Following the completion of a detailed geologic report for the property, that included an exploration proposal and budget, the Company signed an option agreement in May 2009 with INV Metals Inc (INV). Under the terms of the agreement, INV can earn a 50% interest in the Thorne Lake property by funding $1.5 million in exploration expenditures over four years, with a first year commitment of $500,000. Upon INV completing its funding obligations, a joint venture will be formed between INV and Northern Superior, both holding a 50% interest in the property. During the earn-in period, Northern Superior will remain the operator of the exploration project. INV may elect to sole-fund additional work programs after earning its 50% interest, through the completion of a pre-feasibility study to earn a maximum of 60%. INV elected to spend $1.2 million in 2009, allowing Northern Superior to complete a two phase exploration program on the property that year.
In November 2011 Northern Superior reacquired a 100% interest in the Thorne Lake gold property (see press release November 17, 2012). To reacquire the property, Northern Superior made a payment of $500,000 and issued 750,000 common shares of Northern Superior to INV Metals. The common shares are subject to a hold period which expires on March 17, 2012.
The Property
The Thorne Lake property is located approximately 720 km northwest of Thunder Bay and 360 km northwest of Pickle Lake. The property is situated over a portion of the Ellard Lake greenstone belt, 15.5 kilometers west of the Sachigo River gold mine, a past producer (1938- 1943) that produced 52,560 ounces of gold from 46,416 tons of ore for an average grade of approximately 1.1 oz Au/ t (38.8 g Au/ t). The gold is hosted by quartz veins and west-trending shears in metavolcanic and intrusive rocks. The Ellard Lake greenstone belt is highly prospective for gold but to date has not been extensively explored.
The property currently consists of 44 claims covering an area of 10,752 hectares.
Thorne Lake Exploration History
Pre-2009
- Defined an area with excellent potential for gold mineralization during exploration programs completed in 2005 and 2006.
- Derived useful geologic information for gold exploration from three diamond drill holes (2006) completed in close proximity to the Thorne Lake property.
- Staked Thorne Lake Gold property, fall of 2008 (26 claims, 6,656 hectares);
- Signed agreement with Sachigo Lake First Nation in the fall of 2008.
- Defined three gold grain-in-till dispersal trains (see Figure 1), two of which consist of overburden samples with gold grain values as large, or larger, than those associated with the gold grain-in-till dispersal train extending down-ice from the Sachigo River gold mine, 15 km east of the property on the same geological structure (see press release January 26th, 2009).
2009
- Signed option agreement with INV.
- Completed two phases of exploration, which lead to the:
- Discovery of four new gold exploration targets based on the concentration and distribution of gold grain values recovered from the 2009 overburden sampling program (see press release October 27, 2009; Figure 2);
- Discovery of four new gold showings (see press release August 25, 2009; see Figure 3);
- Discovery of gold-bearing shear structures (see press release October 29, 2009; see Figure 3);
- Diamond drilling intersected gold-bearing shear zones associated with the gold showings at surface (see Figure 4).
Outlook
Now that Northern Superior has reacquired 100% interest in the Thorne Lake gold property, the Company is currently re-evaluating its exploration strategy for this property in context with the Company’s other two gold properties in the area, Rapson Bay and Meston Lake.
Figure 1. Distribution of gold grain-in-till dispersal trains identified on the Northern Superior Resources Inc. Thorne Lake gold property (Dispersal Trains # 1- 3). These trains were defined from gold grain values determined from processing overburden samples collected during the 2008 exploration program (see press release, January 26th, 2009).
Figure 2. Four new gold exploration targets as defined from the 2009 overburden sampling program (associated with overburden samples TL09-0019, 0069, 0072, 0078; see press release, October 27th, 2009). Two of these new targets (TL09-0019, 0072) were embedded with “Dispersal Train # 1” as defined from the 2008 overburden sampling program (see Figure 1). An important gold exploration target is still associated with the head of that train as illustrated in Figure 2 (TL09-0057).
Figure 3. Additional bedrock mapping and channel sampling during the second phase of the 2009 exploration program has defined that the gold showings identified during the first phase of exploration are in fact gold-bearing shear zones (see press release, October 29th, 2009).
Figure 4. Location of the six drill holes associated with the first phase drill program (6 holes, 1,002 m; see press release October 29th, 2009). Drilling successfully tested all gold four gold showings. Of particular note, drill holes TL09-001, -004 and -006 intersected more than one zone of gold mineralization.