Exploration for Archean polymetallic sulphide deposits in permafrost terrains: an integrated geological/geochemical technique, Kaminak Lake area, district of Keewatin
- 1 January 1974
- report
- Published by Natural Resources Canada/CMSS/Information Management
Abstract
Pilot stratigraphic/metallogenic studies of Archean bedrock and drift prospecting in permanently frozen terrain have provided integrated models for exploration in the Rankin Inlet-Ennadai Belt. Techniques perfected during both studies have provided data that allow effective differentiation of target areas for follow-up exploration. The geological environment in the vicinity of Kaminak Lake is s imilar to that of the Noranda area. An extensive platform of basalt and andesite flows is overlain by andesitic to rhyolitic pyroclastic units intruded by coeval plutonic rocks, An exhalite zone of regional extent is present in the felsic unit. A centre of felsic accumulation with a proximal exhalite zone possessing local enrichments in base and precious metals occurs at Spi Lake. Because the <2 micron fraction is common to all till samples and because it is thought to have scavenged metal cations released by the weathering of sulphides that were glacially eroded and included in till, it was chosen as the most effective fraction to analyze, Maps of Cu and Zn distribution, drawn from results of <2 micron analyses, confirm the presence of known exhalite zones and allow the zones to be traced through areas of persistent drift cover, Analyses of other fractions (methylene iodide separates, heavy rock fragments, <250 mesh) give less reliable but sometimes corroborating results.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: