanic rocks. A Grizzly Bear Fm. Porous transitional NE-trending structural break separates the Hailstone Fm. in the cores of tight anticlines southeastern domain, in which a NW- in this area is identified as a target for plunging anticline-syncline pair adjacent to Carlin-type gold. Siltstone, sandstone, and a NW-trending fault exposes both the oldest shale of the Imperial and Hawthorne Creek and youngest basinal strata, from the fms. are the youngest strata in the map area. northwestern part of the embayment, where major folds plunge SE. Platformal strata are present in the southeastern domain and east- central area, including a narrow belt folded around a core of basinal strata in the central area.

Refined interpretations of some of the

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 118 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

GEOSCIENCE TOOLS FOR INTEGRATED FREEZE CORE - SUPPORTING ITRAX MICRO-XRF SCANNING ENVIRONMENTAL RISK AS A NON-DESTRUCTIVE ASSESSMENT OF METAL METHOD TO DETERMINE MINING BASELINE GEOCHEMICAL CONCENTRATIONS: 1 GALLOWAY*, J.M. and PATTERSON, PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM R.T.2 (1) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA / MILNER AND DAIGLE LAKE, COMMISSION GÉOLOGIQUE DU CANADA, YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST CALAGARY, AB TERRITORIES (2) DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON 1 [email protected] GREGORY*, B.R.B. , PATTERSON, 1 2 3 We present new research plans to apply an R.T. , GALLOWAY, J.M. , FALCK, H. , 4 1 innovative, multidisciplinary research SETTERFIELD, T. , NASSER, N.A. , 1 methodology to reconstruct variations in and MACUMBER, A.L. climate, geochemistry, permafrost, and (1) OTTAWA-CARLETON GEOSCIENCE CENTRE - DEPARTMENT OF EARTH ecology over the past ~1000 years along a SCIENCES, OTTAWA, ON north-south transect from Yellowknife, (2) GEOLOICAL SURVEY CANADA - NWT, to Hope Bay, NU, in the Slave NATIONAL RESOURCES CANADA, CALGARY, Geological Province. The project mandate is AB to assess the cumulative effects of natural (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT and human-driven changes, particularly (4) TERRAX MINERALS INC., NEPEAN, ON climate change, on the transport and fate of [email protected] metals and health of regional ecosystems in The Northwest Territories “Mine Site areas of high resource potential in the Reclamation Policy” stipulates that Canadian North. Using an integrated companies must return environmental paleoecological-geochemical modeling and systems impacted by mining operations to traditional knowledge approach, this study pre-disturbance conditions. As part of this will be focused on three areas; Yellowknife, policy, “Mine Closure and Reclamation Courageous Lake, and Hope Bay. Sediment Plans” are required before the initiation of cores will be collected from lakes and mining operations. Understanding the permafrost peatlands and analyzed using a baseline concentrations of contaminants variety of proxies. Using our results in from natural and anthropogenic sources is conjunction with existing regional data we paramount to the development of a will establish geochemical baselines in remediation plan. The sedimentary record of sediments and soils, as well as assess and local lacustrine basins is one setting where predict the potential impact of climate the dynamics of prior-contamination vs. change and land disturbance on natural elemental concentrations can be environmental metal fluxes. This research examined. Given the low-sedimentation rate will support and improve decision making, lakes common in the subarctic, the high- environmental stewardship, and Canada's resolution analysis required to decouple regulatory processes to ensure sustainable anthropogenic and natural variations in development of Canada's North. metals of interest (e.g. As) can be technically difficult. Developing analytical

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 119 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 protocols that can be used to rapidly and cores were collected in June 2015 from cost-effectively determine environmental Milner and Daigle lakes, fifteen kilometres baseline conditions will greatly aid mine north of Yellowknife, with the assistance of developers and policy makers when TerraX Minerals Inc. We designed custom- establishing both discharge concentrations built refrigerated containment vessels and “Mine Closure and Reclamation Plans”. suitable for keeping sediment cores frozen during ITRAX scanning. These containment Many of the conventional coring vessels kept 10 cm long freeze core methodologies used in lake studies tend to segments frozen for > 1 hour, sufficient time homogenize the upper sedimentary record to scan freeze cores at 0.5 mm resolution. As and in low sedimentation rate environments ITRAX micro-XRF scanning is non- this will obscure any anthropogenically destructive, the scanned material from freeze produced contaminant signals. Freeze coring cores can be used for other purposes. The solves this issue by freezing sediment in situ scanned sediment from Daigle and Milner to preserve the soupy sediment-water lakes was sent to ACME labs for ICP-MS interface, as well as the sediment analysis, and the results used for stratigraphy. Unfortunately, freeze cores, comparative and calibration purposes. The typically do not provide enough sedimentary results of this research indicated that ITRAX material to obtain traditional geochemical micro-XRF core scanning of freeze cores is analysis (ICP-MS) results at a resolution a viable and inexpensive alternative to ICP- adequate to identify possible anthropogenic MS analysis. influences. Analyzing sediment cores using ICP-MS at high resolution (mm-scale) can SURFICIAL GEOLOGY also be prohibitively expensive. The ITRAX MAPPING FROM HIGH- high-resolution x-ray-fluorescence core RESOLUTION LIDAR AND scanner (micro-XRF) can be used to rapidly analyze sediment cores at sub-mm ORTHOPHOTOS IN THE LAC resolution for a fraction of the cost of ICP- DE GRAS AREA - MS. Although the results of micro-XRF are PRELIMINARY RESULTS only semi-quantitative due to issues with sediment heterogeneity, moisture content HAIBLEN*, A.M.1, WARD, B.C.1, and and topography-induced artefacts, recent NORMANDEAU, P.X.2 studies have been able to generate (1) SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, BURNABY, quantitative elemental concentrations by BC (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL calibrating micro-XRF data to quantitative SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT geochemical results obtained from selected [email protected] core intervals. The Geological Survey of Canada, as a part of the Slave Province National Mapping Prior to this research, freeze cores have not programme, produced the only published been analyzed using a micro-XRF due to the surficial geology maps of the Lac de Gras long scan times required. ITRAX micro- area, Northwest Territories in the mid- XRF analysis is conducted at room 1990s. The Laurentide ice sheet glaciated temperature, and freeze cores rapidly lose the area, and these glacial deposits can mask their integrity once they begin to melt. To kimberlite pipes. Thus, locating kimberlite develop a procedure for analysing freeze deposits by drift prospecting requires cores with a micro-XRF scanner, freeze detailed knowledge of the surficial geology

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 120 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 and glacial history. We mapped the surficial corridors were formed by subglacial geology of the Ursula Lake area, on the meltwater flow. This is because glaciofluvial north side of Lac de Gras, at a scale of 1:20 deposition almost exclusively occurs within 000 using high-resolution orthophotos and a corridors, very little till is found within one metre LiDAR digital elevation model corridors and the corridors have an obtained by Dominion Diamond Ekati undulating elevation profile in the direction Corporation. Fifteen days of field mapping of ice flow. Eskers also have an undulating was also carried out in the area. elevation profile in the down-flow direction and thus must have at least in part formed in LiDAR and orthophoto data can be subglacial channels. Water must have played combined to create three-dimensional a role in the deposition of the well-stratified computer images. This allows us to examine patches of sediment found on some mounds, the systematic spatial relationships between however, the mounds may not be solely the different surficial materials and landform product of subglacial meltwater flow. Ice types in more detail than has previously flow mapping confirms the previous glacial been possible. In the Ursula Lake area many history. Surficial mapping and a thorough meltwater corridors can be identified in the understanding of sediment transport and high-resolution imagery. These corridors are depositional processes is critical if typically 300-1500 m wide, forming a kimberlite indicator mineral data is to be dendritic network. Between the corridors, accurately interpreted. sandy till of varying thickness overlies bedrock. Within corridors, glaciofluvial MYCORRHIZAL DENSITY AND landforms and scoured bedrock are INOCULATION POTENTIAL OF common. Eskers are only present within SOILS OBTAINED FROM THE corridors in the map area. Also associated with corridors are common enigmatic TRUCK LAKE CHANNEL: A mounds. These mounds are commonly SITE AT THE REMEDIATED found in groups and are typically 20-100 m COLOMAC MINE wide and rise 5-15 m above the surrounding area. Some are elongated in the direction of HAMP*, R.1, STEVENS, K.1, ice flow while others are symmetrical or MACCOLL, K.1, ERENFELLNER, W.1, elongated at an angle to ice flow direction. HEWITT, M.3, and RICHARDSON, A.3 The mounds are typically composed of an (1) DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, WILFRID unstratified to weakly-stratified sandy LAURIER UNIVERSITY, WATERLOO, ON (2) FLAT RIVER CONSULTING, SUDBURY, ON diamicton containing no clay and minor silt. (3) CONTAMINANTS & REMEDIATION However, patches of well-stratified DIRECTORATE, ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS AND sediments do exist on parts of some mounds. NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT CANADA, Variation in the sedimentology of the YELLOWKNIFE, NT mounds does not appear to be related to [email protected] variations in mound morphology. The Colomac gold mine, located 220 km north of Yellowknife, was operational from It is likely that the majority of the 1994 to 1999. During construction of the glacialfluvial sediments in the Ursula Lake infrastructure for the Colomac mine, the area were deposited during the final stages broad wetland between Truck Lake and of ice retreat across the area when meltwater Steeves Lake was infilled to permit volumes were high. We suggest that the construction of roads and storage laydown areas. Following mine closure, connectivity

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 121 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 of the two lakes was restored through the respectively. Relationships between fungal construction of a new channel that was colonization, soil characteristics, spore revegetated with local transplants and a density and sample site will be discussed. native seed mix. In 2014 vegetation monitoring was augmented with assessments MANTLE COMPOSITION of beneficial soil fungi. Arbuscular BENEATH THE DARBY mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are soil dwelling KIMBERLITE FIELD, WEST fungi that form symbiotic associations with most vascular plants. These associations CENTRAL RAE CRATON have been shown to affect seedling establishment and community composition, HARRIS*, G.A., PEARSON, D.G., and and therefore, may play a role in plant HARDMAN, M.F. UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB community establishment on disturbed sites. [email protected] As an initial step towards understanding the In Canada’s North research on cratonic role of mycorrhizal fungi in plant mantle composition has primarily focused community structure at the Colomac Mine, on the Slave craton. The Darby Kimberlite we quantified mycorrhizal inoculum field, located ~120 kilometers southwest of potential and spore density in soils obtained the community of Kugaaruk, Nunavut from contrasting locations in the Truck Lake provides an opportunity to study the mantle Channel including the channel proper, beneath the Rae craton. The kimberlites vegetated islands within the channel and erupt through lithosphere belonging to the upland terrace area draining into the western margin of the Committee Block that channel. Mycorrhizal spores were extracted comprises much of the central Rae craton. from soils using the sucrose-gradient The field contains 8 kimberlite bodies. Five method. Spores were classified according to of the kimberlites have proven to be external morphology and density quantified. diamond bearing including the 12 hectare To assess soil colonization potential ‘Iceberg’ kimberlite (Indicator Minerals- Epilobium angustifolium and Phalaris press release). arundinacea seedlings were transplanted to soils obtained from the site and grown under Mantle xenoliths were collected from controlled conditions. Harvested roots were kimberlite float above proven kimberlite fixed, stained and examined for fungal targets, across the property. Most of the colonization using light microscopy and surface kimberlite is highly altered and quantified using established protocols. hence the peridotite xenoliths they contain Fungal spores were present in all soil are generally serpentinized/deeply samples. Three morphotypes were weathered. Eclogite/pyroxenite was found at identified. Spore density ranged from 2-136 each locality visited. A total of 31 mantle spores/g of soil. Fungal colonization was xenoliths that exceeded 1 cm in maximum observed in plants grown in all soil samples, dimension (15 peridotites & 16 “eclogites”) ranging from 22%-90% for E. angustifolium were selected for mineral chemistry and and 6%-55% for P. arundinacea. Soils bulk analysis. Four peridotite xenoliths collected from the channel were analyzed by contained fresh garnet. Of these, garnet in ICP-OES for concentrations soil nutrients. one sample classified as harzburgitic (G10), Among the sample sites, phosphorous and giving a minimum pressure (geotherm 35- potassium ranged from 0-0.00126 g/g of soil 40mW/m2; Liu et al. Precambrian Research, and 0.00054-0.001646 g/g of soil, in press) of 4.7 GPa, while garnets from two

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 122 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 peridotites plot in the lherzolitic (G9) field. includes EPMA/LA-ICP-MS work on Garnets from a metasomatised dunite kimberlite concentrate, whole rock (olivine Mg# 90.7) fell within the (G5) field. geochemistry on the xenoliths, and Re-Os Six of the peridotites contain fresh olivine ages on the peridotites and whose Mg# ranged from 89.1 to 94.3, within eclogites.eclogites. the mean value of 92.6, typical of cratonic peridotites. Among the samples identified as POTENTIAL TIDAL eclogite in the field, clinopyroxene INFLUENCE ON compositions have low jadeite contents and SEDIMENTATION IN THE hence they are strictly pyroxenites. The garnet compositions of these samples fall in MOUNT CLARK FORMATION, the pyroxenitic (G4) and eclogitic (G3) MACKENZIE MOUNTAINS, NT fields (Grutter, 2004). HERBERS*, D.S., GINGRAS, M.K., None of the clinopyroxenes from the BOBEY, B., LAGRANGE RAO, M., and peridotites or macrocrysts passed the HARRIS, B. compositional filters of Nimis and Grutter UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB (2010) and hence no single pyroxene [email protected] The Cambrian Mount Clark Formation thermobarometry has yet been possible. LA- forms a potential hydrocarbon reservoir ICPMS analyses allowed Ni-in-garnet within the Central Mackenzie Valley (CMV) thermometry to be used on 13 peridotitic of the Northwest Territories, Canada. This garnets from 3 samples. Garnet T Ni succession lies unconformably over temperatures (after Canil; 1999), yield Proterozoic rocks and represents a complex temperatures between 1300-1400°C with the shoreline to offshore setting flanked by lowest at 1000°C. Using a preliminary paleotopographic highs to the West geotherm calculated for the Rae craton by (Mackenzie Arch) and East (Mahony Arch). Liu et al. (in press) to convert T to depth Ni reveals that the depths of these peridotic Although the sedimentary environments garnets were sampled from 180-200km, with have been interpreted as fluvial to shoreface, shallowest garnet from 145km, suggesting no evidence of tidally influenced these peridotites were sampled from the base sedimentation has been reported. However, of the lithosphere, within the diamond recent field efforts indicate at least one stability field. locale where tides constituted a depositional

agent. The anomalously high abundance of eclogite/pyroxenite xenoliths found in the During the 2015 August field season a Darby field (52% of the total number of previously undescribed outcrop was studied xenoliths observed) is at odds with the 2.3 km directly SW of the Unnamed Canyon abundance of eclogite thought to be present locality. The outcrop locality is herein in cratonic lithospheric mantle from referred to informally as Waterfall Ridge. xenocryst studies (~1%; Schulze, 1989). The Waterfall Ridge differs from previously high abundance may be related to the documented siliciclastic shorelines at proximity of the field to the proposed suture Carcajou Canyon, Dodo Canyon, Two between the Committee Block and the Lakes, and Mirror Lake in that sedimentary Queen Maud Block to the far West of the evidence of tides has been observed. These Rae craton. Further work on these samples tidal indicators include; 1) bi-directionality

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 123 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 cross-bedding (herringbone), 2) combined- abundance and occupancy of different flow structures, and 3) re-activation furbearers, ungulates and predators and surfaces. These units are sharp-based and changes in landscape structure and are intercalated with heavily bioturbated composition over space and time. Track sandstone. Laminated beds decrease in surveys were conducted on 5 routes around thickness and occurrence upwards, with the community of Tulita by snowmobile. bioturbated beds increasing in thickness and Tracks and other wildlife sign were recorded abundance. This is taken to indicate an by taking geo-referenced photos using three upwards deepening. The heavily bioturbated different devices, including a rugged hand- beds are interpreted to have been deposited held computer equipped with the between actively migrating dunes, which Trailmark™ mobile data collection sharply truncate the inter-dune bioturbated application. Location accuracy was similar lithologies. between the hand-held computers and GPS units with integrated digital camera, but MULTI-SPECIES MONITORING cameras with built-in GPS provided much USING WINTER WILDLIFE less reliable location data. The advantage to TRACK SURVEYS IN THE using hand-held computers with a customized data collection application is SAHTÚ SETTLEMENT REGION that all relevant information can be entered

1 2 directly in the field and uploaded to a remote HODSON*, J. , HANLON, J. , server at the end of each day. Experience SIMMONS, D.2, TIGNER, J.3, and 4 from the first winter of data collection WRIGHT, W. suggests that this technology could provide (1) GNWT-ENR, YELLOWKNIFE, NT (2) SAHTU RENEWABLE RESOURCES BOARD, an efficient and standardized means of data TULITA, NT collection that can be easily adopted by a (3) EXPLOR, CALGARY, AB variety of users. Having youth and (4) INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR, NEW harvesters work together to collect the data DOMINION, PE provides an excellent opportunity for [email protected] knowledge exchange. Data collected from Recent exploration activity in the Sahtú this pilot project and a previous track survey Settlement Area for shale oil has highlighted program conducted by Explor is currently the need to establish collaborative being used to determine appropriate monitoring programs to assess cumulative landscape cell sizes and survey segment impacts on wildlife. Long-term information lengths for different species for use in about the distribution and population trends occupancy analysis. This approach should of wildlife within and outside areas of allow us to assess and generate predictions current shale oil exploration in the Sahtú is about spatial and temporal relationships generally lacking for many species. between species distribution, population Development of standardized monitoring trend and landscape disturbance at a regional programs that can involve community scale. members and be applied at a regional scale by communities, industry and government will help to address this gap. A pilot study was undertaken in the community of Tulita in winter 2014 to initiate the development of a long-term winter wildlife track survey program to assess the link between

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DEFORMATION HISTORY OF prominent east-west foliation. Proximal to THE BLACK BAY FAULT AND the BBF, a persistent overprinting foliation IMPLICATION FOR FAULT- striking NNE is observed along with NNE dextral shear bands transposing the regional CONTROLLED U AND REE east-west gneissic foliation. Shear sense of MINERALIZATION the fault has been observed as predominately dextral, with Z-folded syn-tectonic 1 1 2 JAMISON*, D. , LIN, S. , MARTEL, E. , pegmatites and right step-up deformed 3 and PEHRSSON, S. J. feldspar porphyroclasts present throughout (1) UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, WATERLOO, the zone of ductile overprinting. However, ON (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL S-folded gneissic layering was present in SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT some locales, and sigma and delta clasts (3) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, indicating a sinistral shear sense were OTTAWA, ON observed. These sinistral indicators were [email protected] commonly found in regions with a large The Black Bay Fault (BBF) is a major degree of strain heterogeneity, likely northeast-southwest trending crustal feature indicating sinistral motion occurred initially in the South Rae province of the Canadian along the BBF and was subsequently Shield, extending from northern overprinted by later dextral reactivation of Saskatchewan (SK) into the Northwest the fault. Territories (NWT). Few studies have been completed on the BBF in SK, and have been Some boudinaged Z-folded pegmatites were focused around Uranium City, or around the observed, potentially indicating either late Hoidas REE deposit which is associated sinistral motion occurred along the BBF, or with splays of the BBF. The extension of the may be evidence of transpression. Quartz- BBF in the NWT is primarily based on filled tension gashes oriented sub- aeromagnetic surveys. perpendicular to perpendicular to the trace of the fault offer additional evidence of As a part of the GEM2 South Rae joint transpression. project with the GSC and the NWT Geological Survey, the continuation of the Unlike what has been observed around BBF into the NWT was examined in order Uranium City, minimal brittle deformation to better understand its deformation history was observed in the NWT to date, and only and potential implication for U and REE a few areas with strong strain heterogeneity mineralization. During the 2015 field showed late brittle-ductile deformation. season, large scale 1:250 000 regional Compared to what has been reported in mapping occurred throughout the Abitau Saskatchewan, augen to straight gneisses are Map sheet (NTS 75B) and more detailed more common than mylonites near the fault, mapping was focused around Insula Lake possibly indicating differential uplift has and Tazin River, NWT. occurred along the structure. The region around the Insula Lake contained higher Preliminary findings support the metamorphic grade rocks compared to those continuation of the BBF through the NWT around the Tazin River in the south, further along the lineament defined by supporting a differential uplift hypothesis. aeromagnetic and topographic surveys. Domains bounded by the BBF are strongly Multiple radiometric anomalies were metamorphosed and often contain a

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 125 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 identified adjacent to the BBF with mineral train that has a known source, with mineralization zones running parallel to the the Coppermine indicator mineral train that fault, likely along splays similar to what is has an unknown source. The study will take observed in SK. Near to the SK border, the into account the different ice flow phases anomalies are hosted by late felsic alkali that are recognized in the area in order to intrusions while 100 kms further north, the decipher their net effect on dispersal anomalies contain mineralization features patterns. By analyzing the problem in 3D, similar to Hoidas, clinopyroxene-feldspar- we hope to better understand the possible allanite-magnetite veins hosted in a syenite. effect of older ice flow phases and sediment Further research will focus on constraining re-entrainment processes on the formation of the timing of deformation, and examine the dispersal trains that appear to be detached northern continuation of the BBF. from their source. Subsurface samples from reverse circulation (RC) drilling, surficial till GLACIAL DYNAMICS, samples, as well as groove and striation SEDIMENT DISPERSION, AND measurements, and mapping of landforms PRELIMINARY 3D provide the necessary information to address these questions. FRAMEWORK NEAR LAC DE GRAS, NWT: YEAR 1 RESULTS Preliminary results are focused on the ice flow history of the study area. Striation and 1 1 JANZEN*, R.J.D. , KELLEY, S.E. , groove measurements record three main 1 2 ROSS, M. , NORMANDEAU, P.X. , and regional ice flow directions. The earliest ice 2 ELLIOTT, B. flow observed is to the southwest at 244°. (1) UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, WATERLOO, The second recognized ice flow is to the ON (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL west at 269°. The third, and most recent ice SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT flow was measured at 305° toward the [email protected] northwest. The third flow is prevalent The discovery rate of near-surface economic accounting for 77% of all observations and kimberlites is declining and exploration has is the dominant direction of the main KIM shifted to more complex settings and targets dispersal trains in the area. There was also masked by thick glacial sediment cover. In an indistinct fourth flow observed at 6° addition, a number of known dispersal trains north. This has been interpreted as either 1) still have no source identified. New late stage ice flow during deglaciation, 2) innovative techniques and new knowledge early ice flow, or 3) relics from a previous about the glacial geology are needed. The glacial event. The SW flow was a strong ice purpose of this study is to further investigate flow phase; yet its net effect on surficial the surficial geology and dispersal patterns dispersal trains in the area are not clear. The in the vicinity of Lac de Gras, NT (NTS map subsurface RC data will, hopefully, bring sheets 76D 6 & 11) and integrate the third new insights into this problem. dimension by adding subsurface (3D) stratigraphy, depth-to-bedrock, and KIM data. A research study involving 3D modelling is being undertaken to create a local reconstruction of glacial ice movement and sediment deposition. One key objective is to compare the Monument indicator

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ECOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO An investigation into subfossil Cladocera LEGACY CONTAMINANTS assemblage changes in Pocket Lake revealed FROM HISTORIC GOLD that arsenic contamination from Giant Mine had dramatic ecological consequences, and MINING OPERATIONS IN that Cladocera were especially vulnerable. YELLOWKNIFE LAKES Cladocera were functionally extirpated from Pocket Lake at the height of arsenic 1 2 KOROSI*, J.B. , PALMER, M.J. , contamination, and have not recovered 3 1 SMOL, J.P. , and BLAIS, J.M. despite decades of emission abatement (1) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, ON measures. We recognize that Pocket Lake is (2) GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, YELLOWKNIFE, NT among the most highly impacted lakes in the (3) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON Yellowknife region, and may represent an [email protected] isolated case. Our objective is to determine The scale of arsenic contamination in if Pocket Lake is in fact an extreme example Yellowknife lakes located near Giant Mine of catastrophic ecological impacts from and Con Mine is known to be extensive, yet Giant Mine, or representative of a wider the ecological impacts of long-term trend in mining-impacted lakes using a “top- exposure to arsenic contamination are bottom” paleolimnological approach. We poorly characterized at present. A lack of analyzed subfossil Cladocera in a “top” baseline data prior to the development of sediment interval representing modern day Giant Mine severely hinders our ability to conditions, and a “bottom” sediment interval assess the ecological response of lakes deposited prior to the onset of gold mining impacted by legacy mining activities. operations in a set of 25 Yellowknife lakes, Several groups of biological organisms that to provide a snapshot of regional changes in are key ecological indicators leave Cladocera since pre-industrial times. The identifiable remains preserved in lake use of a “top-bottom” approach allows for sediments. Consequently, lake sediment the analysis of a larger number of lakes, cores can be used to reconstruct these encompassing greater variability in lake missing data (the field of paleolimnology) to physical and chemical properties, in order to provide a long-term assessment of capture the nuances in arsenic toxicity to ecosystem changes in lakes impacted by Cladocera. This will be supplemented by gold mining. In particular, the analysis of analyses of detailed sediment cores at high subfossil Cladocera (microcrustaceans) can temporal resolution in 5-7 strategically provide critical insights into the long-term selected lakes, to directly link the timing of ecological effects of arsenic exposure in changes in subfossil Cladocera to increases Yellowknife lakes. Cladocera are an in sedimentary arsenic, and to identify any important trophic link in aquatic food webs additional assemblage shifts not evident in as primary consumers on algae and detritus, the “top-bottom” analysis. Using this and as a food source for planktivorous fish approach, we can assess the potential and invertebrate predators. Several taxa are resilience of freshwater ecosystems to used as model organisms in classical contaminant inputs from mining activities, toxicology studies, including toxicity tests filling an important knowledge gap as we for arsenic, allowing us to directly apply move forward in understanding the long- knowledge obtained from laboratory studies term fate of lakes impacted by legacy to the interpretation of changes in subfossil contamination in the Yellowknife area. Cladocera from arsenic-contaminated lakes.

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APPLICATION OF FE-TI OXIDE compositions of macrocrysts vary for DISSOLUTION EXPERIMENTS different mantle sources but rims converge TO THE PETROGENESIS OF to a composition slightly more oxidized and Mg-rich than chromite from depleted THE EKATI DIAMOND MINE peridotite. Ilmenite commonly has rims KIMBERLITES, NORTHWEST composed of perovskite, titanite and MUM. TERRITORIES, CANADA We suggest a model where the kimberlite melt composition is controlled by the co- KRESSALL, R.1, FEDORTCHOUK, Y.1, dissolution and co-precipitation of silicates MCCAMMON, C.2, and ELLIOTT*, B.3 (predominantly orthopyroxene and olivine) (1) DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, to explain chromite evolution in kimberlites. DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY, HALIFAX, NS Resorption-related surface features on (2) BAYERISCHES GEOINSTITUT, UNIVERSITY OF BAYREUTH, BAYREUTH chromite macrocrysts show trigon (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL protrusions-depressions on {111} faces and SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT step-like features along the crystal edges [email protected] resembling products of experiments in H2O Composition of kimberlites is ambiguous fluid. We propose predominantly H2O due to assimilation and fractional magmatic fluid in Ekati kimberlites. crystallization. We propose that the evolution history of minerals can be used to SEDIMENTOLOGY AND decipher the magmatic history of ICHNOLOGY OF THE MIXED kimberlites. We use Fe-Ti oxides (chromite and ilmenite) from six kimberlites from the CARBONATE AND Ekati Diamond Mine and dissolution SILICICLASTIC BEDS OF THE experiments to elucidate the petrogenesis of MOUNT CLARK FORMATION kimberlites. Experiments at 0.1 MPa and AT DODO CANYON, variable ƒO2s in a diopside-anorthite melt MACKENZIE MOUNTAINS, NT. show that the dissolution rate of ilmenite is highly sensitive to ƒO2. No significant LAGRANGE*, M., HERBERS, D., and difference was observed in chromite. Zoning GINGRAS, M.K. in chromite is related to the Fe-content and UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, AB oxidation state of the melt. Experiments at 1 [email protected] GPa explore the development of chromite The Cambrian Mount Clark and Mount Cap surface resorption features in the system Ca- formations are present in the Mackenzie Mg-Si-H-C-O. Five kimberlites contain a Mountains of the Northwest Territories. The low abundance of ilmenite, owing to a Mount Clark Formation is composed relatively high ƒO2, though ilmenite primarily of sandstone, whereas the constituted 65% of oxide macocrysts in one overlying Mount Cap Formation comprises kimberlite. Chromite compositions evolve shale, dolostone, and limestone. These from Mg-chromite to magnesio-ulvöspinel- formations outcrop at Dodo Canyon, in the magnetite (MUM) in all but one kimberlite northeastern Mackenzie Mountains of the where chromite evolves to a pleonaste Northwest Territories. Previous work has composition perhaps as a result of rapid focused on the Dodo Canyon section within emplacement. The high abundance of MUM a larger regional mapping program starting spinel and low abundance of ilmenite in the with the Geological Society of Canada's matrix could be related to the change in the Project Norman in the late 1960s and early stable Ti-phase with increasing ƒO2. Core 1970s.

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after his preliminary compilation, unless At this locale, the basal 20m of the Mount specifically sourced by Dr. Bostock's written Clark Formation consist of mixed carbonate notes. This synthesis is therefore a snapshot and siliciclastic beds. For this follow-up in geo-compilation time derived from robust study, the Dodo Canyon outcrop was logged primary field data collected in 1979-1981, with observations focusing on bed 1983, 1985-1989, 1991, and 1997. It lithologies, contacts, bioturbation intensity, includes approximately 16,530 observational and trace fossils. Representative samples of station sites, 17,500 rock type / lithologic each lithofacies were collected. Hand descriptions, 26,000 structural and 500 sample descriptions were complemented by kinematic indicator measurements, 11,400 petrographic analysis to characterize the samples, 2000 Pleistocene measurements grain size, sorting, mineralogy, trace fossils and descriptions, 200 economic mineral and rock type of each sample. Future work observations, 200 radiometric will involve assessing the environments of measurements, and many metamorphic deposition for the lowermost 20m of the mineral counts. Laboratory analyses include Mount Clark succession at Dodo Canyon representative lithology, silicate and ore and integrating this information into a petrology, mineral identification, depositional framework for the Mount Clark geochemistry, paleo-magnetic Formation across the basin. An enhanced determinations, and structural analysis of understanding of these lithofacies and their oriented samples. Dr. Bostock's then- depositional setting will contribute to a futuristic computerized data compilations better understanding of carbonate deposition used standardized data entry (initially punch and distribution within the Mackenzie cards for a main frame computer) and form Depocenter. the timeless ground-truth information framework for this synthesis. TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE TALSTON MAGMATIC The maps span from west to east three major ZONE: A RECONNAISSANCE tectonic elements: the Taltson Magmatic Zone (TMZ), the Taltson-Rae Interface (T- STUDY RI) and isolated parts of the western Rae Province (Rae). The TMZ - T-RI contact is LEMKOW*, D. R., and BOSTOCK, H. demarked by the sinistral Allan and Gagnon H. shear zones, the elongate Arch Lake and GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, OTTAWA, ON Gagnon granites, and the Berrigan Lake [email protected] anorthositic complex. The TMZ comprises A 1:250:000 scale synthesis of the Northern mainly north-south trending granitoid suites Taltson Magmatic Zone has been released with infolds and folded enclaves of Rutledge posthumously on behalf of Dr. H.H. Bostock paragneiss with minor metabasite. The as GSC Open File 7683, which encompasses granitoid suites include the western 1.986 the geology of NTS map sheets 75D and E, Ga Deskenatlata granodiorite, a middle and parts of 85A and H, and 75C and D. It is 1.955 Ga “Slave-type” monzogranite, which based on Bostock's published and is in turn intruded by the central Konth unpublished compilations, published figures batholith (1.937 Ga), several other late 1.938 in papers, primary field station data and –1.906 Ga granitoid rocks (Arch Lake, geochronology, but does not incorporate Natael, Othikethe Falls, Gagnon, and Benna geological data obtained by others during or Thy) and post-TMZ granitic bodies, a 1.882

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Ga late Gagnon granite equigranular phase Creek, a creek passing through the Giant and a 1.813 Ga Thekulthili syenogranitic Mine area, as one of its priorities. stock. Metasedimentary packages include the pervasive Rutledge River paragneiss The establishment and sustainability of which extends throughout the synthesis area diverse plant communities is in part and a lithologically similar unit, the Mama dependent on the presence of arbuscular Moose paragneiss (distinguished by absence mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). AMF are of tourmaline and graphite; youngest detrital beneficial soil dwelling fungi that form zircon 2.08 Ga) which is confined to the symbiotic associations within the roots of eastern margin of the TMZ and may be most vascular plants. Arsenic exposure, allochthonous. Within the southern T-RI, the associated with mining activities, has been tectonically isolated north-south Hill Island shown to reduce AM colonization, and metasedimentary package appears to be growth of several plant species. Impaired intruded by the also-tectonized 1.934 Ga plant growth and a reduction in AM Natael granite at the interface between the colonization potential could impact plant Taltson (west) and Nonacho (east) basement establishment and community structure in gneisses. In the northern T-RI the minimally Baker Creek. To assess the extent to which metamorphosed but folded and faulted plants and mycorrhiza may have been syntectonic Nonacho Group comprises three impacted by Giant Mine, soils were alluvial mega-cycles that rest collected from six sites along Baker Creek, unconformably upon fault blocks of the two sites at nearby lakes, and a reference Nonacho (and locally Taltson) basement site at Yellowknife River. Seedlings of gneisses. The T-RI is intruded by 2.437 and Phalaris arundinacea were grown in field- 2.227 Ga early Rae granites, and the 2.340 collected soils under growth room Ga Thoa metagabbro. At the extreme conditions. Plant growth and levels of AMF western margin of the Deskenatlata colonization were assessed after a 4-week granodiorite, a small exposure of presumed period. Plant performance was greater in Paleoproterozoic, uncorrelated quartzite is two of the three sites not receiving mine flanked by Quaternary deposits. effluent; root length and shoot weight were significantly greater in seedlings grown in AN ASSESSMENT OF PLANT soils from Yellowknife River (the reference PERFORMANCE AND site) and Reach 7 (upstream from the mine) MYCORRHIZAL INFECTIVITY but not Pocket Lake. Roots had less than 5% mycorrhizal colonization at all sites except IN SOILS COLLECTED FROM Yellowknife River and Reach 4, where BAKER CREEK: A WATERSHED colonization exceeded 20%. The higher IMPACTED BY GIANT MINE levels of colonization at Reach 4 may be related to a realignment of the creek at this MACCOLL*, K., HAMP, R., and location in 2006; these soils have not been STEVENS, K. exposed to mine effluent for the 60-year DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, WILFRID span that other locations have experienced. LAURIER UNIVERSITY, WATERLOO, ON A nutrient analysis of the soil did not yield [email protected] any significant correlations with AMF Giant Mine is an inactive gold mine located colonization or plant growth however, nine kilometers north of the Yellowknife arsenic levels were weakly correlated with city center. The Giant Mine remediation plant and mycorrhizal performance. plan includes ecological restoration of Baker

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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE possible radiocarbon dating anomalies. The ACCURACY OF RADIOCARBON shard morphology and major elemental DATES FROM THE CENTRAL geochemical signature of the tephra was used to identify the unit as the A.D. 833-850 NORTHWEST TERRITORIES White River Ash, produced by an eruption BASED ON THE OCCURRENCE of Mt. Churchill, Alaska. In this presentation OF THE A.D. 833-850 WHITE we discuss the implications that this finding RIVER ASH IN POCKET LAKE, will have on determining the accuracy of YELLOWKNIFE, NT age-depth models derived from lake sediments in the region. Particular focus will MACUMBER*, A.L.1, CRANN, CC.2, be placed on an assessment of the impact of CUTTS, J.A.3, COURTNEY FRE on radiocarbon dating in the region, MUSTAPHI, C.J.4, NASSER, N.A.1, and whether there is any variability in FRE GALLOWAY, J.M.5, FALCK, H.6, and through time. PATTERSON, R.T.1 (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON VARIABILITY IN SOIL (2) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, ON GEOCHEMISTRY IN THE (3) UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER, BC YELLOWKNIFE REGION (4) UNIVERSITY OF YORK, YORK, UK BEYOND MINE LEASE (5) GSC CALGARY, CALGARY, AB (6) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT 1 1 [email protected] MAITLAND*, K.M. , JAMIESON, H.E. , The Northwest Territories landscape is and PALMER, M.J.2 peppered by with innumerable lakes, whose (1) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON sediment infill archives the Holocene (2) GNWT - CIMP, YELLOWKNIFE, NT environmental history of the region. [email protected] The extent and characteristics of impact Tracking environmental change over from ore processing activities, particularly thousands of years permits determination of roaster emissions deposited around the City previous climate states, and rate of climate of Yellowknife, are not well understood. change through time. Proper interpretation This makes it difficult to define “natural” of paleolimnological records requires background conditions and gain a thorough precise chronological control, typically 14 understanding of the full effects of possible provided by C radiocarbon dates and/or 210 arsenic contamination. The cumulative Pb dating. Several potential problems influence of past mining and roasting have been identified with radiocarbon dates activities prior to the collection of any obtained in the region including: potential geochemical baseline data makes defining freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) that the environmental impact of past land-use produce anomalously old dates, and low challenging. To assist in characterizing the sedimentation rates which do not extent of contamination caused by mining incorporate enough isotopes into the activities, regional scale data representative sediments, making measurements difficult of potentially unimpacted and impacted or impossible. Recognition of a 3 mm thick areas has been collected in order to compare tephra layer in Pocket Lake, located within their differences in soil geochemistry. Yellowknife city limits provides a potentially important aid for determining the Target areas for soil sampling were selected nature of, and quantifying the scale, of any

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 131 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 based on their ease of accessibility, distance DOMINION DIAMOND JAY from the former Giant roaster, direction PROJECT INTEGRATED from the roaster with respect to prevailing ENVIRONMENTAL wind direction, and location with respect to past or on-going research. Within each ASSESSMENT AND DESIGN target area multiple sample sites were MASON, K.1, CUNNING, J.2, LEE, C.3, chosen with the primary goal of avoiding 4 disturbed areas. Sample sites were selected and SCHMIDT*, N. (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., CALGARY, AB based on the availability of various soil (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., VANCOUVER, units, as well as the quality and quantity of BC soil at site. (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI CORP., YELLOWKNIFE, NT Over a period of six weeks, 175 soil samples (4) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., EDMONTON, AB were collected from four primary units [email protected] found throughout the region; outcrop soils, When Dominion Diamond purchased the forested canopy soils, wetland soils, and Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest peat. Where possible, core samples were Territories in 2013, it was scheduled to close obtained from each unit in a sample site. In in six years when existing resources were areas where core samples were not feasible, depleted. Dominion Diamond saw new grab samples were retrieved. Various soil potential in the Jay Pipe, but needed it to be types were investigated at each sample site developed economically and to produce ore to compare the degree of contamination by 2019, to avoid closing the mine. Golder between the different units. Associates Ltd. helped Dominion Diamond develop an economic solution to extend the Previous and ongoing research in the area life of the mine, and provide an additional has been focused on the extent and fate of ten years of socio-economic benefits to arsenic and other mining-related Northern Canada through the development contaminants in local lake waters and of the Jay Project. sediments. A regional-scale soil sampling initiative will complement previous The top of the Jay Pipe is located under geochemical surveys undertaken throughout approximately 5 to 10 m of overburden, on the study area. This research will work the lakebed in a water depth of towards understanding the connections approximately 35 m. To access the Jay Pipe, between terrestrial and aquatic systems in the surrounding area will be diked to allow it the region by filling knowledge gaps in soil to be dewatered and the open pit to be geochemistry and mineralogy. It is hoped developed “in the dry”. The dike is a leading that new tools and methodologies to concept of the project, comprising a length differentiate between anthropogenic and of over 5 km and an estimated volume of natural forms of arsenic will also be 5,000,000 m3. The environmental developed and refined as a result of this assessment (EA) of the Jay Project was also work. integrated with the design through the application of efficient and innovative methods. The aggressive schedule for the EA/Design Project meant that timelines needed to be compressed. Engineering and environmental teams collaborated

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 132 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 continuously as the project and surficial sediments deposited during environmental mitigation details evolved. previous glaciation(s), successive marine inundation and emergence, and addresses a The Ekati Mine employs approximately number of scientific questions relevant to 1,400 people, including 600 contractors, of the mineral exploration industry. which one-third are Aboriginal and over half are northern Northern residents. It is the The area between Wager Bay and largest Northern employer of Aboriginal Chesterfield Inlet is characterized by swaths people in the mining industry. Closure of the of streamlined, thin and thick till extending mine would result in a significant impact on southeast from the Keewatin Ice Divide employment in the Northwest Territories; zone centered in the uplands southwest of the Jay Project will extend this employment Wager Bay, which are dominated by a by over a decade. mixture of till deposits, felsenmeer and weathered bedrock. Along the central Wager OVERVIEW OF SURFICIAL Bay shores, early and late ice flows into and GEOLOGY ACTIVITIES IN THE parallel to the bay are observed in the TEHERY-WAGER GEM-2 RAE landform and striation record and suggest the ice divide extended in a narrow zone PROJECT AREA, NUNAVUT inland south of the bay. Till deposits are

1 2 interspersed by a complex system of MCMARTIN, I. , RANDOUR, I. , southeast-trending sub-glacial meltwater BYATT, J.3, ROY, M.2, LAROCQUE, 3 3 1 corridors and pro-glacial channels. These A. , LEBLON, B. , DAY, S. , corridors comprise large eskers, outwash STEENKAMP*, H.M.4, and WODICKA, 1 plains, small irregular hummocks, short N. streamlined landforms, eroded till remnants, (1) NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, boulder lags, and scoured bedrock. OTTAWA, ON Continuous south-southeast-trending eskers, (2) UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL, parallel to late striations, cross-cut the MONTRÉAL, QC corridors and streamlined till in the central (3) UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK, part of the region, and may be recessional FREDERICTON, NB (4) CANADA-NUNAVUT GEOSCIENCE OFFICE, features that formed after Daly Bay and IQALUIT, NU Roes Welcome Sound became ice-free. The [email protected] limit of marine submergence increases from Targeted field work during the summer of ~119-125 m asl south of Wager Bay to 2015 in the eastern part of the Tehery- about 138-152 m northwest of Daly Bay, as Wager GEM-2 Rae Project area, mainland revealed by intensively wave-washed Nunavut, has provided an opportunity to surfaces, wave-cut notches, bouldery deltas, gather data on the history and pattern of high shorelines developed along esker glacial flow and ice margin retreat, to collect flanks, and circular trimlines around small till and stream sediment samples for topographic highs. Marine sediment veneers provenance and mineral composition, and to occur as scattered deposits between rock test preliminary remote predictive mapping ridges or glacial landforms in lowlands that (RPM) surficial materials classification skirt the coasts of Roes Welcome Sound and maps with field observations. The work was Chesterfield Inlet. undertaken to provide new geological knowledge on the nature and composition of Bedrock samples were collected for

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 133 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 cosmogenic nuclide dating on weathered non-invasive and environmentally friendly. outcrops under the ice divide zone to constrain the relative age of potentially The Northwest Territories Geological preserved (older) surfaces under a cold- Survey (NTGS) holds a large collection of based dome, and on wave-washed bedrock industry and government geophysical data to surfaces to date the timing of marine which value will be added by re-analysis incursion and subsequent retreat. Marine and interpretation. In addition, new shells were collected for radiocarbon age geophysical data will be acquired over areas determinations to provide minimum of high interest. The initial approach was to deglaciation ages. Till and stream sediment display the footprints of government- samples were collected to help evaluate acquired aeromagnetic data available for the mineral potential near geochemical Northwest Territories on a map with anomalies identified in 2012 as part of associated link to download the data. Later, GEM-1, to characterize the regional glacial the footprints of industry-acquired transport (provenance), and to support aeromagnetic and other geophysical surveys bedrock mapping in drift covered terrain. A will be added, and the archive of industry preliminary surficial materials map was data will be enhanced by the generation of produced by classifying a combination of additional products. Landsat-8, Radarsat-2 C-HH and C-HV and DEM/slope data. Its accuracy is currently The geophysical data submitted by industry validated with the field observations and in assessment reports is being enhanced and aerial photos that were gathered during the interpreted according to current industry summer of 2015. standards and user friendly softwares. The enhanced geophysical products are first GEOPHYSICAL DATA vertical derivative, second vertical PROJECTS 2015-2016 derivative, analytical signal and magnetic susceptibility. MIRZA*, A.M., and FISCHER, B.J. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Aurora Geoscience Ltd. performed two SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT types of geophysical survey for NTGS as [email protected] part of the Slave Province Surficial Geophysics is a subject of natural science Materials and Permafrost Study. These concerned with the physical processes and surveys were located approximately 25 km physical properties of the Earth and its SE of Lac de Gras in the Northwest surrounding space environment. It is the Territories, Canada. The Capacitive Coupled analysis of nature as it pertains to Earth, its Resistivity survey was performed with 5m environment, and its structure. Geophysical dipole length and Ground Penetrating Radar methods are very beneficial and cost was performed with 50 MHz RTA antenna. effective in the world of resource The main objective for both geophysical exploration. These methods enable surveys was to delineate the top of the surveying of large areas relatively quickly bedrock for future exploration of kimberlite compared to other scientific techniques. and economic mineralization. Different geophysical techniques can be applied to solve complex problems. The more physical properties that are evaluated, the less ambiguous the interpretation becomes. Most geophysical methods are

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 134 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

GEM MACKENZIE PROJECT: airphoto interpretation and fieldwork. The PRELIMINARY SURFICIAL RPM methodology adopted for mapping GEOLOGY MAP, WECHO NTS 85-O was based on the availability of remote sensing data and the authors' field RIVER, NTS 85-O, NWT experience of surficial materials and geology found in the region. The technique MORSE*, P.D., KERR, D.E., and builds upon experience gained in previous WOLFE, S.A. surficial RPM activities in adjoining areas, NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA, OTTAWA, ONTARIO 85-I, 85-J, 85-N, and 85-P. Preliminary [email protected] results show that bedrock predominates in The Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals the land area throughout the map (69.7% of (GEM) program of Natural Resources map area) and till veneer deposits become Canada provides a foundation for more prevalent in the northeast (12.6%). sustainable economic development in the Undifferentiated till (1.2%) deposits, though North, and the Mackenzie Corridor region of limited in extent, are more common in the interest represents the largest unmapped northwest. Glaciofluvial esker complexes (bedrock and surficial geology) area of generally form linear deposits trending Northwest Territories. The goal of predictive southwest, and vary in extent (2.1%). surficial geology mapping is to develop Glaciolacustrine sediments (12.9%) are timely first-version regional maps, validated common in some lake and river drainage in selected areas and reviewed by geological basin valleys up to 250 m elevation or more experts, which reasonably depict the where they are fine-grained, whereas distribution of basic or generalized surficial coarser-grained glaciolacustrine beaches and sediments, filling major knowledge gaps for deltas occur as high as 330-350 m in the northern industry exploration and northeast, likely defining the eastern limit of development purposes. glacial Lake McConnell. Remaining land area is comprised of wet organic deposits The Wecho River map (NTS 85-O) (1.5%) distributed throughout the map sheet. identifies surficial geology and associated Results from 100 cross-validations using landforms resulting from the last glaciation 75% randomly sampled data for training and (Wisconsinan), and from inundation about the remaining 25% for validation indicate 13 000 cal BP by glacial Lake McConnell at and average overall accuracy of the training the margin of the retreating Laurentide Ice areas of >97%. However, based upon Sheet. With continued falling lake levels due comparison of mapping results with to differential isostatic uplift, the lake first extensive field survey data, several separated from the Great Bear basin, and glaciofluvial deposits were confused with remained in existence until about 9500 cal bedrock. The final iteration of the map will BP, when the basins of Great Slave and involve some manual reclassification of the Athabasca lakes separated. The resulting glaciofluvial class. Future work in 2016 will ancestral Great Slave Lake continued to be the production of predictive surficial decline, towards its present elevation of 156 geology maps at 1:250,000 scale for NTS m asl, constrained by the Mackenzie River 85-O and NTS 85-K in the Canadian outlet at Fort Providence. Geoscience Map (CGM) format.

This preliminary map of surficial geology is based on remote predictive mapping (RPM),

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 135 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

HISTORIC CARIBOU TRAIL from orthophotos using GIS, assist in future CLASSIFICATION USING GIS trail digitizing and provide information AND GROUND-BASED about historic caribou movements through the Ekati mine area. SURVEYS AT EKATI DIAMOND MINE INTRA-LAKE ASSESSMENT OF THE UTILITY OF MULDERS*, T., NICHOL, E., COULTON, D., and PANAYI, D. ARCELLININA (TESTATE GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., YELLOWKNIFE, AMOEBAE) AS BIO-MONITORS NT OF LACUSTRINE SYSTEM [email protected] The digitization of caribou trails has been HEALTH IN FRAME LAKE, completed around the Ekati mine, Misery YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST haul road, Lynx pit and the proposed Jay TERRITORIES, CANADA. Project using orthophotos at a resolution of 1 hectare (1 ha; 100 m by 100 m) to identify NASSER*, N.A.1, PATTERSON, R.T.1, areas of zero, low, medium and high MACUMBER, A.L.1, GREGORY, occurrence of historical trails. A low use B.R.B.1, SABOURIN, M.1, MENARD, E.1, trail area was an area with five or less GALLOWAY, J.M.2, and FALCK, H.3 caribou trails, or trails covered less than 25 (1) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON percent (%) of the orthophoto cell area (i.e., (2) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, 2 CALGARY, AB 100 m ). A medium trail area was classified (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL as containing more than five trails but less SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT than 15 trails, or trails that covered less than [email protected] 50% of the cell area. A high use area had Frame Lake (FL) is a subarctic lake situated greater than 15 trails, or had trails that near the Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, covered greater than 50% of the cell area. city center. Prior to the early 1970s, the lake was considered to be a prominent city A ground-based survey of historic caribou recreation area, as it supported a healthy fish trails was completed along Misery Road population and, McNiven Beach was a well- from September 15 to 24, 2015. The known destination for swimmers on warm objective of the survey was to ground-truth summer days. Through the years the water caribou trails that were visible on high quality in FL deteriorated, first as a result of resolution orthophotos with particular air fall of As and other metals of concern emphasis on cells where trails were not from mine operations in the years before detected in orthophotos. The cells to be proper diversion procedures were put in surveyed were randomly selected and a place. The physical dumping of mine tailing Golder biologist, two community assistants waste and sewage into the lake over a period and Ekati Environment staff conducted the of years further degraded the lake, capped surveys. The field crew verified cell off by the restriction in outflow from the classifications on the ground by counting lake subsequent to the construction of a trails as well as habitat types that may limit causeway at the northeast end of the lake. the ability of historical trails to be detected Nutrification led to increased plant growth, (e.g., patches of boulder or bedrock). The oxygen depletion in winter and the eventual information will be used to verify the elimination of fish from the lake due to accuracy of desktop-based trail classification winter kill. The present-day lake bottom is

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 136 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 characterized by a highly contaminated and 17-1979). Miall's field mapping and well foul smelling sediment layer, locally up to core analysis of stratigraphy and 0.5 m thick. sedimentology was published in two GSC Arcellininids, shelled protists that are memoirs and five maps at 1: 1 000 000 and sensitive to As contamination, and other 1:250 000 scales. Vincent mapped proxies (e.g. trace elements, grain-size, loss- Quaternary deposits, but included on-ignition and water nutrients) were considerable detail about bedrock units in analyzed in surface sediment samples (n= two maps at 1:250 000 scale. Until now, 25) and freeze cores (n=2) collected from these data were not integrated into a FL in September, 2014. Multivariate comprehensive bedrock geology map of the analysis of Arcellinina faunas in these island. samples has been crucial for identifying impacted sections of the lake and tracking This integration was challenging as previous the response of Arcellinina to temporal geological mapping was done with reference changes in lake conditions. Preliminary to geographic features, not reference grids. analysis results indicate that As levels in FL Topographic maps have been refined since are high in surface sediment samples this data were plotted on the then current (median =270.8 ppm, max=1336.6 ppm, base maps, thus altering the form and min= 145 ppm) and freeze cores subsamples location of geographic features referred to (median= 159.7 ppm, max= 1538 ppm, by the mappers. Additionally, standard min= 8.2 ppm). In addition, down-core UTM coordinates have changed from analysis of arcellininids reveals a transition NAD27 to NAD 83. Moreover, images of from low diversity, stress-indicating scanned paper maps are distorted and digital assemblages (centropyxid-dominated) cartography permits much attention to deposited in contaminated surface layer details of geological contacts and their sediments to a more diverse, healthy lake interplay with topography. These factors indicating assemblages in sediments meant that every original mapped contact deposited prior to the introduction of As had to be repositioned and redrawn. contaminated sediment to the lake basin. The strata of Banks Island are divided into A NEW GEOLOGICAL four, primarily clastic successions bounded COMPILATION OF BANKS by unconformities. The Neoproterozoic Rae ISLAND, NORTHWEST Group is part of the larger sequence shed from the Grenville Orogen and was intruded TERRITORIES – CHALLENGES, by the Franklin Magmatic Suite. Paleozoic COMPLICATIONS AND carbonates of the Arctic Platform are present CONTRIBUTIONS only in the subsurface. The Devonian clastic wedge was shed from the Ellesmerian OKULITCH, A.V.1 and IRWIN*, D.2 Orogen. The Cretaceous clastic wedge (1) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, originated from the Laramide Orogen, and VANCOUVER, BC passes upward into the Eureka Sound Group (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOSCIENCE OFFICE, YELLOWKNIFE, NT of Paleogene age derived from the Eurekan [email protected] Orogen. Finally, extensive fluvial systems The geology of Banks Island was mapped created the Miocene Beaufort Formation almost 40 years ago by A.D. Miall (GSC which was deposited on a gently west- Memoir 387, 1974) and J-S. Vincent (Map dipping, incised plateau whose drainage

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 137 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 system mimics the Holocene to Recent WHAT IS NEW FOR SEDEX topography. DEPOSITS OF THE CANADIAN Gentle deformation and uplift took place CORDILLERA? between all successions. Open folds and normal faults of small displacements PARADIS*, S.1, DEKEMP, E.A.2, produced only shallow dips of most strata. FALCK, H.3, GADD, M.G.4, GLEESON, Thus topography is a reliable guide for the S.A.5, HILLIER, M.J.2, JAMIESON, interpretation of depositional contacts under H.E.4, LAYTON-MATTHEWS, D.4, glacial and recent deposits once the LYDON, J.2, MAGNALL, J.M.4, geometries of the bounding unconformities MONTSION, R.6, PETER, J.M.2, are understood. The NeoProterozoic- SCHETSELAAR, E.M.2, STAVINGA, Cretaceous unconformity is restricted to D.B.4, TAYLOR, B.E.2, THOMAS, M.D.2, southern Banks Island and is well and TURNER, E.C.7 constrained by outcrop data, as are its (1) NRCAN, SIDNEY, BC extensions to the east where gently-dipping (2) NRCAN, OTTAWA, ON Devonian strata lie beneath it. The (3) NWT GEOLOGICAL SUVERY, continental deposits of the Beaufort YELLOWKNIFE, NT Formation, however, lie on a surface of (4) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON (5) UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, considerable relief whose contours were AB determined by noting elevations of (6) UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, ONTARIA, ON exposures mapped in numerous localities (7) LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY, SUDBURY, ON primarily by Vincent. Relationships among [email protected] several glacial units and Beaufort strata Recent TGI4 research activities on SEDEX allowed extrapolation of the latter in most deposits in the Selwyn and Purcell basins of areas, constrained by the intersection of the the Canadian Cordillera provide new ideas basal unconformity with present topography. on the genesis of SEDEX and innovative Reworking of Beaufort strata in many areas techniques to better understand, model, and by fluvio-glacial processes was assumed to detect buried mineral deposits. Activities have not totally removed them. focussed on: 1) Establishing the physico- geochemical processes of the hydrothermal The resulting map revealed a greater extent system; 2) developing new mineralogical, of Beaufort Formation outliers across the geochemical, and isotopic tools toward western two thirds of Banks Island than vector to SEDEX mineralization; 3) previously mapped and refined the understanding processes that control distribution of all older units. This map surficial geochemical dispersion of metals nonetheless stands as a tribute to the around deposits; and 4) developing new meticulous work of Miall and Vincent in methods for regional-scale 3D geological gathering and interpreting the original data. modelling in sedimentary basins. Key findings are:

SEDEX deposits formed in settings with dynamic redox fronts controlling sulphide and sulphate precipitation within carbonaceous sediments. Zinc, Pb, Cu and other metals are leached from deeply buried clastic sediments during metamorphic mineralogical transformations driven by

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 138 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 increasing temperature and pressure during temperatures closer to the center of the lens burial. Close proximity to a carbonate and the vein system. platform was an important requirement for the mineralizing systems, enhancing access In an under-explored embayment of the to sources for saline, metal complexing Selwyn Basin in NT, carbon isotope brines. stratigraphy and whole-rock geochemistry identified a hitherto unrecognised mid- At the Howard's Pass (HP) deposits Cambrian metalliferous black shale that may (Yukon), sulphides precipitated from dense be equivalent to host rocks of the past- bottom-hugging metalliferous brines that producing Anvil district (YT). accumulated in a bathymetric low, distal to vent complex(es), and percolated into Methods developed for 3D geological porous unconsolidated sulphidic modelling of the Purcell Basin and Sullivan carbonaceous muds. At the MacMillan Pass Pb-Zn-Ag deposit (BC) enable the objective (MP) deposits (Yukon), hydrothermal estimation of the 3D geological framework sulphides precipitated sub-seafloor due to for future multi-scale SEDEX system interaction of hot (>250°C), acidic (pH = characterization. Combined mine and 4.5) metal-bearing hydrothermal fluids with regional scale studies can benefit from these H2S generated during a number of processes new 3D integration and modelling (bacterial and thermochemical sulphate approaches for developing basin architecture reduction, barite dissolution, and sulphate models for proximal and distal indications of reduction coupled with anaerobic methane SEDEX deposits (e.g., synsedimentary oxidation) in the carbonaceous mudstones. faults, sub-basins, cryptic geophysical At HP and MP, most of the Zn-Pb response, geochemical dispersal patterns, mineralization was precipitated below the magnetic anomalies of structures, etc.), and seafloor as replacement of early barite (at thereby increase the potential for deep MP) and fine-grained sediments (at HP and discovery. Results offer a new perspective MP) during early diagenesis. on geology that may lead to new approaches in exploration. At HP, the Active member of the Duo Lake Formation, host of the Zn-Pb mineralization, RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN shows a weak spectral response in visible- FOREST STRUCTURE AND near infrared and short wave infrared NEAR-SURFACE GROUND ICE spectroscopy (VNIR-SWIR), except within and adjacent to significant mineralization. A CONDITIONS, NORTH SLAVE similar pattern occurs at MP, where siderite, REGION, NWT muscovite, phengite and montmorillonite are 1 2 spectrally identified within the feeder zone PAUL*, J. , KOKELJ, S.V. , and 1 of the Tom Pb-Zn-Ba deposit. BALTZER, J.L. (1) WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY, WATERLOO, ON Micro (laser-assisted fluorination) sulphur (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL isotopes analyses of sulphides at the Prairie SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT Creek deposit (NT) reveal temperature [email protected] gradients within the main stratabound Climate warming or disturbance can thaw massive sulphide lens, with hotter near-surface permafrost causing surface subsidence in areas where ground is ice-rich.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 139 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Permafrost thaw can also lead to the whereas white spruce/white birch forests alteration of entire ecosystems by releasing remain relatively flat throughout all stages. water stored as ice, disrupting groundwater flow pathways, and causing soil In addition, the data suggest white disturbances and mass wasting. Terrain spruce/white birch forests are more ice-rich subsidence can also damage infrastructure in the near-surface permafrost than black and affect the well-being of people living in spruce forests. However, ice content is more areas underlain by permafrost. There has variable under white spruce/white birch been some work to model the distribution of forests than black spruce forests. These ground ice in areas of discontinuous results have applications for larger scale permafrost. However, there have been few efforts to map near surface ground ice from in situ studies in mineral soils of the boreal vegetation characteristics. forest, which compare the relative importance of several factors that influence LASER SCANNING ISSUES ON ground ice content. This field study was TUNDRA AND MAN-MADE conducted to examine the relationship SURFACES between biophysical factors and the occurrence of segregated ground ice in PEART*, C., GRUBER, S., and HEIM, permafrost underlying subarctic forest in the L. North Slave region of the Northwest CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON Territories. [email protected] With industrial development underlain by The objective of this research is to gain a permafrost and/or rising global better understanding of the ecological temperatures, there is an increasing chance drivers of ground ice in boreal forests with of the degradation of permafrost. Few fine-grained mineral soil. To meet this methods currently exist to accurately objective, data were collected at 20 sites to quantify ground subsidence related to the sample the gradient of ecological succession thaw of permafrost with surveying for two main forest types: black spruce, and equipment and terrestrial laser scanners white spruce/white birch. At each site, (TLS). With modern technologies it is micro- and meso-topography (hummock possible to measure smooth surfaces (e.g., a size, slope, and elevation), active layer, road) within a few millimeters of accuracy, forest structure (forest composition and however, in the natural environment it is not structure), and ground vegetation so simple. Vegetation, or any material that is composition was measured. At each site, 26 known as a surface cover, can interfere with to 32 cores were obtained (3 to 4 boreholes) the accuracy of the actual surface. Due to to quantify ground ice content in the top 1 m this nature, the definition of a surface is not of permafrost. well defined for natural environments.

Preliminary results suggest an increase in A Leica MultiStation (MS50) was used to permafrost ground ice content as the forest survey many locations in the Slave Province progresses in its ecological succession, with and around Yellowknife (Northwest older forests having thinner active layers, Territories) during the summer of 2015 developed ground cover, and greater canopy (June-August). The results (point clouds) cover. Black spruce forests have greater from the MS50 give an x, y, and z micro-topographical relief in older stages, coordinate of the point. The given results

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 140 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 produce the elevation (z coordinate), which UNRAVELLING THE can give an accurate representation of the KINEMATIC HISTORY OF THE surface. However, LiDAR is affected MARCH FAULT, NAHANNI essentially by four main factors: the geometry, instrumental effects, target REGION, NWT scattering characteristics, and atmospheric PENNER*, B.1, KENNEDY, L.1, effects. The geometry and the target 1 2 scattering characteristics will be focused on. HICKEY, K. , and MARTEL, E. (1) UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, The geometry deals with the incident angle. VANCOUVER, BC In general it is assumed that the lower the (2) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL incident angle is the higher the accuracy, SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT which is hard to achieve in the natural [email protected] environment, with the use of a TLS. The The present structural model for mineralized target scattering characteristics are strata of the Howard's Pass Pb-Zn district characteristics of the targeted surface (e.g., holds that deformation was largely the irregularity of the surface or reflectance) syndepositional and Silurian in age, and was that do not follow the Lambertian scattering later overprinted by deformation related to law. the Mesozoic accretion of the pericratonic Yukon-Tanana terrane. Recent work has led The primary objective of this study will be to the proposal of a new, postdepositional to build on other experiments that have been structural model for the strata of the Selwyn conducted (e.g., Kaasalainen, S., et al, 2011; Basin and mineralization in the region. The Soudarissanane, S., et al, 2007; Kaasalainen, March Fault, a high-angle, northeast-verging S., et al, 2005) to search for correction thrust fault that cuts broadly parallel to methods. The use of the computer folded Selwyn Basin stratigraphy to the programming language Python will be used south and east of the Howard's Pass district, in order to calculate the accuracy of the z is a component of this revised structural coordinate. The goal of this research is to model; however, the role of the March Fault determine how strongly the measured with respect to the structural geometry at elevation of a surface is affected by Howard's Pass and to its potential controls variations in incidence angle and distance of on the distribution of mineralization is the scan, as well as how the variations are poorly understood. Detailed structural related to the roughness of the target surface. analysis of the March Fault and associated With the proposal of this research a better penetrative deformation will provide an understanding of the incidence angle and improved structural context for further backscattering (referring to the direction of exploration at the Howard's Pass district and the scattering of the particle) will come to other Zn-Pb & Va occurrences to the be, and as such a better understanding of a southeast. surface in the natural environment. A M.Sc. project was created in spring 2015 to address the structural geometry of the March Fault and its relationship to regional ductile deformation in the vicinity of Howard's Pass. The goals for the first season were to (1) improve our understanding of the local stratigraphic succession, (2) acquire and interpret outcrop-scale structural

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 141 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 data, and (3) collect samples representative RECONNAISSANCE MAPPING, of both stratigraphy and structure for STRATIGRAPHY AND lithological and fabric analysis. Three zones MAGNETOTELLURIC SURVEY along the March Fault, southeast of the Howard's Pass district, were selected for OF THE BROCK INLIER, 1:7500 scale mapping based on previously NORTHWEST TERRITORIES identified structural and stratigraphic 1 1 complexity. Initial observations suggest that RAINBIRD, R.H. , CRAVEN, J.A. , 2 3 regional stratigraphy conforms to previous TURNER, E.C. , JACKSON, V.A. , 3 2 interpretations (e.g, Green, L.H., Roddick, FISCHER*, B.J. , BOUCHARD, M. , 4 5 J.A., and Blusson, S.L. 1968. Geology, GREENMAN, J.W. , and GIBSON, T. Nahanni, District of Mackenzie and Yukon (1) GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, OTTAWA, ON Territory; Geological Survey of Canada, (2) LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY, SUDBURY, ON Map 8-1967). One main northwest-trending (3) NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL foliation (Sm) was identified across all SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT mapping areas; this foliation is axial planar (4) CARLETON UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA, ON to centimeter- to meter-scale, tight to (5) MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTRÉAL, QC isoclinal folds. Locally, intersection [email protected] Our studies of Brock Inlier comprise an lineations of secondary folia that crenulate activity within the GEM2 Mackenzie Sm trend northwest-southeast and have project's Shield to Selwyn geo-transect: variable plunge. Other key structural studying the evolution of sedimentary rocks features identified include local of the northern mainland NWT to improve transposition of bedding into foliation exploration success. The Brock Inlier, an planes, rootless folds of bedding, uplifted region of mostly early boudinaged bedding layers, refolded folds, Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks and pressure-solution. Metamorphism is surrounded by lower Paleozoic and variable and ranges from friable, coarse Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, is located just grained marble and low-grade, lustrous east of Darnley Bay, Northwest Territories. phyllite, to coarser grained, micaceous schist It overlies the eastern edge of the Darnley with andalusite and possibly cordierite Bay anomaly, said to be the largest known porphyroblasts. Overall, the preliminary gravity and magnetic anomaly in North map pattern suggests lithological repetition America. Preliminary responses from 17 by folding, and older-over-younger magnetotelluric survey stations along an E- juxtaposition of strata by thrusting. A W profile over the anomaly indicate that the significant portion of strain was overall thickness of the sedimentary accommodated by volume loss and mass succession above it is considerably greater transfer through development of penetrative along the western portion of the profile and folia. suggest a conductive feature in the vicinity of the known anomaly. Our stratigraphic work has documented the first complete detailed record of early Neoproterozoic Shaler Supergroup and Cambrian- Ordovician Mt Clark, Mt. Cap and Franklin Mountain formations; sandstone, shale and carbonate rocks exposed along the Hornaday River. Samples of these rocks have been

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 142 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 collected for paleontological, BC, this interval is comprised of three units: geochronological and geochemical analysis. Upper Exshaw, Lower Exshaw and the Helicopter-supported regional geological Patry. Regional cross sections were reconnaissance and selected ground constructed and tied to the Patry b-23-K traverses in key areas of NTS 97A (Erly well to establish a stratigraphic framework Lake) allowed us to recognize for the Exhaw Fm. throughout the study inconsistencies in previous mapping and area. A comprehensive suite of maps and will help us to build new and improved data were compiled for the resource geological maps. This work will be aided by assessment. These include the following: analysis of newly acquired, high resolution depth of formation, gross and net shale remotely sensed and video imagery. isopachs (using a 10 ?m cut-off) and bottom-hole temperature. Calculated EXSHAW FORMATION STUDY – parameters that were not mapped include LIARD BASIN, NORTHWEST wt% TOC, estimated temperature and TERRITORIES, CANADA pressure gradients.

In the NT part of Liard Basin, the Exshaw ROCHELEAU*, J., and FIESS, K.M. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL Fm. is up to 303m thick and averages 3.35% SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT TOC. In general, it is thickest to the south [email protected] near the BC border and thins northwards. The Liard Basin covers an area of 8,400 sq. The isopach also thins dramatically at the km and straddles the Northwest Territories Bovie Structure, the easternmost extent of (NT), northeastern British Columbia Liard Basin. Using the aforementioned (NEBC), and the Yukon (YK) borders. resistivity cut-off, net pay is up to 270m Unconventional shale gas exploration was thick. The Patry member can be correlated first initiated in the NEBC portion of the into the Northwest Territories as far as Liard Basin in approximately 2009 where 60.6°N. At Bovie Structure it is absent and the exploration focus was on the organic is considered to correlate with part or all of rich, black shale of the Exshaw Formation the Kotcho Formation. The average (Fm.) A tri-jurisdictional resource temperature and pressure gradients are assessment of the Exshaw Fm. in the Liard 0.0411°C/m and 8.81kPa/m, respectively. Basin was initiated in 2015 by the Northwest Territories Geological Survey (NTGS), the BC Ministry of Natural Gas Development, the National Energy Board (NEB) and the Yukon Geological Survey (YGS). The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the NTGS study of the Exshaw Fm. in the NT portion of the Liard basin.

The Exshaw Fm. stratigraphy was established using core and logs from the Patry b-23-K well as outlined by Ferri and others in the BC Ministry of Natural Gas' 2015 Oil and Gas Geoscience Reports. In

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 143 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

SPATIAL VARIATIONS IN arsenic concentrations were identified: a ARSENIC GEOCHEMISTRY IN peak of 1000 mg/kg occurring at 3.5 cm SEDIMENTS AND THEIR below the sediment water interface (SWI) and a peak of 1500 mg/kg at 18 cm below ASSOCIATED POREWATERS the SWI. At the Martin Lake deep-water FROM LAKES IN THE site, only one maximum of 560 mg/kg was YELLOWKNIFE REGION observed, occurring at 25 cm below the SWI. Maximum arsenic concentrations of 90 SCHUH*, C. E.1, JAMIESON, H. E.1, mg/kg and 430 mg/kg were observed at 0.5 PALMER, M.J.2, and MARTIN, A.J.3 cm below the SWI at the shallow-water sites (1) QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON in Long Lake and Martin Lake respectively. (2) GNWT - CIMP, YELLOWKNIFE, NT The analysis of sediment porewaters from (3) LORAX ENVIRONMENTAL, VANCOUVER, BC the shallow-water sites indicates that [email protected] maximum arsenic concentrations occur Long Lake and Martin Lake are both located several centimetres below the maximum approximately 5 km downwind from the arsenic concentrations observed in the former roaster at Giant Mine; as such, these sediments. lakes may have received roaster emissions. In Long Lake, a sediment survey was Arsenic trioxide grains were identified by conducted to determine how sediment scanning electron microscopy in samples arsenic concentrations vary spatially and from both lakes and likely originate from with depth. In both lakes, sediment cores roaster stack emissions. In the shallow-water were extracted from shallow- and deep- site at Long Lake, oxides containing water sites to capture vertical variations in aluminum, iron, and manganese were found sediment chemistry and to identify arsenic- to be the dominant hosts of arsenic in the rich intervals. Additionally, peepers were upper 2 cm of sediments. Below this interval installed at the shallow-water sites to capture no arsenic-hosting phases were observed. In vertical variations in sediment porewater contrast, the deep-water site is characterized chemistry. Element concentrations in both by the presence of arsenic-sulphides. In the the sediments and porewaters were shallow-water site at Martin Lake, arsenic- analyzed. Polished sections of sediments sulphide was identified and the relative were examined using scanning electron proportion of this phase appears to increase microscopy to identify arsenic-hosting with depth. phases at select sediment intervals. Our initial results are interpreted to reflect The sediment survey in Long Lake indicates spatial variations in sedimentation and local that sediment arsenic concentrations are redox chemistry. However, additional work highest in deep-water sediments (>1000 is necessary in order to accurately determine mg/kg) and are lowest in the beach area the extent and nature of roaster impact in located at the eastern end of the lake (9 both Long Lake and Martin Lake. mg/kg). These values are elevated when compared to the arsenic interim sediment quality guideline of 5.9 mg/kg outlined by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). In the deep-water core from Long Lake, two peaks in sediment

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 144 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

CAMERA TRAPS AS A A VALIDATION OF MONITORING TOOL FOR HYDROACOUSTIC SURVEYS LARGE MAMMALS AT FOR FISH IN SMALL ARCTIC INDUSTRIAL SITES IN THE LAKES CANADIAN ARCTIC – STEVENS*, C.1, CLIPPERTON, K.2, STRENGTHS AND 1 2 2 WEAKNESSES NUSPL, K. , DAY, M. , MASON, K. , and LEE, C.3 (1) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., EDMONTON, SHARAM*, G., MILAKOVIC, B., AB BUCKMAN, A., ROCK, C., and BOL, L. (2) GOLDER ASSOCIATES LTD., CALGARY, AB ERM CANADA CONSULTANTS LTD., (3) DOMINION DIAMOND EKATI VANCOUVER, BC CORPORATION, YELLOWKNIFE, NT [email protected] [email protected] Camera traps are becoming increasingly The use of transmitted underwater sound for popular as a monitoring tool for large describing aquatic resources (known as mammals at industrial sites. Cameras are a hydroacoustics) has an extensive record of cost effective and low maintenance passive successful applications in fisheries sampling technique, but few studies have management. Projects with large aquatic been conducted with them in Arctic footprints or those with complex regulatory environments. During the last five years, we considerations may benefit greatly from this have tested the use of camera traps in tundra technology. The approach provides a non- environments of the Northwest Territories lethal alternative to standard fish sampling and Nunavut at six locations, using >400 methods and can provide a cost-effective cameras. We report on the strengths and means for collecting large volumes of data weaknesses of this monitoring method (such as fish abundance estimates) over through featured analyses to examine the large areas within a short-window of timing of wildlife movement, habitat opportunity afforded by project schedules in selection, distribution of wildlife groups and the Arctic. However, the application of collaboration with holders of Traditional hydroacoustics in the North is relatively Knowledge. We also discuss methodological new, with most of the current standards for issues of effort, habitat selection, capture the technology having been established in probability, sample size, and deployment. Great Lakes and ocean environments. We conclude that cameras can be an Dominion Diamond's Lynx Project provided effective tool for monitoring wildlife for a a unique opportunity to assess the validity of sub-set of wildlife questions. the hydroacoustic approach for estimating population sizes and biomass of fish in a small Arctic lake. Multiple surveys of Lynx Lake were performed using an echosounder unit with horizontal and vertical-beaming transducers mounted on a small boat in early summer 2015, which preceded a fish-out of Lynx Lake later that summer using standard fishing methods. The fish-out was evaluated in two phases, where the first relied exclusively on the use of gill net sets, and the second on a suite of sampling gear types.

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 145 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Hydroacoustic predictions of single fish long-ranging taxa, but quantitative targets ranged from 310 to 463 fish across palynological analyses reveal important surveys, versus 396 fish captured during differences in relative abundances between phase 1 of the fish-out (most of which were localities. A total of eleven early angiosperm Lake Whitefish), and 625 fish during phase pollen were recovered, providing further 1 and phase 2 combined. Hydroacoustic evidence of a delay in the dispersal and predictions of biomass ranged from 122 to diversification of angiosperms into the 181 kg biomass across surveys, versus 188 Sverdrup Basin relative to more southern kg of biomass captured during phase 1 of the locations. This latitudinal diachroneity may fish-out, and 221 kg of biomass captured potentially be due to paleogeographic during phase 1 and 2 combined. The results barriers, such as, the Arctic Ocean, the suggest that although multiple surveys of a extent of the Western Interior Seaway, or lake are recommended, hydroacoustics can due to limited insect pollination dispersal provide a reliable prediction of abundance strategies. and biomass for species that exhibit pelagic- like behavior. Hydroacoustics can also USING PALEOLIMNOLOGY TO provide a reasonable approximation of total ESTABLISH BASELINE fish biomass in lakes characterized by a SEDIMENT METAL Lake Whitefish dominant species assemblage. CONCENTRATIONS AND TO RECONSTRUCT QUANTITATIVE HYDROECOLOGICAL PALYNOLOGICAL ANALYSES CONDITIONS, MARIAN RIVER OF ALBIAN-CENOMANIAN WATERSHED, NWT.

(LOWER TO UPPER 1 1 CRETACEOUS) STRATA IN THE TELFORD*, J.V. , WOLFE, B.B. , HALL, R. I.2, and SVERDRUP BASIN: INSIGHTS VAN DER WIELEN, S.3 INTO PALEOECOLOGY, (1) WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY, PALEOCLIMATOLOGY AND WATERLOO, ON (2) UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, WATERLOO, PALYNOSTRATIGRAPHY ON (3) DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND LANDS SULPHUR, K.C. PROTECTION, T ł ı̨ c h ǫ GOVERNMENT, Behchokǫ̀, DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCE, UNIVERSITY NT OF CALGARY, CALGARY, AB [email protected] [email protected] Formed in 2005 with the signing of the Multivariate statistical analyses of terrestrial Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, Tłı̨chǫ Lands occupy an palynomorphs from Albian to Cenomanian area of approximately 39000 km2 in the (Lower to Upper Cretaceous), Sverdrup central Northwest Territories between Great Basin strata reveal a landscape with wet Slave and Great Bear lakes. The Marian lowlands inhabited by Pteridophytina and Watershed Stewardship Program (MWSP), Bryophyta, with cooler, moist uplands established in 2013, is designed to assess inhabited by a variety of conifer plants. A and monitor areas within the Marian River humid and temperate climate prevailed at watershed important to traditional fishing this time. Three sites from eastern Sverdrup and livelihoods. The program aims to assess Basin contain similar palynofloras with ecosystem health through monitoring and

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 146 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 sampling of water, sediment, and fish mine becomes operational as well as other throughout the Marian River watershed. Of potential future industrial developments. particular concern is the proposed NICO mine and the potential for cumulative effects THE MOBILITY OF ARSENIC IN of development, land disturbance, and SEDIMENTS AND CO-EXISTING climate change in the Marian River PORE WATERS FROM THREE watershed. While water and sediment quality monitoring in areas of industrial SMALL LAKES WEST OF developments is an integral part of water GIANT MINE, NWT management programs to ensure protection of ecosystems, absence of long-term VAN DEN BERGHE, M. measurements can make it challenging to QUEEN'S NIVERSITY, KINGSTON, ON define reference conditions effectively. As a [email protected] The purpose of this study is to determine contribution to the MWSP, this research whether the arsenic present in three lakes uses paleolimnological approaches to proximal to Giant Mine is of natural or establish baseline sediment metal anthropogenic origin, and whether these concentrations in lakes and to reconstruct lakes act as a sink (capture) or a source past hydroecological conditions. During late (release) of arsenic in the overlying lake summer 2015, sediment cores were obtained waters. The approach was to assess the using a gravity corer from several lakes speciation of arsenic in both lake sediments within the Marian River watershed and and associated porewaters using dialysis sectioned at 0.5-cm intervals. Sediment sub- arrays, major and trace elements analysis, samples will be analyzed for a suite of 210 137 age dating of sediments, synchrotron-based radiometric ( Pb, Cs), physical (loss-on- analysis, and advanced scanning electron ignition), and geochemical (organic carbon microscopy. Results from these analyses can and nitrogen elemental and isotope help us characterize arsenic species, and composition, cellulose oxygen isotope their relative stability, and thus estimate the composition) parameters, and biota long term fate of arsenic in the aquatic (diatoms, pigments), as well as metal environment, which is an important concentrations. The hydroecological component in understanding current and reconstructions will place recent future ecological and human health risk. observations of low water conditions into a longer temporal context needed to assess Field programs were completed in July 2014 potential causes, and provide knowledge to and April 2015. Three lakes within 3 km of interpret stratigraphic patterns and trends in the historic roaster stacks were sampled the metal concentration data, as has been representing a range of physical and demonstrated elsewhere (Wiklund et al. chemical properties. The study lakes 2012 Science of the Total Environment differed in size, depth, catchment area, Wiklund et al. 2014 Environmental catchment vegetation, and hydraulic Research Letters). Results will provide connectivity to other lakes. Preliminary measurements of pre-development reference results from summer samples show a range sediment quality conditions that can be of arsenic phases contained in lake utilized to assess for evidence of pollution sediments, including arsenic trioxide and based on collection and analysis of lake arsenic sulphides. The occurrence of arsenic surface sediments deposited after the NICO trioxide in the sediment column correlates with the beginning of industrial operations

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 147 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 in the region. Peak arsenic concentrations in tool that addresses industry relevant sediments commonly occur in the top 10cm, problems using a rapid high-resolution between 700 and 1100ppm. Iron-free arsenic analytical technique. Synchrotron micro X- sulphides are predominantly associated with ray fluorescence (uXRF) provides quick and framboidal pyrite, suggesting that they are effective micron-scale trace element analysis re-precipitation products, and that some of and mapping of ore minerals with ppm the arsenic in porewaters is captured in detection limits. Speciation of trace elements sediments in this form. Arsenic can also be probed using X-ray absorption concentrations in sediment porewaters near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. consistently peak 2-6 centimeters below the sediment-water interface at concentrations uXRF mapping and XANES analysis of between 200 and 1200ppb, indicating a pyrite grains associated with gold from trend of remobilization of unstable arsenic deposits in the prolific Timmins and species and migration through the sediment Kirkland Lake gold camps has been column. Results from the winter sampling undertaken to address questions regarding program are at the time of writing mineralization history and develop novel incomplete and will therefore not be trace element exploration vectors. This presented at the Geoscience Forum. information provides integral insights into trace element associations with ore minerals, Understanding the sources and behaviour of local redox conditions responsible for arsenic in these small lakes is important mineralization, and mineralizing since First Nations and other local people mechanisms. have traditionally used the area for hunting and fishing as well as recreational purposes. Gold is commonly intimately associated Information such as this will ensure that with pyrite mineralization and is present future ecological and human health risk both as inclusions and fills fractures in assessments accurately reflect conditions in pyrite grains. Gold may also occur as the field. nanoparticles and/or in the pyrite crystal lattice; known as “invisible gold”. MINE TO MICRON: Understanding the nature and distribution of SYNCHROTRON SCIENCE FOR invisible gold in ore is integral to processing MINERAL EXPLORATION, efficiency. Lattice bound refractory gold cannot be liberated by conventional cyanide PRODUCTION, AND and carbon absorption processes, and can REMEDIATION exist in concentrations up the weight percent level in arsenian pyrites. The high flux and 1 2 VAN LOON*, L.L. , BANERJEE, N.R. , energy of a synchrotron light source allows 2 2 STROMBERG, J.M. , and FEICK, K. for the detection of invisible gold by uXRF, (1) CANADIAN LIGHT SOURCE, SASKATOON, and can probe its nature (metallic Au0 vs. SK 1+ (2) WESTERN UNIVERSITY, LONDON, ON lattice bound Au ) using XANES [email protected] spectroscopy. Synchrotron science for mineral exploration, production, and remediation studies is a Tailings management facilities (TMFs) play novel niche presently under utilized in our a critical role in reducing the environmental field. Harnessing synchrotron light for impact of mining operations. As part of micron-scale analysis provides a powerful regulatory compliance process it is

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 148 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015 important to determine which minerals are report (NWT Open Report 2014-002) now present in the TMF and how they evolve available. Silica sand meeting industry over time. XANES spectroscopy is an specifications was identified in several excellent tool for determining arsenic locations. Possible uses for this material speciation. Mineral phases such as scorodite, include frac sand, glass manufacture, and gersdorffite, arsenic oxide, and poorly other uses requiring high silica content. crystalline FeAsO4 can all be accurately identified as well as relative amounts Limestone along the Hay River – Enterprise determined. With this information the – Kakisa corridor was also examined with a oxidation-reduction of As bearing preliminary report (NWT Open Report compounds can be monitored and effective 2010-007) available, and a follow-up report management practices put in place to ensure (NWT Open Report 2015-001) in the final long-term capture of toxic phases. stages of preparation. High calcium limestone, limestone and dolomite resources THE INDUSTRIAL MINERAL are identified. These resources meet INVENTORY OF THE requirements for such diverse uses as NORTHWEST TERRITORIES mineral fillers, water treatment, mine tailings treatment, and agricultural lime, among others. WATSON*, D.M. NORTHWEST TERRITORIES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, YELLOWKNIFE, NT A poster presentation at the Geoscience [email protected] Forum in 2009, identified potential sources Industrial Mineral production in Canada in of dimension stone (granite, slate and 2014 amounted to over $16 billion, limestone) in the Yellowknife – Behchoko including $1.8 billion in the Northwest area. Territories. This represents approximately 20 times the value of metallic mineral Most recently, a preliminary survey was production in the territory. conducted of potential salt sources within the Territory. The majority of industrial mineral production in the NWT is of diamonds. Additional industrial mineral occurrences Diamonds are traditionally included in (mica, pegmatite minerals, barite, fluorite, industrial minerals statistics since they are a etc) are known within the NWT, but have source of abrasives and gemstones, both of not been investigated to date. which are considered industrial minerals. Smaller amounts of stone and aggregates are also produced at this time. The requirements for stone and aggregates will increase in the future as infrastructure needs grow within the Territory. The potential exists, however, for the production of a number of additional commodities, several of which have been the subject of resource assessments to date.

Silica resources have been evaluated in the South-central portion of the NWT, with a

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 149 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

CLAY, S. · 28 CLIFFE-PHILLIPS, M. · 109 A CLIPPERTON, K. · 100, 145 COLE, S.C. · 29 ACOSTA-GÓNGORA, P. · 62 COLE, A. · 54 AMYOT, M. · 25 CONKIN, C. · 30 CONNELLY, D. · 31 COREY, L. · 67 B COTT, P.A. · 25, 83 COULTON, D. · 32, 74, 136 BALTZER, J.L. · 139 COUNTS, B. · 33 BANERJEE, N.R. · 148 COURTENAY, S. · 33 BARGERY, R. · 100 COURTNEY MUSTAPHI, C.J. · 131 BARRETT, T. · 44 COUSENS, B. · 25 BELCOURT, G. · 16 COYNE, P. · 66 BELLINGER, J. · 47 CRANN, C.C. · 62, 131 BEZZOLA, M. · 109 CRANSTON, J.C. · 29 BIGIO, A. · 16, 112 CRAVEN, J.A. · 142 BILAK, G. · 49 CRAWFORD, B. · 110 BIRCHALL, C. · 17 CREASON, C.G. · 52 BIRLEA, M. · 18 CROFT, B. · 24 BLACK, J. · 25 CUMMINGS, D.I. · 87 BLACKLOCK, S. · 18 CUNNING, J. · 132 BLAIS, J.M. · 103, 127 CUPIT, K. · 34 BLUEMEL, E.B. · 117 CUTTS, J.A. · 131 BOBEY, B. · 49, 123 BOL, L. · 145 BOSTOCK, H.· 129 D BOUCHARD, M. · 142 BOULANGER, J. · 24 DARWISH, T. · 44 BOURKE, R. · 21 DAVIES, A.W. · 114, 115 BREADMORE, R. · 51 DAVIES, R. · 114, 115 BROMSTAD, M.L. · 54 DAVIS, W.J. · 63 BROUGHTON, D. · 28 DAWE, K. · 32 BROWN, N. · 42 DAY, M. · 145 BUCKMAN, A. · 145 DAY, S. · 117, 133 BURKE, J. · 46, 105, 112 DEKEMP, E.A. · 138 BYATT, J. · 133 DOBOSZ, A. · 54 DONIHEE, J. · 17, 35 DOUBROVINA, G. · 55 C DRYLIE, M. · 35 DYKE, A.S. · 20 CAIRNS, S. · 19, 113 CAMPBELL, J.E. · 20 CAMPBELL, J. · 94 E CASSON, D. · 21 CAYER, E.M. · 22 EICKMEYER, D.C. · 103 CHALMERS, B. · 23 ELLIOTT, B. · 22, 35, 36, 57, 116, 126, 128 CHAPMAN, P. · 44 ELLIS, S. · 83 CHATENAY, A. · 24 ERENFELLNER, W. · 45, 122 CHEN, W. · 24 EVANS, M. · 25 CHÉTELAT, J. · 25 CHIARAMELLO, P. · 77 CHOUINARD, R. · 26 F CHRISTENSEN, J. · 27 CHUKA, D. · 27 FAITHFUL, J. · 49

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FALCK, H. · 37, 61, 62, 73, 78, 81, 83, 102, 117, 119, 131, HERRELL, M.K. · 49 136, 138 HEWITT, M. · 45, 50, 121 FALLAS, K.M. · 38 HICKEY, K. · 141 FEDORTCHOUK, Y. · 69, 128 HILLIER, M.J. · 138 FEICK, K. · 148 HILLS, L.V. · 102 FENG, J. · 39 HODSON, J. · 124 FERGUSON, K. · 110 HOWELL, D. · 81 FIDDLER, S. · 54 HRKAC, C. · 109 FIESS, K.M. · 40, 54, 88, 143 HUM, J. · 51 FINDLEY, A. · 95 FISCHER, B.J. · 117, 134, 142 FLOOD, Z. · 28 I FRASER, R. · 58 FRYER, A. · 106 IELPI, A. · 52 FULOP, A. · 39, 69 IRWIN, D. · 137

G J

GADD, M.G. · 138 JACKSON, V.A. · 142 GALLOWAY, J.M. · 62, 73, 81, 83, 102, 119, 131, 136 JACOBSEN, P. · 53 GAUTHIER, F. · 41 JAMES, F. · 41 GERVAIS, S. · 56 JAMIESON, H.E. ·54, 81, 82, 131, 138, 144 GIBSON, T. · 142 JAMISON, D. · 63, 125 GINGRAS, M.K. · 49, 123, 128 JANZEN, R.J.D. · 57, 126 GLEESON, S.A. · 138 JOHNSON, M. · 55 GOCHNAUER, K. · 137 JUDAS, J. · 53 GOLDSMITH, S.A. · 102 GRANT, A. · 42 GREENMAN, J.W. · 52, 142 K GREGORY, B.R.B. · 73, 83, 119, 136 GRUBER, S. · 42, 89, 101, 140 GUILMETTE, C. · 99 KARA, N. · 56 GUNN, A. · 24 KARRAS, A. · 32 KARUNARATNE, K.C · 42, 56, 89 KELLEY, S.E. · 57, 126 KENNEDY, L. · 141 H KERR, D.E. · 135 KETCHUM, J. · 58 HAIBLEN, A.M. · 43, 120 KIMPE, L.E. · 103 HALL, T. · 44 KINAKIN, Y.B. · 47 HALL, R. I. · 146 KIRIZOPOLOUS, E. · 80 HALL-BEYER, M.H.B. · 29 KJARSGAARD, B. · 87 HAMILTON, M.S.H. · 45 KNOTSCH, C. · 100 HAMP, R. · 45, 121, 130 KOKELJ, S.V. · 42, 56, 58, 72, 81, 101, 139 HANLEY, J.J. · 46, 61, 105 KOLENOSKY, S. · 49 HANLON, J. · 124 KOROSI, J.B. · 103, 127 HANNA, B. · 83 KOVATS, Z. · 44 HANSEN, K. · 47 KRAMERS, P. · 93 HARDMAN, M.F. · 47, 122 KRESSALL, R. · 128 HARGAN, K.E. · 103 KRUGER, T.D. · 59 HARRIS, G.A. · 122 KUIPERS, J. · 34 HARRIS, B. · 123 HEAMAN, L. · 97 HEIM, L. · 140 L HERBERS, D.H. · 49 HERBERS, D.S. · 123 HERBERS, D. · 128 LACELLE, D. · 58 HERBERT, E. · 95 LAFFERTY, G. · 51

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 151 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

LAGRANGE R. M. · 49, 123, 128 N LAING, I. · 80 LANTZ, T.C. · 58 LAROCQUE, A. · 133 NAETH, M.A. · 68 LAUZON, G. · 20 NASH, T.J. · 54 LAWLEY, C.J.M. · 99 NASSER, N.A. · 73, 81, 83, 119, 131, 136 LAYTON-MATTHEWS, D. · 138 NICHOL, E. · 74, 136 LEBLANC, S. G. · 24 NITSIZA, C. · 60 LEBLON, B. · 133 NITSIZA, T. · 60 LECLAIR, A. · 60 NORMANDEAU, P.X. · 43, 57, 69, 120, 126 LEE, C. · 21, 49, 100, 132, 145 NORTH, J.N. · 75 LEGAT, A. · 60 NOVY, L. · 76 LEMKOW, D. R. · 129 NOWELL, G.M. · 108 LENTZ, C. · 61 NUSPL, K. · 145 LENTZ, D.R. · 78 LIN, S. · 125 LITTLE, M.E. · 82 O LUTH, R.W. · 98 LYDON, J. · 138 O'KEEFE, H. · 24, 66, 67, 74 OKULITCH, A.V. · 137 OOTES, L. · 46, 97, 105 M OTTLEY, C.J. · 108 OZYER, C.A. · 76 MACCOLL, K. · 45, 121, 130 MACHTANS, H. · 44 MACLEAN, B.C. · 38 P MACNAUGHTON, R.B. · 38 MACUMBER, A.L. · 62, 73, 83, 102, 119, 131, 136 PAGET, M. · 77 MAGNALL, J.M. · 138 PALMER, E. · 79 MAITLAND, K.M. · 131 PALMER, E.M. · 78 MARTEL, E. · 63, 117, 125, 141 PALMER, M.J. · 29, 62, 80, 81, 83, 103, 127, 131, 144 MARTIN, A.J. · 144 PANAYI, D. · 136 MASON, K. · 132, 145 PARADIS, A. · 92 MATTHEWS, A. · 64 PARADIS, S. · 138 MCALLISTER, B. · 95 PARRY, N.S. · 92 MCCAMMON, C. · 128 PARSONS, M.B. · 82 MCDERMID, G.M. · 29 PATTERSON, R.S. · 91 MCFARLANE, C. · 61 PATTERSON, R.T. · 62, 73, 81, 83, 91, 102, 119, 131, 136 MCKILLOP, R.J. · 64, 65 PAUL, J. · 139 MCLACHLAN, C. · 66 PEARSON, D.G. · 47, 108, 122 MCLEOD, W. · 66 PEART, C. · 42, 140 MCMARTIN, I. · 133 PEHRSSON, S.J. · 63, 125 MCNEILL, J. · 108 PELLETIER, P. · 41 MCPHERSON, J. · 80 PENNER, B. · 141 MCPHERSON, M. · 50 PETER, J.M. · 138 MENARD, E. · 83, 136 PETERSON, T.D. · 99 MIKAWOZ, I. · 27 PETHERBRIDGE, W. · 76 MILAKOVIC, B. · 24, 66, 67, 96, 145 PIERCE, K. · 117 MILLER, D. · 60 PISARIC, M.F.J. · 58, 84 MILLER, V.S. · 68 PLATO, N. · 85 MILLIGAN, R. · 69 POITRAS, S.P. · 86 MIRZA, A.M. · 117, 134 POWELL, L. · 31 MONTSION, R. · 138 POWER, M. · 33 MORINVILLE, G. · 70 PROWSE, N.D. · 43, 87 MORSE, P.D. · 71, 72, 135 PYLE, L.J. · 88 MUIR, D. · 25 MULDERS, T. · 136 MULLANEY, T. · 26

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 152 Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2015

R TOKAREK, M. · 50 TRAINOR, P. · 91 TROTTIER, C.R. · 46, 105 RAINBIRD, R.H. · 52, 142 TUNNICLIFFE, J. · 58 RANDOUR, I. · 133 TURNER, D.G. · 65 RICHARDSON, A. · 45, 121 TURNER, E.C. · 138, 142 RIDDICK, J. · 42, 89 RITCHIE, J.R. · 90 RIVARD, B.A. · 39 V ROCHELEAU, J. · 55, 88, 143 ROCK, C. · 66, 67, 145 ROE, H.M. · 81, 91 VAN AANHOUT, M. · 106 ROGGE, D. · 39 VAN DEN BERGHE, M. · 81, 147 ROSS, K. · 92 VAN DER BYL, C.A. · 106 ROSS, M. · 57, 126 VAN DER SLUIJS, J. · 58 ROY, M. · 133 VAN DER WIELEN, S. · 107, 146 VAN GEFFEN, P.W.G. · 107 VAN LOON, L.L. · 148 VANWERKHOVEN, C. · 21 S VECSEI, P. · 100 VERMAIRE, J.C. · 91 SABOURIN, M. · 83, 136 VIRGL, J. · 32, 74 SACCO, D.A. · 64, 65 VIVIAN, G. · 109 SCHETSELAAR, E.M. · 138 SCHMIDT, N. · 21, 93, 100, 132 SCHUH, C. E. · 144 W SETTERFIELD, T. · 94, 119 SEXTON, A. · 94, 95 SHARAM, G. · 66, 67, 96, 145 WALKER, S.R. · 82 SHARPE, R. · 44 WARD, B.C. · 43, 120 SHEEN, A. · 97 WATSON, D.M. · 149 SIMMONS, D. · 124 WEISS, Y. · 108 SMOL, J.P. · 103, 127 WELLS, D. · 67, 108 STACHEL, T. · 47, 98 WHELER, B. · 109 STAVINGA, D.B. · 81, 138 WHITE, D. · 109 STEELE, J. · 30 WHITE, H. P. · 24 STEENKAMP, H.M. · 99, 133 WILLIAMS, T. · 103 STEVENS, C. · 100, 145 WINTERBURN, P.A. · 22 STEVENS, K. · 45, 121, 130 WODICKA, N. · 99, 133 STRAND, P.D. · 100 WOLFE, B.B. · 146 STROMBERG, J.M. · 148 WOLFE, S.A. · 71, 72, 91, 135 STUDD, D. · 95 WOODWARD, S. · 110 SUBEDI, R. · 42, 101 WRIGHT, W. · 124 SULPHUR, K.C. · 102, 146 SWINDLES, G.T. · 62, 81, 102 Z

T ZHANG, Y. · 72 ZORZI, L. · 110 TAPPERT, M.C. · 39, 102 TAPPERT, R. · 39, 102 TAYLOR, A. · 34 TAYLOR, B.E. · 138 TELFORD, J.V. · 146 THIENPONT, J.R. · 103 THIESSEN, E. · 63 THOMAS, M.D. · 138 TIGNER, J.T. · 29, 124 TIPPETT, C.R. · 104

- TECHNICAL PROGRAM - 2015 YELLOWKNIFE GEOSCIENCE FORUM ABSTRACTS 153