Delhi Tp. - Geology Ontario

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•^ L l B R A R
ONTARIO DEPARTMENT CF
ONTARIO
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
P.R. 1952-1
PRELIMINARY REPORT
on the geology of
DELHI TOWNSHIP, DISTRICT OF SUDBURY
by
K. D. Lawton
INTRODUCTION
Delhi township is in the district of Sudbury, about 23 miles due west of the village
of Timagami on the Ontario Northland Railway.
The area is easily accessible by air
from either Timagami or Sudbury.
Overland routes to Delhi township are either via
lake Timagami to the end of Obabika inlet, across a portage to Obabika lake and thence
northward for about 4 miles to where the lake enters Delhi township, or from Glen
Afton, on the Canadian National Railway, by road for a distance of about 21 miles to
"Stan's Camp" on Obabika lake and from there by a 10-mile trip up the lake to the
township.
Recent exploration in the area has centred about the development of veins carrying
lead, silver, and gold on the property of Delhi (Temagami) Mines, Limited. This
deposit was explored in the early part of 1951 from an adit level. Results were con
sidered to be sufficiently encouraging to warrant underground work and further
development is planned. A small amount of development work has also been done on a
few other claim groups.
The geological survey was carried out by a field party of the Ontario Department
of Mines during the summer of 1951.
The work was semi-detailed in nature with
traverses being generally run at quarter-mile intervals.
GENERAL GEOLOGY
All the consolidated rocks in the area are of Precambrian age.
subdivisions have been recognized:
The following
Table of Formations
CENOZOIC
Recent:
Pleistocene:
PRECAMBRIAN
Keweenawan:
Post-Huronian
(may be younger
than the diabase
and granite):
Cobalt Series
Lorrain Quartzite:
Swamp and stream deposits.
Boulder clay, glacial lake silts and sands.
Granite and related rocks.
"Nipissing" diabase (quartz gabbro); sill
and dikes.
Breccia.
Mainly feldspathic quartzite.
Gowganda Formation: Greywacke, laminated greywacke, impure
quartzite; boulder conglomerate.
COBALT SERIES
Gowganda Formation
Conglomerate:
A conglomerate of fairly extensive distribution outcrops in the
southern half of the township. Lithologically, it is typical of the boul 'ef and pebble
conglomerates occurring in the middle and upper parts of the Gowganda formation.
It consists of boulders and pebbles of all shapes and sizes scattered irregularly
2
through a matrix of dark-grey, fine-grained greywacke, or, in some cases, impure
quartzite. Subangular or rounded pebbles and boulders make up about 5 to 10 percent
of the rock. They are generally from 1/2 to l inch in diameter, with exceptions
noted having dimensions up to 18 inches. The boulders and pebbles include a great
variety of rock materials; grey granite, granite gneiss, quartz, greenstone, slate,
and porphyries are the most common. The rock is fresh and massive in appearance
and weathers to various shades of pale grey.
Stratigraphically the conglomerate is conformably underlain and overlain by
thinly bedded greywacke.
Greywacke:
In places the conglomerate grades by a diminution of pebble content
into greywacke. This is poorly stratified and not very abundant being in most cases
developed as a phase of the conglomerate. A distinctly stratified, thinly-bedded, or
"laminated" greywacke is typical throughout the township; excellent exposures of it
are seen along the shores of Wakimika and Obabika lakes. In a typical exposure,
each thin bed is composed of two layers.
The lower and coarser layer resists
weathering better and generally bleaches lighter than the upper part. The upper
layer is darker and finer-grained. The result is a faintly corrugated, weathered
surface, striped in alternating dark or light grey and brown colours. Interbeds of
pink, rather fine-grained quartzite may occur in the greywacke.
On the Delhi
(Temagami) claims these beds are abundant in the greywacke and reach a maximum
thickness of 18 inches.
Impure quartzites are grouped with the greywacke on the accompanying map,
and are most abundant in the transition zone between Gowganda greywacke and the
overlying Lorrain feldspathic quartzite.
Lorrain quartzite:
Stratigraphically, the Lorrain quartzite conformably overlies
the greywacke described above.
A really, it may be seen from the map to be
confined to the northeastern and northwestern parts of Delhi township and the
southern part of Shelburne township. It is. very-.uniform i#;c.haracter and appearance,
generally massive, of from medium to coarse-grained texture, and pale grey, green,
or pink in colour. It is highly feldspathic in composition and angular grains of fresh
feldspar are conspicuous.
Bedding planes in the quartzite are not readily seen
except on the sides of hills and cliffs, where beds are a foot or more thick.
KEWEENAWAN
"Nipissing" Diabase:
A sill and a number of dikes of Nipissing diabase outcrop in
Delhi township. THe dikes are not especially numerous or traceable over very great
distances. An exception is a large dike which enters the township a little east of the
northwest corner, just east of Dorothy lake. Scattered exposures permit this dike to
be traced in an easterly direction to the Delhi (Temagami) property. It is inferred
that the dike extends through that property and beneath the area heavily covered by
swamp and drift south of Wakimika lake and joins a dike of about the same width and
attitude known to cross the north end of Obabika lake. The dike is about 200 to 250
feet wide and appears to have a generally vertical attitude. The largest outcrop of
diabase in the area is in the form of a sill, which extends unbroken from the southwest corner of the township northward to thg D Ihi (Temagami) showings. The sill is
estimated to be at least 200 feet thick an... has a general westerly dip, of about 30
degrees. The upper contacts of the sill are, in most places, not preserved but along
lower contacts the diabase is essentially conformable with the underlying thin-bedded
greywacke. The diabase exhibits some chilling along the contact and the sediments
are locally contorted and brecciated, but contacts are sharp and metamorphic effects
insignificant.
Lithologically, the diabase is a massive, dark grey or dark green basic rock.
The generally coarse-grained texture gives the rock a gabbroic rather than diabasic
appearance. In composition it may be classified as a quartz gabbro.
Associated with the sill diabase, and apparently grading imperceptibly into it, are
masses of a dull red rock of granitic or syenitic appearance, often referred to as
"redrock". It is as coarse-grained as the average sill diabase, but may be richer in
feldspar which, instead of being light grey like that of the diabase, is dull red and
imparts to the rock its distinctive colour.
Granite:
A pale pink, medium-grained granite rather low in dark minerals occurs
as dikelets and small irregular masses cutting the diabase.
Its most extensive
development is about half a mile north of Lahay lake.
BRECCIA
A breccia outcrops in various parts of the township having features similar to
the so-called "Sudbury structural breccias"* which occur partly in Precambrian
sedimentary rocks of the Sudbury area. The unusualness of this breccia is that it
apparently flowed along fractures in the confining rocks. The rock is composed of
subangular to rounded fragments set in a fine-grained matrix, with the volume of the
matrix generally subordinate to that of the fragments. The fragments range in size
from a fraction of an inch to more than 6 feet in diameter with no sorting of any
kind evident. The majority of the inclusions are from the surrounding formation or
formations, including greywacke, quartzite, impure quartzite, diabase, and conglom
erate. Some foreign fragments are present also, mostly granite and a little green
stone. In a general way, the composition of the matrix and the dominant type of frag
ment vary with the type of rock brecciated. A breccia band in the Lorrain quartzite,
for example, is composed almost entirely of quartzite fragments and the matrix is a
pale greenish-grey cherty material. In the greywacke, bands of breccia have a fine
grained, dark grey, flinty matrix with abundant inclusions of greywacke. A character
istic feature within the matrix is the presence of flowage lines. These wrap around
the borders of fragments in a concentric fashion and may exhibit intricate flowage
patterns in the areas between fragments. In addition, fractures in the undisturbed
country rock are filled with fine-grained matrix material exhibiting flowage lines and
'containing tiny inclusions.
In some places a vertical contact may exist between the breccia and undisturbed,
nearly horizontal greywacke. In others, the breccia and flat-lying greywacke appear
to be nearly conformable or with the breccia gently truncating the greywacke.
Formations in which the breccia occurs may be disturbed and shattered in the vicinity
of the contact, but a general lack of shearing and absence of displacement of the walls
on either side of the breccia band suggest that it is not simply a fault breccia.
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY
The cobalt sediments, which constitute the bulk of the bed rock in the township,
are not greatly deformed, except locally along the sill, along dikes and breccia bands,
and in the vicinity of faults. Aside from a few small shears traversing the diabase
sill, the heaviest shearing is found in a zone crossing the Delhi (Temagami) property
in a N. 60O W. direction. Within this zone are a series of parallel shears, all fairly
narrow and vertical in attitude, cutting the greywacke and diabase.
No prominent folds in the greywacke and quartzite were observed anywhere in the
township. The generally flat or nearly flat attitude of the sediments indicates little
or no deformation of these rocks.
A few small faults occur in the shear zone on the Delhi (Temagami) property. A
more prominent fault has been traced for about 3/4 of a mile along the southwest side
of Wakimika lake. The sediments are upturned and somewhat sheared and highly
fractured along a zone that trends across the bottom of the large peninsula in the lake,
through the lake between a. small island and the west shore, and then southeastward
into the drift-covered area south of Wakimika lake. The general strike of the fault is
N. 37 O W. with a nearly vertical attitude. No distinct marker horizons occur near
the fault so that the amount of displacement cannot be measured; it is presumably
small.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
The association of sedimentary rocks of the Cobalt series with dikes and sills of
Nipissing diabase in the area is typical of the entire country between the Cobalt,
Gowganda, and Sudbury mining camps. At Cobalt and Gowganda quartz-calcite
fissure veins, are associated with the sills, and these contain silver and cobalt
mineralization. On the basis of this association the diabase sill traversing the
western part of Delhi township and the adjacent sedimentary rocks are recommended
as the most promising prospecting ground. It may be pointed out, however, that veins
so far discovered have proved most interesting for their lead content. Native silver
has not been observed, and silver at the Delhi (Temagami) mine is associated with
galena. Small amounts of native gold are also scattered irregularly throughout the
quartz-carbonate veins on this property but gold and galena appear to occur
independently of one another.
Nickel and copper have also been found in Delhi town
ship but only in very Small amounts.
* H. W. Fairbairn and G. M. Robson, "Breccia at Sudbury," Ont. Dept. Mines, Vol.
L, Part 6, 1941, p.32.
H.C. Cooke, "Problems of Sudbury Geology, Ontario." Dept. of Mines and
Resources, Geol. Surv. Bull. No.3, 1946, pp 64-67. ____
_____________
DESCRIPTION OF PROPERTIES
Delhi (Temagami) Gold Mines, Limited
In 1951 this company owned 15 surveyed claims in the northern part of Delhi
township on the southwest side of Wakimika lake.
The property has been developed
by surface-trenching and test-pitting, diamond-drilling, and underground from an
adit level.
Following surface bulk-sampling and diamond-drilling (7 holes) in 1950,
the vein system was explored underground early in 1951.
Four holes were also
drilled below the adit level and these indicated the persistance of the veins at least
200 feet below this horizon. The results of this development are considered by the
company to be sufficiently encouraging to justify further underground development
and the sinking of a shaft to 200 feet and lateral work on the 100- and 200-foot levels
has been recommended. A new company named New Delhi Mines, Limited, is being
organized to finance this development.
The ore occurs in a system of quartz-carbonate veins that contain argentiferous
galena and a little chalcopyrite and pyrite; native gold is irregularly distributed
throughout the veins. The host rock is largely diabase. Some of the veins also
extend into the adjoining thinly bedded greywacke. The vein system lies within and
next to a sheared and faulted zone striking about N. 60O W. The veins fill fractures
in the diabase, strike easterly to northeasterly, and dip at from 30 to 55 degrees to
the north and northwest. They are irregular in strike, dip, and width; the distribution
of the galena mineralization is irregular.
In 1951, 880 feet of drifting was done on 5 veins encountered at the adit level.
These veins lie within an area of about 325 feet by 180 feet, the shorter dimension
representing roughly the strike, the longer dimension the width of the vein system.
Four ore shoots, with a combined length of 381 feet, were found, and three develop
ment faces were in ore when underground work ceased. In a report dated June 29,
1951, L.R.Simard, consulting geologist for the company, estimated that there were
54,000 tons of ore from surface to 200 feet below the adit level. The recoverable net
value of this ore at the property was estimated to be $20.25 per ton. The dimensions
and grade of the ore shoots developed on the adit level are summarized by Mr.Simard
as follows:
Vein
Length
feet
Lahay
No.l South, A
No.l South, B
No. 4 South
102
74
21
184
Silver
Average Gold
width
feet
ounces ounces
per ton per ton
2.87
0.084
3.65
2.08
4.20
.040
3.92
.007
1.65
4.52
.262
2.76
Lead
percent
7.29
6.35
12.17
8.69
381
Shannon Claims
H.S .Shannon holds a group of 18 unsurveyed claims immediately south and
southwest of Wakimika lake in the northern part of the township.
The claims adjoin
'the Delhi (Temagami) group.
Those lying east and south of the Delhi group are
underlain by thin-bedded greywacke whereas the western part of the group encloses
part of the diabase sill that extends from the southwest corner of the township.
Lahay Claims
Members of the L.J.Lahay family hold claims in the western part of the township
in the area between the Delhi (Temagami) group and Lahay lake, and near Lahay lake,
About 350 feet north of the Lahay camp on the east side of Lahay lake, and about 50
feet from the shore of the lake there is a quartz-carbonate vein averaging about 30
inches in width. It strikes i approximately N. 50O W. with a generally flat dip of 300 35 N.
It has been traced by a series of test pits and trenches for about 500 feet
eastward from the lake. The vein occurs along a narrow sheared and fractured zone
in coarse-grained quartz diabase.
Its mineralization consists of chalcopyrite and
pyrite scattered sparingly along the vein.