Newsletter #1, September 1997
Last year was a very important year for the McGill Student Chapter of the Society of Economic Geologists as it marked the formation of the chapter. Industrial sponsorship of the chapter was provided by Jay Hodgson of Barrick Gold Corporation. The chapter currently has a membership of 30 graduate and undergraduate students which is remarkable considering the small size of the department. The current boom in the mineral exploration field is sure to contribute to the growth and importance of the chapter. This, along with the considerable growth of the department due to the transfer of students from the Universite de Montreal and Concordia University can only aid the chapter in promoting the understanding of mineral deposits and mineral exploration.
The task of forming a new student chapter was handled very ably by our current president Katherine Smuk and assisted by the other committee members, Sandy Archibald (Vice President), Darryl Green (Treasurer), Alain Garand and Meredith Willis (Secretary). It was Katherine's initial enthusiasm and drive which led to the formation of the chapter and, had it not been for her persistence, the chapter would not have taken off.
Owing to the lack of sponsorship last year the number of speakers and activities that we were able to carry out was limited. In addition to the two speakers in the winter semester, twelve members attended the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada meeting in Toronto. A field trip to Sudbury was also arranged, but unfortunately due to exam scheduling this had to be cancelled. In the next academic session we hope to have at least five or six guest speakers, who will cover several areas of economic geology. Sponsorship by exploration and mining companies will be a priority, and this money will finance the cost of bringing in guest speakers from Ontario, Quebec, and the United States. Field trips have been proposed, such as local trips to Mont Saint-Hilaire, Asbestos, and possibly gold panning in the Eastern Townships. If suitable funding can be found, trips to massive sulphide deposits in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, and porphyry-copper deposits Arizona-Utah will be considered. Another option is that the S.E.G could take over the running of the highly successful Latin America trips, as these trips are primarily concerned with mining in the country visited. A possible candidate for next years trip is Nicaragua, so start saving!
Lastly, I would like to point out that the chapter is only one year old, and at this early stage it needs the support of all the members to continue and to flourish. Elections will be held in the first few weeks of the Fall semester to elect a new committee. If you have some suggestions about the direction you would like the chapter to take and would like to help administer it, please feel free to get involved.
Honduras Fieldtrip
The Earth and Planetary Sciences's annual Latin America field trip took us to Honduras this year. During the two week visit, 12 students (Sharon Allan, Valerie Bender, Annick Chouinard, Alex Fitzpatrick, Jay Harrington, Natalie Mutch, Caleb Norton, Lucas Reindler, Luc Rock, Kristy Skaret, Sean Smith, Glyn Williams-Jones), accompanied by Professors Ron Doig and "Willy" Williams-Jones, studied the geology of this hot, tropical country.
After a relaxing first afternoon on El Lago de Yajao, early the next morning we visited the Pb-Zn skarn deposit, El Mochito, operated by Breakwater Resources. We were given an underground tour of the mine and a visit to the mill. Our next stop was the Yuscaran site where Breakwater Resources is presently conducting an exploration project on the old gold mine. We were shown the various drill holes they had sampled, as well as interesting and significant alteration zones in the area.
Amidst numerous outcrop stops we did, however, find some time for a little rest and relaxation. We visited the Mayan ruins of Copan, and spent a few days on the island of Roatan. The reefs located off the island are the second-most spectacular in the world. Having a couple of sedimentologists on our crew as guides, we conducted an underwater reef traverse. Yet, we didn't forget the hard rocks. An outcropping of metamorphic rock on the beach prompted us to draw its metamorphic reaction in the sand! It was an exciting experience and well worth the effort to organize.
Many thanks to Breakwater Resources Ltd. for allowing us to visit their two properties in Honduras. Additional thanks go out to the following companies for their kind contributions that helped make this trip possible: Canquest Resources Corporation, Falconbridge Ltd., Goldcorp Inc., Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc., Rio Algom Ltd. and SouthernEra Resources Ltd.
SEG members who took part in the Honduras field-trip, Easter 1997.
SEG Seminar Series
Mineral Potential of the North Shore of Quebec
The first SEG talk was given on February 5th by Serge Perrault, a geologist with the Ministere des Ressources Naturelles du Quebec. Serge talked about his involvement with the discovery of promising copper-nickel-cobalt mineralization found in August 1996 at Lac Volant, north-northeast of Sept-Iles, Quebec.
The regional geology and metallogeny of the Grenville Provinces was discussed in some detail before concentrating on the Lac Volant area. The mineralization is associated with an undeformed, late gabbro dyke. The structure is subvertical, trends N35E, and cuts a complex of metagabbro-norite and associated rocks. Three zones of massive disseminated sulphides are present. Mineralization is composed of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite, pyrite, magnetite, and locally, galena. Average grades obtained by channel sampling show values of 2% nickel, 2.3% copper and 0.1% cobalt.
Geophysics and structural maps were shown during the presentation to indicate the potential of further mineralization in the immediate area. Comparisons were drawn between mineralization within the deformed Grenville Province and the mineralization at Voisey's Bay in Labrador.
The talk was followed by a question period, where SEG members and visitors from invited exploration companies asked questions on the presentation. Afterwards refreshments were served.
From Voisey's Bay to Lac Volant via BRE-X: an informal discussion.
David Charles, a mining analyst with Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc., was the chapter’s second speaker of the year in early April. David led the audience through the various factors which are taken into consideration when assessing the potential of a mine and the infra-structure which is needed to make the venture viable. The example which Dave used was the recently discovered Voisey’s Bay Cu-Ni-Co deposit in Labrador. Comparisons were made between the geology, accessibility, and exploration pr actices in the new exploration target of Lac Volant, near Sept-Iles.
The timing of the second part of the talk could not have been better. The discussion now shifted to the Bre-X Busang property in Indonesia. Two days before David’s talk the independent report by Strathcona Minerals (on behalf of Freeport-McMoran Inc.) h ad been released, stating that the Busang property contained non-economic quantities of gold. The effects of fraudulent activity on the stock market and commodity exchange was discussed in detail. Measures to make sure this type of activity could not ha ppen again were touched upon, before David tackled questions from the large audience.
The publicity Bre-X had received in the press made the question period very interesting as no one in the audience had failed to hear about the activities of Bre-X. Katherine Smuk proposed the vote of thanks and this was followed by coffee where fu rther questions were put to David.
If any of the members have suggestions for speakers in next academic session, please e-mail us with potential nominations.
Summer Activities of SEG Members
Now that summer is finally over and the academic session has begun, here's a brief summary of what some of our members were up to...
Trevor Blair and Chris Wright were in Northern Manitoba with Cyprus Amax. They were looking for gold in Archean greenstones, working out of two man fly camps.
Jim Davies was in Northern Saskatchewan, looking for potential uranium deposits and collecting data for his master's thesis. His work was be partially funded by Cameco.
Alain Garand and Danny Fortin were hired by Cygnus Consulting. They spent a month in Sept-Iles looking for base and precious metals from a two man fly camp, before traveling to Raglan to work in a base metal exploration camp.
Katherine Smuk was hired as a senior geological assistant with Falconbridge. She was exploring and mapping several greenstone belts in Northern Ontario as well as finishing her master's thesis on gold deposits in the Mt. Nansen area in the Yukon.
Meredith Willis worked in diamond exploration for Monopros in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.
Peter Wightman had several projects in the works this summer. He finished his M.Sc. thesis as well as working on a study with Professors Williams-Jones and Fein on the solubility of mercury in hydrocarbons. He helped to determine whether economic quantities of Hg could be transported by hydrocarbons. Peter is currently at the University of Notre-Dame working towards his Ph.D.
Sandy Archibald and Martin Heiligmann concentrated on their Ph.D. projects. Sandy mainly carried out labwork, while Martin had a successful field-season at the Hemlo gold mines in Ontario.
Leyla Hossain is working for Kennecott in the Sept-Iles area looking for magmatic Cu-Ni-Co mineralization. She hopes to return to McGill in October to continue her M.Sc.
Gavin McKee has submitted his M.Sc. thesis and is currently working in Western Australia.
On behalf of the SEG executive committee, I would like to congratulate our graduating members and hope everyone enjoyed their summer.
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Should your company wish to sponsor our student chapter, then as a thank you, we shall be pleased to advertise your logo on our website and in our future promotional efforts. For more information, please contact us.