EXPLORATION ROUNDUP — Quebec’s Quvillon area

awash with junior gold explorers — Several prospects, but no cornerstone deposit yet

Lebel-sur Quvillon, Que. — The pattern has been repeated time and again: a junior makes a mineral discovery in a particular area using a particular method, and within days the entire area around the discovery is littered with copycat companies aiming to emulate the fortunate first-comer.

It hasn’t happened that way at the bustling gold exploration play in the townships around the small paper mill town of Lebel-sur-Quvillon, which lies near the eastern frontier of the extremely productive Abitibi greenstone belt.

Gold was found in the Quvillon area as far back as the 1920s, but little came of any of the exploration efforts. Major mining companies swarmed over the area during the flow-through heyday of the 1980s, though most have since left. A group of mostly Montreal-based juniors now occupy most of the promising ground.

The current exploration boom in the area began in late 1994, when Murgor Resources (MUG-M) announced a gold discovery in Barry Twp., east of Quvillon. The discovery was the result of a surface stripping-sampling program that exposed trenches of 9.6 metres grading 11.3 grams gold per tonne, 1.6 metres of 14.4 grams and 5.8 metres of 7.2 grams. The property is composed of 129 claims (2,088 ha). Follow up drilling of 18 holes, completed during the 1995 winter season, produced results that, while not as spectacular as the surface grades, nonetheless confirmed the presence of gold at depth and along a 304-metre strike length. Grades ranged from 3.43 grams gold over 11.6 metres to 6.51 grams over 4.3 metres.

In 1995, more than 2,000 samples indicated uniform gold distribution over an exposed length of 210 metres and widths ranging from 20 to 40 metres in what became known as the Main Showing zone. In early 1996, 11 holes (2,527 metres) tested the property at depth and along strike, and then a 5-hole (622-metre) program, completed in March, resulted in the discovery of four new gold-bearing structures: Zones 43, 45, 48 and 51. Some of the better intersections were 12.7 metres at 6.17 grams gold in Zone 45 and 6.86 grams over 4 metres in Zone 43. The zones are open to the east and west along strike, with a drill-indicated strike length of at least 800 metres. All the new zones are open to depth.

Zones 43, 45 and 48 have been estimated to contain (to the 60-metre level) an estimated potential resource of 462,000 tonnes with an average grade of 6.86 grams gold.

Little exploration work was completed at the Barry project in 1997, but an agreement was made with Teck (TEK-T) giving it an option to acquire a 51% interest in the property by spending $4.5 million over a period of four years. After earning in, Teck will take over as operator of the project.

Other properties

Freewest Resources (FWR-T) holds interests in three properties in the immediate area of the Barry property. One of these properties, jointly held with Murgor and also optioned by Teck, hosts part of the mineralized zones at Barry. The Teck-Murgor-Freewest property, combined with a third property that Murgor and Freewest share with Mazarin Mining (MAZ-T) and a fourth that Murgor and Freewest share with Orient Resources (ORR-M), completely surrounds the original Barry discovery property.

Just a few kilometres west of the Barry property, Gold Hawk Resources (CGK-A) has hit 6.7 metres grading 6 grams gold, while, just 12 km east of the Barry property, drilling on the Lac Barry property of Xemac Resources (XEM-M) intersected 13.2 metres grading 13.5 grams gold (7.6 grams when cut to 34.28 grams). The discovery, made in April, prompted Xemac to add 27 claims to its holdings.

Drilling at Lac Barry resumed this fall, and the first hole hit 8.4 metres of 12.44 grams gold, including a 1.5-metre section containing visible gold that assayed 54.8 grams. These high values were contained in a quartz vein in a shear zone cutting mafic volcanics. First indications are that the intersection is not from the same vein Xemac hit in April. The company has planned 3,000 metres of drilling on its area holdings, half of which will be carried out in the immediate vicinity of the above two holes.

About 15 km northeast from the Murgor-Teck project, along what appears now to be a magnetic and gold trend connecting the two properties, lies the large Windfall joint-venture property of Murgor and Freewest. Exploration of Windfall got under way this year, with geophysical surveys, stripping and channel sampling. More trenching is planned for next year, and a drill program is likely.

Just south of the Windfall property, partners Noront Resources (NOT-V) and Alto Resources (ATO-V) have taken channel samples grading up to 9.37 grams gold on a shear structure that appears to continue on to the Murgor-Freewest property. A drilling program is under way on the property, which Noront and Alto share equally.

Continuing southwest, recent drilling on the Urban project of Moss Resources (MRS-T) and Greenshield Resources (GSR-M) has revealed several gold intersections, including 28.6 metres of 1.4 grams gold per tonne, 20.2 metres of 2.26 grams, 1 metre of 5.45 grams and 1 metre of 5.95 grams.

The partners are extending their induced-polarization (IP) grid and expect to follow up the results with more diamond drilling.

The Barry-Souart joint-venture property of Consolidated Oasis Resources (CSI-M) and Boreale Exploration (BOR-M) (part is also shared with Socit de dveloppement de la Baie James) is situated at the southwestern end of the Barry-Windfall gold trend. Gold mineralization here is associated with late quartz veining and iron sulphides in two main rock types: a completely tourmalinized amphibolite and a completely feldspathized amphibolite.

Since 1995, the partners have drilled 27 holes, and have delineated a small gold resource, but more drilling is needed to assess the property’s significance.

The dominant company working in the townships north of Lebel-sur-Quvillon is GoNova Explorations (GNE-M). Its dozen properties include Discovery, Cavelier and Chevrier.

Discovery, situated 45 km north of Lebel-sur-Quvillon, consists of a band of strongly magnetic rocks, 50 to 200 metres thick, extending 5 km in length. The gabbros and quartz diorites here lie in the upper part of a volcanic sequence. These rocks are affected by a series of sub-vertical shear zones, within which gold occurs at the margins of veins containing quartz, ankerite, albite and sulphides.

The mineralized zone has been identified over more than 800 metres in length and to a depth of 600 metres. It is sub-divided in three gold-bearing sub-vertical lenses in widths of 100 to 200 metres each. All are open to depth as well as laterally for the Central and East lenses.

GoNova and the previous owners have drilled 159 holes at Discovery, enabling GoNova to delineate a geological resource of 2.1 million tonnes grading 5.15 grams gold per tonne.

The analysis of channel samples in a new stripping area returned an average grade of 8.51 grams gold. A 60-kg bulk sample taken from the Discovery zone drill cores has been sent to the Lakefield Research Centre to determine the most economical method of gold extraction.

Similar geology exists at Cavelier, 30 km southeast of the town of Chapais.

The northeast-southwest-striking Fancamp fault cuts through the property, and numerous gold showings are found along the trace of the fault.

Drill results from Chevrier have enabled GoNova to delineate a geological resource of 3.7 million tonnes grading 5.42 grams gold. GoNova has an option to earn a 100% interest in Inmet Mining (IMN-Timn-t), which shares parts of the Chevrier with Cambior (CBJ-T) and Fancamp Resources (FNM-V).

Jean Girard, GoNova’s vice-president of exploration, says GeoNova’s top priorities in 1998 are Discovery and Chevrier. The company has planned 20,000 metres of drilling at Discovery and 15,000 metres at Chevrier, along with up to 3,000 metres on Cavelier.

No start time for these drilling projects has been decided, as Girard is waiting until all of the necessary funding is in pl
ace before initiating the programs.

Syndicate properties

In 1995, GNova, along with Freewest, Consolidated Oasis and Quebec government-owned Socit qubcoise d’exploration miniere (Soquem), formed the Beep Mat Syndicate, which is today known as the Berthiaume Mining Syndicate. Each has a 22.5% interest in the syndicate, while a private firm, Explorateurs-Innovateurs de Qubc, holds the remaining 10% interest.

The Berthiaume Mining Syndicate holds three properties — Bergres, Berthiaume and Noyelles — that are about 60 km northwest of Lebel-sur-Quvillon.

Geophysical exploration was done with the Beep Mat electromagnetic system, which is ideal for areas with little outcrop but very shallow overburden.

Surface exploration following the Beep Mat program at Berthiaume exposed gold showings in pyrrhotite sulphide horizons contained in an amphibole iron formation. A 10-hole diamond drill campaign followed; intersections included 3.1 grams gold over 5.4 metres, 3.85 grams over 1.2 metres, 6.2 grams over 10 metres, and 18.1 grams over 2 metres.

The syndicate recently discovered a gold-bearing mineralized zone on the Noyelles property in the township of the same name, 15 km west of the Berthiaume property.

At Noyelles, a Beep Mat prospecting campaign led the syndicate to areas where hand samples assayed between 1 and 19 grams gold.

A mineralized horizon within an iron formation was identified over a minimum length of 200 metres and widths varying from 3 to 8 metres. Stripping and channel sampling are now under way at Noyelles.

Drilling plans on the Berthiaume Syndicate properties have not yet been made, but Girard expects the partners will agree to complete as much as 5,000 metres of drilling in early 1998, mostly at Noyelles and Berthiaume, where there are many magnetic anomalies for which he has high hopes.

Freewest geologist Mark Fekete concedes that the pace of exploration on the syndicate’s properties is slower than on the members’ other holdings, but he points out that with the slower pace and the pooling of resources comes less risk for each member company.

He said the Beep Mat technology has saved the syndicate a lot of time and money by showing the geologists where to strip.

The syndicate’s 1998 budget is expected to be $400,000, roughly the same as it was in 1997.