On Sept. 21 and 22, 2005, a 50-year reunion was held in Calgary celebrating Operation Franklin — the bold, large-scale geological mapping effort that took place in the Arctic in 1955.
Sponsored by the Calgary branch of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, the event recognized the contribution of the GSC officers and assistants who manned the operation to Arctic geology and to the development of Canada’s Far North.
The aim of Operation Franklin was to provide the basic framework of the geology of the Canadian Arctic and to produce geological data and maps to guide future exploration. At the same time, it was another step towards asserting Canadian sovereignty over these barren lands.
Operation Franklin was led by Yves Fortier, later appointed director of the GSC. Supplies, which had been brought by ship to Resolute Bay in 1954, were laid out in caches throughout the islands by a ski-wheel equipped DC-3 aircraft landing on snow-covered ice or beaches in May and early June of 1955. Two-man parties working out of “fly-camps” identified and measured sedimentary rock sections at critical locations, previously identified by GSC geologists interpreting relatively primitive aerial photographs. In addition, foot traverses were used to map more complicated areas and aerial observation from helicopters helped fill in the picture. The 2-man field parties were moved by Inuit-driven dog teams early in the season and then in July and August these field crews with their camping gear and rock specimens were moved by two S-55 helicopters, which worked out of one of several base camps. A huge area of about 350,000 sq. km was covered in this fashion.
I was one of the 31-member crew, comprised of 11 geologists, 10 student assistants and 10 support staff, including helicopter crews and cooks. In 1954, I was a third-year geological engineering student who had read about the planned forthcoming GSC Arctic project in an article in The Northern Miner. I had wanted to see the Far North and gain geological mapping experience, so I applied for a job on the project and was lucky enough to be accepted. It was a most unforgettable summer.
Attending the Calgary reunion gave me, and my companions of 50 years ago, the opportunity to recall some of the summers’ many memorable non-technical events, including running out of food and being chased up a cliff by white Arctic wolves. It was a pleasure to again see and talk with many of the 1955 crew, including Fortier, still going strong at age 91.
One of the early results of Operation Franklin was the identification of sedimentary rocks deemed to be favourable to the occurrence of oil and gas, and the subsequent triggering of a large-scale “land rush” to acquire hydrocarbon rights in the Arctic islands. In 1960, a J.C. Sproule and Associates field crew evaluating the hydrocarbon potential for Talent Oil and Gas and Bankeno Mines on Little Cornwallis Island found a lead-zinc surface showing near the shore of Crozier Strait. This promptly led to the staking of the Polaris mineral claims and drilling to test the showing, late in the 1960 season under the leadership of the late Jack McBean of Bankeno Mines. The drill holes showed some mineralization, but the results were generally disappointing. However, Bankeno staff also found zinc-lead showings 25 km northeast of Polaris, at a site they named Eclipse.
In 1963, more interesting and higher-grade zinc-lead occurrences were found at Eclipse and, in 1964, Cominco reached an agreement with Bankeno to acquire both Polaris and Eclipse. Over the next few years, Cominco carried out exploration programs including geological mapping, geochemical surveys, induced-polarization (IP) geophysical surveys, and many diamond drill holes, but except for a small high-grade zinc-lead deposit at Eclipse, nothing of great interest was found. The project was inactive for a few years, and by the late 1960s, new ideas and approaches were needed. At the time, this part of the Arctic was thought to be outside the range of economic mining operations because of the cost of shipping through difficult, ice-filled waters. Nevertheless, Cominco remained interested, believing that shipping problems would be overcome. The successful 1969 voyage of the Manhattan through the Northwest Passage started to change attitudes.
In 1969, Cominco’s Toronto exploration office — where I was part of the management team — was handling the company’s Arctic exploration work. Cominco geologists Ted Muraro (now vice-president of exploration for International Barytex Resources), and the late Jack Webb revisited Little Cornwallis to see if they could revitalize the project. By applying recent geological developments concerning carbonate-hosted lead-zinc deposits and ideas about Arctic geology put forward by Bill Kerr, who had been a student assistant on Operation Franklin and who later became a specialist in Arctic geology with the GSC, they succeeded. This re-evaluation led to a significant 1970 field program of re-logging old drill core and additional geological mapping at the Eclipse and Polaris properties. The program also included a gravity geophysical survey of both properties, at the suggestion of geologist Vic Tanaka and geophysicist Erik Andersen.
One very encouraging result of the 1970 work was the discovery of a large gravity anomaly on the Polaris property in an untested, covered area about 0.5 km east of the old showings first drilled in 1960. A 7-hole diamond-drilling program was planned for 1971, with three holes to be drilled at Polaris — the first to test the remarkable gravity anomaly, and the other two to retest the old showings near Crozier Strait. Four holes were to be drilled at the Eclipse property. Tanaka, now president of Pathfinder Resources, supervised the drilling assisted by Gary Sugar, now a managing director with RBC Capital Markets. Earlier in the season, at the end of the winter, Tanaka had driven a small tractor overland from Resolute Bay to Polaris on Little Cornwallis Island, a significant feat in 1971 when communication and back-up support were much poorer than is the case today.
The first drill hole, spotted to test the gravity anomaly at a location where there was also an IP anomaly, hit a spectacular intersection of 38 metres of about 25% lead-zinc and the rest is history.
The Polaris discovery illustrates the importance of perseverance in mineral exploration: the orebody there was not found until more than 10 years after lead and zinc were first noticed on the surface, some distance away.
The Polaris mine produced from 1982 until 2002, when the orebody was exhausted. It produced 20 million tonnes grading 13% zinc and 4% lead. The site has since been rehabilitated: As early as 1972, a consultant was brought to the site by Cominco to advise on minimizing the environmental impact on the Arctic, and throughout the exploration and mining operations, great care was taken.
The GSC — started in 1842, prior to Confederation — has a long and illustrious history of contributing to the development of Canada’s mineral wealth. Many stories of discovery of orebodies in Canada, like this one, start with the fundamental work of the Survey to provide explorers with geological maps. The GSC deserves strong support from the Canadian oil and gas and mining industries for its past work and for the tasks still ahead of it.
— The author is the former president of Cominco Resources and is now a director of Serengeti Resources. He resides in Vancouver.
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