Calcite, Quartz (Specimen #100249)

Mineral(s): Calcite, Quartz 

Location: Helen-MacLeod Mine, McMurray and Chabanel Townships, Algoma District, Ontario  

Size: 9.0 x 4.0 x 3.5 cm 

Provenance: Ray Bernatchez Collection  

Description:  A one-of-a-kind specimen of calcite and quartz combined in an aesthetically attractive mix of crystal habits. The calcite crystals are milky white, terminated and appear to be sandwiched between two layers of stubby translucent quartz crystals. There is a calcite bowtie on one surface and several small, black unknown crystals on the same surface. The specimen is in very good condition. Specimens like this are rare and from a locality that has been long closed to collecting.

The iron deposits north of Wawa lake were discovered during the Michipicoten gold rush of the late 1890s. The first mine to come into production was the Helen Mine in 1897. Goethite was the principal ore body until [it] exhausted in 1918. Attention in 1939 was then directed to mining siderite ore. The Helen Mine remained an open pit operation until 1950 and in 1960 the George W. MacLeod Mine went into production next to the Helen Mine. Specimens came from both mines, and it is very difficult to distinguish locale – so specimens are labelled as the Helen-MacLeod Mine. The MacLeod Mine closed in December of 1997 as Algoma Steel announced that they could no longer support the high cost of extracting low-grade iron from Algoma Ore.