Base Metal and Gold Deposits of the Betts Cove Complex, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland

Sangster, A.L., Douma, S.M., and Lavigne, J., 2007, Base metal and gold deposits of the Betts Cove complex, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland, inGoodfellow, W.D., ed., Mineral Deposits of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit-Types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological Provinces, andExploration Methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division, Special Publication No. 5, p. 703-721.

BASE METAL AND GOLD DEPOSITS OF THE BETTS COVE COMPLEX,

BAIE VERTE PENINSULA, NEWFOUNDLAND

ALAN L. SANGSTER1, STEPHANIE L. DOUMA2, AND JAMIE LAVIGNE3

1. Geological Survey of Canada (retired), 986 Parkhurst Blvd., Ottawa, ON K2A 3M92. 446 Hartleigh Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K2B 5J4

3. 203 - 210 Cedar Street, Sudbury, Ontario P3B 1M6Corresponding author’s email: [email protected]

Abstract

The Betts Cove complex outcrops on the northeastern tip of the Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland. It consists ofa lower ophiolite sequence composed of a basal cumulate unit (now mostly talc-carbonate schist), pillowed basalt, andpillow breccia, which are intruded by small gabbro bodies. The ophiolitic rocks are overlain by tholeiitic pillow basaltand pillow breccia, and are capped by red-green argillite. The upper part of the sequence consists of mafic to interme-diate volcanic and derived epiclastic rocks.

The Tilt Cove copper deposits have been mined out. The east deposits appear to have consisted of massive to dis-seminated chalcopyrite with pyrite and pyrrhotite, which replaces pillow breccia throughout the tholeiitic basalt imme-diately above its contact with boninitic volcanic rocks. The west deposit is more complex and may replace shear zonesin chlorite-altered pillowed basalts. Contents of other base metals and gold are low. The deposit is regarded as ‘ophio-lite-hosted’-type, even though it occurs stratigraphically above ophiolite sensu strictu.

Other smaller copper occurrences are primarily in shear zones that bring pillowed basalt and basalt breccia into con-tact with transitional (upper) zone sheeted dyke rocks. These occurrences are dominantly pyrite with variable amountsof chalcopyrite (e.g. Mount Misery). The Nudulama occurrence contains isolated spectacular gold values, whereas theBetts Cove occurrence contains high-grade gold values that vary directly with ore-grade zinc values.

The Nugget Pond gold deposit occurs in a red/green distal turbidite horizon stratigraphically above the tholeiiticpillowed basalt unit. The ore occurs at three stratigraphic locations, 1) a magnetite-rich horizon at the base of the sed-imentary section, 2) a magnetite-rich horizon near the top of the massive red sandstone, and 3) in a sulphide-, mag-netite-rich chloritic unit in the base of a green laminated siltstone. The gold mineralization is co-extensive with theintrusion of en echelon quartz-feldspar-carbonate veining. The ore formed by sulphidation of magnetite during a fluidflow event, probably during the Devonian.

Other gold occurrences in the complex are small but related to the same strata as the Nugget Pond horizon.Occurrences at Castle Rock and Long Pond east are both associated with talc-carbonate schist in the local sections.

Résumé

Le complexe de Betts Cove affleure sur l'extrémité nord de la péninsule de la Baie Verte, Terre-Neuve. Il est forméd'une séquence ophiolite inférieure composée d'un cumulat basal (à présent surtout du schiste à talc carbonaté), debasalte en coussins et d'une brèche en coussins qui sont pénétrés par de petits massifs gabbroïques. Les roches ophi-olitiques sont recouvertes du basalte en coussins et de la brèche en coussins tholéiitiques et coiffées d'une unité d'argiliterouge/verte extensive en superficie. La partie supérieure de la séquence se compose de roches volcaniques mafiques àintermédiaires et de roches épiclastiques dérivées.

Les gisements de cuivre de Tilt Cove sont épuisés. Les gisements de l'est semblent être composés de chalcopyritemassive à disséminée avec de la pyrite et de la pyrrhotite qui remplacent la brèche en coussins dans le basalte tholéii-tique, immédiatement au-dessus de son contact avec les roches volcaniques boninitiques. Le gisement de l'ouest est pluscomplexe et peut remplacer les zones de cisaillement dans les basaltes en coussins altérés en chlorite. L'altération secompose surtout de chlorite et les teneurs en autres métaux communs et en or sont faibles. Le gisement est considérécomme encaissé dans l'ophiolite, même s'il est présent stratigraphiquement, sensu strictu, au-dessus de l'ophiolite.

D'autres petites occurrences de cuivre se trouvent essentiellement dans les zones de cisaillement qui mettent en con-tact les basaltes en coussins et les brèches basaltiques avec la zone transitionnelle (supérieure) de roches filoniennesfeuilletées. Ces occurrences se composent surtout de pyrite, avec des quantités variables de chalcopyrite (par ex., MountMisery). L'occurrence de Nudulama contient des quantités isolées spectaculaires d'or, tandis que l'occurrence de BetteCove contient une forte teneur en or qui varie directement avec la teneur en minerai de zinc.

Le gisement de Nugget Pond est présent dans un horizon de turbidite distal rouge/vert stratigraphiquement au-dessus de l'unité basalte tholéiitique. Le minerai est présent dans trois emplacements stratigraphiques : 1) un horizonriche en magnétite à la base de la section sédimentaire, 2) un horizon riche en magnétite près du dessus du grès rougemassif et 3) une unité chloritique riche en sulfures et en magnétite à la base d'une siltite stratifiée verte. La minéralisa-tion aurifère est co-extensive avec l'intrusion de filons quartz-feldspath-carbonate en échelon. Le minerai s'est formépar sulfuration de la magnétite durant l'écoulement des fluides, probablement durant le Dévonien.

D'autres occurrences aurifères sont petites mais reliées à la même couche que l'horizon de Nugget Pond. Les occur-rences à Castle Rock et à l'est de Long Pond sont toutes les deux associées au schiste intrusif à talc carbonaté dans lessections locales.

Background

Base metal and gold production from the Ordovician vol-canic rocks of the Betts Cove complex was an important

contributor to the Newfoundland economy. Copper was firstdiscovered at Tilt Cove in 1857 and production first began atthe West Mine in 1864 (Hibbard, 1983). The East Mine or

Main Mine was discovered in 1886, and produced more orless continuously until 1917. Renewed exploration in 1954increased ore reserves at both the West and Main mines andproduction resumed in 1957. The mines finally closed in1967. In total, about 8.2 million tons were mined at Tilt Covemostly between 1957 and 1967, when approximately 7.4million tons of ore grading 1.24% Cu was mined. About42,500 oz of gold was extracted during this last period ofmining (Strong, 1984).

The Betts Cove Mine was discovered about 1864 and pro-duction began in 1875. The mine was prematurely closed in1886 when the hanging-wall volcanic rocks caved into themine workings. Production tonnage figures are not knownprecisely, but 130,682 tons of hand-cobbed ore, grading upto 10% Cu, were shipped (Strong, 1984).

Exploration for gold mineralization associated with themafic and ultramafic rocks in Newfoundland increased in themid to late 1980s, and resulted in the discovery of the small,high-grade, Nugget Pond gold deposit in 1988/89. RichmontMines began production in April 1997 with a reserve of488,000 short tons of ore grading 0.357 oz of gold per ton.The mine closed in September 2001 after producing 167,028oz of gold (Wardle, 2005).

Overview of the Geology and Mineral Occurrences of the Betts Cove Complex

The Betts Cove complex (Bédard et al., 2000) is one ofseveral accreted volcanic terranes that form part of the NotreDame Subzone of the Dunnage Zone of northern and central

Newfoundland. The Betts Cove complex is well preservedbecause it has undergone much less deformation and meta-morphism than many others, and it may provide a moreaccurate picture of the protoliths of other metamorphosedophiolitic complexes. Regional mapping of the Baie VertePeninsula and a summary of previous work is provided byHibbard (1983). Detailed mapping of the Betts Cove com-plex was completed by Upadhyay (1973, 1980) accompa-nied by detailed local studies by Coish (1977a,b, 1989) andJenner (1977). Recent remapping of the ophiolitic complex(Bédard and Lauziere, 1998; Bédard et al., 1998a,b, 1999,2000) provides the basis for maps in this article.

The Betts Cove complex consists of the Betts Cove ophi-olite and the overlying Snooks Arm Group, both of MiddleOrdovician age (Fig. 1). The Betts Cove complex is in faultcontact with Silurian subaerial ignimbrites, related metased-imentary rocks, and mafic flows of the Cape St. John Groupto the north. The basal unit of the Betts Cove ophiolite is acyclic and rhythmic cumulate sequence, ranging in composi-tion from peridotite through pyroxenite to norite (Bédard etal., 2000). These primary rock types can only be seen in theportion of the ophiolite north and west of Betts Cove.Throughout most of the remainder of the ophiolite, thecumulate unit has been strongly altered to a talc-carbonate-magnetite schist with local remnants of serpentinite. Thebasal cumulate unit is overlain by the sheeted dyke unit,which is present only in the western part of the area. Sheeteddykes are in turn overlain by about 1 km of pillow basalt andbasalt breccia. The lower part of the basalt unit (Betts Head

A.L. Sangster, S.M. Douma, and J. Lavigne

704

55°50'

55°50'

49°50'49°50'

NippersHarbourmassif

BC

VB

RH

Undifferentiated

SNOOKS ARM GROUP

LEGEND

Balsam Bud Cove Formation

Round Harbour Formation

Venam's Bight Formation

Bobby Cove Formation

Scrape Point Formation

Mount Misery Formation

Betts Head Formation

Sheeted dyke complex, minor gabbro

Serpentinite, cumulate peridotite,gabbro

Cape Brulé porphyry/quartz + twofeldspar + mica porphyritic granitoid

Cape St. John Group

BETTS COVE COMPLEX

N

0 2000km

LongPond

Red CliffPondd

WestPond

EastPond

KittyPond

Bet

tsB

igP

ond

Betts Cove

SILURIAN

ORDOVICIAN

Avalo

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reDam

eExp

loits

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der

and

0 200km

Newfoundland

Tilt Cove

Snooks Arm

Betts CoveX

Betts Cove

Mine

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X

X

Nugget Pond

Mine

Tilt Cove

Mine

Fault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thrust fault (obduction) . . . . . . .

Normal fault (Silurian) . . . . . . . .

Reverse fault (Acadian) . . . . . . .

Fold trace (syncline) (Acadian)

Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FIGURE 1. Geology of the Betts Cove complex (after Bédard et. al., 2000).

Base Metal and Gold Deposits of the Betts Cove Complex, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland

70

Formation) is boninitic (high Mg)in composition and can be identi-fied in the field by a distinctive redweathering. The upper part of thebasalt unit (Mount MiseryFormation) is composed of similarlithologies but is of tholeiitic com-position. The contact between theophiolite sequence and the overly-ing Snooks Arm Group has beenplaced at the transition fromboninitic to tholeiitic basalt(Bédard et al., 2000), correspon-ding to the Betts Head-MountMisery formational boundary. Avariable suite of medium- tocoarse-grained gabbronoriteintrudes these rocks. Much of thegabbronorite occupies the strati-graphic position of the MountMisery pillowed volcanic units andxenoliths of volcanic rocks arecommon.

The overlying Scrape PointFormation consists of a lowermetasedimentary unit, commonlyreferred to as the Nugget PondHorizon (NPH), and an upperbasalt unit (Bédard et al., 2000).The metasedimentary unit is acomplex mixture of green distalturbiditic rocks derived from vol-canic detritus. In part, particularlyin the Nugget Pond Mine area,these rocks are oxidized to a brickred colour and locally enriched indetrital and/or chemically precipi-tated magnetite. True magnetite-hematite-chert iron formation islocally present near the base of theunit. East of Nugget Pond, the Nugget Pond Horizon isintruded by ferrogabbro sills that increase in quantity to theeast and are most prominent at Tilt Cove. The overlying vol-canic rocks consist of massive tholeiitic glomerophor-phyritic and vesicular basalt that have a much lighter colourindex than the underlying Mount Misery basalt. The ScrapePoint Formation is overlain by the Bobby Cove Formationconsisting of tuffaceous conglomerate and sandstones, vol-canogenic turbidite, and purple mudstones. These rocks areoverlain by the Venam’s Bight Formation consisting oftholeiitic pillow basalt. The Venam’s Bight Formation isoverlain by the Balsam Bud Formation, consisting ofpelagites, basalt, rhyolite tuff tuffaceous sandstone, and vol-canic debris flows. The highest unit in the Snooks ArmGroup is the Round Harbour Formation consisting of mas-sive epidotized pillow basalt.

Mineralization in the Betts Cove complex is recognizedonly in the volcanic rocks of the Betts Head and MountMisery formations and the sedimentary rocks of the ScrapePoint Formation.

There is extensive literature on the mineral occurrences ofthe Betts Cove complex, mainly based on thesis studies. Thesoil and rock geochemistry of gold and a number of smallgold occurrences hosted by the talc-carbonate schist werestudied by Beischer (1988). Al (1990) and Lavigne (1993)concluded that they are listwaenitic-type gold occurrences inwhich gold is thought to be mobilized during alteration byultramafic rocks

The base metal occurrences are well described and havebeen firmly placed in the classification of Cyprus-type cop-per occurrences (Donoghue et al., 1959; Papezik, 1964;Squires, 1981; Strong, 1984; Saunders, 1985, 1990;Saunders and Strong, 1986, 1988; Hudson, 1988; Strong andSaunders, 1988). The association of anomalous gold withsome of these occurrences has been documented by Hurley(1982), Hurley and Crocket (1985), Santaguida andHannington (1996), Bédard et al. (2000), and Sangster andPollard (2001).

G

Cu

Burton’sPond

N

Cu

Cu

Cu

Cu

Major Mineral Occurrence

Betts CoveMine

Reverse faultFaultHigh-temperature faultContactDyke orientationPillow orientationCumulate layering

Small Copper Occurrence

50

32

58

55

70

60

80

75

75

65

37

65

40

7573

74

70

70

70

30

50

35

40 6547

40

78

72

70

84

35

8535

87

80

65

40

50

70

65

7765

54

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65

72

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45

56

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53

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84

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70

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68

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60

6960

64

62

80

60

75

78

40

55

82

80

50

55

80

56

70

75

80

Betts Cove

BettsHead

KittyPond

BettsBigPond

75

G

N

NNN

N

S

S

S

S

S

G

G

G

G

GG

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

G

N

0 400m

49°49'55

°50'

55°5

0'49 49'o

Mount Misery Cu

Cu

Scrape Point FormationTholeiitic lava, sedimentary rocksMount Misery tholeiitic lavas

Mixed dykes and lavasSheeted dykesLate intrusionsLayered cumulate rocks

Snooks Arm Group

Betts Cove ophiolite

LEGEND

Betts Head low-Ti/int.-Ti lavas

G

Joey’sPond

FootPond

FIGURE 2. Location and geological setting of the Betts Cove area (modified after Bédard et. al., 2000)


706

and pillow basalts and towards the western end it is entirelywithin the sheeted dyke unit. The occurrence contains vari-able but commonly low levels of disseminated pyrite andchalcopyrite. The best mineralization is on the height of landbetween Betts Cove and Foot Pond (Fig. 5B). Here, thesheared basalts host a zone up to 50 m wide of disseminatedpyrite and chalcopyrite in sheared and altered sheeted dykes.Massive pyrite veins up to 10 cm thick are exposed in a pitat the west end of the occurrence. On the cliff above BettsCove, the zone is only 2 m thick and is composed of silici-

fied and pyritized sheared basalt. The dump nearest to BettsCove contains basalt breccia with a quartz matrix and minorchalcopyrite and pyrrhotite.

Burton’s Pond Cu OccurrenceThe Burton’s Pond occurrence (Fig. 2) has been studied

by Snelgrove (1929), Douglas et al (1940), and Hudson(1988). The occurrence is small, consisting of a 100 m longirregular mineralized zone containing vein quartz and locallyheavy sulphide mineralization consisting of pyrrhotite,

A B

C D

E F

FIGURE 4. Photographs from the Betts Cove area. (A) Two to four metre diameter orange-brown-weathering pillows in the hanging wall of the Betts CoveMine. The colour is typical of the weathering of boninitic volcanic rocks. (B) Sheeted dyke unit stratigraphically below the Betts Cove Mine. The dykes aver-age 50 cm to 1 m in thickness. Basalt dykes form more than 90% of this unit with interstitial basalt breccia. (C) Ore dump sample composed mainly of mas-sive pyrite with an “eye” or chalcopyrite. Darker mineral in lower right is sphalerite. (D) Ore dump sample containing well banded pyrite containing layersrich in disseminated sphalerite and some chalcopyrite. In thin section, the pyrite texture is entirely cataclastic and cemented by the other sulphide minerals.(E) Ore dump sample containing cataclastic pyrite and sphalerite. The texture is interpreted as mechanical segregation during shearing. (F) Waste dump sam-ple containing pyrite and pyrrhotite with traces of chalcopyrite in a small fragment basalt breccia. This type of breccia is typical of the interdyke breccias inthe sheeted dyke unit. (All photographs by the author).


70

The Betts Cove Area

The Betts Cove Cu-Zn-Au OccurrenceBetts Cove geology and the Betts Cove deposit have been

extensively discussed by Snelgrove (1929), Douglas et al.(1940), Baird (1951), Snelgrove and Baird, (1953),Upadhyay et al. (1971), Upadhyay (1973), Upadhyay andStrong (1973), Coish (1977b), Saunders (1985, 1990),Saunders and Strong (1986, 1988), Sangster et al. (1995),and Bédard et al. (2000).

The Betts Cove Mine and the nearby Joey’s Pond occur-rence outcrop in the upper part of the sheeted dyke unit about1.25 km southwest of the head of Betts Cove (Fig. 2). At theBetts Cove Mine, several outcropping chloritic shear zones,ranging from 1 to 3 m in thickness, contain mainly pyritewith low concentrations of copper and gold (Fig. 3;Appendix 1). The ore zone comprised a concordant high-grade massive pyrite (Fig. 4C,D,E,F) lens containing chal-copyrite, sphalerite, and gold, which is no longer visible inoutcrop as it is buried below the caved area. However, oresamples are preserved in the dumps (Fig. 4). Two sets ofmineralized shear zones can be seen on surface; one strikingabout 315 to 345° and a second striking 050 to 060°, whichoffset the northwest-southeast shears.

The mineralized shear zones form the faulted contactbetween the sheeted dyke (Fig. 4B) and pillowed basalt units(Fig. 4A). The shear zones are composed mainly of chloritewith associated highly strained quartz and locally abundantanthophyllite, tremolite, calcite, and stilpnomelane. TheBetts Cove occurrence is the most polymetallic occurrencein the area containing abundant zinc, minor lead, and highlevels of gold (Appendix 1). The opaque minerals consistmainly of pyrite, which is highly brecciated, chalcopyrite,and sphalerite. Au is present as free gold with up to 20% Ag,but the amount of gold present varies directly with the zinc

grade of the ore. Traces of galena, PbTe, and AgTe are alsopresent. The pronounced banding observed in hand speci-mens of ore is of tectonic origin and is not a sedimentaryexhalative or detrital feature, although Upadhyay and Strong(1973) interpreted it as primary.

At Joey’s Pond, 300 m north of the Betts Cove Mine(Figs. 2, 3), a shear zone with a similar orientation to thenorthwest-southeast shear zone at Betts Cove containsstringer pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization and may be thestrike extension of the ores mined at Betts Cove. The occur-rence is much lower in the sheeted dyke unit than at BettsCove, suggesting a cross-cutting relationship.

Upadhyay and Strong (1973) interpreted the ore mined atBetts Cove as a northwest-southeast-striking exhalative mas-sive sulphide lens that was modified by northwest-southeastshearing and subsequently affected by southwest -northeastshear zones into which some of the earlier sulphides wereremobilized. However, southeast of the Betts Cove Mine, thenorthwest-southeast shear has recently been traced bydrilling (Noveder Inc.), across the sheeted dyke unit for sev-eral hundred metres, again indicating that the mineralizedshear is discordant rather than concordant. Also, the inter-pretation of sulphide banding as used by Upadhyay andStrong (1973) is precarious in light of recent work onseafloor sulphides and studies of layered textures in oldermassive sulphides. Modern seafloor analogues of massivesulphides commonly have a core of unbanded sulphide,mainly composed of intergrown and mechanically erodedsulphide chimneys, with some occurrences exhibiting anapron of bedded sulphides that have formed lateral to themound (Herzig and Hannington, 1995). However, in theseexamples the layered sulphides form a relatively small partof a sulphide lens. Large (1992) has described texturesobserved in Australian massive sulphides and described var-ious cases of sulphide banding that formed as aprons as aresult of turbidite flows. However, Large (1992) indicatesthat in many examples of deformed sulphides the sulphidebanding is commonly of metamorphic origin, as the texturesof the sulphides in the Betts Cove occurrence indicate.

Thesis work by Saunders (1985), and reported inSaunders and Strong (1986), interpreted the shear zones assynoceanic faults and used the alteration zonation haloaround the deposit to conclude that the ore was depositedfrom a subseafloor hydrothermal convection cell with flowfocussed within the porous fault zones. Hydrothermal flowwas most probably driven by heat from associated gabbroicsheets. Tremblay et al. (1997) found evidence of reactivationof these faults during obduction of the ophiolite.

The Mount Misery Cu-Au OccurrenceThe Mount Misery occurrence (Fig. 2, 5; Appendix 1)

occupies an east-west shear zone (Fig. 5A) that forms astrong airphoto linear feature between the Joeys Pond occur-rence at Betts Cove and Foot Pond north of Betts Cove(Bédard et al., 2000). Earlier work has been done bySnelgrove (1929), Douglas et al. (1940), Upadhyay andStrong (1973), and reported in Hibbard (1983). The mineral-ized part of the shear zone extends from the head of BettsCove to the northeast for about 500 m. At its eastern end, theshear zone forms the contact between the sheeted dyke unit

ToBetts Cove

64

78

Dump

Dump

caved

Joey's

Pond

0 100m

Pillow basalt

Basalt (mixed dykesand lavas)

Joey'sPond

Mineralized shearzone (Py, ± Ccp, Sp) Rock waste dump

Woods road

Photo linear relatedto mineralized shearShaft

Betts Cove Mine

Joey’s Pond Cu

FIGURE 3. Geology of the Betts Cove-Joeys Pond mine area (modifiedafter Bédard et al., 2000).


708

A B

FIGURE 5. Photographs from the Mount Misery area. (A) The photograph shows the north side of Betts Cove on the flank of Mount Misery. The Mount Miseryoccurrence occupies a sheared zone that can be traced in outcrop between the two arrows. The shear zone extends over the brow of the hill where the bestmineralization occurs about 250 metres north of (behind) the upper arrow. The entire outcrop on the barren hills is sheeted dyke with the exception of thetwo rounded hillcrests right of the upper arrow, which are pillowed basalts. The height of the cliff is 200 metres. (B) Highly sheared sheeted dyke unit in thecore of the mineralized area. Mineralization consists mainly of disseminated pyrite with minor chalcopyrite. Stringers of massive pyrite to 10 cm in thick-ness are present. (All photographs by the author.)

WinserLake

BeaverCove

Supplypond

BeaverCove

Pond

GG

G

G

GG

Tilt Cove

Valley Fault

Eastern LimitFault

N

0 400m

49°53'49°53'

Legend

G

Mafic sillsSnooks Arm Group

Scrape Point Formation: volcanic unit,sedimentary unit

Bobby Cove Formation


Betts Head FormationLate intrusive gabbroSerpentinite, cumulate peridotiteand talc-carbonate schist

Quartz + two feldspar +mica porphyritic granitoid

Not exposed

Cape St. John Group

Betts Cove complex

SILURIAN

ORDOVICIAN

G

Tilt Cove MineUnconformityFaultNormal fault (Silurian)Contact

Symbols

Scrape Point

Long Pond Au

CastleRock Au

AuAu

NudulamaCu-Au

CuAuMagnetite

Mineraloccurrences

Au

Tilt CoveWest Mine

Tilt CoveMain Mine

FIGURE 6. Location and geological setting of the Tilt Cove Mine (modified after Bédard et. al., 2000).


70

pyrite, and chalcopyrite. Theoccurrence is commonly known asa Cu-Ni occurrence but nickel isnoticeably absent in any quantity inthe analyses in Appendix 1. Somegold is present.

Tilt Cove Area

The Tilt Cove DepositThe Tilt Cove deposit is the

largest and most productive depositwithin the Betts Cove complex.There was very little research car-ried out on the deposit until afterproduction ceased in 1967. Earlycommentary and description wasby Murray and Howley (1881),Snelgrove (1931), Douglas et al.(1940), and Bichan (1958). Thecomplexity of structure in theimmediate mine area was noted byNeale (1967) and Papezik (1964)described a small occurrence ofunusual nickel mineralization inthe ores. Regional mapping wasreported by Upadhyay (1973) andUpadhyay and Strong (1973) andthe immediate mine area anddeposit was mapped and describedby Squires (1981). Strong (1984)and Strong and Saunders (1988)reviewed the stratigraphy and alteration in detail, and mod-elled the deposit as an ophiolite-hosted copper deposit.Bédard et al. (2000) remapped the Betts Cove complex andmodelled its formation.

The sulphide deposits at Tilt Cove occur within a 400 mthick basalt unit consisting of massive and pillowed basalt,and basalt breccia (Fig. 6, 7, 8A) of boninitic to tholeiiticaffinity belonging to the Betts Head and Mount Misery for-mations (Figs. 6, 7). In most of the area, the basalt is in struc-tural contact with the underlying ultramafic unit, which con-sists mainly of serpentinite and talc-carbonate schist. Thesheeted dyke unit is absent, except for a thin wedge north ofthe open pit on the west ore zone. The ore-bearing unit isoverlain by a sedimentary sequence belonging to the ScrapePoint Formation. This includes a basal, locally pyrite-bear-ing and/or magnetite-bearing, red argillite and chert, andoverlain by grey chert and greywacke that are extensivelyintruded by fine-grained ferrogabbro sills. The sedimentaryand volcanic units are cut by numerous dacitic feldspar-quartz porphyry sills and dykes of Silurian age.

Mineral production at Tilt Cove came from several zonesdistributed both east and west of the village site. The westzone (Fig. 6) outcropped on the west side of the valley at TiltCove. The deposit consisted mainly of disseminated andstringer chalcopyrite-pyrite mineralization forming a steeplydipping pipe-like body in massive and pillowed basalt(Squires, 1981). The deposit directly overlies rocks ofsheeted dyke affinity, which form the ridge immediatelynorth of the pit. A small lens of massive sulphide occurred

just south of the west zone at depth and was truncated by thevalley fault. Examples of various ore types are shown inFigure 8B, C, D, E, and F.

The East or Main Zone is separated from the west zone bythe valley fault. This fault zone is 50 to 75 m wide and isoccupied by extensive serpentine and talc-carbonate schistand also by Silurian quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes thatintrude west zone mineralization. Movement on the fault hasbeen interpreted as normal with east side down (Squires,1981).

The Main Mine area lies east of the valley fault. It consistsof low-grade stockwork mineralization in the “A” Zone andthe adjacent massive Cliff Zone, “Bogen’s Lode”, and far-ther east the Main Zone, which itself is composed of a num-ber of massive sulphide lenses (Hibbard, 1983) (Fig. 9).Surface basalt exposure in the Main Mine is entirely basaltbreccia, however, sections of the workings, described byDonoghue et al. (1959) indicate that the breccia in the MainZone gives way to “andesite” (mine terminology) at a shal-low depth. The east end of the Main Zone is terminated by amajor fault that puts the host Betts Head and Mount Miseryformation volcanic rocks in contact with the overlying sedi-mentary rocks of the Scrape Point Formation. The fault zoneis occupied by sheared Silurian quartz-feldspar porphyry.

Appendix 1 indicates compositional variation of variousore types. It is notable that both gold and zinc contents arelow. The chemistry of the deposits is rather simple. Copperis the main element present with very low quantities of bothlead and zinc. Gold production was significant but the gold

FIGURE 7. Photograph of the east side of the valley at Tilt Cove showing a section through the Betts Covecomplex. The cumulate unit, now totally altered to talc-carbonate rock and serpentinite, occupies the valleyon the north (left) side of the photograph. It is in fault contact to the north with the Silurian Cape St. JohnGroup and to the south with the volcanic section of the complex. The first 50 metres or so of cliff face is boni-nite, composed mainly of basalt breccia with extensive basaltic dykes. It has been called a sheeted dyke unitbut there is some question if weather of the dyking is sufficiently dense to meet the definition of sheeted dykesensu strictu. The unit contains uneconomic stringer pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization. The tholeiitic basaltunit here is composed entirely of vesicular, variolitic pillow basalt talus breccia. The lower part of the unit isrusty weathering and the Main Zone orebodies lie 50 to 300 metres east of the cliff face. On the right, red andgreen cherty argillite with late ferro-gabbro sills form the base of the overlying Snooks Arm Group. This isthe lateral equivalent of the Nugget Pond Horizon. (Photo by the author.)


710

concentrations of the samples analysed are generally lowwith occasional values in the order of 1 to 2 ppm. Nickel andcobalt concentrations are also low and do not reflect thepresence of a small amount of nickel ore that was producedfrom the west zone in the period between 1869 and 1876.The nickel mineralization appears to be a secondary product,as it was associated with the contact between talc-carbonateschist (altered peridotite) and basalt. The nickel mineraliza-tion consisted of nickel sulpharsenides, principally niccolite,maucherite, chloanthite, gersdorffite, arsenopyrite, and mil-

lerite (Papezik, 1964). Appendix 1 indicates elevated con-centrations of As in many of the samples analysed.

Alteration minerals associated with the deposits are dom-inantly chlorite with associated carbonate and some stilp-nomelane. Intense alteration is restricted to a relatively nar-row zone around the sulphide deposits (Fig. 5). On the eastside of the Main Zone, alteration associated with the EastLimit Fault has produced an assemblage of specularhematite-chlorite-sulphide.

A B

C D

E F

FIGURE 8. Tilt Cove ore-types – all samples are from dump material. (A) Talus breccia in the cliff face on the east side of the valley is the typical host formuch of the Main Zone ore. The breccia is composed of 100% fragments of vesicular pillowed basalt cemented and veined by white carbonate. (B) Disseminated streaky chalcopyrite and pyrite in a chlorite matrix. This ore type is most commonly found around the open cut of the West Mine. (C) Pillow fragment with the vesicles filled with chalcopyrite. In the lower part of the photograph is pyrite that was probably either fracture filling or inter-stitial between pillow fragments. (D) Magnetite was locally abundant in the deposit. This unlocated sample is massive magnetite with minor pyrite and chal-copyrite. (E) Mainly pyrite with minor chalcopyrite from dump material at the Main Mine. The arcuate sulphide band is interpreted to be a product of replace-ment of the rim of a pillow fragment. (F) Chalcopyrite stringers in basalt. (All photographs by the author.)


71

Fault

Contact(observed,inferred)

Mafic sills

SerpentineTalc-carbonate

Porphyry

Massive ore zone

Basalt (massive,pillowed)

Pillow breccia

Chlorite alteration

B

A

21,500 N

21,000 N

20,500 N22,0

00E

21,5

00E

GEOLOGICAL PLAN - 801 LEVEL

(50 m above sea level)

N

0 50m

A

0 200ft

500

1000

80' level

Shaft collar elev.Sea level

South Lodeopen cut

GEOLOGICAL SECTION A - B

0 50m

0 200ft

LEGEND

B

FIGURE 9. Geological plan (A) and section (B) of the Tilt Cove Mine (modified after Squires, 1981).

A B

C D

FIGURE 10. Nudulama occurrence plates. (A) Basalt pebble conglomerate near the Nudulama occurrence. (B) A small exposure of sheared basalt with tracesof sulphide mineralization. (C) Dump sample containing sheared and brecciated basalt containing clasts and stringers of pyrrhotite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite.(D) Dump specimen containing pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite with vein quartz.

Without access to undergroundworkings and with little mineraliza-tion available on surface for study,it is difficult to model the Tilt Covedeposit. Squires (1981) interpretedthe various lenses as part of a singleophiolite-type copper-rich volcanicmassive sulphide system. The Westand “A” zones were considered tobe the deepest and intermediateportions of the feeder zone respec-tively, and the Main Zone massivesulphides were interpreted to repre-sent the overlying massive lenses,separated from the “A” Zone by asystem of flat faults.

Nudulama OccurrenceThe Nudulama Occurrence

(Appendix 1) lies on a small penin-sula (Sugarloaf) in Long Pond,about two kilometres west of theTilt Cove Mine (Fig. 6). The localrock types include a sheeted dykeunit east of the occurrence andbasalt breccia and basalt conglom-erate (reworked breccia) (Fig. 10A)west of the occurrence. Most ofwhat can be seen now is on a dumpbeside an old shaft. The dump con-tains mainly chalcopyrite as fillingin brecciated, sheared (Fig. 10B),chloritic basalt (Fig. 10C,D). Themineralization appears to be from asheared zone that separates basaltpillow breccia from the underlyingsheeted dyke complex. The occur-rence is notable for some high gold values.

The Nugget Pond Gold Deposit

The Nugget Pond deposit is a small, high-grade golddeposit that exhibits many unusual features. It is the onlymine that has seen recent production in the Betts Cove com-plex. The deposit was found by Bitech Corporation in 1988and achieved production by Richmont Mines in early 1997with a defined reserve of 488 000 tonnes at 0.357 ounces ofgold per ton. The gold deposit consists of manto-style dis-seminated pyrite-gold mineralization within a thin metatur-bidite in the basal unit of the Scrape Point Formation thatoverlies pillowed basalt of the Mount Misery Formation(Swinden et al., 1990; Sangster et al., 1994a,b, 1995) (Figs.11, 12). The sedimentary host rocks are termed the NuggetPond Horizon (NPH).

Stratigraphic SettingThe Nugget Pond deposit is hosted by a red and green tur-

bidite sequence that lies between pillowed basalt of theMount Misery Formation and overlying massive por-phyryitic basalt of the Scrape Point Formation (Figs. 13, 14).The sedimentary sequence is typically 40 to 60 m thick anddips 40 to 60° to the southeast in the area of the mine.

The underlying Mount Misery basalt is commonly vari-olitic and vesicular, and varies from fresh to moderatelyaltered. Relatively fresh basalt consists primarily of plagio-clase, clinopyroxene, chlorite, actinolite, and minor to traceamounts of leucoxene, calcite, epidote, and pyrite.Distinctive dark basalt is associated with inter- and intra-pil-low metasomatic alteration. This basalt is composed of pla-gioclase, chlorite, and magnetite with the latter forming up to15 modal percent of the rock. Three types of inter- and intra-pillow alterations have been identified. The first alterationtype consists of epidocites and related alteration of quartz-chlorite-calcite-epidote-pyrite replacements or veining. Thesecond alteration type consists of diffuse replacement of thebasalts by aggregates of quartz-calcite-muscovite-albite-chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite. The third alteration type consists ofquartz-calcite with chlorite, muscovite, magnetite, andhematite and is referred to as interpillow jasper zones. Theytypically lie within 5 m of the upper contact of the basalt.

The Nugget Pond Horizon is divided into a lower red clas-tic unit and an upper green clastic unit (Fig. 13). The redclastic unit is subdivided into a lower magnetic unit, a mid-dle brick red clastic unit, and an upper interlaminated red-green clastic unit that is also magnetic. The upper green clas-tic unit consists of a lower sheared chloritic unit containing


712

BettsBig Pond

Fly Pond

RockyPond

West Pond

61

65

G

G

Bedding in sediments and flows

Siluro-Devonian reverse faultSynobduction reverse faultFault . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contact . . . . . . . . . . . .

Nugget Pond Mine . . . . . .

76

74

65

60

72

55

87

70

72

49°51' 49°51'

55°47'

Betts Head FormationBetts Cove Ophiolite

G

Undifferentiated Snooks Arm GroupSnooks Arm Group

LEGEND

Sedimentary memberVolcanic member

Tholeiitic lavas

Boninitic lavasLate gabbro intrusionsSerpentinite

Cape Brulé porphyry


Scrape Point Formation

N

0 200m

G

Nugget Pond Mine

FIGURE 11. Location and geological setting of the Nugget Pond Mine (modified after Bédard et al., 2000).


71

pyrrhotite, pyrite, and magnetite, and an upper unit ofmedium to light green finely laminated and graded turbidite.

The basal red unit is very complex and is here referred toas an iron formation for simplicity. It is typically 3 to 5 malthough locally up to 18 m thick. The unit comprises foursubunits that are not universally present or consistent incharacter. The lowest is a chaotic horizon containing clastsof Mount Misery pillow basalt and chert that are cementedby cherty quartz and magnetite. The second unit is also abreccia but contains clasts of bedded sedimentary rocks,chert, and quartz cemented by chert and quartz and locallyby magnetite and quartz (Fig. 14A). Some of these texturesprobably represent hydrothermal breccias related to ore dep-osition while others are clearly of sedimentary origin. Thethird subunit is a very fine-grained, very dark red siltstonethat contains abundant, very fine-grained, bedded magnetite.The fourth subunit is a brick red to brown-black very fine-grained siltstone that also contains abundant magnetite.

The largest part of the red unit (Fig. 13) is a coarseningupward sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, and peb-bly sandstone. The lowest part of the unit consists of anaphanitic, red, massive to very thinly laminated mudstone(Fig. 14B) composed of quartz and chlorite with feldspar andsericite (XRD analysis) and an evenly distributed hematitematrix. Higher in the succession, the proportion of silt-sizedparticles increases resulting in a fine- to medium-laminatedsiltstone and mudstone Near the top of the red succession, acoarser grained, mainly green, sand-sized sediment compo-nent results in a unit consisting of banded red siltstone-mud-stone and green sandstone (Fig. 14C). The sandstone maycontain millimetre- to centimetre-scale basalt clasts. Thered-green unit commonly contains laminae of dark red mag-netite-rich mudstone (Fig. 14D).

The upper green metasedimentary unit consists of tworock types (Fig. 13). The lower unit directly overlying thered unit is dark green, and is composed of chlorite, mus-covite, quartz, and carbonate. It is moderately to well foli-ated and contains small-scale deformation structures. It is

distinctive in that it has abundant foliation-parallel bands ofsieve-textured pyrite and pyrrhotite that varies from about15% to locally submassive sulphide (Fig. 14E). The lowerpart of the unit is strongly enriched in magnetite. The non-auriferous sulphides in this unit are biogenic with δ34S val-ues less than -15‰ (Sangster et al., 2001).

The uppermost and thickest portion of the green unit is asequence of thinly laminated and graded, mainly green sand-stone, siltstone, and mudstone forming Bouma A or B to E(t)sequences (Fig. 14F,G). The colour of individual metasedi-mentary rocks varies with the grain size. Sandstone is typi-cally darker green, whereas siltstone is lighter green to tan orred in colour. The coarser clasts in the sandy facies indicatederivation from a basaltic protolith. The pyrite content isalways <<1%. Near the contact with the overlying basalt,there is an increase in shearing accompanied by alterationand an increase in pyrite, epidote, and magnetite.

The overlying basalt is massive and is characterized by 10to 20 percent plagioclase phenocrysts, which occur as glom-erophorphyritic clusters in a fine-grained basaltic ground-mass (Fig. 14H).

Structural SettingThe Nugget Pond gold deposit is hosted by the basal sed-

imentary unit of the Scrape Point Formation at its intersec-tion with a strong northwest-southeast airphoto linear featurein the footwall rocks that does not appear to extend into thehanging-wall rocks. The interpreted fault has not been found

6

6

5

5

4

4

3

3

2

2

1

1

Drill hole with goldAu g/tmetres

38.272.6

30.612.3

5.761.0

26.813.218.4

3

18.007.1

30.311.0

35.974.6

10.71.0

5.892.8

48.362.4

3.91.0

7.201.3

9.500.9

18.1014.2

8.180.65

6.21.0

5.62.0

DD

H17

DDH

16A

DD

H71

DD

H18

DD

H69

DD

H19

DD

H20

DDH

5

DD

H6

315°

Surface

10m

10 m

1 Pillow basalt

3 Pyritic argillite

5 Porphyritic basalt

4 Green argillite

2 Red argillite

6 Vesicular basalt

assay . . .

NW SE

FIGURE 12. Drill section of the Nugget Pond Au deposit (modified afterBédard et. al., 2000)

Au SCRAPE POINT FORMATIONGlomeroporphyritic Basalt

GREEN SEDIMENTARY UNIT (NPH)

Finely laminated and graded epiclastic silts varying in colour from medium to lime green with occasional beds of sandy green turbidite

Sheared chloritic rock with disseminated pyrite, pyrrhotite and magnetite

RED SEDIMENTARY UNIT (NPH)

Interbedded red and green argillite and green sandstone. The red argillite contains disseminated magnetite that locally may be called iron formation.

Massive, weakly bedded red siltstone and sandstone

Mixed basalt breccia, red siltstone and chert with abundant magnetite. This unit is highly variable in thickness

MOUNT MISERY FORMATIONPillow Basalt and Basalt Breccia

Zone 1

Zone 2

Zone 3

FIGURE 13. Generalized stratigraphic column of the host rocks at theNugget Pond gold deposit showing the stratigraphic location of the miner-alized zones.


714

in underground mine workings, but there is a modest thick-ening in Scrape Point sedimentary rocks at the appropriatelocation, suggesting the presence of a synvolcanic fault in theMount Misery Formation and other footwall units. Detailedstructural studies have not been conducted in the depositarea, but examination of drill core and examination under-ground at an early stage of the development suggests that themineralization and alteration is genetically related to an

extensional array of hydrothermal quartz-albite-carbonate-pyrite veins within the metasedimentary rocks (Figs. 15, 16).

The Nugget Pond deposit is not exposed on surface. Amine development roadcut, 50 m north of the subcrop of thewest end of the deposit, revealed stratified red argillite, greenargillite of the ore section, and glomeroporphyritic basalt.These exposures are totally unaltered demonstrating that the

A B

C D

E F

FIGURE 14. Regional rock types at the Nugget Pond gold deposit. (A) This sample from the basal unit of the red sedimentary sequence consists of red chertfragments in a matrix of grey, magnetite-bearing quartz. This unit is host to Zone 3 mineralization. (B) The main part of the red sedimentary unit is a brightred, moderately well bedded to massive siltstone and mudstone. Magnetite and pyrite are not common in this unit. (C) In the upper part of the red unit (Fig.13B), the colour changes to a dark red, bedding becomes finer and more pronounced and centimetre-scale beds of greenish coarse sandstone are common.The darker red colour is caused by the presence of very fine-grained detrital magnetite beds. This unit hosts Zone 2 mineralization. (D) Thin section show-ing the distribution of magnetite in a dark red sandstone. Length of the photograph is 4 cm. (E) Sheared chloritic rock from the basal unit of the green sedi-mentary sequence. At Nugget Pond, this unit may be highly sulphidic (upper core) but nonauriferous outside the deposit. It contains abundant magnetite dis-seminated with the pyrite-pyrrhotite and rarely may contain greater than 50% magnetite without sulphides (lower core). Some quartz veining is present (mid-dle core). This unit hosts Zone 1 ore. (F) Core from the main portion of the green sedimentary unit. Magnetite was not identified in this unit and only minorpyrite was noticed, as seen on the left end of the upper core.


71

mineralization and alteration effects on the host rocks arelocal.

Hydrothermal Quartz-Albite-Carbonate Veins,Mineralization, and Alteration

The gold mineralization and alteration at Nugget Pond areco-extensive with a network of quartz-albite-carbonate-pyrite veins that cut rocks of the Nugget Pond Horizon. Theveins are texturally variable and can be divided into threeprinciple modes of occurrence: 1) veins with sharp to locally

diffuse contacts (Fig. 15A,E,F), 2) volumes of rock withirregular impregnations of vein material (Fig. 15G), and 3) irregular patches of massive vein material dominated bycarbonate (Fig. 15G).

The extensional vein array is composed of quartz-albite-carbonate ± pyrite veins that strike parallel to the depositwith shallow to moderate dips to the south. They range from1 to about 5m in dip dimension and vary in thickness from 2 to 25 cm. In addition to the veins, the host rock commonlycontains similar material irregularly distributed throughout

G H

FIGURE 14 continued. (G) The green turbidite unit may be thickly bedded or very thinly bedded, as seen in the upper and lower cores. (H) Massive glom-eroporphyritic basalt that overlies the Nugget Pond Horizon. This unit is not mineralized but its competence may have acted as a butress promoting fractur-ing in the rocks below those that host the deposit.

FIGURE 15. Typical ore samples from the Nugget Pond Mine. (A) Zone 1 Au ore consisting of well banded pyrite cut by quartz-albite-carbonate veining. (B) Low-grade ore consisting of large (1 to 10 cm), zoned pyrite metacrysts in finely banded, altered red-green sediment. This ore type was common aroundthe fringes of the deposit. (C) Banded ore from Zone 2 resulting from the replacement of magnetite by pyrite. The red-brown colour has been digitallyenhanced for clarity. (D) Banded ore from Zone 2 showing the co-existence of replacement ore with late (?) pyrite metacrysts.

A B

C D

the altered rock as 1 to 10 cm diameter clots of coarse-grained quartz-albite-carbonate, locally disseminated inaltered host rock, commonly forming up to 25% of the rockby volume. Where this dispersed material is abundant, it maycoalesce into irregular pods of massive carbonate-rich veinmaterial. Spectacular gold “shows” have been found in thiscoarse carbonate (Fig. 15H). A single age determination on asingle grain of xenotime from the quartz-albite-carbonateveins (R. Parish and A. Sangster, unpublished data) gave aDevonian age of 374 ± 8 Ma.

Mineralization in the Nugget Pond gold deposit is domi-nantly pyrite with very subordinate chalcopyrite, galena, Ag-telluride, and native silver. Pyrite is commonly coarsegrained and cubic with an average grain size between 0.5 and2.0 cm, but locally may be up to 10 cm. The pyrite may over-grow pre-existing synsedimentary pyrite within ores hostedby the lower green sedimentary unit, and it commonly over-grows magnetite in both the lower green unit and the redunit. The amount of magnetite in the pyritic rocks of the orezones is less than that seen in the adjacent unmineralized


716

E F

G H

FIGURE 15 continued. (E) Ore from the core of Zone 2 showing quartz-albite-carbonate veins forming the matrix to stilpnomelane altered red argillite (darkat top of specimen). (F) Tension gash veins filled with quartz-albite-carbonate cutting massive black stilpnomelane. Note the irregular distribution of pyritein the altered rock. Length of the field is 3 metres. (G) Irregular blebs of quartz-feldspar-carbonate in chloritic argillite. An area of coalesced vein materialdominated by carbonate can be seen in the lower right corner of the photograph. Length of the field is 3 metres. (H) Specimen of spectacular gold ore hostedby coarse-grained carbonate. (Photos by the author with the exeption of Plate H, which is courtesy of Andy Kerr, Newfoundland Geological Survey.)

A B

FIGURE 16. Alteration of host rocks at Nugget Pond. Plate. (A) Green argillite with very fine-grained stilpnomelane rosettes distributed throughout. (B) Approaching the Nugget Pond ore zone, the red-green banded argillite may appear bleached due to the presence of very fine-grained stilpnomelane.


71

rocks, indicating that much of the pyrite has formed by sul-phidation of magnetite. Pyrite is also abundant in the quartz-albite-carbonate veins associated with the deposit and alsooccurs in similar veins stratigraphically below and above thedeposit, in the lower basalt, and overlying green turbiditeand basalts respectively.

Gold in the ores occurs as free grains of native gold fill-ing fractures in pyrite, coating pyrite grains, or as smallirregular-shaped grains within stilpnomelane-altered rock.Some spherical gold inclusions are present within pyrite.The spectacular gold-bearing samples are restricted to thecoarse carbonate veining. Accessory minerals include ubiq-uitous but minor (<0.1%) chalcopyrite and rare galena,which occur mainly as small inclusions in pyrite and asaggregates of coarser grains in the carbonate phase of thehydrothermal quartz-albite-carbonate veins. The silver con-tent of the ores is contained both within the gold (5 to 15%Ag) and as <5 micron sized grains of an Ag-telluride thatoccurs as inclusions in pyrite. One grain of native silver wasobserved during SEM examinations of samples. Table 1 liststypical assay values for Nugget Pond ore samples.

The principal alteration mineral at Nugget Pond is stilp-nomelane (Fig. 16), the iron-rich brittle mica (Swinden et al.,1990; Sangster et al. 1994a). This developed in preference tobiotite because of the iron-rich character of the host rocks.The bulk of the alteration is in the sedimentary rocks. In

weakly altered rocks, most sedimentary features are pre-served (Fig. 16A,B,C,F). Strongly altered rocks consistalmost exclusively of stilpnomelane and pyrite, and all ves-tiges of sedimentary layering and colour have beendestroyed (Fig. 16D). Initial indications of alteration on thefringes of the orebody consist of bleaching of the red andgreen argillite (Fig. 16D) and the appearance of a “spotted”texture due to the presence of millimetre-scale rosettes ofstilpnomelane (Fig. 16A,C,F). These are often restricted toparticular centimetre-scale sedimentary layers (Fig. 16C). Inthe ore zone, the assemblage stilpnomelane calcite, ilmenite,sphene, pyrite ± rutile predominates. Biotite is present inminor amounts in the fringes of the alteration zone and isovergrown by stilpnomelane. In areas with the most intensealteration, massive stilpnomelane is intimately associatedwith the hydrothermal quartz-albite-carbonate veins (Fig.15A,E) and it forms veins that cut the sedimentary rock-types In these areas the stilpnomelane is accompanied byalbite ± quartz.

In the footwall basalt, alteration is locally present but ismuch less extensive than in the sedimentary rocks. The prin-cipal alteration mineral is biotite, which overgrows theregional chlorite alteration. In more altered areas, an assem-blage of stilpnomelane-albite-calcite-quartz-pyrite is presentwith the stilpnomelane overgrowing biotite.

C D

E F

FIGURE 16 CONTINUED. (C) Varying degrees of development of black stilpnomelane alteration in red argillite from very weak (lower left), to moderate (lowerright), to intense (upper). The initial stages of alteration are strongly controlled by bedding (lower) and cleavage (upper right). (D) Massive black stilp-nomelane with metacrystic pyrite from the fringes of the Zone 2. (E) Thin section showing weak bladed stilpnomelane (upper half) and heavier bladed stilp-nomelane on opposite sides of a bedding contact. The bedding control on stilpnomelane formation suggests that the composition of the sedimentary rock,probably the iron content, is a controlling factor (length of slide is 5 mm). (F) Coarse rosettes of light brown stilpnomelane overgrowing green chlorite in redargillite. Length of the field is 1 cm.

Ore Distribution There are three individual ore zones in the mine (Fig. 13):

the hanging-wall zone, or “Zone 1” that occurs within thedark green chloritic sediment at the base of the green unit;“Zone 2” located in the magnetite-rich portion of the upperpart of the red unit; and the footwall zone or “Zone 3” thatoccurs in the magnetite-rich basal portion of the red unit.Details of variation in individual zones are provided below.

Zone 1 is located within the dark green sediment at thebase of the green, turbidite unit. It is black in colour due tothe presence of stilpnomelane and contains 10 to 15 percentpyrite. The fine- to medium- grained pyrite occurs as semi-laminated to laminated bands with a barren grey-green sand-stone layer often located within the zone. The immediatefootwall contains 4 to 6 percent disseminated pyrite, of lessthan 8 mm grain size, over a width of 0.5 m. Zone 1 is 3 to5 m thick and is commonly crosscut by calcite-albite veinsless than 15 cm wide (Fig. 15A). Locally, the sedimentaryrocks exhibit evidence of ductile deformation. Immediatelyabove Zone 1 is a hanging-wall fault that consists of highlyfractured grey-green sedimentary rocks or faultbreccia/gouge up to 1.5 m wide.

Zone 2 is located within red and green interbedded sand-stone and siltstone that contains up to 10 percent dissemi-nated, coarse-grained euhedral pyrite (<24 mm) with abun-dant discontinuous irregular pink albite and calcite veins(Fig. 15B,C,D). Stilpnomelane alteration within this zone iscommonly less intense than in Zone 1.

Zone 3 is located at the base of the sediments above thefootwall contact with the pillow lavas. In the west, the sedi-ments are tuffaceous and contain light green chlorite withmoderate calcite impregnations and 8 to 10 percent pyrite.Locally, the zone may host remnant blocks of a cherty frag-mental rock within a magnetite matrix. In the east (known asZone 3 upper), the sediments are darker in colour with a finergrained sulphide occurring at the contact between the

metasedimentary rocks and the pillow lavas. Immediatelyabove the pyrite is a 10 to 30 cm band of fine-grained mag-netite. Representative analyses of Nugget Pond ore are pre-sented in Table 4.

Origin of the DepositThe bulk of the geological evidence indicates that the

deposit is a product of sulphidation of magnetite-rich zonesin the sedimentary horizons by the fluids that generated thequartz-albite-carbonate veins 374 ± 8 Ma ago. The deposit isspatially coincident with the extent of veining, and occurswhere the veining intersects the magnetite-rich horizons.Quartz-albite-carbonate veins commonly have halos ofpyrite and microscopically the pyrite can be seen to replacemagnetite or overgrow earlier syngenetic pyrite in Zone ‘A’(Sangster et al., 1994a,b; Sangster and Pollard, 2001). It isinterpreted that the hydrothermal fluids accessed the sedi-mentary horizon along a reactivated synvolcanic fault thatappears on the surface as a strong north-northwest-strikinglinear feature. This feature has not yet been clearly identifiedin the mine nor has the source of the hydrothermal fluidsbeen determined. However, it is felt that the fluids are mostprobably the same ones that altered the underlying cumulateunit to talc-carbonate schist and mobilized trace gold fromthe ultramafic rocks to the site of ore deposition. In supportof a gold source from the alteration of the cumulate unit,indications of gold are widespread in the talc carbonate ascentimetre-scale quartz veins with a few flecks of pyrite (Al,1990; Beischer, 1988; Lavigne, 1993).

Nugget Pond Horizon Mineralization Distal to the Nugget Pond Mine, the Nugget Pond

Horizon commonly contains disseminated pyrite in the greenlaminated argillite and magnetite in the red argillite. Theunits are not continuous and the presence of magnetite isquite patchy. Two geologically interesting gold occurrences


718

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naicivodrO oP ,yP ,pcC roolfaes-buStnemecalpeR tcepsorP1 xidneppA eeSecnerruccO

enoz deraehs tlasaBevoC stteB elddiMnaicivodrO

elddiMnaicivodrO

,pS ,pcC ,yPuA

roolfaes-buStnemecalpeR recudorp tsaP1 xidneppA eeSllamS

orbbaGdnoP snotruB elddiMnaicivodrO

elddiMnaicivodrO

,pcC ,yP ,oPuA -/+

roolfaes-buStnemecalpeR tcepsorP1 xidneppA eeSecnerruccO

etilligra neerg-deRdnoP tegguN elddiMnaicivodrO uA ,yPnainoveD tnemecalpeR

otnaM snot 000,031 dnah %01debboc recudorp tsaP

kcoR eltsaC clat dna etilligrAetanobrac

elddiMnaicivodrO uA ,yPnainoveD tnemecalpeR

enoz raehs tcepsorP1 xidneppA eeSecnerruccO

dnoP gnoL clat dna etilligrAetanobrac

elddiMnaicivodrO tcepsorP1 xidneppA eeSecnerruccOtnemecalpeRuA ,yPnainoveD

era eht tuohguorht noitazilarenim fo ”snoitacidni“ fo rebmun egral a era ereht ereh detsil secnerrucco eht ot noitidda nI :etoN .selif tnemssessa larenim ni dna )3891( drabbiH ni detsil a

recudorp tsaPsnot 000,002,8aiccerb sulat ,tlasaBevoC tliT elddiMnaicivodrO

elddiMnaicivodrO

secnerruccO reppoC

secnerruccO dloG

oP ,yP ,pcC roolfaes-buStnemecalpeR

TABLE 1. Principle mineral occurrences of the Betts Cove complex.


71

are related to the Nugget Pond Horizon in an area of verycomplex structure immediately west of Tilt Cove. The LongPond occurrence (Fig. 6) is at the east end of Long Pond andconsists of geochemically elevated gold values (Appendix 1)in erratically pyritic green argillite associated with chertyiron formation bordering shear-zone-hosted talc carbonate.Both the argillite and the talc carbonate are auriferous.

The Castle Rock occurrence (Fig. 6) consists of heavilydisseminated pyrite in a magnetic red argillite band in greenargillite (Fig. 17). The occurrence is also associated with ashear zone containing talc carbonate occurring within maficvolcanic breccia. Gold assays are very high (see Appendix 1)but the occurrence is of limited size.

Mineral Exploration Techniques

For the purposes of mineral exploration, the Betts Covecomplex presents three mineralized settings for considera-tion when developing exploration programs.

Gold deposits are exemplified by the Nugget Ponddeposit, which is a small, disseminated pyrite deposit in asedimentary sequence that contains units that are magnetite-rich. The most important controls are the presence of afavourable sedimentary horizon that is cut by a significantfault, as occurs at Nugget Pond. The deposit was discoveredusing soil geochemistry for gold and this is perhaps the mostdirect screen of a geological target area. Magnetic andinduced polarization surveys were of limited use at NuggetPond because of the small size of the deposit. However bothtypes of surveys should be useful in exploring for largerdeposits. Much of the Nugget Pond Horizon subcrop is cov-ered by lakes, which provides an additional challenge forexplorationists.

The base metal deposit types occur as massive replace-ments of basalt breccia and as disseminations in shear zonesthat juxtapose the sheeted dyke unit and the overlyingboninitic and tholeiitic basalt. The degree to which mineral-ized shear zones as seen at Betts Cove and Mount Miserymay be feeders to the massive and disseminated sulphides asfound at Tilt Cove is not known, but a link should be con-

sidered in any exploration model. Geochemical surveys withCu, Zn, and Au as essential elements would be part of anyexploration program. The standard electromagnetic andinduced polarisation techniques would also be useful in bothcases but with the realization that very complex structure insome areas might result in difficulties in interpretation.

Summary

The Betts Cove complex consists of a basal ophiolite suiteof rocks consisting of peridotite, sheeted dykes, boninitic pil-lowed basalt and basalt breccia, and younger gabbros thatintrude the basal unit. The rocks are fresh and unalteredexcept for the peridotite, which is extensively altered to ser-pentinite and talc-carbonate schist. The ophiolitic rocks areoverlain by the Snooks Arm Group that is composed of basaltholeiitic basalt and basalt breccia that is in turn overlain byvolcanically derived turbiditic metasedimentary rocks and aseries of mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks and relatedepiclastic volcanic and related epiclastic sedimentary rocks.

All of the known significant mineral occurrences in theBetts Cove ophiolite and Snooks Arm Group are hostedwithin the ophiolitic rocks, and the basal volcanic rocks andlowermost sedimentary rocks (Nugget Pond Horizon) of theSnooks Arm Group. Two broad groups of mineral occur-rences of different ages are recognized, 1) copper dominatedbase metal occurrences that are located within the boniniticand basal tholeiitic basalts and 2) gold occurrences that aremainly within the sedimentary rocks of the Nugget PondHorizon (Scrape Point Formation metasedimentary rocks).

1) The base metal deposits have long been classified asophiolite-type occurrences (Upadhyay and Strong,1973; Strong, 1984; Saunders, 1985, 1990; Saundersand Strong, 1986, 1988; Hudson, 1988; Strong andSaunders, 1988). Most of the smaller base metal occur-rences lie near the contact between the sheeted dyke unitand the overlying boninitic basalts. Some are concor-dant (e.g. Betts Cove) but others are clearly discordantand form mineralized shear zones cutting the volcanicrocks (e.g. Mount Misery, Nudulama, and Betts Cove).The Tilt Cove deposit, on the other hand, thoughroughly concordant, contains elements that reflect a sub-stantial element of structural control (stringer zones,breccia replacement) as well as zones of possibleexhalative mineralization. However, this zone is con-tained within the lowest tholeiitic lavas of the MountMisery basalt and is underlain by the boninitic lavas ofthe Betts Head Formation. If the mineralized shearzones within the ophiolite sensu strictu are interpretedas feeders to Tilt Cove-type mineralization, then muchof the mineralization in the Betts Cove complex may beyounger than the Betts Head Formation that defines theupper limit of the ophiolitic rocks of Bédard et al.(1998a,b, 1999, 2000).

2) The Nugget Pond gold deposit is the only substantialgold occurrence with others several orders of magnitudesmaller. The one common denominator among thesmaller gold occurrences is the presence of associatedtalc-carbonate schist (e.g. Castle Rock, Long Pond). Therelationship of the Nugget Pond deposit with the talc-carbonate is tenuous at best and is restricted to a strong

FIGURE 17. Sample of high-grade mineralization from the Castle Rockshowing. The football-sized boulder was recovered from a backhoe trenchin a talc-carbonate replacement along a sheared zone cutting basalt.

air photo linear connecting the deposit area to the talc-carbonate-altered peridotite at the base of the ophiolite.As well, Beischer (1988), Al (1990) and Lavigne (1993)have documented geochemically anomalous gold and anumber of small gold occurrences in and near the talc-carbonate horizon. In the absence of known Devonianintrusions in the area, the Nugget Pond and related goldoccurrences are interpreted to have an origin related tothe fluid-flow event that altered the peridotite to talccarbonate, probably during the Devonian.

Acknowledgements

This project was originally funded under a GeologicalSurvey of Canada Industrial Partners Program project withBitech Corporation and successor companies on the propertyNoveder Inc., Sulliden Exploration Inc., and DianorResources Inc. The authors wish to acknowledge the collab-oration of Bill Hamilton and Jim Wade of Bitech, AlainMorissette of Noveder and Jacques Trottier of Sulliden andtheir staffs for contributions to the success of the project.The authors also wish to thank the people of the Tilt Cove-Betts Cove area who provided assistance to the project inmany ways. Terry Rideout, Ray Wimbleton and Paul Winsorserved as boatsmen along the rugged coastline. Don Collinsprovided access to a large collection of early photographs ofoperations at Tilt Cove as well as stories from the early daysto add colour to the black and white images. A.L.S is par-ticularly grateful to a gentleman of La Scie, whose name I donot know, who made a special trip to the gas station, while Iwas refueling, to make sure I had a plate of freshly bakedstuffed squid for lunch. Such is Newfoundland hospitality.

Reviews by Andrew Kerr and Benoit Dubé greatlyimproved and clarified the manuscript.

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Documents

Base Metal and Gold Deposits of the Betts Cove Complex, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland