Description

To support mineral exploration efforts, the Northwest Territories Geological Survey has completed a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey in an area south of Great Slave Lake, near the past-producing Pine Point lead-zinc mine. This area is highly prospective for the critical mineral zinc and other critical minerals typically produced as by-products of zinc mining (e.g., germanium and indium). Discovering and developing critical mineral resources in Canada is deemed a priority by all levels of government. The survey consists of approximately 21,000 line-km of airborne fixed-wing magnetic data. The nominal traverse and control line spacings were 200 m and 1,200 m, with drape flying at a nominal terrain clearance of 60 m. Traverse lines were oriented N 0°E with orthogonal control lines.

Location

The survey area is located south of Great Slave Lake, near the town of Hay River, approximately 200 km south of Yellowknife. The project covers parts of NTS sheets 085B and 085C.

Justification

High-resolution geophysical coverage is essential to support exploration for critical minerals. Prior to this survey, the only publicly available regional geophysical data for this area was collected at a resolution of 1,500 m line spacing, which is too coarse to highlight the subtle changes in lithology and structures used to generate exploration targets. This project was designed to have sufficient resolution to image these geological features. The area surveyed is located nearby the past-producing Pine Point lead-zinc mine, making it highly prospective for additional exploration. This project supports the development of a strong economic foundation, one of the four priorities of the 20th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

Approach

EON Geosciences Inc. conducted the aeromagnetic survey using one aircraft equipped with cesium vapour magnetometer located in the tail boom of the aircraft. EON Geosciences Inc. provided a technical report accompanied by high-resolution data products including Geosoft databases, grids, Geotiffs and PDFs. The two-dimensional filtering extension of Seequent's Geosoft Oasis MontajTM geoscience software was used to process the aeromagnetic data. These products are made publicly available for further analysis by stakeholders.

Schedule

EON Geosciences Inc. completed the data acquisition from August 5th to 29th, 2025.
The processed data has been published by the Northwest Territories Geological Survey as
NWT Open Report 2025-003.

Partners and Support

• The project was funded by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and the Northwest Territories Geological Survey.
• EON Geosciences Inc. carried out the aeromagnetic survey.