MINERAL
INVENTORY FILE NO.
739
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRODUCT
GOLD
NTS AREA
63K11NE
REF.
Au02
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
NAME OF PROPERTY
Gurney gold mine (Dominion No.4)
OWNER OF
OPERATOR ADDRESS
1996- W. Bruce Dunlop Ltd.
Suite 201-2639 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg,
Manitoba R3J 0P7
OBJECT LOCATED
Mine Shaft
MINING
DIVISION
The Pas
Latitude
54°44'10"
Longitude
101°11'40 W
Uncertainty
(m)
100
UTM Zone
14U
Easting
358600
Northing
6067200
L.S./Quarter
Section
1
Section
29
Township
66
Range
25WPM
DESCRIPTION OF
DEPOSIT
The property is underlain by a wedge of Amisk Group volcanic, and
sedimentary rocks that are intruded by granite and quartz diorite plutons. Amisk
Group rocks consist of andesite and basalt flows; and greywacke, arkose and
quartzite interbedded with dacite to rhyolite flows. Mineralization consists of
clusters of pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena in closely spaced quartz veins
within shear zones; gold occurs as microscopic particles in quartz, associated
with galena. Mineralization also occurs in quartz associated with drag folds
within a tuff bed (Dawson, 1937). Gold predominantly occurs within sulphides and
rarely as visible gold (Gale and Norquay, 1996).
ASSOCIATED
MINERALS OR PRODUCTS OF VALUE
N/A
HISTORY OF
EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The property is located 20 km northeast of the town of
Cranberry Portage, 5 km southwest of the Optic Lake siding on the Sherridon
sub-division of the Canadian National Railways and 1 km northwest of Brunne
Lake. It was first staked in 1919 by A.L. Stewart, W.J. Goodwin and R. Hassettas
as the Dominion claims.
A land survey and trenching was conducted in 1925.
Dominion leases, D.L. 800-801, were issued to W.J. Goodwin on July 19, 1927 for
Dominion No. 2 and 5. The 21-year leases were cancelled in 1947.
An option
agreement was established between A.L. Stewart, W.J. Goodwin and R. Hassett, on
the one part, and Newton Wylie (capital Interests Limited), on the second part;
in October 1933. Wylie-Dominion Gold Mines Ltd. was incorporated in November
1933, to develop the Dominion claims.
By the end of 1933, 82.5 tonnes (t) (91
tons) of quartz material was shipped to Flin Flon for processing and a small
amount of gold was recovered (Manitoba Mines Branch, 6th Annual Report, 1933-34,
p. 59). The sinking of a three-compartment vertical shaft began in early 1934.
By the end of the year, the shaft was sunk to a depth of 51 m. One level was
established at the 38 m level, and over 244 m of lateral work was completed. The
company reported outlining an ore shoot 50 m by 1.2 m that averaged 18.56
grams/tonne (g/t) ($18.68/ton at $34.50/oz.) Au. Due to a lack of funds,
development work was discontinued.
Gurney Gold Mines Limited was
incorporated in 1935 to develop the property. They extended the shaft of a depth
of 200 m. In 1936, the company carried out diamond drilling and underground
development work. By early 1937, 1530 m of surface drilling, 509 m of
underground drilling and 650 m of drifting and crosscutting were carried out.
This indicated reserves of 67 000 t averaging 11.3 g/t (0.36 oz/ton) Au;
probable reserves were estimated at 21 600 t. These estimates were for reserves
above the 117 m level. They constructed a 125 t per day mill that commenced
operation in October 1937. The mine continued operation until November
1939, when reserves were exhausted. Production for this period was 94 650 t of
ore milled producing 872 kg (28 045 oz.) gold (Manitoba Mines Branch, Annual
Report, 1937-39).
Following closure of the mine, no follow-up
exploration or development work was done. In January 1947, the Camp, Camp
Extension and Dominion leases were cancelled. The claims were then acquired by
God's Lake Gold Mines Limited.
The property was transferred to R.J. Jowsey
Mining Company Limited in September 1957. The claims were cancelled in April
1975.
The property was staked by W.B. Dunlop Limited as CB 7173 in 1975. The
claim was cancelled in August 1977.
W.B. Dunlop staked the property again in
March 1978 (CB 9040). Kerr Addison Mines Ltd. optioned the property in 1980 and
carried out linecutting, EM-VLF and IP. In 1981, a 17-hole drill program was
carried out. The option was dropped in 1983.
In 1988, Mid North Resources
Ltd. and Granges Exploration optioned the property, earning 40% and 60%
interest, respectively. The partners carried out a 10-12 drill hole program in
1989, results yielded 1.7 m (5.7 ft.) at 3.45 g (0.1 oz) Au, 0.5 m (1.6 ft.) at
9 g (0.259 oz) Au and 377 g (11 oz) Ag, and 1.2 m (3.9 ft.) at 6.8 g (0.2 oz) Au
and 85 g (2.5 oz) Ag (Northern Miner, March 13, 1989).
Early in 1989,
Canadian National Rail Lines announced the decision to remove 114 km of rail
track, which went through the Gurney mine area, as a cost saving
measure. The loss of the track negatively impacted prospective mine
development in the area (Winnipeg Free Press, March 4, 1989).
The partners
continued their exploration into 1990, completing 28 drill holes on zone
anomalies. Gossan Hill zone returned 7.25 m of 6.09 g/t Au, and Contact Lake
returned 9.62 m at 5.46 g/t Au.
Mid-North opted out of the partnership in
1993, and Granges was given the option to increase its’ stake to 100%.
W.
Bruce Dunlop regained the property in 1996. No work has been done since he
resumed ownership (Richardson and Ostry, 1996).
HISTORY OF
PRODUCTION
Year Tonnes Milled Gold Production kg oz.)
1937 4202 30.94
(995)
1938 42 910 399.39 (12 841)
1939 47 538 441.95 (14 209)
Total 94
650 872.28 (28 045)
Source: Manitoba Mines Branch, Annual Reports
1937-1939
REFERENCES
Bailes, A.H. 1971: Preliminary Compilation of the Geology of the
Snow Lake-Flin Flon-Sherridon Area; Manitoba Mines Branch, Geological Paper
1-71.
Canadian Mines Handbook 1991: Granges Exploration; Canadian Mines
Handbook 1990-91, p. 213.
Davies, J.F., Bannatyne, B.B., Barry, G.S., and
McCabe, H.R. 1962: Geology and Mineral Resources of Manitoba; Manitoba Mines
Branch, Publication G46.
Dawson, C.B. 1937: Gurney Gold Mines
Limited; Manitoba Energy and Mines.
Gale, G.H., and Norquay, L.I. 1996:
Mineral Deposits and Occurrences in the Cranberry Portage Area, NTS 63K/11;
Manitoba Energy and Mines, Geological Services MDS Report 16, p.
51.
Hage, C.O. 1944: Geology of Gurney gold mine area,
Manitoba; in Precambrian, v. 1, no. 4, p. 5-7, 26.
Manitoba Energy and
Mines; Mines Branch: Corporation File, Gurney Gold Mines
Limited.
Manitoba Energy and Mines; Mines Branch: Corporation File,
Wylie-Dominion Gold Mines Ltd.
Manitoba Energy and Mines; Mines Branch:
Mining Engineering File, Wylie-Dominion Gold Mines Ltd.
Manitoba Mines
Branch 1935: Annual Reports; 1933-35.
Manitoba Mines Branch 1938: Annual
Reports; 1938.
Manitoba Mines Branch 1940: Annual Reports;
1940.
Northern Miner 1989: Granges, Mid-North; Northern Miner, March 13,
1989.
Podolsky, T. 1951: Preliminary Map, Cranberry Portage (east half),
Manitoba; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 51-17.
Richardson, D.J., and
Ostry, G. 1996: Gold Deposits of Manitoba; Manitoba Energy and Mines, p.
69-70.
Winnipeg Free Press 1989: Mining firms fear loss of track;
Winnipeg Free Press, March 4, 1989.
Winnipeg Free Press 1989: Test
drilling results called encouraging; Winnipeg Free Press, January 14,
1989.
MAP REFERENCES
Bailes, A.H. 1971: Map 41-1, Geologic Compilation of the Snow
Lake-Flin Flon-Sherridon Area; 1:253 440 scale, geological map accompanying
Manitoba Mines Branch, Geological Paper 1-71.
Geological Survey of Canada
1993: Bedrock Geology Compilation Series, Cormorant Lake, NTS 63K; Geological
Survey of Canada, geological map, scale 1:250 000.
Manitoba Mines Branch
and Geological Survey of Canada 1963: Map 2457G, Cranberry Portage; Manitoba
Mines Branch and Geological Survey of Canada, aeromagnetic map, scale 1:63
360.
Podolsky, T. 1951: Map 51017, Cranberry Portage (East half); 1:40
000 scale, geological map accompanying Geological Survey of Canada, Paper
51-17.
Surveys and Mapping Branch 1966: Map 63K/11E, Cranberry Portage;
Surveys and Mapping Branch, Ottawa, topographic map, scale 1:50 000.
URL
N/A
Images
Images/739-1
REMARKS
The object located is the mineshaft of the Gurney Gold
Mine that is shown to be approximately 1 km NW of Brunne Lake on Map
51-17 (Podolsky, 1951), confirmed on Cormorant Lake Map, NTS 63K, location
#25.
In 1938, reserves of approximately 54 400 t (60 000 tons), "less than
one year's work" were reported (Mining Engineering File, Gurney Gold
Mines, Limited).
See: Images/0739-1
NOTES
N/A
Compiled/Revised
by:
Compiled/Revised by: GRJ JR JJJ
Date
Date: 12-76 03-87 07-02 (Checked May 25, 2004 LJ)
