Gold occurrences in the Pickle Lake mining camp are classical examples of deposits grouped
under the descriptive model of Archean low-sulphide Au-quartz veins (Model 36b.2) (Klein &
Day, 1994). This deposit type is also known as shear-zone-hosted gold, Archean quartzcarbonate
vein gold deposits, Archean lode gold and Archean mesothermal gold. This category
of gold deposit is found in every major Archean craton and accounts for worldwide historic gold
production in excess of 9,900 tonnes of gold, second only to the Witwatersrand modified paleoplacer
gold deposits of South Africa.
The Pickle Lake greenstone belt also hosts a former base metal producer, the Thierry Cu-Ni
Mine located 20 kilometres north of Pickle Lake. This deposit is associated with ultramafic
intrusive rocks, with ore consisting of magmatic chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite and
platinum group metals. No host rocks for this type of mineralization are exposed on the Pickle
Crow Property.