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Elliot Lake - Blind River, Denison, Quirke, Panel, Stanleigh
Ontario, Canada
Main commodities: U


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The Elliot Lake-Blind River uranium deposits are located to the north of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada, 120 km west of Sudbury.   Mines include Denison, Quirke, Panel and Stanleigh.

These deposits are hosted within the up to 12 km thick Huronian Supergroup, which was deposited between 2480 and 2220 Ma (Hoffman, 1989) and overlies the Superior Province Archaean basement on the north-eastern margins of the Penokean Mobile Belt.   The Huronian Supergroup outcrops over a strike length of more than 500 km and thins northwards onto the Superior Province, with higher units successively overlapping those below, onto basement.

The succession comprises a basal pile of basalt, andesite and rhyolite up to 2000 m thick on the shore of Lake Huron, which are absent 40 km to the north where the overlying Elliot Lake Group rests directly on basement.

The Elliot Lake Group is composed of oligomictic conglomerate, argillite, siltstone and greywacke or sub-arkose and is overlain by the Hough, Quirke and Cobalt Groups, each of which represents a cycle composed of basal para-conglomerate, conglomeratic greywacke or sub-arkose followed by argillite, siltstone with some greywacke or sub-arkose and terminated by sub-arkose or quartzite.

Uranium occurs as uraninite grains within a pyritic siliceous quartz pebble conglomerate of the Elliot Lake Group.   The uraniferous horizons (or reefs) are distinctive, comprising well packed aggregates of well rounded, variably smoky, 0.5 to 5 cm diameter quartz pebbles with fine grained interstitial siliceous matrix containing abundant euhedral (0.5 to 3 mm) pyrite.   These contrast with the intervening 1 to 40 m thick quartzites and sub-arkoses to arkoses with only scattered pebbles of white quartz.

The individual reefs are 2 to 4 m thick and comprise overlapping and interdigitating sheets, shallow lenses and shallow channels.   The Quirke ore zone extended for 10 km with a width of 1.8 to 2.7 km.

The Quirke ore zone contained approximately 224 000 tonnes of U3O8 at a grade of around 0.1% U3O8.

For detail see the reference(s) listed below.

The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 1993.    
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd.   Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.


  References & Additional Information
   Selected References:
Burton J P, Fralick P  2003 - Depositional placer accumulations in coarse-grained alluvial braided river systems: in    Econ. Geol.   v98 pp 985-1001
Derry D R,  1960 - Evidence of the origin of the Blind River uranium deposits : in    Econ. Geol.   v.55 pp. 906-927
Robinson A, Spooner E T C  1984 - Postdepositional modification of Uraninite-bearing quartz-pebble conglomerates from the Quirke Ore Zone, Elliot Lake, Ontario: in    Econ. Geol.   v79 pp 297-321
Vennemann T W, Kesler S E, Frederickson G C, Minter W E L, Heine R R  1996 - Oxygen isotope sedimentology of Gold- and Uranium-bearing Witwatersrand and Huronian Supergroup Quartz-pebble conglomerates: in    Econ. Geol.   v 91 pp 322-342


Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge.   It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published.   While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants:   i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and   ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.

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