Thor Lake (Blachford Lake) (Record #255) rare-earth element deposit in Northwest Territories, Canada

Alkalic igneous rare earth element deposit in Northwest Territories, Canada

Woolley, A.R., 1987, Alkaline rocks and carbonatites of the world; Part 1, North and South America: London, United Kingdom, British Museum of Natural History, 216 p.

Deposit type	Alkalic igneous
Age of deposit	Early Proterozoic- approx. 2100 Ma
REE minerals	xenotime gadolinite yttrium fluorite bastnäsite parisite synchysite monazite
Ore minerals	phenakite columbite fluorite thorite bertrandite zircon niobium tantalite sphalerite pyrite magnetite siderite polylithionite
Gangue minerals	ankerite aegirine riebeckite arfvedsonite quartz microcline albite biotite chlorite carbonate
Host rock types	peralkaline syenite gabbro granite

Geologic map unit	-112.66666666667, 62.1
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Status	Potential. Byproduct of Be mining
Company	Highwood Resources Ltd. And Hecla Mining Co. of Canada (1988)
Resource estimates	65 Mt @ 0.3% Ta, 0.4% Nb, 1.7% REE, 3.5% Zr Proven-- 0.507 Mt @ 0.17% Y oxide, 1.11% Be oxide 0.51 Mt @ 0.45% REO (1987)

Small, remote deposit. The T Zone deposit has significant REE, Y, and Be mineralization. Deposits are part of the Blachford Lake alkaline complex.

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O'Driscoll, Mike, 1988, Rare earths--enter the dragon: Industrial Minerals, no. 254, p. 21-55.
Jackson, W.D., and Christiansen, Grey, 1993, International strategic minerals inventory summary report-- Rare-earth oxides: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 930-N, 68 p.
Trueman, D.L., Pedersen, J.C., de St. Jorre, L., and Smith, D.G.W., 1985, The Thor Lake, N.W.T. rare-metal deposits, in Taylor, R.P., ed., Granite-related mineral deposits: Geology, petrogenesis and tectonic setting: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 15-17 September, 1985: CIM Conference, p. 279-284.
Taylor, R.P., and Pollard, P.J., 1996, Rare earth element mineralization in peralkaline systems: the T-Zone REE-Y-Be deposit, Thor Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, in Jones, A.P., Wall, Frances, and Williams, C.T., eds., Rare earth minerals-- chemistry, origin and ore deposits: New York, Chapman and Hall, The Mineralogical Society Series 7, p. 167-192.
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Laval, Michel, 1992, Les terres rares: gisements et aperçu économique: Chronique de la Recherche Miniere, no. 507, p. 27-41.
Roskill Information Services, 1988, The economics of rare earths & yttrium, 1994, seventh edition: London, Roskill Information Services, 359 p. + appendices.