| Title | Heavy mineral and till geochemical signatures of the NICO Co-Au-Bi deposit, Great Bear magmatic zone, Northwest Territories, Canada |
| Author | McMartin, I; Corriveau, L; Beaudoin, G |
| Source | 24th International Applied Geochemistry Symposium (IAGS 2009), extended abstract volume; 2009, 4 pages |
| Links | Canadian Database of Geochemical Surveys, downloadable
files
|
| Links | Banque de données de levés géochimiques du Canada,
fichiers téléchargeables
|
| Year | 2009 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20080673 |
| Meeting | 24th International Applied Geochemistry Symposium (IAGS 2009); Fredericton; CA; June 1-4, 2009 |
| Document | book |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 85N; 86C; 86D; 86E; 86F; 86K; 86L |
| Area | Great Bear Lake; Lac la Martre; Hottah Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -119.0000 -116.0000 67.0000 63.0000 |
| Subjects | geochemistry; surficial geology/geomorphology; glacial deposits; tills; till analyses; till geochemistry; till deposits; indicator elements; arsenopyrite; exploration; mineral exploration; copper;
silver; gold; cobalt; bismuth; Great Bear magmatic zone; NICO deposit; Sue-Dianne deposit; indicator minerals |
| Illustrations | location maps; photographs; plots |
| Program | GEM: Geo-mapping for Energy and
Minerals |
| Abstract | To establish a practical guide to geochemical and mineralogical exploration for IOCG deposits in glaciated terrain, an orientation study around the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth deposit in the Great Bear
magmatic zone of NWT was initiated in 2007. Bedrock and till samples collected over and down-ice from mineralization and host rocks, and in background terrain, were analyzed to characterize their heavy mineral and geochemical signatures. Heavy
mineral analysis demonstrates that, apart from gold and magnetite, few mineral species present at NICO have some clear potential as indicator minerals in surficial sediments. The non-ferromagnetic heavy minerals are either not chemically stable in
surface glacial sediments (arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrite), not sufficiently coarse-grained (bismuthinite, tourmaline), not abundant enough in the mineralized bedrock (scheelite, molybdenite, cobaltite), or not sufficiently heavy
(ferroactinolite). Although the Co-rich composition of arsenopyrite is possibly the strongest vector to Au-rich polymetallic mineralization in the study area, arsenopyrite is completely oxidized in surface tills. Iron oxide composition using
preliminary discriminant diagrams shows some potential, namely using the Ni/(Cr+Mn) vs Ti+V diagram. Till geochemistry reflects major differences in composition between the country/barren host rocks versus the mineralized rocks, and several elements
(As-Bi-Co-Au-Cu-Sb-W-Cd) are identified as pathfinders for IOCG mineralization. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 226448 |
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