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The Mount Fronsac North Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit: A Recent Discovery in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick

¹ New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Geological Surveys Branch, P.O. Box 50, Bathurst, New Brunswick, E2A 3Z1.
² Xstrata Zinc, P.O. Box 3000, Bathurst, New Brunswick, E2A 3Z8.

The Mount Fronsac North volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit is the most recently discovered massive sulfide body in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The deposit occurs within a sequence of intercalated fine-grained felsic tuff and sedimentary rocks (Little Falls member), at the top of the Nepisiguit Falls Formation. Aphyric to sparsely feldspar-phyric rhyolite and related volcanic rocks of the Flat Landing Brook Formation overlie the host sequence. The massive and semimassive parts of the deposit have a north–south strike length of 525 m and a dip of ~45°E; the deposit is continuous downdip for 600 m, and thickness varies from 2 to 20 m. The deposit contains an estimated geologic resource of 14 Mt of low-grade, semimassive (>60%) to locally massive sulfides, and includes a high-grade zone of 1.26 Mt grading 7.65% Zn, 2.18% Pb, 0.14% Cu, 40.3 g/t Ag, and 0.40 g/t Au. The semimassive to massive sulfide intersections occur in an envelope of quartz-sericite±chlorite schist, which is interpreted to be intensely deformed felsic tuff. This sequence has a maximum thickness of 140 m and contains significant (up to 50%) fine- to coarse-grained disseminated pyrite. The pyritic envelope has a strike length of 900 m and extends over 1000 m downdip. Massive sulfides are found throughout this alteration envelope, but more commonly occur at or near the upper contact. The significance of the discovery of this deposit is that it represents a near surface discovery of a large tonnage sulfide body in a mature mining camp, one in which the possibility of discovery of a new shallow deposit had been all but discounted. This opens the possibility for future discoveries in this part of the Bathurst Mining Camp.

Key Words: Massive sulfide deposit • Lithogeochemistry • Chemostratigraphy • Mount Fronsac North • Bathurst Mining Camp

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J.A WALKER and D.R. LENTZ The Flat Landing Brook Zn-Pb-Ag Massive Sulfide Deposit, Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada Exploration and Mining Geology, July 1, 2006; 15(3-4): 99 - 125. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.A. WALKER, D.R. LENTZ, and S.H. McCLENAGHAN The Orvan Brook Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit: Anatomy of a Highly Attenuated Massive Sulfide System, Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick Exploration and Mining Geology, July 1, 2006; 15(3-4): 155 - 176. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]