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AN INTRODUCTORY PROSPECTING MANUAL K N A O S I A T B N A O S N I I T K A F R Prepared by: J. R. Parker (Staff Geologist, Red Lake Resident Geologist Office, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines) Revised in 2004 and 2007 by: D. P. Parker and B. V. D'Silva (D'Silva Parker Associates) Discover Prospecting July 2007 Original Acknowledgments The author would like to thank K.G. Fenwick, Manager, Field Services Section (Northwest) and M.J. Lavigne, Resident Geologist, Thunder Bay, for initiating this prospecting manual project. Thanks also to the members of the Prospecting Manual Advisory Committee: P. Sangster, Staff Geologist, Timmins; M. Smyk, Staff Geologist, Schreiber-Hemlo; M. Garland, Regional Minerals Specialist, Thunder Bay; P. Hinz, Industrial Minerals Geologist, Thunder Bay; E. Freeman, Communications Project Officer, Toronto; R. Spooner, Mining Recorder, Red Lake; R. Keevil, Acting Staff Geologist, Dorset; and T. Saunders, President, N.W. Ontario Prospector's Association, Thunder Bay for their comments, input and advice. The author also thanks R. Spooner, Mining Recorder, Red Lake, for writing the text on the Mining Act in the "Acquiring Mining Lands" section of this manual. Thanks to B. Thompson, Regional Information Officer, Information and Media Section, Thunder Bay, for assistance in the preparation of slides and his advice on the presentation of the manual. Thanks also to B.T. Atkinson, Resident Geologist, Red Lake; H. Brown, Acting Staff Geologist, Red Lake; M. Garland, Regional Minerals Specialist, Thunder Bay; and M. Smyk, Staff Geologist, Schreiber-Hemlo for editing the manuscript of the manual. A special word of thanks must be expressed to C. Sundstrom, Acting Secretary, Red Lake, for her efficiency, typing and computer skills during the, preparation of this manual. Finally, the author thanks the many other people who contributed information, advice and slides. Revision Acknowledgments The revision of this Discover Prospecting Manual has been part of an initiative by Kasabonika Lake First Nation in partnership with the Ontario Prospectors Association that included presenting a series of prospecting seminars entitled Discover Prospecting. This initiative has been funded by FedNor, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Placer Dome Canada, Falconbridge/Noranda, Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Kasabonika Lake First Nation and many other individual and industry sponsors. A special thanks goes out to the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines who transferred ownership of the original Discover Prospecting manual to the Ontario Prospectors Association and those who supported these revisions with contributions being provided by MNDM personnel including: Myra Gerow, Hial Newsome, Ann Wilson, John Scott, Terra Larsen, Patrick Brown, James Boyd, Clive Stephenson, Cam Baker, Ed Debicki, Jim Ireland, Ruth Debicki, Marg Rutka, Tom Watkins, John Robertson and Ramesh Mandel. Manual revision and compilation coordinated by Doug Parker and Barb D’Silva of D’Silva Parker Associates ([email protected]) during 2004 with additional revisions completed in 2007. An electronic version of this document is posted on the Ontario Prospectors Association website and can be found at: www.ontarioprospectors.com 1 Discover Prospecting July 2007 DISCOVER PROSPECTING An Introductory Prospecting Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 1 PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 8 I) Purpose and Objective of Prospecting Courses ...................................... 9 II) Mineral Exploration, Prospecting and the Geosciences .......................... 9 i) What is Mineral Exploration? ....................................................... 9 Figure 1: The Mining Sequence .............................................................. 11 ii) What is Prospecting? .................................................................. 12 iii) The Role of the Prospector .......................................................... 12 iv) The Geosciences ........................................................................13 III) The Role of the Associations .................................................................. 14 IV) The Role of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines ................ 16 Figure 2: MNDM Resident Geologist Districts ......................................... 17 V) Importance of Mining and Our Mineral Wealth......................................... 19 PART 2: MINERALS AND MINERAL IDENTIFICATION ...................................... 21 I) What are Minerals and Rocks? ............................................................... 22 II) Atoms and Elements .............................................................................. 22 Table 1: Common Elements and their Chemical Symbols ...................... 23 Table 2: Elements in the Earth’s Crust .................................................... 23 III) Minerals ..................................................................................................24 i) Introduction .................................................................................24 ii) Mineral Formation .......................................................................24 iii) Crystal Structure .........................................................................24 Figure 1: The Six Basic Crystal Systems that form Minerals.................... 25 iv) Chemical Composition ................................................................26 IV) Classification of Minerals ........................................................................ 26 Figure 2: Chemical Classification of Common Mineral Groups ............... 27 Figure 3: Element and Mineral Composition of Granite ........................... 28 V) Mineral Properties and Identification ....................................................... 29 i) Introduction .................................................................................29 ii) Mineral Properties .......................................................................29 Figure 4: Examples of Mineral Structure ................................................. 31 Figure 5: Examples of Cleavage in Minerals ........................................... 32 Figure 6:Reflection of Light from Cleavage and Fracture Surfaces ......... 33 iii) Steps for Mineral Identification .................................................... 36 VI) Common Rock-Forming Minerals ...........................................................36 i) Light-Coloured Felsic Silicate Minerals ....................................... 36 ii) Dark-Coloured Mafic Silicate Minerals ........................................ 37 iii) Carbonates .................................................................................37 iv) Identifying Feldspar and Quartz .................................................. 38 VII) Economic Minerals .................................................................................38 i) Metallic Minerals .........................................................................38 ii) Non-Metallic Minerals .................................................................40 iii) Additional Information on Metallic Minerals ................................. 41 a) Identifying Gold ..................................................................41 b) Properties of Common Sulphide Minerals .......................... 41 2 Discover Prospecting July 2007 PART 3: ROCKS .................................................................................................. 42 I) Introduction .........................................................................................43 II) Classification of Rocks ........................................................................ 43 i) Igneous Rocks ......................................................................... 43 ii) Sedimentary Rocks .................................................................44 iii) Metamorphic Rocks .................................................................45 III) The Rock Cycle ................................................................................... 45 IV) Igneous Rocks ....................................................................................45 i) Terms for Plutonic (Intrusive) Rocks ........................................ 45 Figure 1: The Rock Cycle .................................................................... 46 Figure 2: Types of Igneous Intrusions ................................................. 47 ii) Identification of Plutonic (Intrusive) Rocks ............................... 48 Figure 3: Comparison Chart for Estimating Mineral Percentages ........ 49 Table 1: Simplified Classification for Igneous Rocks ........................... 51 iii) Terms for Volcanic (Extrusive) Rocks ...................................... 52 a) Mafic Volcanic Rocks ...................................................... 52 Figure 4: Features of Mafic Pillow Structures ...................................... 53 Figure 5: Form of a Pillowed, Mafic, Lava Flow ................................... 53 b) Felsic Volcanic Rocks ..................................................... 54 iv) Identification of Volcanic (Extrusive) Rocks ............................. 55 V) Sedimentary Rocks .............................................................................55 i) Clastic Sedimentary