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Location: 70 km N from Hearst, Ontario, Canada
350 Bay Street, Suite 700TorontoOntario, CanadaM5H 2S6
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Regional GeologyThe Martison phosphate deposit lies in a geological province referred to as Precambrian volcanic and metamorphic rock sequences, which are over one billion years in age. The occurrence of carbonatite deposits is the result of late magmatic injections of carbon dioxide gases, calcium and magnesium carbonate solutions, including associated crystalline apatite, magnetite and mica minerals, through conduits into volcanic vents. The subsequent exposure of the carbonatite rock for long periods of time to erosion and chemical weathering has resulted in the thick accumulation of a palaeo-soil residue called a “residuum” which has concentrations of relatively insoluble minerals such as phosphate bearing apatite, lying on top of the competent and largely unweathered surface of the carbonatite.The Martison carbonatite is one of 50 known locations of the Central Ontario Carbonatite Complex found on the Kapuskasing structural high (located 110 km east of the Martison Project) to the Albany Forks structural high, (located 260 km west of the Martison Project). Almost all of the carbonatite bodies occur along recognisable major tectonic features.A number of complexes have been examined for their mineral potential. They all contain apatite in the carbonatite phase between 5% to 25%, and some contain significant enrichments of apatite through leaching out of carbonates. Such enrichment occurs on the Cargill Limited complex, located on a branch structure off the Kapuskasing structural high and at the Martison phosphate deposit.Property GeologyDifferential weathering of the Martison Carbonatite Complex has resulted in an irregular weathered ‘karst’ type surface of carbonatite, the depth of which varies greatly over short distances. Depressions in this carbonate rich surface are filled with the weathered breakdown product of the carbonatite, the ‘Residuum’. This apatite rich Residuum represents the bulk of the phosphatic material of economic interest. Above the residuum lies a less consistent layer of lateritic material containing niobium mineralisation also at levels of economic interest. More recent glacial deposits, typical of the James Bay Lowlands, form a blanket of glacial till over the residuum / laterite sub-outcrop reaching up to 80 m in depth.MineralizationApatite is the principal phosphate bearing mineral of economic interest within the residuum. The laterite is enriched in niobium, typically found in the form of pyrochlore, its occurrence is also of economic interest. Both the phosphate and the niobium have been the subject of significant drilling and metallurgical test work to establish if they may be extracted economically.
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