East Wekusko gold area An underexplored gold belt with structural similarities to the Snow Lake gold belt, Northern Manitoba By Daniel V. Ziehlke, BSc.H., MSc., P.Eng P.Geo. (1974 -2016)
Simplified Geology of Manitoba
46 2019-2020 Northern Prospector
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he East Wekusko gold belt is located 20 kilometres east of the mining community of Snow Lake, Man., along the east side of Wekusko Lake (Figures 1 and 2). Strider Resources Limited has been accumulating property in the area since the company’s formation in 1988 and presently has a contiguous claim group totalling over 22,000 hectares (86 square miles). The past producing Rex-Laguna gold mine (58,962 oz/Au at a recovery grade of .51 oz/ton) occurs just off the Strider property along the shore of Wekusko Lake. Deposits located on the Strider ground are the developed but not mined Ferro gold deposit (87,741 tons/.422 oz/t to the 160-metre level), the McCafferty gold vein and the more recently discovered (1989) Gold Dust zone, adjacent to the Ferro gold mine (Figure 3). The East Wekusko gold belt occurs in what is believed to be a regional scale, structural geologic setting similar to that of the gold deposits at Snow Lake. The Snow Lake deposits are spatially related to the crustal scale Berry Creek fault, while the East Wekusko gold deposits are spatially associated with the similar crustal scale Crowduck Bay fault (Figures 2 and 3). The Snow Lake gold deposits consist of the New Britannia (Nor-Acme) deposit (~1.6 million oz Au), plus a number of smaller deposits including the No. 3 zone, the Birch zone, the Boundary zone and the Squall Lake deposits. The Snow Lake deposits are structurally controlled, and occur as second and third order splay faults off the McLeod Road thrust fault, which itself is a regional scale structure off the crustal scale Berry Creek fault (Figure 2). The Berry Creek fault is traceable for over 130 kilometres south and west of Wekusko Lake, into Saskatchewan. Similarly, the East Wekusko gold de-