Digital Base for Geological Mapping within the Northern South Kawishiwi Intrusion: Lake and St. Louis Counties, Northeastern Minnesota
2006-07
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Digital Base for Geological Mapping within the Northern South Kawishiwi Intrusion: Lake and St. Louis Counties, Northeastern Minnesota
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2006-07
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University of Minnesota Duluth
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Map
Abstract
This map depicts the outcome of several hundred hours of digitizing contour lines and associated
topographic map data (lakes, streams, roads, trails) as well as updating a three-dimensional
database of drill hole information and scattered surface sample geochemical analyses for the
northern portion of the South Kawishiwi Intrusion. The data was digitized in three-dimensions,
and was used to generate the 3D image of the surface topography that forms the background of
the map sheet. As well, all of the data has been incorporated into a detailed GIS basemap of the
area. The purpose of this work is two-fold: (1) to visually comprehend the geomorphology of this
area (which is in the scoured bedrock terrane of northeastern Minnesota) as a tool in
understanding the bedrock and surficial geology, and (2) to provide a visual impetus for funding a
large geological mapping project in this economically significant (Cu-Ni-PGE mineral potential) and
environmentally sensitive (BWCAW) area. Such a project would need financial support from both
the University of Minnesota Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute and from companies in
the Minerals Industry that have active Cu-Ni-PGE mineral exploration programs situated within the
boundaries of this map sheet (Duluth Metals Limited, Franconia Minerals, Encampment Resources).
These active mineral exploration activities are being driven by greatly increased metal prices as a
result of global economic expansion.
Previous mineral exploration programs within the boundaries of this map sheet has included
approximately 607 exploration holes totaling over 90 miles of core (296 kilometers) that was drilled
between the years 1951 - 2006. Integration of geologic data from these historic exploration
programs into a conservative geological resource estimate of contained copper, nickel, platinum,
palladium, and gold indicates that at today's metal prices, over $500 billion dollars of these metals
(which includes an estimated 50 million ounces of palladium, 25 million ounces of platinum, and
10 million ounces of gold) is hosted by the South Kawishiwi Intrusion within this map sheet
(Peterson, unpublished data). The economic significance of these geological resources, along with
the possible extraction of these metals in the future, is driving the author's desire to complete a
new geological map of a large portion of this area.
Published geological maps of portions of this sheet are given in the "INDEX TO MAPPING". Review
of this figure highlights the need for a new mapping campaign, namely that the bulk of this area
has only been mapped at small scales (1:31,680 and 1:48,000 scales) thirty to forty years ago, prior
to the great advances in our knowledge of the geology, geophysical characteristics (Fig. 1), and
mineralization in the Duluth Complex over the past twenty years.
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Peterson, Dean M. (2006). Digital Base for Geological Mapping within the Northern South Kawishiwi Intrusion: Lake and St. Louis Counties, Northeastern Minnesota. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/226777.
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