| Overview | |
In December 2009 TerraX Minerals entered into an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Central Canada gold property in northwest Ontario. The property consists of seven claims totaling 24 claim units (~3.8 km2) located 20 km east of the town of Atikokan, 160 km west of Thunder Bay and 19 km from Osisko Mining Corporation's (TSX: OSK) Hammond Reef gold deposit. The Central Canada property is also 3 km south of TerraX's Sunbeam-Pettigrew property.   The Central Canada property straddles the southern contact of the Marmion Batholith, host to the Hammond Reef deposit and TerraX's Sunbeam-Pettigrew and Blackfly properties. The bulk of the property is underlain by mafic rocks outside the batholith; these have been intruded by abundant felsic dikes presumably related to the Marmion Batholith (see picture below). Gold mineralization is associated with quartz-iron carbonate veins with minor pyrite and local tourmaline and/or arsenopyrite. These veins are most common in or close to felsic dikes. Dikes and veins trend easterly, parallel to the contact of the Marmion Batholith and to the strike of the regional scale Quetico Fault, which also occurs on the property. TerraX visited the property in October 2009, collecting 18 grab samples of veins and alteration. Assay values range from 9 ppb to 22.9 g/t gold, and seven samples had >250 ppb Au. This includes results of 2.8, 4.48 and 22.9 g/t gold. These grab sample results have been plotted on the following map:
Click to enlarge
A shaft was sunk on the property in 1901 and deepened to 130' in 1929. A 1929 Ontario Department of Mines report notes pyrite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite and free gold at 30 to 40' depth in the shaft, and values up to 21.0 g/t gold. Eighteen holes were drilled from 1929 to 1935. A pilot mill was constructed on site, but there is no record of gold production. Three short holes were drilled in 1965, with a best intersection of 7' (2.13 m) @ 44 g/t gold. Thirteen holes were drilled in 1985 - the best intersection was 3.8' (1.16 m) @ 30 g/t gold. A 2003 Ontario Geological Survey property visit report noted that "gold mineralization is hosted by quartz-tourmaline veins within sheared, deformed, carbonatized and sericitized quartz porphyry. Historical reports indicated up to 7 parallel and extensional quartz vein sets over a strike length of 1000 m and across a width of 400 m...... Exploration programs should consider using induced polarization (IP) geophysical surveys to delineate disseminated sulphide mineralized zones which locally contain gold". Freewest Resources stripped 17 areas on the property in 2004, and collected 54 samples, of which 21 returned results >100 ppb gold, and the three highest were 1.24, 4.17 and 7.96 g/t gold. Freewest's report recommended geophysics and drilling, but this was not completed. In February 2010, TerraX conducted an Induced Polarization ("IP") and magnetic survey on the main mineralized zone at Central Canada, which returned grab samples up to 22.9 g/t Au in 2009. The results of the IP, including maps, will be released after all data has been processed. Preparations are underway for a drill program to test IP chargeability anomalies at Central Canada in late May, 2010. TerraX can earn a 100% interest in the Central Canada property over a four year period by making option payments totaling $98,000, issuing 280,000 common shares and funding $140,000 of exploration and development work. The vendors will retain a 2.5% NSR, 1% of which can be purchased by TerraX for $1,000,000. An annual pre-production royalty of $10,000 will also be in effect, commencing on December 11, 2013. | |