- SMDI #
- 1612
- Current Showing Name
- Hoidas Lake Rare Earth Elements Deposit
- Historical Showing Names
- Hoidas Lake Allanite Showing; JAK REE Zone and JAK 2 REE Zone; Hoidas Lake Auriferous Boulder Train, Hoidas Lake Rare Earth Elements Deposit
- Company Name
- Star Minerals Group Ltd., Mont Strategies Inc.
- Project Name
- Hoidas Lake Rare Earth Project
- UTM Easting (NAD83 Z13)
- 343565.0800
- UTM Northing (NAD83 Z13)
- 6647914.5700
- NTS Sheet
- 074O13
- TRM (Township-Range-Meridian)
- 126-11-3
- Primary Commodities
- Rare Earth Element (Unspecified)
- Associated Commodities
- Apatite, Copper, Gold, Light Rare Earth Element (Unspecified), Silver
- Discovery Type
- Outcrop Grab
- Status
- Deposit: Advanced Exploration
- Geological Details
- The showing consists of an apatite-allanite-pyroxene vein system that is located on a broad peninsula on the western shore of Hoidas Lake near the northern tip.
The Hoidas Lake property is underlain by Northern Complex rocks which consist of a series of southwestern Rae Province Ena Domain tonalite gneisses, amphibolite, granitic mylonites, and diorites. The medium-grained, foliated, grey tonalite, which contains 20% to 30% hornblende and disseminated magnetite, occurs as metre- to decimetre-scale boudins, blocks, and schlieren in megacrystic monzogranite granite and younger intrusions. The equigranular, fine- to medium-grained, compositionally layered amphibolite contains up to 10% red porphyroblastic garnets. The amphibolite occurs as angular blocks, schlieren, and rare attenuated layers within the tonalite gneisses and granites to granite gneisses. The most common rock unit is a younger (intrudes the tonalite and amphibolite) megascopic, megacrystic, dull pink to light grey monzogranite that contains 2 to 5 cm long prismatic K-feldspar phenocrysts.
The above-described package of rocks have been deformed by early D2 folding (axial planes dip steeply to the northwest and plunge to the southwest). During the D2 event, the Black Bay Shear Zone and the subsidiary Hoidas-Nisikkatch Fault zones developed.A later series of D3 event shear zones aresuperposed on the Black Bay Fault. The northeast-trending and steeply dipping D3 shears contain well developed ribbon mylonites that are more granoblastic than the D2 event mylonites. Locally, the D3 shears are overprinted by a series of brittle-ductile faults. These latest D4 faults commonly exhibit intense epidotization and hematization.
The above-described package of rocks were metamorphosed to upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies.
The JAK Zone is one of a series of structurally controlled, discordant, northeast-trending, REE-mineralized vein system that is associated with the 800 m (2624.7 ft) wide Hoidas-Nisikkatch Fault Zone - a subsidiary of the Black Bay Fault. The zone system consists of a series of multiple veins that occupy an anastomosing fault system. This zone of deformation cross-cuts the mylonitic fabric. Drilling (70 holes) has defined the zone over a strike length of 700 m (2296.6 ft), across a width of 2 to 12 m (6.6 to 39.4 ft), and to a depth of 150 m (492.1 ft). The zone is open in all directions.
At the JAK Zone, the mineralized veins are commonly zoned with the hanging wall being dominated by apatite, and the footwall dominated by diopside-allanite. A third vein type present consists of a diatreme breccia vein which contains rounded to subrounded, variably altered, sand to cobble sized fragments of the host tonalite and granitic mylonite plus fragments of vein material (diopside, allanite, scapolite and allanite) in a apatite±calcite matrix.
Initial trenching and stripping revealed veins that ranged from completely filled with allanite [(Ce,Ca,Y)(Al,Fe)3(SiO4)3(OH)] to those that were sparsely mineralized with zones of feldspar, pyroxene and alteration products. The apatite veins are associated with amphibolites, feldspars (hyalophane), pegmatite, carbonate material, and mylonitic granulites. The slight radioactivity present is caused by thorium. The distribution of the allanite is erratic but in places abundant. Initially, the apaitie veins" were felt to be partly intrusive and partly hydrothermalin origin. The allanite may be present as irregular blebs, bodies and veins up to 3 ft (0.9 m). A rare earth analysis gave the following results: Thorium, 2%; Yttrium, 0.05%; Lanthanum, 6%; Cerium, 7%; Gadolinium, 0.1%. Drilling demonstrated that the JAK Zone is dominantly apatite and allanite in association with rare monzonite, bastnaesite, chevkinite, and sphene. The host rock mineralogy includes diopside, hyalophane, scapolite, calcite, hornblende, quartz and trace amounts of barite, chlorite, and gypsum.
In 1980, prospecting by Kintla Res. Ltd. located four sets of auriferous, sulphide-mineralized quartz-calcite veined boulders approximately 469 m (1,540 ft) due west of the north end of the Jak Zone. Samples from the boulders returned the following assay values:
BOULDER SAMPLE OZ./TON PCT BOULDER SAMPLE OZ./TON PCT
NUMBER NUMBER AU AG CU NUMBER NUMBER AU AG CU
__________________________________ ___________________________________
1 A-1 1.200 2.76 2.60 3 A-5 0.220 2.78 5.28
1 A-2 0.200 1.16 0.73 3 A-6 0.070 1.61 2.10
2 A-3 0.150 1.87 2.30 4 A-7 0.460 0.68 0.73
2 A-4 0.140 1.76 0.43 4 A-8 0.020 0.66 0.45
Follow up work by Daren Resources Ltd. in 1996 failed to locate any of the boulders. They concluded that Kintla had mistakenly included work from an Ontario property that they were exploring at the same time. Work, completed by Great Western Gold Corporation, led to the conclusion that the zone appears to be a sheared and heavily oxidized diopside-rich skarn which contains allanite mineralization. Gunning and Card (2005) concluded that the REE minerals occur in coarse-grained, allanite-clinopyroxene rich dykes that are metres wide by tens of metres long along strike and, less commonly, as remobilized vein fill. Gunning and Card believe that the mineralized dykes, which have an alkalic source, were emplaced into a terrane dominated by granitoid gneisses approximately 1830 Ma.
There are two main mineral associations for the intercrystalline apatite-allanite mineralization:
(1) a fine-grained apatite with lesser coarse-grained allanite-clinopyroxene
clots and veins type.
(2) a coarse-grained allanite-clinopyroxene dykes that contain lesser fine-
grained intercrystalline apatite. This type is more highly altered and
occurs at the cores of dykes and is mantled by amphibole-clinopyroxene
zones.
The six most common minerals present are cerium, gadolinium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and praseodymium. A metallurgical study, completed in 2001 by Lakefield Research, concluded that up to 75% of the REE content of the Jak Zone is derived from red or brown apatite (masked in hand sample by finely dispersed hematite) and, to a lesser degree, monazite. The remaining REE comes from allanite. Trench examination suggests multiple mineralized zones. Trench sampling returned the following values:
Rare Earth West Main Mylonite
Oxide Zone Zone
_________________________________________
CeO2 0.982 2.439 1.070
Dy2O3 0.004 0.010 0.002
Er2O3 0.003 0.009 0.002
Eu2O3 0.007 0.019 0.006
Gd2O3 0.013 0.035 0.010
Ho2O3 0.000 0.001 0.000
La2O3 0.445 1.150 0.529
Nd2O3 0.382 0.922 0.372
Pr6O11 0.101 0.230 0.095
Sm2O3 0.038 0.092 0.031
Tb4O7 0.002 0.005 0.000
TTL REO 1.976 4.911 2.118
_________________________________________
Trenches 1 4,5,6,7,11 8,9
Zone Width 3.90 m 3.23 m 2.60 m
Drilling on the JAK Zone returned multiple zones of mineralization. A hangingwall zone returned 14.11% TREO over 0.5 m in drill hole HL01-08 and 9.70% TREO over 0.5 m in hole HL01-09. All holes ended in mineralization. The drilling discovered a parallel geologically and mineralogically identical zone in the footwall of the JAK Zone that was named the JAK 2 Zone. The width of the JAK 2 Zone varies from an average of 3.9 m (12.8 ft) to a maximum of 8.3 m (27.2 ft).
The following table shows only one of the multiple zones each drill hole encountered (hangingwall zone excluded):
HOLE SKARN TREO SAMPLE TREO HOLE SKARN TREO SAMPLE TREO
NUMBER WIDTH % WIDTH % NUMBER WIDTH % WIDTH %
__________________________________ __________________________________
HL01-01 3.3 m 1.16 27.9 0.32 HL01-10 1.3 m 3.27 12.6 1.34
HL01-02 2.3 m 2.62 36.0 0.47 HL01-11 6.7 m 1.88 24.1 0.73
HL01-03 3.4 m 4.38 44.1 0.48 HL01-12 2.9 m 3.47 68.2 0.39
HL01-04 2.3 m 3.93 35.8 0.27 HL01-13 4.9 m 4.30 44.9 0.67
HL01-06 3.0 m 4.50 23.8 0.64 HL01-14 6.9 m 4.41 66.7 0.71
HL01-07 4.2 m 4.53 37.3 0.57 HL01-15 2.0 m 2.63 4.9 0.63
HL01-08 4.9 m 4.22 24.2 1.22 HL01-16 3.5 m 3.59 90.4 0.27
HL01-09 5.2 m 4.62 55.8 0.64
Refer to Normand (2014) for an updated detailed description of the Hoidas Lake deposit and similar locations. AF 74O13-0020 & -0021: 2004-2005 program of 39 diamond drill holes, trenching, mapping and sampling. AF 74O13-0022: 2005-2006 program of 21 drill holes and geophysical surveys. AF 74O13-0023: 2005-2006 program of 38 drill holes and geophysical surveys. AF 74O13-0024: 2008 program of 31 drill holes. _________________________________________________________________________
- Geological Domain
- Zemlak
- Host Rocks
- Host Minerals
- Indicators
- Exploration History
- 8/11/1988 This allanite showing was found in 1950 by Jack Lane on the JAK claims. A rare earth analysis was done and returned the results listed above. In 1955, D.D. Hogarth, a McGill University masters degree student, examined the Hoidas and Nisikkatch showings. He determined the allanite S.G to be 3.42 to 3.74.
In May 1976, Keith Hemingston staked the showing as the KA claims 1 to 6 (S-97600 to 97605) for Goble Explorations Syndicate of Cardston Alberta. Frank Goble prospected the showing area and completed a ground radiometric survey over the allanite showing (AF 74O13-0009).
In 1980, Kintla Explorations Limited optioned the KA claims from F. Goble. Between 1980 and 1981, Kintla completed a program of prospecting and sampling on the property (AF 74O13-0010). This work yielded the values reported above.
On 23 September 1996, the showing was staked by Rod Dubnik for Daren Resources Ltd as S-104987. In the same year, Daren completed prospecting and boulder sampling on the property and took a grab sample at the showing (AF 74O13-0016). The sample returned 7.12% Ce, 3.0% La, and 14.0% TREE. The prospecting attempted but failed to re-locate the auriferous boulder train.
In 1999, the property was optioned to Great Western Gold Corporation. They mapped the showing and examined and sampled the 14 existing trenches and 7 new trenches (AF 74O13-0017). The work exposed the host shear over a width of 6.4 to 16 m (4.0 to 52.5 ft). The footwall mineralization was traced along strike for 400 m (1312.3 ft) and a new, parallel, 100 m (328.1 ft) long shear was located 30 m (98.5 ft) to the west. At this time, G. Billingsley re-named the zone the JAK Zone.
In 2001, Great Western Gold completed ground VLF-EM and magnetic surveys on the JAK grid, further stripping and trench sampling, metallurgical testing (leaching, magnetic separation and flotation) and delineation drill holes HL-01 to HL-16 (AF 74O13-0018). The better drill intersections are reported above. In the same year, a composite sample, composed of some of the remaining split core from the zone, was analysed using gravity separation, heavy liquid separation, magnetic separation, and flotation and leach tests (AF 74O13-NW-0019). Further metallurgical testing of the scarn was completed.
In a 11 February 2002 news release, Great Western Gold announced that metallurgical tests completed by Sieffa Mineral Management had confirmed that the deposit would be amenable to open pit mining and that heap leaching would do a good job of processing mined ore to recover the up to 58 elements present. It is estimated the recovery rate for 15 rare earth elements plus yttrium would be 95% to 99.5% (depending on the host rock). At this point, GWG is considering test mining the deposit. Mining of mineralized granitic and mylonitic rocks adjacent to the high-grade skarn could also be economically viable if drilling proves upsufficent reserves.
On 22 February 2002, Sierra Mineral Management released a tonnage estimate for the fault-controlled skarn-type mineralization. The non-skarn mineralization cannot be estimated, at this time, as no drill holes have completely penetrated the section.
- Production History
- Reserves and/or Resources
- 2014-01-31
Summary:
Hoidas Lake: Measured Mineral Resource of 963,808.00 tonne
- Rare Earth Element (Unspecified) @ 2.142 % (Cutoff: 1.5)
Hoidas Lake: Inferred Mineral Resource of 286,596.00 tonne
- Rare Earth Element (Unspecified) @ 1.784 % (Cutoff: 1.5)
Hoidas Lake: Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,597,027.00 tonne
- Rare Earth Element (Unspecified) @ 1.958 % (Cutoff: 1.5)
2009-11-01
Summary:
Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 2,847,431.00 tonne
- Rare Earth Element (Unspecified): 2,847,431.00 tonne @ 2.402 %
2007-01-01
The calculated tonnage of the Skarn type mineralization is 1.14 million tons (1.03 million tonnes) ofto a depth of 200 ft (60 m) which contains 20.675 g/t CeO2, 9,851 g/t La2O3, 11,154 g/t Nd2O3, 3,000 g/t Pr6O11, 1,729 g/t Sm2O3 or a total of 48,926 g/t REE plus 8,779 g/t Sr, and 2,400 g/t TiO2.
NI-43-101 compliant resource estimate (based on a 1.5% total REE plus Yttrium cut-off grade) of 123,000 tonnes grading 2.466 wt. % TREE + Y (2.956% TREO plus Y) with an additional indicated resource of 430,000 tonnes at 2.305 wt. % TREE + Y (2.445% TREO + Y). The zone is open along strike and at depth.
The Jak Zone NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate: a measured resurce of 123,000 tonnes containing 2.956% TREO plus yttrium and an indicated resource of 430,000 tonnes containing 2.445% TREO.
A 2009 NI 43-101 compliant Resource Estimate of Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources of 2,847,431 tonnes grading 2.402% TREO. The JAK zone has an established strike length of 750 m, a depth of 150 m, and widths of 3 to 12 m.
(www.gwmg.ca/projects/hoidas; accessed November 2009)
Summary:
Jak Zone: Measured Mineral Resource of 123,000.00 tonne
- Yttrium
2002-02-22
Summary:
Historic reserve (unspecified) of 1,140,000.00 ton
- Cerium @ 20.675 g/ton
- Lanthanum @ 9851 g/ton
- Neodymium @ 11154 g/ton
- Praseodymium @ 3000 g/ton
- Samarium @ 1729 g/ton
- Strontium @ 8779 g/ton
- Titanium @ 2400 g/ton