EXPLORATION ROUNDUP — Avalon exploration portfolio made to order

Though it has captured more attention with its involvement in the Mazenod Lake play in the Northwest Territories, Avalon Ventures (AVL-V) holds a portfolio of properties that play directly to the company’s strengths — slightly offbeat exploration models in Precambrian rocks.

Three of the company’s projects illustrate that fit, including: a base metal massive sulphide target in strongly folded terrane northeast of Ontario’s Lake Nipigon; a Chibougamau-type gold target on Quebec’s Cadillac Break; and Kirkland Lake-style gold mineralization west of Thunder Bay, Ont.

In an option deal with NWT Copper Mines (NWTC-C), Avalon is earning a 100% interest in the Marshall Lake property, near Lake Nipigon and 250 km northeast of Thunder Bay.

The massive sulphide deposit there was discovered in the 1940s, and is one of the smoke-but-no-fire stories of Canadian mineral exploration. About 100 base-metal showings exist there, many of which have returned excellent grades, but no past property holder was able to build up economic reserves.

The property’s Main zone was calculated to host a resource of 1.1 million tonnes grading 3.2% zinc, 0.94% copper and 75 grams silver per tonne.

Multiple stages of folding have left the area with a complex structure that could have dismembered or radically reshaped a massive sulphide body. Avalon believes that sulphide mineralization may have been squeezed into the hinges of folds at the time of deformation, a process that would make mineralization there similar to that found at Bathurst, N.B. Two targets believed to be fold noses will be tested with a 900-metre drill program.

Starcore Resources (SOE-V), a frequent companion of Avalon, is funding a program of 15-20 drill holes in order to earn a 50% interest in a property in Denian Twp. That property, which was acquired by Avalon 18 months ago, is near the Louvicourt base metal mine, about 60 km east of Val d’Or, Que.

The property has one prospect, the South Gold zone, where earlier drilling intersected 1.2 metres grading 7.3 grams gold and 0.35 metre grading 15.3 grams. Avalon was drawn to the property by some copper showings that implied massive-sulphide potential.

Previous drilling by a number of operators, as well as Avalon’s summer mapping and geophysical work, suggest that the South Gold zone is about 0.5-1 metre wide with a minimum strike length of 400 metres and potential at depth.

Much of the earlier drilling there did not test below 50 metres but one of two deep holes cut the structure at about 230 metres vertical depth, intersecting 0.6 metres of 8.8 grams.

New drill holes are planned to outline resources to a depth of 60 metres, test both strike extensions, and explore a parallel vein system a little further south.

According to Avalon, similarities exist between its South Gold zone and the Joe Mann gold mine, which is operated by Campbell Resources (CCG-T), near Chibougamau.

Joe Mann has nearly vertical, narrow veins with very high gold grades, plus very competent host rocks that allow for narrow-vein mining with the least dilution and ground trouble.

“[Denain] was in the hands of a number of different junior companies through the flow-through era… we optioned it from some local prospectors that staked it after the claims lapsed,” explains Bubar, who likes the project’s chances because the site is only a short drive from Val d’Or. “It’s got a reasonably good shot — even if it’s not that big — of being an economic situation if the grade and continuity hold up.”

Last spring Avalon assembled a land package in the Shebandowan volcanic belt just west of Thunder Bay; the package now includes eight separate properties with gold showings. Some properties are part of a joint venture with Green Ice (GCE-V).

“It’s kind of interesting in that it’s so close to town and so close to the highway that people think that it’s got to have been well explored,” he says.

“It’s one of these areas that’s been overlooked in the past,” he says.

Witness the company’s Stewart property, where a gold showing was found in 1984. Earlier options on the property were held by Noranda and Inco, both of which conducted drilling there. The property’s A zone was calculated to hold a resource of 60,000 tonnes grading 3 grams gold. The B zone, however, a 300-metre long structure, has yet to receive a resource estimate.

Drill intersections in the B zone include 11 metres grading 5.9 grams, and a 245-metre-long hole averaged 0.5 gram along its entire length.

Avalon plans to conduct an induced-polarization (IP) survey at the property early this winter. Drill targets include the strike and dip extensions of both the A and B zones, and the most promising IP anomalies.

“[The Stewart is] one of the few properties in the area that’s had any substantial work done on it,” says Bubar. “There are very good intersections there that weren’t really followed up.” Both Noranda and Inco dropped their options, not because of poor exploration results, but for reasons of corporate strategy. Inco, for example, simply got out of the gold business.

Avalon has also taken up an option on an adjacent property, the Lee claims, which lies along the strike extension of the A zone.