The Northeast Regional Office is responsible for the management of 4 District Offices--Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. The resulting area extends from the shore of Hudson Bay in the north to Lake Huron in the south, and from the vicinity of White River, Ontario in the west to the Quebec border in the east.
Metallic mineral commodities produced in the Northeast Region in 1999 include gold, silver, copper, nickel, zinc and a wide range of other metals, many produced as by-products of other operations (for instance, platinum group metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium are produced as by-products of nickel mining and smelting at Sudbury).
The Kirkland Lake Regional Resident Geologist office is located in the town of Kirkland Lake. The Kirkland Lake District includes the communities of Cobalt, Englehart, Haileybury, Kirkland Lake, New Liskeard, Matachewan, Matheson, Shining Tree, Temagami and numerous other small communities.
The Kirkland Lake Regional Resident Geologist District stretches from north to south from 80km north of Lake Abitibi to 20 km south of Temagami. The eastern boundary is along the Ontario/Quebec boundary and the western stepped boundary is widest in the Shining Tree area.
The Kirkland Lake Regional Resident Geologist District include Archean rocks of the western Abitibi Subprovince, which are in the northern part of the district. The Cobalt Group, the uppermost sedimentary cycle of the Proterozoic Huronian Supergoup intruded by Nipissing diabase sills, underlies most of the southern part of the Kirkland Lake District. Highly metamorphosed rocks, of the Grenville Province, occur in the southeastern corner of the district. Graben type block faulting in the New Liskeard area has preserved sedimentary rocks, middle and upper Ordovician and middle Silurian in age. More than 20 kimberlite pipes, some containing macro diamonds, have been discovered in the Kirkland Lake and New Liskeard areas.
Historically, the district was a significant producer of the following metals: gold, silver, cobalt and iron. In addition minor amounts of copper and nickel were recovered. More than 40 million ounces of gold were produced, mostly in the Kirkland Lake and Larder Lake gold camps. More than 550 million ounces of silver and more than 30 million lbs. of cobalt were recovered in the Cobalt, Gowganda and Silver Center areas. Iron ore production from the Adams Mine in Boston Township and Sherman Mine in Strathy and Chambers townships, totaled approximately 190 million tons of iron ore containing approximately 20% iron to produce more than 55 million tons of iron pellets. Declining metal prices and dwindling ore reserves have forces the closure of many mines and there are only four gold mines in operation between Matheson and the Ontario/Quebec boundary.
Past industrial mineral production include asbestos and dimension stone (green carbonate). Barite, hedmanite (a lizardite filler), and limestone are mined at the present.
Exploration is ongoing for gold, base metals, platinum group metals and kimberlite.
Gold Production in the Kirkland Lake district (pdf)
Mineral Deposits not Being Mined (pdf)
The Sault Ste. Marie District Geologist Office is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It includes the communities of Elliot Lake, Blind River, Thessalon, Bruce Mines and Sault Ste Marie. Along with the First Nation Communities of Garden River, Batchawana and Mississauga, other, smaller communities are also included in the district, making up a total of 9 municipal planning areas.
In the past, the district was well known for the production of uranium from pyritic, quartz-pebble conglomerates in the Elliot Lake area. Cameco Corporation still operates a uranium refinery at Blind River, Ontario. Nipissing diabase, also known as "traprock", is quarried by R.W. Thomlinson at Bruce Mine. Most of this material is loaded on ships for transport to USA and Southern Ontario markets.
Mineral Deposits not Being Mined (pdf)
The Sudbury District Geologist office of the Resident Geologist Program includes all the judicial districts of Sudbury, Manitoulin, Parry Sound, and Muskoka, and parts of Nipissing and Renfrew. It encompasses an area of approximately 45 000 km2 and over 340 townships and First Nations. The office is located on the campus of Laurentian University, in Sudbury, at the Willet Green Miller Centre, 3rd Floor, 933 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, P3E 6B5.
The production of nickel, copper, and related by-products from Inco Limited and Falconbridge Limited dominate mining activities in the Sudbury District. Other major sources of production are 2 large industrial minerals quarrying operations, one for silica near Killarney, the other for dolomite on Manitoulin Island. Considerable amounts of sand, gravel, trap rock, flagstone, and coloured aggregates are also extracted.
Sudbury remains one of the world's foremost nickel and copper mining camps with continuous production since 1886. Historical production is approximately 20 billion pounds of refined nickel and 20 billion pounds of refined copper from one billion short tons of ore hoisted.
Inco Limited currently produces from the following operations:
Falconbridge Limited produces from its following operations:
This geological diversity, established communications, good infrastructure and a highly skilled workforce make for many attractive exploration opportunities in the district.
Mineral Deposits not Being Mined (pdf)
The Timmins Regional Resident Geologist office is located in South Porcupine, 10 km east of Timmins on Hwy 101. Besides providing regional resident geologist services, the office is also the headquarters for the NE Ontario Resident Geologist Program. The Timmins District includes the communities of Timmins, Chapleau, Wawa, Kapuskasing, Hearst, Moosonee, Fort Severn and numerous smaller communities.
The Timmins Regional Resident Geologist District includes the western part of the Abitibi greenstone belt, and all of the Swayze, Wawa and Mishibishu greenstone belts. The eastern provincial boundary is the eastern district boundary north of the Casa Berardi greenstone belt. Southward, the district boundary steps westward so that on Highway 101, it coincides with the Stock and Taylor township line. The Timmins District encompasses all lands west from Timmins to Wawa and the shore of Lake Superior to a line south of the Hemlo greenstone belt near Pic River. In the north, the district spans the breadth of the province and encompasses all of the Phanerozoic and Proterozoic rocks of the James Bay Lowlands and Hudson Bay Lowlands of Ontario.
Historically, the district has been a major producer of both gold and base metals. In the immediate vicinity of Timmins, over 60 million ounces of gold have been mined. Gold production continues, but over the last year, several mines have closed or will close as a result of declining gold prices.
Copper and zinc ore is mined at the Kidd Creek Mine and refined at the Kidd Creek Metallurgical Site.
At Wawa, gold continues to be mined but Ontario iron ore production ended in 1998 with the closure of Algoma’s MacLeod Mine.
Industrial mineral production includes Luzenac’s talc operations at Penhorwood Mine west of Timmins and Agrium’s new phosphate mine at Kapuskasing.
Exploration is continuing for gold, base metals and industrial minerals in traditionally productive areas and a new focus on diamond exploration extends from Wawa through the Kapuskasing Structural Zone to Attawapiskat on the west side of James Bay. The following table shows claim staking activity and exploration expenditures in the Timmins District since 1992.
Ten year summary of claims activities in the Timmins District, 1997 - 2006 (pdf)
Gold production in the Wawa area to the end of 2006 (pdf)
A virtual field trip to the geology of Timmins Ontario (pdf)
Nickel Field Trip, South of Timmins, Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Northeastern Ontario (pdf)
Mine Production and Reserves in the Timmins District 2005-2006 (pdf)
Gold production in the Timmins District to the end of 2006 (pdf)
Base metal production in the Timmins District to the end of 2006 (pdf)
Mineral Deposits not Being Mined (pdf)
