Geological Background
Mackenzie Mountain of Canada’s Northern Cordillera, Northwest Territories, Canada has long been an area with abundant mineral resources of economic benefits. The regional geology had been under the impact of a series of tectonic evolutions. Mackenzie Mountain area is within the northeast expression of Cordilleran Orogen, and thus bearing abundant of diverse types of polymetallic ore deposits. According to the most up to the recent reports published by Northwest Territories Geological Survey (https://www.nwtgeoscience.ca), more than 300 deposit sites are registered until 2020 within the area.
The recorded deposits and prospective deposits currently under exploration can be classified by their formation mechanism and ore deposit types. The major deposit types and the geological groups they mainly lie in are listed below:
Mackenzie Mountain of Canada’s Northern Cordillera, Northwest Territories, Canada has long been an area with abundant mineral resources of economic benefits. The regional geology had been under the impact of a series of tectonic evolutions. Mackenzie Mountain area is within the northeast expression of Cordilleran Orogen, and thus bearing abundant of diverse types of polymetallic ore deposits. According to the most up to the recent reports published by Northwest Territories Geological Survey (https://www.nwtgeoscience.ca), more than 300 deposit sites are registered until 2020 within the area.
The recorded deposits and prospective deposits currently under exploration can be classified by their formation mechanism and ore deposit types. The major deposit types and the geological groups they mainly lie in are listed below:
- Low-grade phosphatic stratiform iron formations are usually controlled by Neoproterozoic Rapitan Group;
- Sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) Zn–Pb (±Ba) deposits are usually held by lower Cambrian Selwyn Basin;
- Stratiform/stratabound Cu–Ag deposits are usually preserved along the hanging wall of Cretaceous Plateau Fault in the central part of Mackenzie Mountains, sit within Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup;
- Other potential deposits including tungsten/base-metal skarn, VMS and Carlin-type gold deposits are still under investigations.
Figure 1 (m_location.png) , 2 (regional_map.png) and 3(legend) original png file will be attached below for clearer references.
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Significance of the Study
In addition to the 300 registered exploration projects at Northwest Territories Geological Survey, new explorations are always ongoing for both commercial and scientific purposes. With the economy shocks brought by the pandemic, the budgets of those projects has been cut down significantly. From Natural Resources Canada’s report, comparing to 2019, the exploration expenditures dropped by 54% in 2020. In this case, narrowing down the scope and increasing the accuracy with cheaper technological methods for further exploration programs is meaningful under current situation.
Diamond drilling and core logging are effective but capital-intensive techniques when conducting geological explorations for potential mineral resources. Collecting and analyzing samples from surficial sedimentary materials help provide supportive information before the drilling projects actually start. In this study, surficial silt samples are collected over Mackenzie Mountain area by Northwest Territories Geological Survey. The samples were then tested with geochemical techniques including Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICPES), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS), Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). The geochemistry results of the silt samples are analyzed with multivariate analysis tools to give better hints for future exploration projects.
In addition to the 300 registered exploration projects at Northwest Territories Geological Survey, new explorations are always ongoing for both commercial and scientific purposes. With the economy shocks brought by the pandemic, the budgets of those projects has been cut down significantly. From Natural Resources Canada’s report, comparing to 2019, the exploration expenditures dropped by 54% in 2020. In this case, narrowing down the scope and increasing the accuracy with cheaper technological methods for further exploration programs is meaningful under current situation.
Diamond drilling and core logging are effective but capital-intensive techniques when conducting geological explorations for potential mineral resources. Collecting and analyzing samples from surficial sedimentary materials help provide supportive information before the drilling projects actually start. In this study, surficial silt samples are collected over Mackenzie Mountain area by Northwest Territories Geological Survey. The samples were then tested with geochemical techniques including Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICPES), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS), Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). The geochemistry results of the silt samples are analyzed with multivariate analysis tools to give better hints for future exploration projects.
Objectives
To provide detailed and reliable support information for future geological exploration activities, the goals listed are expected to be achieved in this study:
To provide detailed and reliable support information for future geological exploration activities, the goals listed are expected to be achieved in this study:
- Propose geochemical analysis results of the silt over Mackenzie Mountain area;
- Explore the correlations between variables;
- Reveal the exploration hints provided by the geochemistry data of silt samples.