Bruno Lafrance

Research

My research and that of my students focus on understanding deposit scale to camp scale deformation processes involved in the genesis and subsequent deformation of ore deposits and their host rocks.  Ore deposits generally form in tectonically active environments.  Tectonic structures, such as faults, directly control the genesis of ore deposits because they act as conduits for the flow and migration of hydrothermal fluids.   Post-depositional deformation can subsequently affect the geometry, continuity, mineralogy, and metal grade of ore deposits.  Rock units hosting ore deposits are affected by the deformation events responsible for the formation and/or subsequent modification of  the deposits.  Knowing how host rocks of ore deposits behaved during deformation is key to understanding how deposits formed and were subsequently deformed.  

Applied MSc Students

Samiei, Ahoora     Structural controls on gold enrichment in the Archean Eqe Bay greenstone belt, Baffin Island.

MSc Students

Chappell, Ian           Structural controls and chronology of gold mineralization at the Black Fox mine and Grey Fox zone,                                                      Matheson, Abitibi. Co-supervised with Dr. Dan Kontak

Hall, Marshall         Emplacement mechanisms and spatial and temporal relationships between low-sulphide and sharp-walled                                       vein systems in Footwall mineralization in the Sudbury Camp. Co-supervised with Dr. Harold Gibson

Kelly, Chris             TBA.  Co-supervised with Dr. Dan Kontak

McDivitt, Jordan    Gold Mineralisation at the Renabie Gold Mine, Wawa, Ontario. Co-supervised with Dr. Dan Kontak

Ogilvie, Thomas    Brittle kinematic history of the southern part of the Tantato Domain adjacent to the Fond du Lac Rivers

Smith, Joycelyn     Structural controls and origin of Auriferous Sheeted Veins at the Côté Gold Deposit, Ontario.  Co-                                                           supervised with Dr. Dan Kontak.

PhD Students

Engelbert, Meg      The volcanic and deformation history, geodynamic setting, and metallogenesis of the Upper Chisel                                                        Sequence, Snow Lake, Manitoba, Canada. Co-supervised with Dr. Harold Gibson

Généreux, C.-A.     Structural and metamorphic evolution of the South Range in the Drury and Denison townships, Sudbury,                                           with emphasis on the controls on low-sulphide PGE mineralization.  Co-supervised with Dr. Doug Tinkham

Hastie, Evan          Gold Metallogeny of the Southern Swayze Greenstone Belt, Abitibi Subprovince. Co-supervised with Dr.                                            Dan Kontak

Hunter, Rebecca    Geological Investigation of Unconformity-related Uranium Mineralization along the Qavvik-                                                                   Tatiggaq Trend, northeast Thelon Basin, Nunavut.  

Rubingh, Kate        The tectonic, structural and stratigraphic setting, and origin of eastern Trans-Hudson Orogen Gold                                                      Deposits at Snow Lake, Manitoba. Co-supervised with Dr. Harold Gibson.

Toth, Zsuzsanna    Banded Iron Formation-Hosted Gold Mineralization – Beardmore-Geraldton Area: structural setting,                                                  footprint(s) and exploration implications. Co-supervised with Dr. Benoît Dubé (GSC)

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses

GEOL 2017 Geology for Engineers

GEOL 3006  Field Geology II

GEOL 3306 Structural Geology

Graduate Courses

GEOL 5306 Structural Controls on Ore Deposits

GEOL 5307 Structure, Tectonics, and Mineral Explorations    (Two-week Field School)

Publications

Recent Publications

Lafrance, B. in press.  Geology of the orogenic Cheminis gold deposit along the Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

Ordóñez-Calderón, J.C., Lafrance, B., Gibson, H.L., Schwartz, T., Pehrsson, S., Rayner, N.M. in press.  Petrogenesis and geodynamic evolution of the Paleoproterozoic (~1878 Ma) Trout Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit, Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.  Economic Geology.

Lafrance, B., Gibson, H.L., Pehrsson, S., Schetselaar, E, DeWolfe, Y.M., Lewis, D. in press. Structural reconstruction of the Flin Flon volcanogenic massive sulfide mining district, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada.  Economic Geology.

Schetselaar, E., Pehrsson, S., Devine, C., Lafrance, B. , White, D., Malinowski, M., in press.  3D Geologic Modelling in the Flin Flon Mining Camp, Trans-Hudson Orogen, Canada: Evidence for Polyphase Imbrication of the Flin Flon - 777- Callinan VMS Ore System. Economic Geology.

Olaniyan, O., Smith, R.S., Lafrance, B. 2015. Regional 3D geophysical investigation of the Sudbury structure. Interpretation, Vol. 3, No. 2 (May 2015); p. SL63–SL81

Lafrance, B., Bygnes, L., McDonald, A.M. 2014.  Emplacement of metabreccia along the Whistle offset dike, Sudbury: implications for post-impact modification of the Sudbury impact structure.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 51, 466-484.

Mukwakwami, J., Lafrance, B., Lesher, C.M., Tinkham, D.K., Rayner, N.M., Ames, D.E. 2014. Deformation, metamorphism, and mobilization of Ni-Cu-PGE sulpide ores at Garson Mine, Sudbury. Mineralium Deposita, 49, 175-198.

Mukwakwami, J., Lesher, C.M., Lafrance, B., Tinkham, D.K. 2014. Geochemistry of deformed and hydrothermally mobilized magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE ores at the Garson Mine, Sudbury. Economic Geology, 109, 367-386.

Olaniyan, O., Smith, R.S., Lafrance, B. 2014. A constrained potential field data interpretation of the deep geometry of the Sudbury Structure. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences v. 51, p. 715-729.

Raharimafeta, T., Lafrance, B., Tinkham, D.K. 2014. New structural, metamorphic, and U-Pb geochronological constraints on the Blezardian Orogeny and Yavapai Orogeny in the Southern Province, Sudbury, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 51, p. 750-774.