DNR Open-File Project 385: Geochemical Survey on Public Lands in the International Falls Area, Koochiching County, Minnesota

1. About this project

Locator Map

The DNR has conducted a geochemical survey on public lands in the International Falls area, Koochiching County, Minnesota.  A total of 110 shallow soil samples were collected in Autumn, 2010 within grids located on or near an accessible fault-bound greenstone terrane that is part of the Archean Superior Province.  These samples were shipped to ALS Chemex for independent analysis of major and trace element concentrations. ALS Chemex provided DNR with a laboratory report on January 20, 2011.

The geochemical sample grids are all located on lands under consideration for inclusion within an upcoming April, 2011 Public Lease Offering by the State of Minnesota.

Project Manager: Don Elsenheimer

2. Data released Februrary 01, 2011

A zip file that includes all of the following files (project385_data020111.zip):

• PDF file of ALS Chemex laboratory report (project385_als_chemex_labreport.pdf, 98 kb)
• CSV file with analytical results, provided by ALS Chemex (WN11000670.csv file, 35 kb)
• A DNR-prepared spreadsheet that links results with the UTM coordinates of each sample location in a gis-compatible format (Feb2011_IntlFalls_A1data.xls, 81 kb)
• A GIS shapefile and metadata of each sample location with results (p385_soil.shp)

The following maps released as pdfs:

• Sample location map, depicting the locations of both these new samples, and the sample locations in a 1985 DNR Geochemical Survey Project 242 (11" x 17", 705 kb) 
• Map displaying gold concentrations in both new 2010 survey and the 1985 survey (11" x 17", 698 kb) 

Please note: Best results in viewing these reports will be obtained by saving the files to a location of your choice and opening with Adobe Reader or Acrobat. Some report information may not display as a result of opening with Acrobat directly from a web browser.

Map of Sample Locations (click for detail)

  Data released March 23, 2011

The following presentation is released as a pdf:

• "Gold Mineralization Potential in a Wabigoon Subprovince Granite-Greenstone Terrane, International Falls Area, Minnesota" (10" x 7.5 ", 2.5 mb)

3. Next data release: Open-file report

An DNR open-file report will be released separately that describes the geochemical survey methods and results in greater detail.

For more information:

Project Leader - Don Elsenheimer, Ph.D
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155-4045
tel. 651-259-5433
fax 651-296-5939
donald.elsenheimer@state.mn.us