More drill results from the Caber property, 35 km west of Matagami, Que., suggest that the grade of the Caber resource may be higher once
Noranda, which is earning a 70% interest in the property from
The six newest drill holes, which intersected the central and eastern part of Caber’s Zone 2, tested areas both inside and down-dip from the present resource. The intersections in Zone 2 graded between 10.5% and 34.2% zinc in massive sulphides, and a single intersection in hole NCB99-60 cut an 8.3-metre length of sphalerite and chalcopyrite stringers that graded 5.2% zinc and 1.3% copper.
The stringer mineralization is believed to indicate a feeder zone in the stratigraphic footwall of the Caber deposit, and more holes have been spotted to find out how large this feeder may be. It had previously been intersected in an earlier hole that graded 4.6% zinc and 1.6% copper over 8.8 metres. Both intersections showed grades that would probably merit being brought into the Caber resource once the shape of the zone is better known.
The indications from the limited drill hole data are that the feeder meets the main lens at a shallow angle, similar to several footwall feeder zones on the northern limb of the Matagami anticline. Among the holes planned for this zone, some will test at depth.
The high zinc values in the massive sulphide mineralization indicate that the average grade of the Caber resource, currently estimated at 412,600 tonnes grading 12.4% zinc and 1% copper, with 15 grams silver per tonne, will be somewhat higher.
Three of the holes were spotted on section 11675S, which is near the middle of Zone 2. Hole NCB99-59 intersected a 13.1-metre length of massive sulphide mineralization at a depth around 250 metres. The intersection graded 17.5% zinc, 0.7% copper, 29.2 grams silver and 0.5 gram gold per tonne; it included a 6.6-metre interval of 26% zinc, 0.8% copper, 47.8 grams silver and 0.8 gram gold.
NCB99-60, which cut the 8.3-metre zone of stringer mineralization, also intersected 6.6 metres in Zone 2 that graded 10.5% zinc and 1.1% copper, with 12 grams silver, at a depth of about 340 metres. The last of the three holes drilled on 11675S, NCB99-61, intersected Zone 2 at a vertical depth of about 195 metres, cutting 9.3 metres grading 13.1% zinc, 0.6% copper and 5 grams silver.
To the northwest, on section 11650S, hole NCB99-64 intersected 7.2 metres of massive sulphides with grades of 14.9% zinc, 0.3% copper and 10.1 grams silver per tonne. Hole NCB99-62, drilled on 11715S, encountered 3.3 metres grading 16.8% zinc, 0.4% copper and 3.4 grams silver.
Farthest to the southeast, hole NCB99-63 cut two zones of massive sulphide mineralization. The first, at a vertical depth of about 265 metres, graded 10.1% zinc, 0.9% copper and 8.9 grams silver over 1.3 metres. The second, 280 metres deep, was a 2.6-metre core length that graded 34.2% zinc, 1.3% copper and 10 grams silver.
All the mineralized intersections had some gold credits as well, ranging from 0.04 gram per tonne in NCB99-60’s stringer mineralization to 0.5 gram in NCB99-59.
Though Caber represents the immediate interest for Noranda, as a possible source for mill feed at the Matagami mill, the larger exploration potential may be represented by the Caber North deposits, about 2 km to the northwest. One drill is delineating Caber North’s four known mineralized zones to see if current resource estimates can be expanded. A second drill is testing Caber North’s Lower Tuffite target, which is below the known mineralization but stratigraphically equivalent to the Key Tuffite.
Denis Francoeur, the company’s president, believes the massive sulphide zones in the overlying basalts are relatively small, a late product of an exhalative system that probably peaked at the time the Tuffite was being deposited. Because there is strong shearing roughly parallel to the stratigraphy, it is not clear where the feeder zones may intersect the more favourable Tuffite horizon.
Conductive bodies were detected by pulse-electromagnetic surveys in two earlier drill holes downdip from the known mineralization.
Well to the southeast of Caber, the Key Tuffite unit has been intersected in two other exploration holes. The holes carried some zinc, and the companies consider the area to be another potential exploration target.
“I think Noranda is going to be there for a while,” says Francoeur.
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