Geology of the Stratmat Boundary and Heath Steele N-5 Zones, Bathurst Camp, Northern New Brunswick

Exploration & Mining Geology, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1992

ART HAMILTON, Heath Steele Mines, New Brunswick, Canada

The Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag ore deposits of the Boundary and N-5 zones near Bathurst, New Brunswick, occur in a polydeformed volcano-sedimentary sequence that is part of the Ordovician Tetagouche Group. Massive and disseminated sulfides are hosted by an argillaceous to cherty sedimentary sequence that is stratigraphically underlain by a siliceous fragmental unit and is overlain by a feldspar-rich crystal tuff and related tuffaceous rocks. The deposits have a low iron sulfide content relative to that of most stratabound sulfide deposits of the Bathurst-Newcastle mining district. The ore is commonly associated with chlorite- and talc-rich sediments. The N-5 deposit is considered to be the fault-displaced extension of the Boundary deposit. The Boundary deposit is estimated to contain 891 000 t grading 3.31% Pb, 7.%% Zn, 0.32% Cu and 44 g/t Ag; the estimate for the N-5 zone is 330 0001 grading 3.24% Pb, 7.15% Zn, 0.33% Cu, and 37 g/t Ag. The ore is processed at 1000 tpd at the Heath Steele mill.