Lakehead University and the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS), hosted the 65th Annual Institute on Lake Superior Geology on May 07 – 10, 2019 at the Terrace Bay Cultural Centre, Terrace Bay, Ontario. The meeting consisted of two days of technical sessions with pre- and post-technical session field trips. Mark Smyk (OGS) and Pete Hollings (Lakehead University) were co-chairs for the 2019 meeting. Invaluable advice and logistical support was provided by Dean Main and Michelle Malashewski of the Township of Terrace Bay’s Community Development department. Access to the Terrace Bay Public Library was graciously provided by Mary Deschatelets, Library CEO. Patty Cobin and Ted Bornhorst (A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Michigan Technological University) handled pre-meeting registration. Ted also supplied the poster boards.

Generous contributions to the ILSG general fund and in support of 2019 student travel scholarships came from: Abitibi Geophysics, Barrick Gold Corporation, Benton Resources Corp., Geological Society of Minnesota, Greenstone Gold Mines, Landore Resources Canada Inc., Noront Resources Ltd., North American Palladium Ltd., Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association, Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Limited, Premier Gold Mines Limited, Stillwater Canada Inc., Superior Lake Resources Limited, Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission, Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd., and Wolfden Resources Corporation. Individual Contributors to Student Travel Scholarship were: Al MacTavish, Mary Kay Arthur, L. Gordon Medaris, Jr. and Nick Swanson-Hysell. Total meeting registration was 114, which included 15 students. Welcoming remarks were provided by Terrace Bay Mayor Jody Davis. Elder Raymond Goodchild of Pays Plat First Nation provided traditional blessings for the meeting.

Proceedings Volume 65 was published in two parts.  Part 1 – Program and Abstracts, compiled and edited by Mark Puumala (OGS), contains 51 published abstracts for 32 oral and 19 poster presentations. Students presented 6 oral and 3 poster presentations. Part 2 – Field Trip Guidebooks, was compiled and edited by Al MacTavish and Pete Hollings. It contains descriptions of four pre-meeting and four post-meeting field trips.

The 65th ILSG marked the first time in the Institute’s long history that its annual meeting was held in Terrace Bay. The meeting location enabled organizers to offer trips that showcased a variety of Archean and Proterozoic rocks along the north shore of Lake Superior. Although the majority of the field trips had been offered at previous ILSG annual meetings (e.g. Marathon 1995; Nipigon 2005), they greatly benefitted from the new mapping, research, discoveries and interpretations that had taken place in the intervening years. Local exploration companies graciously provided information and access to their properties. Unfortunately, a late spring precluded visiting the Slate Islands (lake ice) and the Midcontinent Rift-related carbonatites and diatremes in the Dead Horse Road area (snow). Slate Islands trip delegates were provided with an impromptu, “eclectic” field trip along Highway 17 between Schreiber and Marathon by Mark Smyk.  Those who planned to see the MCR carbonatites and diatremes switched to other available trips.

A list of field trips is provided below:

Pre-meeting field trips (and leaders) on Tuesday, May 07:

1) Slate Islands (Pete Hollings, Lakehead University)*

2) Midcontinent Rift-related carbonatites and diatremes (Shannon Zurevinski, Lakehead University)*

3) Geology of the western Schreiber-Hemlo greenstone belt (Seamus Magnus, Ontario Geological Survey)

4) Geology of the Nipigon area (Philip Fralick, Lakehead University and Rob Cundari, Ontario Geological Survey)

(*denotes cancelled due to snow/ice conditions)

Post-meeting field trips on Friday, May10:

5) A stratigraphic transect across the northern flank of the Midcontinent Rift near Rossport (Pete Hollings, Lakehead University)

6) Geology of the Coldwell alkaline complex (Allan MacTavish, Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Limited and David Good, Western University)

7) Building and ornamental stone sites of the Marathon area (Peter Hinz, Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines)

8) Geology of the past-producing Winston Lake Cu-Zn Mine (Mark Puumala and Mark Smyk, Ontario Geological Survey).

Pre- and post-meeting field trips attracted 172 registrants, once again reaffirming their integral role in the allure and success of ILSG annual meetings.

The vast majority of registrants and invited guests attended the annual ILSG banquet on Wednesday night. Although a Homer Award overview presentation was given, no “recipients” were identified during the 2019 annual meeting!

As always, a highlight of the post-banquet activities was presentation of the 2019 Goldich Medal. This year’s very deserving recipient was Mark Severson.  Mark’s wife, Laurie, and daughter, Allison, attended the banquet and award ceremony. The Goldich Medal citation was presented by George Hudak, his colleague for many years. George described Mark’s contributions to ILSG and to the greater understanding of Minnesota’s geology over several decades during his time as a student, in his role at the Natural Resources Research Institute-University of Minnesota Duluth, in his collaborations with the Minnesota Geological Survey and later in the mining and exploration industry. Mark is indeed a worthy recipient of this prestigious award.

The 65th ILSG included a radical departure from the usual post-banquet guest speaker tradition. In lieu of a guest speaker, Master of Ceremonies, Mark Smyk, moderated a trivia contest entitled “ILSG Geo-Pardy”. It tested our delegates’ knowledge of ILSG history (e.g. past host cities, Goldich Medalists), geology in pop culture and “fun facts” about Lake Superior geology.  Scores were tabulated and winners were announced the following day. Donated prizes and bragging rights attended the “awards ceremony”.

In 2019, the student paper committee had its usual difficult job of selecting the best among six excellent oral presentations and three poster presentations for the Doug Duskin Student Paper Awards. The 2019 committee comprised Katarina Bjorkman (Bjorkman Prospecting), George Hudak (Natural Resources Research Institute–UMD) and David Good (Western University). The committee awarded three prizes with best talk going to Sophie Kurucz for her talk on “Paleoproterozoic snowball earth? Sedimentology and geochemistry of a Huronian glacial cycle” and runner up prizes going to Kira Arnold (Geology and geochemistry of the Terrace Bay Batholith, N. Ontario) and Munira Afroz (Sulfur, Carbon, and Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry of ~2.93 Ga Mesoarchean Chemical Sedimentary rocks in the Red Lake Area, Ontario)
Eisenbrey Student Travel Grants were given to nine students: Paul Bielski (Lakehead) $200, Kira Arnold (Lakehead) $200, Jaqueline Drazan (UMD) $400, Jackie Wrage (University of Michigan) $600, Brittany Ramsay (Lakehead) $200, Munira Afroz (Lakehead) $200, Thomas Bodden (MTU) $500, Sophie Kurucz (Lakehead) $200 and Chanelle Boucher (Lakehead) $200.
The Institute’s Board of Directors met on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 and a brief overview of the meeting is provided below:

1. Accepted report of the Chairs for the 64th ILSG, Iron Mountain, Michigan; as printed in the 2019 Proceedings Volume, and minutes of last Board meeting, May 16, 2018 (Hollings)
2. Received, discussed, and accepted 2018-2019 ILSG Financial Summary (Jirsa).
3. Received, discussed, and accepted 2018-2019 Report of the Secretary (Hollings).
4. Approved Mark Smyk as on-going ILSG Board member
5. Approved Mountain Iron, Minnesota as the site for the 66th annual ILSG meeting, hosted by Mark Jirsa, with help from Amy Radakovich and Terry Boerboom, all of the Minnesota Geological Survey. The dates of the meeting were set for May 12-15, 2020.
6. There was discussion as to future meeting locations, with Sudbury being suggested as a possibility. In addition, Esther Stewart has been in discussion with Rob Lodge and Dyanna Czeck about hosting a meeting in Wisconsin.
7. Discussed and approved replacing Klaus Schultz as the “member from government” on Goldich Committee (end of term 2019) with Dorothy Campbell (OGS).
8. Liability Insurance for the Institute was discussed and approved by the Board as an ongoing, annual expense. The Treasurer will investigate further to ensure that insurance is in place for the 2020 meeting.
9. It was approved that the Treasurer should purchase 10 Goldich medals, as only one remains.
10. Discussed and approved renewal of Pete Hollings as Institute Secretary (end of term 2022). This was later approved by a vote of the membership.

The 65th ILSG meeting was a great success and we wish to thank all the people who contributed to that success, including staff of the Ontario Geological Survey and Lakehead University who were pressed into action as editors, field trip leaders and drivers. The Township of Terrace Bay was extremely hospitable in providing facilities (including the Cultural Centre, Library and Bowling Alley), suggestions and liaison services. We enlisted five different businesses to admirably handle our many catering needs in trying to “spread business around” in both Terrace Bay and neighbouring Schreiber.  We heard many favourable comments from local people and businesses, not only about our patronage, but also about their interactions with ILSG delegates. They were thrilled to have us.  We even received coverage in the local newspaper, provided by a reporter who tagged along on a field trip and popped by the Technical Sessions. We were happy that we were finally able to host the annual meeting in Terrace Bay. It was well worth the wait!

Like most ILSG annual meetings hosted in smaller communities in Ontario, attendance was lower in 2019. However, those who did attend thoroughly enjoyed the meeting, facilities and field trips. Always flexible and understanding, our delegates took any changes in programming in stride. We continue to encourage student attendance and new delegates in ensuring a healthy future for the Institute. We appreciate the support of our respective organizations, the Ontario Geological Survey and Lakehead University, and recognize the efforts that everyone made in travelling, attending, presenting and participating in activities that made the a 65th Annual Meeting what we feel was a great success.  We encourage others to consider hosting and contributing to future meetings. It is truly a rewarding experience.

 

Mark Smyk and Pete Hollings
Co-Chairs, 65th Institute on Lake Superior Geology