Ontario Geological Survey Miscellaneous Paper 86 The Uranium Deposits of Ontario- Their Distribution and Classification By James A. Robertson 1981 lanWPope Ministry of !^st£ Natural ...__ W.T. Foster Deputy Minister Ontario ®OMNR-OGS 1981 ISSN 0704-2752 Printed in Canada ISBN 0-7743-602627 Publications of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and price list are available through the Ministry of Natural Resources, Public Service Centre Room 1640, Whitney Block, Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 1W3 (personal shopping and mail orders). and reports only from the Ontario Government Bookstore, Main Floor 880 Bay St., Toronto for per- sonal shopping. Out-of-Town customers write to Ministry of Government Services, Publica- tions Services Section, 5th Floor, 880 Bay St., Toronto. Ontario. M7A 1N8. Telephone 965-6015. Toll free long distance 1 •800-268-7540, in Area Code 807 dial 0-Zenith 67200. 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It is recommended that reference to this report be made in the following form: Robertson, James A. 1981: The Uranium Deposits ol Ontario-Their Distribution and Classifica- tion; Ontario Geological Survey Miscellaneous Paper 86,37p. 1000-300-80-MP ii Contents Abstract v Introduction 1 Geology of Ontario 2 Uranium Deposits of Ontario 2 Superior Province 2 Northwestern Ontario 2 AikalicVolcanics, Kirkland Lake Area 6 Southern Province 6 Elliot Lake Area 8 Ore Mineralogy 14 Agnew Lake Area 16 Cobalt Embayment 17 Genesisofthe Elliot Lake Pyritic Quartz-Pebble Uranium Deposits 17 Grenvilte Province 20 Red Zoned Pegmatite 22 Red Unzoned Pegmatite 22 Calc-Silicate Deposits 23 Hydrothermal Vein Deposits 23 Lake Superior Basin 25 Thunder Bay Area 25 Montreal River Area 26 Alkalic Complexes 28 Phanerozoic Deposits 29 March Township 29 Conclusions 30 Acknowledgments 32 Appendix 32 References 33 Tabtes Table 1—Uranium resources, World, Canada, Ontario (1977) 1 Table 2—Systems of Huronlan Stratigraphio Nomenclature 10 Table 3—Summary of Huronian Stratigraphy in the Blind River-Elliot Lake Area 11 Table 4—Correlation of Quartz-Pebble Conglomerate Reefs, Ouirke Zone 15 Table 5—Uranium, thorium, and titanium contents of Blind River Brannerite 16 Table 6—Uranium and thorium contents in Blind River uraninite 17 Table 7—Analyses of Blind River monazites 17 Table 8—Uranium deposits of the Bancroft District 22 Table 9—Classification of uranium deposits in Ontario 31 Table 10—Uranium resources, World, Canada, Ontario (1979) 32 Figures figure 1—Geology of Ontario 3 Figure 2—Principal uranium deposits of Ontario 4 Figure 3—Uranium deposits Kenora-Dryden Area 5 Figure 4—Hawk Lake Showing, MacNicol Township. District of Kenora 7 figure 5—Uranium distribution in the Blind River Area 9 Figure 6—Uranium deposits in the QuirkeSyncline-Elliot Lake Area 12 figure 7a—Cross Section-New Quirke Mine 13 Figure 7b—Shaft Section-Agnew Lake Mines Limited 14 figure 8—Uranium deposits-Cobalt Embayment and Agnew Lake Areas 18 figure 9—Uranium deposits -Bancroft Area 21 Figure 10—Plan of 450 foot Level-Faraday (Madawaska) Mine 24 Figure 11—Uranium Deposits in the Greenwich Lake Area 25 Figure 12—Camray Deposit, Theano Point, Lake Superior, Slater (Township 29, Range 14) District of Algoma 27 Figure 13a—Manitou Islands Complex 29 Figure 13b—Prairie Lake Complex 30 iii Conversion Factors for Measurements in Ontario Geological Survey Publications If the reader wishes to convert imperial units to SI (metric) units or SI units to imperial units the following multipliers should be used: CONVERSION FROM SITO IMPERIAL CONVERSION FROM IMPERIAL TO SI SI Unit Multiplied by Gives Imperial Unit Multiplied by Gives LENGTH imm 0.03937 Inches linen 25.4 mm 1 cm 0.39370 inches linen 2.54 cm 1m 3.28084 feet Hoot 0.3048 m 1m 0.0497097 chains 1 chain 20.1168 m 1km 0.621371 miles (statute) 1 mile (statute) 1.609344 km AREA 1cm2 0.1550 square inches 1 square inch 6.4516 cm* 1 m* 10.7639 square feet 1 square foot 0.09290304 m* 1km2 0.38610 square miles 1 square mile 2.589988 km2 1 ha 2.471054 acres 1acre 0.4046856 ha VOLUME 1 cm' 0.061 02 cubic inches 1 cubic inch 16.397064 err? 1m3 35.3147 cubic feet 1 cubic foot 0.02831685 rri> 1m3 1.3080 cubic yards 1 cubic yard 0.764555 ni> 1L 1.759755 pints 1 pint 0.568261 L 1L 0.879877 quarts 1 quart 1.136522 L 1L 0.219969 gallons 1 gallon 4.546090 L MASS 10 0.03527396 ounces (avdp) 1 ounce(avdp) 28.349523 0 10 0.032150 75 ounces (troy) 1 ounce (troy) 31.1034769 1kg 2.20462 pounds (avdp) 1 pound(avdp) 046369237 *g 1kg 0.0011023 tons (short) 1 ton (short) 907.19474 kg 11 1.102311 tons (short) 1 ton (short) 0J0719474 1kg 0.00098421 tons (long) 1 ton (long) 1016.0469099 kg 0.9842065 tons (long) 1 ton (long) 1.0160469096 t CONCENTRATION 1g/t 0.0291866 ounce (troy)/ 1 ounce (troy)/ 34.285714 2 ton (short) ton (short) 1 g/t 0.58333333 pennyweights/ 1 pennyweight/ 1.7142657 gn. ton (short) ton (short) OTHER USEFUL CONVERSION FACTORS 1 ounce (troyKon (short) 20.0 pennyweights/ton (short) 1 pennyweight/ton (short) 0.05 ounce (troy)/lon (short) NOTE—Conversion factors which are in bold type are exact. The conversion factors have been taken from or have been derived from factors given in the Metric Practice Guide for the Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Industries published by The Mining Association of Canada in coop- eration with the Coal Association of Canada. CONVERSION FACTORS FOR URANIUM 1 short ton U3O3 x 0.76931 -1 ton U 1 tonne U X 129987-1 ihort ton U3Oa U3O8 Ib/short ton x 0.42401- Ukj/tonn. Ukg/tonne x 235844- U3O8 Ib/short ton Not*: These conversion factors are ussd by the Canada Centre for Metal Extraction Tech- nology, Mineral Research Laboratory. IV Abstract The geology of Ontario comprises Precambrian and Phanerozoic rocks. The Precambrian (Canadian Shield) is subdivided into Provinces and Subprovinces based on stratigraphy and structure. The prin- cipal types of uranium deposits in Ontario are: 1) carbonatites and fenites (Prairie Lake); 2) alkalic vol- canic rocks (Kirkland Lake); 3) pegmatites (Bancroft and Kenora-Dryden); 4) calc-silicate rocks (Ban- croft); 5) pyritic quartz-pebble conglomerates (Blind River, Southern Province); 6) polymictic conglomerates and some pelitic rocks (Cobalt Embayment Southern Province); and 7) various "pitch- blende" deposits including:a) Late Precambrian unconformities (Thunder Bay); b) possibly Late Pre- cambrian diabase dikes (Montreal River); c) other unconformities: i) carbonates (March Township); ii) sandstones (James Bay Lowlands); iii) lignites (James Bay Lowlands); iv) semi-pelitic rocks of Middle and Upper Precambrian age (Cobalt Embayment and Thunder Bay). Only red unzoned pegmatite (Bancroft) and the pyritic quartz-pebble conglomerate (Elliot Lake and Agnew Lake) have supported production. White pegmatites, alkalic complexes, calc-silicates, and unconformity related deposits have attracted considerable exploration activity. Ontario reasonably assured and estimated resources in the economic and subeconomic catego- ries In 1977 amounted to 553 000 Tonnes recoverable U and 1977 production amounted to 4000 Ton- nes U. Measured, indicated, and inferred resources in the Elliot Lake-Agnew Lake area are at least 400 000 Tonnes recoverable U. The latter deposits are also a significant thorium resource. Geological features reflecting major changes in physics and chemistry are prime controls on dis- tribution of uranium deposits. Geological province and subprovince boundaries (including unconform- ities), major faults, higher metamorphic grades, domain boundaries related to quartz monzonite ba- tholiths, alkalic complexes, and the distribution of carbonate rocks are examples of such geological features. For each deposit type, a systems analysis identifies parameters critical to 1) source area; 2) transportation; 3) deposition; 4) modification; and 5) preservation, to which could be added 6) extrac- tion. These parameters can then be used to identify areas of high exploration potential and to attempt predictable resource evaluation. THE URANIUM DEPOSITS OF ONTARIO - THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION James A. Robertson1 The Ontario Geological Survey uses the term deposit Introduction as a general term including producers, past producers, prospects, and occurrences. Thus, the term carries no The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the geology implication as to resources or grade. of Ontario, to summarize the nature and distribution of the Those readers who are interested in the systematics uranium deposits in Ontario, and to provide a selected of uranium mineralogy are referred to papers by; R.O. bibliography. An earlier version of this paper (Robertson Morton (1978) and H.R. Steacy andS.S. Kaiman (1978) in 1978b) was prepared in July 1978 as a contribution to the M.M. Kimbertey (1978), E.W. Heinrich (1958), and the Short Course in "Uranium Deposits: Their Mineralogy and Colorado School of Mines, Research Institute (1976). Origin" sponsored by the Mineralogical Association in The author's main experience has been with the Elliot Toronto, and was included in the short course handbook Lake Camp, and a major part of this discussion concerns (Kimberley 1978). Since the original paper was prepared, that camp and its geological setting. N.J. Theis (1978a) in several significant publications relevant to the uranium Kimberley (1978), discussed in more detail the implica- deposits of Ontario have been published. Only minor tions of recent research on the mineralogy and sedimen- changes and clarifications have been made to the text, tation of the Elliot Lake Deposits.