| Title | Polymetallic U-Ag veins at Port Radium, Great Bear magmatic zone, Canada: main botryoidal pitchblende
stage cuts 1.74 Ga diabase dykes and has REE signatures diagnostic of unconformity-type deposits |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Gandhi, S; Potter, E ; Fayek, M |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7493, 2013, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/293118  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2013 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 86K/01; 86K/02; 86K/03; 86K/04; 86K/05; 86K/06; 86K/07; 86K/08; 86L/01 |
| Area | Port Radium; Cross Fault Lake; McDonough Lake; Great Bear Lake; Squash Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -118.5000 -116.0000 66.5000 66.0000 |
| Subjects | economic geology; structural geology; igneous and metamorphic petrology; geochronology; geophysics; magmatism; igneous rocks; mineral deposits; mineral occurrences; uranium; silver; radium; cobalt;
nickel; copper; bismuth; unconformities; structural features; structural interpretations; structural analyses; mineral exploration; uranium deposits; mineralization; uranium lead ratios; uranium lead dating; radiometric dating; Eldorado mine; Slave
Craton; Echo Bay mine; Port Radium Formation; Echo Bay Formation; Proterozoic; Precambrian |
| Illustrations | photographs; location maps; plots; photomicrographs; Concordia diagrams; stratigraphic columns |
| Program | GEM: Geo-mapping for Energy and
Minerals Uranium |
| Released | 2013 11 20 |
| Abstract | The Eldorado mine at Port Radium produced 6,223 tonnes of U and 8 million ounces of Ag from 1942 - 1982, with smaller amounts of Ra, Co, Ni, Cu, Ag and Bi. Mining reached a depth of 511 m. The adjacent
Echo Bay mine produced 25.5 million ounces of Ag. The metals were deposited along steep, NEtrending, late tectonic brittle faults in andesitic volcanics of the Great Bear magmatic zone (GBmz), a 1.87-1.84 Ga continental arc along the west margin of
Wopmay Orogen. The brittle faults were healed by quartz veins with sparse chalcopyrite and pitchblende, then cut by 1.74 Ga Cleaver diabase dykes. Fault reactivation offset the dykes and led to 5 stages of polymetallic veins.
The veins are cut by
a gently dipping sheet of 1.59 Ga Western Channel diabase. The Lower Hornby Bay Group was deposited between the two diabase events, and was later eroded at Port Radium. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Despite being one of Canada¿s first uranium mines, the origin and classification of the uranium-bearing veins at Port Radium remains contentious. This
study, completed under the GEM uranium project, used unpublished historical maps and recently published age determinations combined with application of modern analytical tools on archival materials to refine the origin of the veins. These field
relationships, age determinations and geochemical signatures all highlight that the veins are best classified as basement-hosted expressions of unconformity-type uranium mineralization related to the Hornby Bay Basin, akin to the Athabasca Basin
uranium deposits. These findings significantly increase the potential for high-grade uranium mineralization in the region. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 293118 |
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