| Title | Exploration potential of fine-fraction heavy mineral concentrates from till using automated mineralogy: a case study from the Izok Lake Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag VMS deposit, Nunavut, Canada
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| Author | Lougheed, H D; McClenaghan, M B ; Layton-Matthews, D; Leybourne, M |
| Source | Minerals vol. 10, issue 4, 310, 2020 p. 1-33, https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310  Open Access |
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| Year | 2020 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20200062 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Nunavut |
| NTS | 86H |
| Area | Izok Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -115.0000 -108.0000 68.0000 64.0000 |
| Subjects | economic geology; mineralogy; geochemistry; Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; gahnite; sediment dispersal; indicator elements; lead zinc deposits; silver; copper; sulphide deposits;
mineral deposits; mineral exploration; exploration methods; mineral potential; drift prospecting; till samples; till geochemistry; till analyses; bedrock geology; heavy mineral samples; glacial history; ice flow; Automation; ice-flow directions;
Phanerozoic; Cenozoic; Quaternary; Precambrian; Proterozoic |
| Illustrations | geoscientific sketch maps; tables; schematic diagrams; pie charts; photomicrographs; schematic representations; bar graphs; profiles |
| Released | 2020 03 30 |
| Abstract | Exploration under thick glacial sediment cover is an important facet of modern mineral exploration in Canada and northern Europe. Till heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) indicator mineral methods are well
established in exploration for diamonds, gold, and base metals in glaciated terrain. Traditional methods rely on visual examination of >250 µm HMC material, however this study applies modern automated mineralogical methods (mineral liberation
analysis (MLA)) to investigate the finer (<250 µm) fraction of till HMC. Automated mineralogy of finer material allows for rapid collection of precise compositional and morphological data from a large number (10,000-100,000) of heavy mineral grains
in a single sample. The Izok Lake volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit, one of the largest undeveloped Zn-Cu resources in North America, has a well-documented fan-shaped indicator mineral dispersal train and was used as a test site for this
study. Axinite, a VMS indicator mineral difficult to identify optically in HMC, is identified in till samples up to 8 km down ice. Epidote and Fe-oxide minerals are identified, with concentrations peaking proximal to mineralization. Corundum and
gahnite are intergrown in till samples immediately down ice of mineralization. Till samples also contain chalcopyrite and galena up to 8 km down ice of mineralization, an increase from 1.3 km for sulfide minerals in till previously reported for
coarse HMC fractions. Some of these sulfide grains occur as inclusions within chemically and physically robust mineral grains and would not be identified visually in the coarse HMC visual counts. Best practices for epoxy mineral grain mounting and
abundance reporting are presented along with the automated mineralogy of till samples down ice of the deposit. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 326111 |
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