Occurrence of the Timiskaming-type sedimentary rocks in the North Caribou Greenstone belt

Jason Duff, who is completing MSc program at the University of Ottawa, recently found evidence for sedimentary rocks in the North Caribou greenstone belt that are 2680 million years old, younger than other rocks in the belt. The rocks elsewhere in the belt contain 3.0 billion year sedimentary and volcanic rocks including the host rocks for the Musselwhite mine. Similar young sedimentary rocks, called Timiskaming-type rocks, are known to be spatially associated with large gold deposits elsewhere in the Archean Superior Province (which forms a large part of “Canadian Shield”), including the Porcupine, Kirkland Lake, Larder Lake, Malartic, Pickle Lake, and Hemlo gold camps. The proposed study will determine the distribution of this young sedimentary rock unit in the belt and evaluate the source of the sedimentary rocks; outcrops in the area will be examined, and rock types identified and their ages determined by isotopic methods. This finding of relatively young and immature sedimentary rocks in the belt will help guide exploration for gold deposits in this area.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr, Keiko Hatton

Student:

Octavia Bath

Partner:

Goldcorp Inc.

Discipline:

Geography / Geology / Earth science

Sector:

Mining and quarrying

University:

University of Ottawa