The KELLY LAKE developed prospect is located approximately 8.3 kilometres north-northwest of Kelly Lake, near the headwaters of Porcupine Creek, and 16 kilometres due west of Clinton. The Jesmond Quarry limestone deposit (092P 142) is 5 kilometres northwest of this deposit. Both deposits are within the Kelly Lake property currently owned by Graymont Western Canada Inc.
The developed prospect lies on the southwestern margin of a 10 to 15 kilometre wide, belt of folded and faulted carbonates of the Middle to Upper Permian Marble Canyon Formation (Carboniferous to Jurassic Cache Creek Complex). This belt extends north-northwest from Marble Canyon for 65 kilometres. The Kelly Lake limestone deposits refer to two limestone units within the first two mountain ridges on the southwest side of Marble Range, comprising an area approximately 19 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide.
Mapping by Trettin (1980) outlined five successive lithological units in the Marble Range area. Unit 1 consists of partially metamorphosed basalt underlain by thin carbonate and chert units. Units 2 and 4 are comprised of limestone with variable dolomite. Units 3 and 5 are schist and cherts.
The Kelly Lake limestone occurrence occurs in the fourth member of the Marble Canyon Formation, consisting of 200 metres of massive limestone with minor interbedded chert and argillite. The unit is locally folded into a pair of anticlines that form two parallel, closely spaced ridges extending northwestward from Two Mile Creek for between 14 and 15 kilometres. An overlying sequence of argillite, chert and mafic flows is preserved in the valley between the two ridges along an intervening syncline. A similar succession underlying the limestone outcrops to the east.
Development was focused on the western ridge on the west flank of the First Ridge anticline. The limestone horizon strikes 145 degrees and dips 65 degrees southwest. The deposit is comprised of massive, grey to white, medium-grained, limestone that is commonly fractured by a set of vertical joints striking 055 degrees.
Chip sampling and diamond drilling have defined the following reserves (in tonnes) with average grades (in per cent) (Industrial Mineral File - Wahl, W.G., 1973, pages 60-63):
------------------------------------------------------------------- Reserves CaO MgO SiO2 Al203 Fe2O3 Zone A 9,589,000 55.21 0.29 0.20 0.40 0.04 Zone A - Northwest 24,500,000 55.34 0.27 0.19 0.03 0.03 Zone B 4,000,000 54.77 0.80 0.16 0.03 0.02 ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Zone A comprises proven (measured geological) reserves down to the 1585 metre contour. Zone A - Northwest is the northwestern extension of Zone A, as suggested by extensive chip sampling. The zone contains possible (inferred) reserves down to the 1585 metre contour. Zone B lies stratigraphically below Zone A, outcropping along its northeast flank. This zone's reserves are defined as probable (indicated), down to the 1585 metre contour.
The property was initially explored by Consolidated African Selection Trust Ltd. (C.A.S.T.) under an option agreement with Columbia Lime Products. A program of chip sampling, 701 metres of diamond drilling and 125 metres of percussion drilling was completed by C.A.S.T. in 1973, on the south end of District Lot 2203. Consolidated Non-Metallics carried out some sampling and stripping up to 1987. The Columbia Lime deposit was restaked in 1988 as the Stag 2 claim.
Both the Kelly Lake limestone deposit and the Jesmond deposit (092P 142) were acquired by Continental Lime Ltd. in 1992, partly by staking and partly by purchase. Between 1992 to 1999, Continental Lime Ltd. collected 1154 rock chip samples for analysis and completed over 16,000 hectares of geological mapping. Graymont Western Canada Ltd. acquired Continental Lime Ltd. in the late 1990's and subsequently obtained other tenures in the immediate area. From 2001 through 2022, Graymont has continued geological mapping and rock sampling over their Kelly Lake property.
