It did not seem long ago, when I was struggling to put together the first ILSG Newsletter. It is hard to believe that a whole year has passed! Because response to the first newsletter was overwhelmingly positive, this ILSG venture will continue. I must admit that my intention was to get the newsletter in the mail by early November, but I will now be happy to see it mailed by the end of the first week in December, the same timing as last year. Last year, I did the layout for the newsletter, except the logo and header on the front page. This year, I will enlist the services of the Michigan Tech Communications Department who will do the layout for the newsletter for a small fee. I hope that you like the new layout.
Content of the newsletter will undoubtely change from time to time, however, each will contain information about upcoming ILSG meetings and reports by the officers, together with various topical matter. In this issue the 1997 Sudbury meeting is highlighted. Because of the interest in the Flambeau Mine field trip during last years Cable meeting, I asked Gene LaBerge to provide an update. Let me know if you like the photo. The Cable meeting was a success thanks to the efforts of Laurel Woodruff and others; particularly those companies and individuals who contributed to defray costs of the Cable meeting. Response to the questionnaire on the back of the first issue of the ILSG Newsletter was excellent. At the back of this issue, Mark Jirsa and I have provide a summary of results.
The ILSG Constitution was amended at the Cable meeting. The constitution now reads: "The membership of the organization shall consist of persons who have registered for an annual meeting or who have indicated interest in being a member according to membership guidelines approved by the board of directors..." If you receive this newsletter by way of the ILSG mailing list you are an official member of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology. At this time, the Board of Directors has not approved guidelines to define how frequently you must attend a meeting or indicate interest in order to remain on the active list. Mark Jirsa and I are preparing a proposal on this matter for the Board to consider in Sudbury.
The ILSG Board of Directors at the Cable meeting agreed to work on standardization of the selection policy for both the Goldich Medal Award and the Student Paper Awards. A clear policy should make selections easier and more consistent from year to year.
Winter has arrived here in Houghton and as I write the snow is falling. Spring and the next ILSG meeting seem a long time from now, especially when I think about all of the snow I will certainly have to move from my driveway at home. By the time the snow is gone here in Houghton, it will be time to attend another ILSG meeting. I have already blocked out my schedule for ILSG, have you? Hope to see you in Sudbury.
The 43rd Annual Meeting of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology will be held in Sudbury, Ontario from May 6 to May 11, 1997. The meeting is co-sponsored by the Resident Geologist's Office (represented by Wilf Meyer) and the Ontario Geological Survey (represented by Ron Sage), Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Sudbury. Tracy Livingstone, Resident Geologist's Office, is assisting in planning and organization of the meeting. Technical sessions will be held on May 8 and 9 with field trips preceding and following the technical sessions. The technical sessions will be held in the education building auditorium on the campus of Laurentian University close to the Willet Green Miller Centre which is home to the Ontario Geological Survey. The annual banquet is to be held in the Cavern at Science North on the west shore of Ramsey Lake on the evening of May 8. The banquet site is a short distance from the Laurentian Campus.
Six field trips are being planned based on a poll taken at the 1996 ILSG meeting in Cable, Wisconsin. Field trip 1 visits the Huronian rocks between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie concentrating on the structure and stratigraphy. This is a two day trip and may be both pre and post meeting depending on demand. Ken Card, recently retired from the Geological Survey of Canada and Gerry Bennett, Resident Geologist, Sault Ste. Marie co-lead field trip 1. Field trip 2 will examine the Grenville Front in proximity to Sudbury and will be a one day pre-meeting trip. Tony Davidson, Geological Survey of Canada will be leading the field trip 2. Field trip 3 will be a northwest-southeast transect through the Sudbury Structure under the leadership of Stu Gibbons, Falconbridge Limited. Field trip 3 will be conducted before and after the technical sessions and will emphasize the Onaping Formation. The sulfide ore deposits of the Sudbury Structure will be the subject of Field trip 4. Field trip 4 will be led by Steve Prevec, post-doc at Laurentian University, before and after the technical sessions. Field trip 5 will examine alkalic rocks within the Sudbury region including the lower Cambrian carbonatites of the North Bay area. This will be a two day trip led by Ron Sage following the technical sessions. Field trip 6 will examine the regreening of Sudbury after nearly a century of logging and mining activity. This trip will be of one day duration following the technical sessions and will be led by Keith Winterhalder and John Gunn of Laurentian University. Pending final arrangements, it is hoped that Peter Lightfoot, Inco Limited, will be the banquet speaker. He will be speaking on base and precious metal sulfide mineralization in the Lake Superior region. Those of you who have heard him speak know he makes excellent presentations.
First notices and call for abstracts will be mailed in December. For additional information contact Wilf Meyer or Tracy Livingstone, Resident Geologist's Office, Sudbury at phone 705-670-5711, FAX 705-670- 5681, email meyerw@gov.on.ca or Ron Sage, Ontario Geological Survey at phone 705-670-5949, FAX 705-670- 5905, email sage_r@torv05.ndm.gov.ca
The mining operations are recovering mainly supergene enriched ore; however, irregular masses of primary ore composed of pyrite and chalcopyrite are relatively common in the lower levels of the mine. The deeper levels also contain a higher percentage of supergene chalcopyrite and bornite along with chalcocite. Thus, the grade of the ore is decreasing with depth.
Mining has been completed on the eastern portion of the pit, which reached a maximum depth of 180 feet. Mining ended at the 960 level in August, 1996. The eastern portion of the orebody is currently being back-filled with waste rock from the western end of the mine. At the time of this writing (late October) the eastern half of the mine has been back-filled to a depth of about 40 feet. As backfilling proceeds, crushed limestone is added to the sulfide-bearing waste rock to prevent the generation of sulfate-rich waters. This is one of the many environmental safeguards being utilized at the Flambeau Mine.
Mining operations continue on the western end of the mine where mining is currently on the 950 level. Mining was on the 990 level at the time of the field trip in May, 1996. Mining activity on the western end of the mine was interrupted shortly after the field trip so that mining could be completed on the eastern half of the orebody. Plans are to mine down to the 880 level at the western end (a total depth of about 225 feet). Final depth will be reached in early February, 1997.
The western part of the mine will then be back-filled, and a portion of the rich ore remaining in the western wall will be mined during back-filling. Due to possible problems with compacting the backfill during the winter months, operations may be curtailed from mid-February until May.
Backfilling will proceed with the Type-II waste (containing greater than 1% sulfides) filling the lower levels. Crushed limestone will be admixed with the Type-II material during back-filling and compacting. Type I materials (with less than 1% sulfides) will be used for upper levels of backfilling. Clay-rich saprolite, weathered volcanic rocks that were below the Cambran sandstone prior to mining, will be utilized as a cap on the backfilled pit to reduce the amount of water accessing the waste rock. Finally, the Cambrian sandstone, glacial till, and soil that were removed during stripping (the visitor center is on the topsoil) will be replaced.
Most of the reclamation will be completed by the fall of 1997, with a wetland, prairie grasses, and native trees being established. When the site is reclaimed this will be an excellent example of a modern mine and will stand as a tribute to the Flambeau Mining Company and its parent organizations, Kennecott Minerals and RTZ.
A total of 148 people registered for the meeting, and the field trips had 177 paid participants. In conjunction with a field trip to the Flambeau gold-copper mine, the ILSG published Proceedings Part II: Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposits of Northern Wisconsin: A Commemorative Volume (edited by Gene LaBerge). This commemorative volume was originally conceived by Edwarde May, consulting geologist at the Flambeau mine, and was dedicated to Edward H. Eisenbrey and John S. Phillips, early pioneers in the exploration and study of massive sulfide deposits in Wisconsin.
The Goldich Medal was awarded to David Southwick of the Minnesota Geological Survey in recognition for his outstanding contributions to geology in the Lake Superior region. Glen Morey, also from the Minnesota Geological Survey, presented the award. Student Paper Awards were given to Kimberly Darrah (Kent State University), Susan Wilson (Western Illinois University), and Zachary Naiman (Macalester College).
The meeting made an approximate profit in excess of $6000. As much as the Chair would like to claim credit for this, a substantial portion of this sum was a result of support from the Flambeau Mining Company for the Flambeau mine field trip. In addition, most of the publishing costs for the Proceedings Part II were underwritten by numerous contributions from individuals and companies.
Check out the ILSG website in January, 1997 at http://www.geo.mtu.edu/great_lakes/ilsg/.
The ILSG website was supposed to contain considerable information by early September, 1996. How time flies when one is busy! Here it is almost December and the site is still just the listing of an abstract. The information is now gathered and after Thanksgiving Mike Dolan and I will begin serious construction of the ILSG website.
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The decision to bring the Musselwhite gold deposit into production, the opening of the Temagami land caution to staking this fall, and a number of exciting new discoveries have spurred this investment furor. Needless to say, there are no geologists, contract stakers, diamond drillers or prospectors around here looking for work! Calls continue to flood into our offices from companies looking for contractors.
Looking for work? Feel free to send your resumes to: Mark Smyk, Ontario Geological Survey, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Suite B002, 435 S. James St., Thunder Bay, ON P7E 6S7. I'll make them available to interested companies.
In other news, the annual Mines and Minerals Division Symposium that is usually held each December in Toronto has been canceled in favor of an expanded Ministry presence at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada annual meeting next March. Divisional representatives, their industry colleagues and municipal partners will work together to provide poster displays and talks highlighting Ontario's geology and its mineral exploration potential. This venue, Canada's premiere mining and exploration showcase, will give us unprecedented exposure to an international audience.
Items Missing From The Archived Collection
A series of questions focused on the organizational structure of ILSG. These results were presented at the Cable meeting and lead to changes in the ILSG constitution approved at that meeting. Most significant among the changes is the establishment of an official ILSG membership.
The remaining questions focused on various aspects of the annual meetings. The expansion of meetings to cover ALL aspects of Lake Superior geology was supported by 81 % of respondents. Many supporters indicated that they work in varied subdisciplines and like coverage of these areas, as well as the more traditional topics. Those who did not favor expansion were concerned about overlap with other societies and the potential loss of the unique Precambrian focus of ILSG. Several rightly pointed out that there are no formal restrictions on the topical content of ILSG presentations. Futhermore, the ILSG Board of Directors has encouraged meeting Chairs to include glacial/environmental field trips and presentations, in recent years. This is an important issue under consideration by the Board and will likely be the subject of continuing input from members.
Response was less favorable to the idea of concurrent sessions which might be needed to accommodate a more diverse program. Only 67 % supported concurrent sessions. Most comments were submitted by opponents citing that it may limit interaction, create a more divisive structure, and cause scheduling conflicts. Most members want the freedom to attend any and all of the talks. Several wish to maintain the small and relatively informal character of ILSG that might be compromised by expansion to concurrent sessions.
Because the ILSG is defined largely by its annual meetings, respondents were asked to rate four factors on a scale of 1 (very important) to 5 (not important) that affect their decision to attend. Meeting location, field trips, technical sessions, and professional interactions were all considered important to respondents with 67 to 82 % of responses being in the top two ranks of 1 and 2. Field trips were the most important of these factors with 51 % ranking this factor as 1 compared to rankings of 1 for professional interaction, meeting location, and technical sessions of 39 %, 37 %, and 26 %, respectively. Based on average ranks, field trips are again most important; however there is no significant difference between the other three factors. It seems clear that field trips continue to be key components of the ILSG.
On the question of how ILSG can better serve its members, many were satisfied with the existing role of ILSG, though some changes were sugggested. A mix of academic, industry, and government participants and a rather small and informal meeting were cited by several as desireable elements. Several respondents cited ILSG for a record of excellent field trips. A few respondents wanted the timing of the ILSG to be more consistent and meetings scheduled to avoid conflict with the GAC-MAC annual meeting. The newsletter was cited by several as a positive step towards better serving the membership. A number of more specific suggestions were submitted and will be considered by the Board of Directors.
The last item of the questionnaire asked: Do you like this newsletter? The newsletter continues because 76 % responded yes, 24 % responded ok and no one responded no.
The ILSG Newsletter is published by and for the benefit of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology. Opinions expressed herein are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect official position of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology. For comments, suggestions, and possible contributions for the ILSG Newsletter contact T.J. Bornhorst, Department of Geological Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295; (906) 487-2721 phone, tjbornho@mtu.edu (email).