Bruno Lafrance
Biography
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.
Education
B.Sc. Géologie Université de Montréal 1984
Ph.D. Geology University of New Brunswick 1991
Academic Appointments
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
On The Web
https://hes.laurentian.ca/people/faculty/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.
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
Teaching
Undergraduate Courses
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 (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.