The Lamarck Creek gold property represents the amalgamation of the former Lamarck Creek and Chibougamau gold properties.
During the second quarter of 2010, Northern Superior undertook a review of its geoscientfic data base and identified five gold exploration projects located in southwest-central Quebec. The Lamarck Creek property represented one of these areas and staking originally focused around specific areas of interest. Since that time, further research identified a variety of additional mineral targets associated with what is believed to be a much larger geologic system. The property consists of 294 mining claims (16,464 hectares).
In November of 2011, Northern Superior signed an option agreement with Paget Minerals Corporation (Paget) granting Paget an option to acquire a 50% interest in the Lamarck Creek gold property. To exercise the Option, Paget must fund expenditures on the property of not less than, in aggregate, of $1,320,000 as follows:
a) $120,000 (the “initial expenditures”) on or before December 31st, 2011;
b) $600,000 on or before December 31st, 2012; and
c) $600,000 on or before December 31st, 2013.
The initial expenditures are committed. The remaining expenditures are not committed, however Paget must incur the amounts set forth in b) and c) before the dates referenced to maintain the Option. Paget has the right to accelerate expenditures to earn-in. Northern Superior will be the operator of the project during the Option period.
The Property
The property is located in north-central Quebec within the Chapais-Chibougamau section of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, approximately 40 km west of Chapais and 80 km west of Chibougamau, Quebec. The western part of the property is cross-cut by the northeast trending Lamarck Fault, a regional structure that extends southwest through the Lac Shortt and Bachelor Lake gold deposits. The Kapunapotagen Fault trends east-west as a splay off the Lamarck Fault and passes across both the Chibougamau River and Lamarck Creek Faults.
Geology
The properties are underlain by rocks of the Roy and Opemisca groups of the Chibougamau-Chapais region. From south to north, the bedrock units consist of:
- Monzodiorite of the d’Houghton Pluton;
- Basalt and tuffistic units of the Blondeau Formation;
- Interlayered siltstone-sandstones and pillowed flows of the Daubrée Formation in contact with:
- Dacitic massive flows, breccias, and tuff breccias of the Scorpion Formation;
- Sandstone, siltstone and greywackes of the Daubrée Formation of the Opemisca Group.
- Amphibolized diorite of the Rita Sill intrudes the Daubrée Formation sediments north of the Lamarck Fault. The Rita Sill appears to be folded along an open northeast-trending fold axis;
- Granodiorite and quartz syenite of the Saussure Stock along northwest side of the property.
- Interlayered tholeiitic gabbro-basalts and quartz-diorite of the Cummings Formation.
Mineralization of Note
- Adjacent to a Cu-Zn-Ag-Au deposit reported by Umex Corp. in 1977, with total reserves of 615,000 T of 1.09% Cu, 2.51% Zn, 0.98 oz/ Ag, and 0.3 oz/t Au;
- Grab sample from mineralized outcrop, northwest part of the property from the Saussure Stock returned gold grades of 2.4 g/ t…no reported follow-up exploration;
- Significant bedrock mineralization (3600 ppm Zn, 240 ppm Cu, and 2,1 ppm Ag) from reverse circulation bedrock chips, suggests significant potential for syngenetic base metal massive sulphide mineralization.
- Elevated gold values (10 to 90 ppm) recovered from the Blondeau Formation (adjacent to the Lamarck Fault), accompanied by Cu, Zn, and As lithogeochemical anomalies from highly sheared, veined, carbonatized rocks….suggesting epigenetic gold mineralization.
- Quartz float boulder, 4.7 g/ t Au.
Note: In the Chapais-Chibougamau portion of the Abitibi greenstone belt the presence of intercalated volcanic units with sedimentary-tuffaceous units have proven to be associated with both gold and polymetallic deposits in the Casa Berardi area of the Abitibi, and thus the presence of this same sequence of geological units within the Chibougamau River and Lamarck Creek properties is considered significant.
Exploration Models
The following exploration models can be proposed for the Chibougamau River and Lamarck Creek properties from comparing the reported geological units associated with the properties to deposit types of the Abitibi greenstone belt:
- Stratiform/ stratabound deposits including cross-cutting quartz vein zones hosted within interflow sedimentary-felsic volcanoclastic-tuffaceous-sedimentary environments near volcanic contacts (Golden Pond);
- Stratiform/ stratabound volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits (VMS) in a generally felsic volcanic-sedimentary environment (Estrades, Lemoine, Mattagami);
- Structurally controlled, shear-zone hosted lode gold deposits within iron-rich lithologies such as iron formations, small dioritic intrusions, major differentiated sills, and mafic flows/ sills, located proximal to felsic intrusive in some cases (Lac Shortt, Bachelor Lake);
- Structurally controlled, intrusive associated, quartz stockwork types of deposits localized along margins of, or within, intermediate to felsic plutons (Val d’Or);
- Disseminated gold deposits associated with carbonated, pyritic mafic volcanic (Timmins gold camp, Owl Creek, Dome Mine).
Lamarck Exploration History
- Collected 44 bedrock samples, sonic drill program spring 2011.
- Collected 246 overburden samples, sonic drill program, spring 2011.
- Collected 79 overburden samples, overburden sampling program, summer 2011 (see Figure 1).
Outlook
- Initiate and complete two, 350 m diamond drill holes designed to assess a geophysical feature identified from airborne geophysics and an associated soil gold geochemical anomaly.
Figure 1. Distribution of sonic drill holes (red circles) and overburden samples
(crosses) drilled and collected from the 2011 exploration programs.