Exploration trenches excavated in the 1950s. Type localities of niocalite and latrappite.
Bob Ramik at the Royal Ontario Museum writes at http://www.mindat.org/mesg-15-125596.html:
Ernie Nickel designated a single type latrappite specimen in 1964. It came from one unspecified trench of a group of at least five trenches on the Columbium Mining Products Ltd property. These trenches exposed the Bond Zone, a niobium-rich zone of the Oka alkalic complex. The midpoint of this group of trenches is at lat/long: 45.5001, -740470 .(see attached map). Now Gold, in his published sketches, and by personal communication, specified a single trench located alongside a small road, as being the "type trench". I did not verify this with Nickel. That trench is at lat/long: 45.4996, -74.0461 . The latrappite could still be readily collected from this exposure in the '70's.
Some further comments. it is not correct to assume that all of the "perovskite mineral" from the Columbium Mining Products property is latrappite. Some was found to be niobium-rich perovskite (analysis by Guy Perrault in 1960). Rob mentioned that the St. Lawrence Mine pits swallowed the Bond zone latrappite occurrence(s). That is not so. The mine pits known as Pit A1 and A2 can seen nearby at 45.501, -74032 and 45.499, -74-030 respectively. In the mine itself, some of the "perovskite" mineral in A2 is rich enough in Nb to warrant being called latrappite.
To finish with "perovskite", I can add that any of the peculiar "perovskite" you may have from the Oka Rare Metals property can be safely labelled perovskite (containing only minor rare earths and with Nb2O5 below 1%).
Also, nearby the type latrappite is the type niocalite occurrence at lat/long: 45.5020, -74.0504 . This is the west end of trench T4 of the Quebec Columbium Ltd property. Niocalite came from other nearby trenches that also exposed the same niocalite-bearing rock in the Bond Zone, but the best (and probably most) specimens of niocalite came from T4.
References:
- GOLD, D.P. (1967) Alkaline ultrabasic rocks in the Montreal area, Quebec. In: Ultramafic and Related Rocks, edited by P.J. Wyllie, 288-302. Robert E. Krieger Publ.Co. 464 p.
- GOLD, D.P. (1969) The Oka carbonatite and alkaline complex. Guidebook GAC/MAC Annual meeting 1969, 43-62.
- SABINA, A.P. (1968), revised (1983) Rocks and Minerals for the collector. Kingston, Ontario to Lac St-Jean, Quebec. Geological Survey of Canada paper 67-51 (1968), Misc. Report No. 32 (1983), 46-49.
GOLD, D.P. (1967) Alkaline ultrabasic rocks in the Montreal area, Quebec. In: Ultramafic and Related Rocks, edited by P.J. Wyllie, 288-302. Robert E. Krieger Publ.Co. 464 p.
GOLD, D.P. (1969) The Oka carbonatite and alkaline complex. Guidebook GAC/MAC Annual meeting 1969, 43-62.
SABINA, A.P. (1968), revised (1983) Rocks and Minerals for the collector. Kingston, Ontario to Lac St-Jean, Quebec. Geological Survey of Canada paper 67-51 (1968), Misc. Report No. 32 (1983), 46-49.
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