Sault and District Prospectors Association
Wawa Diamond Fieldtrip
Sault Prospector's field trip to the Wawa Diamond Fields
With magnifying lenses, magnets, and geological hammers in tow, a van full of Sault Prospectors made their way north to Wawa on a cool and sunny Saturday morning, June 1, 2002.
The Sault Prospectors:
There was a fair amount of excitement leading up to the trip, since this was the first time anyone could remember that the SDPA had organized a fieldtrip up to Wawa. There was also a lot of interest in the unusual diamond discoveries in the Wawa area, and so the mood was pretty jovial when we set out on our day's adventure.
Although the original plan was to have a small fieldtrip for the folks of the SDPA (about fifteen people planned to attend), word of the fieldtrip had traveled fast. Before we knew it, there were 25 people and a caravan of vehicles rolling out of the Wawa Motor Hotel parking lot, heading up Highway 17 North.
Geology talk:
Our first stop was on the Band-Ore Resources, GQ Property, where the troops gathered around to hear an overview of the diamond exploration history and general geology of the area provided by Ann Wilson (Wawa District Geologist) and Mike Hailstone (Sault District Geologist). Paul-Claude 'PC' Delisle, Consulting Geologist with Pele Mountain Resources then gave us an overview of the local geology in the general area around the Pele Mountain, Band-Ore, and Oasis properties, where we would be making fieldtrip stops during the day.
Band-Ore GQ Property field trip stop:
One of the first stops on the Band-Ore Property was a cleaned outcrop of well-foliated and strained felsic lithic tuff intruded by a diamondiferous 'mafic breccia' consisting of mafic and felsic fragments in a fine-grained, biotite-chlorite rich, mafic matrix. Many of the mafic fragments are rounded and have interiors that have been recrystallized into radiating clusters consisting of euhedral actinolite laths. This diamondiferous 'mafic breccia' appears to be a recurring rock type on all the properties visited.
Pele Mountain Property field trip stop:
On the Pele Mountain Property, additional outcrops of diamondiferous 'mafic breccia' display the presence of what appear to be gneissic fragments displaying thin layering. Of interest was the presence of a diamondiferous 'tuff' breccia showing some evidence of layering. PC Delisle suggested that the dominance of biotite as opposed to amphibole in the matrix is a good sign as to whether a unit may be diamondiferous. Bob Barnett, Consulting Geologist, also pointed out the presence of light green chromium- rich chlorite as another potentially useful signature of these diamond-bearing rocks.
Oasis Property field trip stop:
In the afternoon, we bumped our way along a rough access road stopping at several cleaned outcrop exposures on the Oasis Diamond Exploration Property, led by John Buckle, VP Exploration. In addition to outcrops displaying the diamondiferous 'mafic breccia', we stopped at the Enigma Outcrop. This outcrop deserves the name 'enigma' since there appeared to be a lot of head scratching about the nature of crosscutting geological relationships and relationships between several breccia types.
What struck me about this fieldtrip was the variety of individuals who attended, ranging from geo-novices to geo-professionals. With a group like this, it is important to be able to explain complex geological features with models that are easily understandable. This can range from explaining the origin of a pyroclastic flow to a prospector, to a discussion on the nature and origin of diamondiferous, ultramafic diatremes occurring in Archean time with local geologists. The fieldtrip offered the opportunity for government, industry and the prospecting community to get acquainted and exchange ideas
After expending all that mental energy on the Enigma Outcrop and visiting a few more outcrops in the late afternoon, we headed back to the Wawa Motor Hotel to theorize over some well-deserved refreshments (courtesy of the SDPA). One of the comments that drifted across concerning diamonds in the Wawa area, was simply the ease of access and availability of rock outcrop. All the properties visited are just now beginning to receive detailed geological attention; so far they've found plenty of microdiamonds and some macros, and the geological story is just beginning to unfold.
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/sdpaopa/activities/wawa-diamond-fieldtrip
