Atlantic Report Mining means more than gold

Industrial minerals, say Dr Richard Potter, in charge of mineral resources promotion in the province’s department of mines and energy, and John Fowler, senior industrial minerals geologist with the department.

Industrial minerals have been the mainstay of Nova Scotia’s mining industry for decades.

Mr Fowler points out that 5.88 million tonnes of gypsum were exported from Nova Scotia in 1985, the latest year for which figures are available; high quality aggregate is shipped to points as far away as Houston; agricultural limestone and sand and gravel supply local markets; nearly 900,000 tonnes of salt are produced each year in the province, of which 55%-60% is exported; and about 2.7 million tonnes of coal is mined yearly in the province, most of it used for generating electricity. Some coal is shipped to markets in Europe, South America and the Far East.

“These commodities will continue to make important contributions to the Nova Scotia economy in the future,” says Dr Potter. The province is propitiously situated for producing high-volume, low-unit- value materials and most deposits are no more than a few kilometres from tidewater and all-weather deep water ports.

The province also produces a wide range of agricultural raw materials, including limestone, peat moss, salt and anhydrite, a soil conditioner. “There’s a good possibility of discovering economically attractive potash deposits in Nova Scotia in strata similar in age and lithology to the N ew Brunswick producers,” says Dr Potter.

In addition to these materials, Nova Scotia has potential for a wide range of other minerals and commodities, he says. Ferrous metals such as cesium, rubidium, selenium and tellurium, are gaining importance. In Nova Scotia, they may be associated with base metal deposits. “We know they are present, but it is yet to be determined if they exist in anomalous quantities,” he says.

The second largest deposit of celestite in North America is located at Lake Enon, Cape Breton. Timminco’s Chromasco division is studying the deposit for possible acquisition. Cape Breton also hosts deposits of fluorite and barite in the Lake Ainslie area which are currently being evaluated by Conwest.

The province has vast quantities of gypsum. Fundy Gypsum has two quarries in Hants Cty., National Gypsum has a quarry in East Milford, Little Narrows Gypsum’s quarry is in Victoria Cty., Cape Breton, and Georgia Pacific quarries gypsum at River Denys. All gypsum produced in the province is exported for the manufacture of wallboard in Montreal and along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. No wallboard is produced in Atlantic Canada.

Fillers, which reduce the weight and extend the strength of such products as rubber, paints and plastic resins, are found in quantity in N.S. Calcium carbonate, wollastonite and diatomite are being evaluated.

In a new direction, the province is striving to rejuvenate its former building stone industry. Again, the province’s proximity to tidewater is an asset when quarrying stone for export markets.

Nova Scotia’s mineral potential is being investigated as part of the Canada-Nova Scotia Mineral Development Agreement. Results of studies are placed in open files in the mines department as information becomes available, says Mr Fowler, co-ordinator of the projects. Reports on building stone and major dolomite and limestone deposits are on file now.

Besides industrial minerals, Nova Scotia has a number of antimony occurrences. One at West Gore, Hants Cty., was mined from 1884 to 1917. Antimony concentrates have been reported to contain as much as 2 oz gold per ton.

Similar mineralization has been found in the Bear River region, Digby Cty., suggesting a more widespread distribution to the mineralization than previously recognized.

“We may have a double-win situation with antimony,” says Dr Potter, “since gold is commonly associated with it in Nova Scotia.” All of the antimony occurrences have an unexplained spatial relationship with the northern boundary of the Meguma Terrain, says Craig Miller, geologist with the mines department.

Also, traces of platinum have been found in Nova Scotia, Mr Miller says. An amphibolite mineralized with nickeliferous pyrrhotite returned 300 ppb platinum and 150 ppb palladium from samples collected by mines department personnel in 1974. There are also reports of the platinum-arsenide sperrylite in Meguma-type gold deposits.

The N.S. department of mines and energy will be holding a one- day gold exploration workshop in Halifax on Friday, March 27. Mines department geologists will lead discussions and present results of their research programs relevant to exploration techniques in the Meguma Group, host environment to Seabright Resources’ Beaver Dam deposit. Registration is limited to 45 participants.

Exploration is off to a flying start in Newfoundland, with drilling programs under way by Noranda, Granges, BP-Selco, Utah Mines, Westfield Minerals and Inco. Most of the targets are gold, but Noranda is still exploring for base metals and Inco is drilling for potash in a joint ve nture with Pronto Explorations.

Newfoundland’s Director of mineral lands and mines, Norman Kipnis, has retired from the provincial department of mines and energy to become general manager of Island Tile and Slate, a new slate producer in Trinity Bay.

The Newfoundland mines department is planning an active program for this summer and will have 20 crews in the field, says Paul Dean, senior geologist. The department will be inviting proposals for development of the high purity white marble deposits at Roddickton, which were discovered and drilled by the mineral deposits section last year. The department will also investigate the feasibility of a silica- based industry for western Labrador which would use high-grade silica deposits outlined in 1986.