REVISITING MESOPROTEROZOIC MAGMATISM IN LABRADOR: EVALUATING AMCG AND PERALKALINE MAGMATISM

Description of impact

This is a review designed to trigger commercial interest in resources, including rare earths, in the province of Labrador, Canada.

Who is affected

Commercial entities, looking to invest in a region; public engagement seeking to understand possible mining futures in Canada

Narrative

The document is a research project between the Geological Survey of Canada, Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Nunatsiavut Government to upgrade the geoscientific knowledge of the Saglek to Makkovik region of Labrador. The project is to stimulate mineral exploration and is supported by the GEM-GeoNorth program at Natural Resources Canada. The research focuses on the Hopedale study area, where voluminous anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) plutonic suites intrude across the boundary of the Archean North Atlantic Craton and Archean to Paleoproterozoic Churchill Province. The study area includes the Sango Bay pluton, Flowers Bay pluton, and Merrifield Bay pluton, which are part of the larger AMCG Nain Plutonic Suite. The researchers also investigate the Flowers River Igneous Suite, a younger peralkaline suite, to determine whether geophysical highs surrounding the suite reflect lithological variations within the NPS or FRIS. These rocks are directly analogous to those in Greenland on which Finch and co-workers have worked.

The project has economic implications, as the AMCG plutonic rocks have potential to host critical minerals such as Ni-Cu-PGE's mineralization, and the peralkaline rocks of the FRIS may contain rare earth-critical minerals. The study area is geologically complex, located at the junction of five tectonic domains/orogens, including the Hopedale Block, Saglek Block, Core Zone, Torngat Orogen, and Makkovik Province.

Impact status	Open
Impact date	3 May 2023
Category of impact	Economic, Commercial Impact
Impact level	Involvement - mid or active stage