MINERAL
INVENTORY FILE NO.
1046
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRODUCT
Zinc
NTS AREA
63K16SE
REF.
Cu09
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
NAME OF PROPERTY
Chisel North
OWNER OF
OPERATOR ADDRESS
1987- Hudson Bay Mining and
Smelting Co. Ltd.
1906-201 Portage
Ave.
Winnipeg, MB, R3B 3K6
OBJECT LOCATED
Location #61
Geological Survey of Canada, 1993.
MINING
DIVISION
The Pas
Uncertainty
(m)
300
Northing
6078100
Latitude
55°50'45
Longitude
100°07'00
UTM Zone
14U
Easting
428300
L.S./Quarter
Section
15
Section
34
Township
67
Range
18WPM
DESCRIPTION OF
DEPOSIT
The Chisel North deposit is a volcanic-hosted massive sulphide
deposit within a highly deformed tholeiitic island arc assemblage. The orebody
is located on the eastern edge of the Flin Flon volcanic belt, 300 m down-plunge
from the Chisel Lake orebody (See: Mind No. 828).
Similar to Chisel Lake, the
orebody consists of three stratabound lenses of massive to semi-massive
sphalerite-pyrite. The tops of the lenses are rich in Pb, Ag and Au, while the
bases are rich in Cu, Pb, As, Au and Ag. The principal gangue minerals within
the deposit are dolomite and quartz Stratigraphically, the deposits are
underlain by a broad alteration zone, which consists of four semi-conformable
and two discordant alteration facies (Bailes et al, 1993).
The deposits have
been interpreted by Bailes et al (1993), to be hydrothermally formed within a
shallow submarine volcanic environment, as a product of fault-controlled and
focused fluid discharge within a broader hydrothermal field characterized by
diffuse upflow.
ASSOCIATED
MINERALS OR PRODUCTS OF VALUE
Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Gold (Au), and Silver (Ag).
HISTORY OF
EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Chisel North deposit is located approximately 1.5 km north
of the Chisel Lake deposit, 12-km southwest of Snow Lake.
The deposit was
discovered in 1987, during exploration drilling by the Hudson Bay Exploration
and Development Company Limited (HBED). By 1991, the deposit was outlined to
contain 2.58 million tonnes (t) of ore grading 0.22% Cu, 8.9% Zn, 0.4% Pb, 23.3
g/t Ag and 0.5 g/t Au (Bailes et al, 1993). The area was mapped by Bailes et al
in 1993.
In 1998, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. (HBM&S) began
the development program for Chisel North. The program involved driving a
2.6-km decline from the 140-metre level of the nearby Photo Lake mine (See: Mind
No. 1047). Upon confirmation of 2.4 million t reserves, HBM&S began plans to
commission a mine. The ore was planned to be mined using cut-and-fill and
room-and-pillar methods and expected recovery rate was at 83-85% (McDougall,
1998). The underground mine began production in 2000, with commercial production
beginning in 2001 at 510 t per day (Canadian Mines Handbook, 2001-02). The ore
is trucked out on the decline and to the existing Photo Lake mine entrance. The
Snow Lake mill has been altered to accommodate the zinc-rich feed from Chisel
North.
HISTORY OF
PRODUCTION
N/A
REFERENCES
Bailes, A.H., Galley, A.G., and Kitzler, G. 1993: Geological Setting
and Hydrothermal Evolution of the Chisel Lake and North Chisel Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au
Massive Sulphide Deposits, Snow Lake, Manitoba; Exploration Mining Geology, V.2,
No.4, p. 271-295.
Canadian Mines Handbook 2002: Chisel North Mine;
Canadian Mines Handbook 2001-2002.
McDougall, S. 1998: HBM&S Launches
program at Chisel North zinc deposit; Northern Miner, August 17,
1998.
MAP REFERENCES
Geological Survey of Canada 1993: 63K, Cormorant Lake, Geological
Survey of Canada, geological map, scale 1:250 000.
Surveys and Mapping
Branch 1985: 63 K/16, File Lake; Surveys and Mapping Branch, Ottawa, topographic
map, scale 1:50 000.
URL
N/A
Word Document
REMARKS
N/A
NOTES
N/A
Compiled/Revised
by:
JJJ
Date
08-02
