Bruno Lafrance

I am a structural geologist who specializes on the applications of structural geology to the study of ore deposits. My research focuses on the primary structural controls on the formation of ore deposits and their subsequent modification during orogenic events. Although most of my research has been on gold and volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, I also researched the structural controls on the formation of uranium deposits in the Thelon basin, Nunavut, and Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in Sudbury, Ontario.

After three years as Resident Geologist in northern Saskatchewan with Saskatchewan Energy and Mines, I joined the Department of Earth Sciences (now Harquail School of Earth Sciences) at Laurentian University, where I teach courses in structural geology and field geology and do research in structural geology applied to ore deposits. I was a member of the team who proposed the successful Metal Earth project, the largest mineral exploration research initiative in Canadian history, and I am now serving as Associate Director of Metal Earth.

B.Sc. Géologie      Université de Montréal  1984

Ph.D. Geology     University of New Brunswick  1991

1991 - 1993      Postdoctoral Fellow,   Macquarie University,  Australia

1993 - 1995      Postdoctoral Fellow,  University of Wyoming,  U.S.A.

1999 - Now        Assistant Professor to Professor, Laurentian University, Canada

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.  

Recent Applied MSc Students

Reid Simmonds             Structural geology of an epithermal deposit lithocap in East Camp Douglas, Nevada                  In progress

Kaylea Cook                  Big Vein and HTC gold zones along the Appleton fault zone, Nfld                                                Completed 2024

Recent MSc Thesis Research Students

Mehdi Tavakoli               Seismic and structural expression of Quetico Fault                                                                       In progress

Taylor Mugford               Structural geology of the Kirkland Lake mining district                                                                  In progress

Margaret Laverge           Structural controls on Great Bear deposit, Red Lake                                                                    In progress

Evan Hall                        Ulu Gold Project, High Lake Greenstone Belt, Nunavut, Canada                                                 In progress

Shalaila Bhalla                Ormaque gold deposit, Val d’Or, Quebec                                                                                     Completed 2024

Ian Campos                    Structural Geology of Magino Gold Deposit, Wawa northern Ontario                                           Completed 2023

Ruth Orloci-Goodison    Upper Beaver Au-Cu-(Mo) deposit near Larder Lake, Ontario                                                       Completed 2023

Mohamed Farhat           Geology of the Steep Rock Lake Greenstone Belt, Atikokan                                                         In progress

Gabrielle Fouillard         Geology of the Archean Hammond Reef gold deposit, NW Ontario                                               Completed 2023

Lawraine Mogashoa      3D geological modeling of Swayze area, Ontario                                                                          Completed 2021

Ben Mark                       Structural evolution of a Mesoarchean-Neoarchean boundary, Wabigoon                                    Completed 2023

Recent PhD Students

T. Gemmell                   VMS Metallogeny of the Swayze belt, Abitibi subprovince                                                              In progress

K. Strongman               Metallogeny of the Onaman-Tashota greenstone belt                                                                    Completed 2024

M. Schofeld                  Metallogeny of the Powell Block, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec                                                           Completed 2023

C. Généreux                Structural/metamorphic controls on low sulphide PGE in Sudbury                                                 Completed 2022

E. Hastie                      Gold metallogeny of the Swayze Belt, Abitibi subprovince                                                              Completed 2021

Recent Publications (supervised graduate students or postdoctoral fellows in italic)

Fouillard, G., Lafrance, B., Marsh, J., Hamilton, M.A., Côté-Mantha, O. (in press) The Archean Hammond Reef deposit: the formation of an orogenic gold deposit in a contractional step-over-zone along a major strike-slip fault system. Economic Geology. Accepted on December 18, 2024

Campos, I.C., Lafrance, B., Sherlock, R., Dunbar, P., Mclaughlin, B., Kruse, S., Creaser, R., Leung, D.D.V. 2024. The Magino gold deposit, Ontario, Canada: An overprinted Archean intrusion-related gold deposits. Economic Geology, 119, 1563-1585.

Tóth, Z., Lafrance, B., Dubé, B., Mercier-Langevin, P., Creaser, R.A, Leybourne, M.I. 2024. The geology of the Greenstone orogenic gold deposit, Geraldton, Ontario, Canada: structural controls, mineralogy, geochemistry and geochronology. Ore Geology Review, 175, 106345.

Orloci-Goodison, R., Lafrance, B., Beaudoin, G., Côté-Mantha, O. 2024. The structural setting and evolution of the Upper Beaver Au-Cu deposit, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 1–25 (2024) | dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2024-0027

Généreux, C.-A., Lafrance, B., Tinkham, D.K., Gordon, C.A., Simard, R.-L. 2024. Transpression or polyphase deformation along craton margins: insights from the Archean-Proterozoic boundary near Sudbury, Canada. Journal of Structural Geology, 181, 105103

Généreux, C.-A., Lafrance, B. 2024. Revising PGE deposition and remobilization mechanisms using new data from the historic Vermilion and Crean Hill mines, Sudbury, Canada. Mineralium Deposita, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-024-01301-3

Ma, C., Lafrance, B., Montreuil, J.F. 2024. Polyphase formation of a Neoarchean auriferous fault zone network in the Michipicoten greenstone belt, southern Superior craton. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 1–21 (2024) | dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2023-0120

Strongman, K.R., Gibson, H.L, Lafrance, B., Hamilton, M.A., Goldman, B., Tinkham, D.K. 2024. The metamorphosed Neoarchean epithermal Vent prospect, Ontario, Canada. Mineralium Deposita, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-024-01331-x

Strongman, K.R., Gibson, H.L., Howard, A.E., Lafrance, B., Hamilton, M.A. 2024. Relative timing and controls on advanced argillic and conventional alteration of the Neoarchean Onaman volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 17 December 2024 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2024-0067

Rubingh, K.E., Lafrance, B., Gibson, H.L. 2024. The Snow Lake deposits in Manitoba, Canada: Formation of metamorphosed amphibolite facies orogenic gold deposits during a progressive and prograde orogenic event. Economic Geology, 119, 421-444.

Schofield, M.D., Lafrance, B., Gibson, H.L., Poulsen. K.H., Scheffer, C., Quesnel, B., Beaudoin, G., Hamilton, M.A. 2024. Discriminating superimposed alteration associated with epigenetic base and precious metal vein systems in the Rouyn-Noranda mining district, Québec; Implications for exploration in ancient volcanic districts. Economic Geology, 113, 617-641.

Adetunji, A.Q., Launay, G., Ferguson, I.J., Simmons, J.M., Ma, C., Ayer, J., Lafrance, B. 2023. Crustal conductivity footprint of the orogenic gold district in the Red Lake greenstone belt, western Superior craton, Canada. Geology, v. 51, 377-382.

Ma, C., Marsh, J., Lodge, R.W.D., Tamosauskas, M., Sherlock, R., Lafrance, B., Thurston, P.C., Ayer, J.A. 2023. Formation of Archean greenstone belts: Insights from an assemblage-scale study in the western Superior craton. Precambrian Research, 395, 07150,

Tóth, Z., Lafrance, B., Dubé, B. 2023. Oblique lateral extrusion during dextral transpression along the Beardmore-Geraldton belt, Canada. Journal of Structural Geology, v. 169, 104834.