Lac des les: the early days

My father and mentor, Walter Baker, was undeniably one of the best prospectors ever to roam Canada. His favourite saying before each long field season was: “Over the next hill is mine.”

Although my brother and I attempted to follow in his footsteps, he was truly a “Wayne Gretzky” in his field. In two consecutive years, 1962 and 1963, he played an integral role in the ultimate discovery of two of Ontario’s largest deposits: Hemlo and Lac des les.

The Lac des les palladium-platinum deposit, near Thunder Bay Ont., is a success story that has sparked an unparalleled search for platinum group element (PGE) deposits in Canada and worldwide. The North American Palladium deposit holds the distinction of being Canada’s only primary platinum group metals mine and North America’s largest open-pit producer of palladium. The recent history of the Lac des les deposit is well-known. However, the story of its early history remains untold.

In 1963, the mine was a mystery to most prospectors. The first documented exploration in the Lac des les area was by Matawin Mines, headed by John Brodie during in the late 1950s. According to Bernie Schneiders, the resident regional geologist for the Ontario Geological Survey in Thunder Bay, Brodie and his company had staked several other claim blocks west of town in search of nickel-copper deposits. The claims were in areas underlain by ultramafic rocks. In 1958, Matawin flew over an area covering the northern end of Lac des les and subsequently staked geophysical targets. Matawin then enlisted the services of F.H. Jowsey, a Toronto-based mining consulting firm headed by Fred Jowsey, to organize the ensuing exploration program.

Records indicate that C.S. Huston & Associates conducted the ground geophysics, and five holes, totalling 1,547 ft., were drilled to test the best conductors at the northern end of Lac des les. The results left a favourable impression on Jowsey, who promptly wrote a letter to my father advising him to visit the area.

At the time, my father’s attention was focused on the new Hemlo gold zone, west of the Page-Williams property. However, over the winter months between 1962 and 1963, Jowsey grubstaked a syndicate consisting of my father, George “Shorty” Moore, and Bruce Arnott, a well-respected geologist. Their mandate was to prospect the northern end of Lac des les and the surrounding area. Jowsey and my father were close friends from their association during the Teck-Hughes days in the 1950s. Arnott also had a long association with Jowsey and proved to be an integral link between the prospectors and the mining industry. Moore, an outstanding prospector from Manitoba, was an important part of the team.

When, in early June 1963, the prospectors flew into Lac des les, the area hosting the deposit was unmapped; instead, it was represented simply by a large white spot on the local geological map. During the latter part of June, my father and Shorty prospected the northern end of the lake and went on to tranverse south of the lake.

On the first traverse, the prospectors found widespread low-grade copper-nickel mineralization in a low-lying area about 500 metres from the lakeshore. The mineralization was hosted in ultra-basic rocks that were different from those in the the northern end. Samples from their first discovery, now known as the “Baker showing,” were sent to the Swastika Laboratory, near Kirkland Lake, Ont., on the next grub flight.

The syndicate’s funds were sparse, and so initially they decided only to analyze the nickel and copper samples. However, my father included a hand-written note with instructions for the lab to pay close attention to the “bead” in case PGEs were present. The results were the first evidence to suggest that the “white spot” on the local geological map could host PGE concentrations. The lab strongly recommended that the syndicate incur the additional expense of analyzing for PGEs. Subsequent prospecting by my father and Moore defined a body of mafic rock extending south-southwest from the main Lac des les body. In all, the prospectors uncovered eight separate zones of mineralization.

Over the next hill is mine, indeed.

— The author is a mining project analyst for the Hunter-Dickinson group, in Vancouver, B.C.