Report on the
MINK MOUNTAIN JASPER PROPERTY
TB4204406
Thunder Bay Mining Division
NTS 52B01
Thunder Bay, ON
January 2, 2008.
author: Raymond Hietapakka
Thunder Bay Mining Division
FEB
7 Z008
GEOSCIENCE ASSES MENT
F
FEB 052008
RECEIVED
12 : I'
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Regional Location Map
Introduction
Property Description, Location and Access
General Geology
Property Geology
Report on the Mechanical Stripping and Prospecting
Work Log
Claim map of general area
Topographical map of general area
Map, Tanton, 1931
Map of Stripping and Prospecting
Bibliography
the 3 (three) Assessment Work on Mining Lands statement form documents
"
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USA
REGIONAL
LOCATION
MAP
INTRODUCTION
Fossilized Archean Collenia Stromatolites have been noted in the Whitefish Valley area ever
since modem exploration began here in the 1880's, although, at that time. they were not well-understood
regarding their genesis. Even today, their history and genisis remain one of the generally least-understood
Before the the beginning of the previous century a plethora of extremely high-grade, silver-bearing quartzcarbonate veins were discovered, starting in an area south of the City of Thunder Bay in the 1840's, known
as the Prince Mine, right on, what is still today, a very cold, rocky isolated spot of Lake Superior
shoreline, seldom visited. The too numerous-too-mention silver prospects around Thunder Bay ran
the entire gamut from outright scams, underfunded underachievers, right up to proven money-makers.
The local myth is that the silver played out, but it was the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act,
in the U.S. of A. in the early 1990's that killed off most of the silver mines across N.America.
Many interesting prospects, discovered late in the game, received negligible attention.
Beginning here, exploration moved westward as yet more and more exciting finds were made,
first, along the path of the Colonization Road to the Rabbit Mountain area in 1882, then on to the
Silver Mountain area in 1888. The Mink Mountain area, in which this prospect is located, was
the very last to be explored, and although the fact that more than several promising prospects were
located, virtually no work has occurred on any of them since the 1900's. Examples are the Star,
Queen, Wolverine, Geroux, Mink Mountain, Tyee, and more. Only two other commodities have
seen any searches in this border area of Jean Twp. and Wabindon Lake area. Some amethyst
prospects in the area have seen some attention in recent years, thanks to the logging industry
providing the solution road into the most interesting/only location found, so far, in the township
Lastly, the Gunflint Formation Rocks in this area have seen some diamond drilling for their iron
potential, being a not insignificant northern expression of Minnesota's famous Iron Ore District.
At least one of the deposits of the magnetite iron formation north of Whitefish Lake possesses
a modestly significant resource estimate.
Property Description
The property consists of a single-unit unpatented mining claim, TB4204406, a square
approximately 16 hectares in size. This west half of this property was clearcut after the
Derecho of '99. It is located on Crown Land and surrounded by more, in Wabindon
Township, in the Thunder Bay Mining Division of Ontario.
There are no buildings or improvements. A single-lane, dirt logging road passes
Through the property, from just inside it's SW comer right to the NE comer. The claim
was more recently re-staked Feb.20, 2006 and requires $400 assessment work credits by
Feb. 20,2008 to remain in good standing.
Location and Access
The property's current focus is located at UTM 15, 710990E, 5346850N. and is located
within the Wabindon Lake Area, G-Plan Map 0-0774. It is approximately 78 km. by air WSW
of Thunder Bay, Ontario. It is most easily accessed by road, a most convenient trip using
Hwy.588, travelling west from Kakabeka Falls, past Nolalu, finally past Whitefish Lake to
where the asphalt ends, approx. 100m. before the Sandstone Creek bridge. Roughly here is
where a logging road travels north, onto and thru the prospect, from it's SW to NE comers.
Reliable, year-round access is provided by Hwy. 588 to within 1 km. of the site. This last km.
consists of a level, hardpacked logging road, with ONE minor culvert. While not plowed in
winter, this site is accessable by virtually any vehicle and likely will remain so in the future,
given the lack of erosion.
General Geology
On a regional scale, Pye has described the geology of the region of Whitefish lake as underlain
with Precambrian bedrocks, comprised of felsic and mafic volcanic "greenstones", tonalite granites,
covered with Proterozoic black and grey shales and greywackes, capped with Keweenawan-age diabase
sills and dikes. Remnants of this caprock of diabase form mesas, eroded into Palisades, forming the
highest cliff faces in Ontario. The Algal Chert, which is the subject of this particular mineral project
is related directly to the unconformity between the 1.9 Billion year-old Upper Gunflint Formation rocks
and the Lower Gunflint Formation rocks. These cherts deposits, mapped by Tanton in 1931, occur
sporatically throughout the Gunflint Iron Range. a package of iron carbonates, taconites, cherts, and
tuffs that fill a belt 1 to 10 miles wide, from Gunflint Lake, Minnesota to the Municipality of Shuniah,
north of Thunder Bay. These Gunflint rocks overlie the Precambrian strata which surfaces to the north
and are in turn, obscured by the argillites and greywackes of the Animikie Formation to the south.
These algal chert concretions exist where glaciation has exposed them. Undoubtedly. they have
occurred over a larger area, in the past, have been harvested by rockhounds and locallapidarists from
gravel pits, beaches, and stream beds. Other than being noted and mapped by Tanton, it appears
that the accessable bedrock occurrences have never seen any geological attention. Numerous pieces
of float lie about this property, likewise at the other two prominent locations of this fossil chert in the
vicinity. Tanton 1931, mapped well over 20 outcrops of this stromatolite jasper/chert in the Gunflint
rocks N. of Whitefish Lake. "Float" ranges in size from mere boulders, to large impressive specimens
6 and reportedly, even 12 feet in diameter. Bedrock occurrences range from meter-scale to 40 acres
in size. Most are obscured by overburden, including the largest one that was mapped by Tanton. The
only other geology of note in the vicinity of this mining claim is a string of silver prospects, that are
strung like pearls, on what appears to be an east-west faultline running thru Jean and Strange Twps.
These mines and prospects include the West Mink(adit and shaft 600m. north ofTB4204406),
the Mink, Geroux, Hurlburt, Arrow River and Whitefish Valley, Tyee Stucco Works, Queen, Wolverine
However, the Tower Lake amethyst prospects are capable of producing some particularily unique
and attractive material, including large 6' diameter-plus single crystals and brilliant red-colored plates,
with all sorts of double-terminated, ropey, double-sided specimens. Some are hard to describe. This
author has never heard a proper terminology to describe some of the material, best referred
to as "strange". The second prominent amethyst occurrence, the Belletini Mine, this author has never
visited. As the Gunflint rocks are being actively mined across the border for the
Iron-bearing taconite, Their expression here north of the border, has received the bulk of the professional
exploration. Magnetic, dip-needle surveys and the like have been performed, along with some diamond
drilling. A couple of deposits have been classified, one being the "Mt.Marny-Mt.Edna", which has
recently been re-staked(Dec.2006) by a pair of local prospectors. The ore is taconite. High-grade
float of iron ore has been indicated In the immediate area of the jasper prospects. Speculation is,
unfortunately, all the good stuffhas been scraped away by glaciation. And there's apparently no leftover
alluvium to be tapped, such as at the former Canadian Charleston operation near Steep Rock Lake,
Atikokan. The bulk of the iron ore-related leased properties in this area are located along the north
of Gunflint Lake. No serious, and little casual exploration has occurred in the area of the Mink
Mountain Jasper property in recent years.
'.
PROPERTY GEOLOGY
The property is underlain with Gunflint Fonnation rocks. The fossilized Archean Stromatolite
Jasper, also referered to as "Mary Ellen" Jasper seem to overlie both the Lower Gunflint Series
and Upper Gunflint Series rocks. At the Mink Mountain Jasper Property. this silicified fossil
algae fonns a flat-lying, tear-drop shaped deposit, approximately 125 m. wide at the south end
of the property, gradually tapering to 30 feet wide as it continues northeast off the claim. This
deposit of jasper is averages 3 feet in thickness. The roadway is built upon it, and there are outcrops
of the bright red stromatolite in the roadbed. This jasper deposit is exposed along the entire length
of the claim, where it is viewable along the top of the small scarplledge that runs parallel to the road
on it's west side. This ledge of exposed. jasper is never more than 150 feet from the roadway. There
are no bedrock exposures on the east side of the road, beyond the road itself. Immediately east of
the road is a steep hillside, Mink Mountain, capped with diabase.
The target commodity of this mining claim is this fine, bright red Stromatolitic Jasper, for specimen
and landscaping use, and any other decorative-looking banded magnetite iron fonnation associated
here with it.
Report on the Mechanical Stripping and Prospecting
Ontario Mining Claim TB4204406
On November 1,2006, H.Clementson, recorded holder ofTB4204406 contracted Kashabowie
Contracting Ltd. to begin stripping an area overlying the most accessable portion of the stromatolite
deposit. This work first entailed removing a large slash pile left on the site. These waste piles were
not burnt by the loggers, because of the extreme forest fire hazard in the area resulting from a "Derecho",
a high-speed horizontal windstorm, that blew down large portions of forest in the area. Refer to the
diagrams for the location and dimensions of stripped area. Results confirmed the continuation of
stromatolites, in an easterly direction, towards the road. Much fine curly jasper is clearly evident.
The mechanical work was performed on June 14, IS, 16 of 2006. R.Hietapakka and H.Clementson
prospected the exposed stromatolite ledge, along the west side of the roadway, on June 13,2006 and
selected the area closest to the existing road to begin the stripping operation. This was the first
opportunity for the prospector/staker to visit the property with the claim owner. This allowed the
prospector's past determinations to be verified by the owner. So, this was not a redundant activity,
reflecting the prior investigation of the site. The claim owner, final user, H.Clementson, proceeded
to school the prospector as to which portions of the raw material most suited eventual end use,
the production of 6" and 12" polished tiles in the USA, for export. R.Hietapakka and H.Clementson
returned to the site on June 4, 2007, to review the work and gather the materials for the writing
of this report of activity, completed January 2, 2008. Overburden over the work area ranged between
zero and one metre in depth. A large slash pile, one-two two meters deep, had to be displaced
beforehand by the hevy equipment.
'.
WORK LOG
June 13,2006 R.Hietapakka 4 hours, prospecting
H.Clementson 4 hours, prospecting
June 14,2006
H.Clementson, 8 hours, supervision
Kashabowie Construction, mechanical stripping
June15,2006
Kashabowie Construction, 8 hours mechanical stripping
June16,2006
Kashabowie Construction, 8 hours mechanical stripping
June 4, 2007
January 2,2008
Signed:
R.Hietapakka, prospecting, measuring. sampling striped area, 4 hours
H.Clementson, prospecting, measuring, sampling stripped area, 4 hours
RHietapakka, report writing, 4 hours
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Raymond Hietapakka, prospector, claimstaker.
~J CU<l-e) 4?Lett~~
Harold Clementson, Claim Owner, Developer.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
E.G.Pye, Geological Circular 10, Geology and Scenery along the North Shore of L.Superior, 1960.
T.L.Tanton, Fort William and Port Arthur and Thunder Cape map areas,accompanied by 3 maps.1931.
I.Buist and I.Lentz, Atik Lake Project, Assessment work report, 'Wabindon Lake Area, 1998.
Flintrock Iron Mines, Prospectus for Jean and Strange Twps., 1961.
M.I.Garland, Amethyst in the Thunder Bay area, OFRS89 1, 1994.
H.Alanen, T.Stone, Work Report on Stripping and Trenching, TB1239449,
Assessment work report, 2002.
Mink Mountain Jasper
Property
TB4204406
projected stromatolite
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stripped area
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