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112

outcrop of the quartzite is red with iron oxide and constitutes what is known
as the lead on which the claims have been staked. The deposits are of a contact
metamorphic nature with mineralization by pyrite and pyrrhotite as a result of
the intrusion of the norite. The sulphides are disseminated through the gneiss
over a considerable area along a well-defined strike, but do not appear to be
sufficiently concentrated anywhere to form important ore bodies.

“In conclusion it is the writer’s opinion that, while the mineral deposits
that have been taken up in the norite may be of value at some time in the
future, unless more important discoveries are made the remoteness of the district
from railway transportation and from any large centres of population, and the
present undeveloped state of the surrounding country render their exploitation
impracticable at the present time.”

PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS

Attention has been directed for some time to the possibilities of discovering
petroleum and natural gas in the Mackenzie basin where numerous striking
indications of their occurrence have long been known. Unfortunately our
knowledge of the geological structure is too limited to permit of our offering
suggestions in detail as to where explorations might be carried on with the
greatest likelihood of success. Boring operations have been conducted along
Athabaska and Peace rivers where strong flows of gas were struck in two or
three wells, and petroleum-bearing strata on Peace river have been penetrated.

‘Oil and gas indications are found in the sediments of Cretaceous and
Devonian age, both of which are of wide distribution. .

Devonian. The discovery of oil near Norman in 1920 is of great importance:
it has attracted the attention of the public to the possibilities of Mackenzie River
basin as no other event has done. It has been known for a century that oil
seepages issue from the Devonian rocks of this area. It remained for the boring
near Norman to demonstrate the occurrence of an oil pool in these rocks. ‘There
is a vast area that may prove favourable prospecting ground. ‘Rocks of the

Devonian system are of wide distribution and stretch from near the mouth of

Mackenzie river south to beyond lake Athabaska. ‘They are overlain in places
by rocks of Cretaceous and Tertiary age and pass beneath Cretaceous sediments
on Peace and Athabaska rivers.

During the summer of 1920 boring was carried on by the Imperial Oil
Company at Windy point on the north shore of Great Slave lake and at a
point on Mackenzie river 45 miles below Norman.

It is reported that a depth of about 300 feet was reached at Windy point
and about 783 feet in the well below Norman. In the latter a strong flow of
oil was struck at a depth of about 783 feet. A lighter flow was struck at a
depth of 270 feet. This is of good quality as is shown by the following: state-
ment of the results of an analysis made in the laboratory of the Mines Branch,
Department of Mines, Ottawa. The quality of the oil struck at greater depth.
ig reported to be even better. The oil from a depth of 270 feet is opaque, dark
olive green, with an odour between those of kefosene and gasolene. It is
eompletely soluble in petroleum ether, indicating. that there is no asphal. base
present.