Orbite Alumina
Location, Access, Description
The Orbite Alumina property is located in eastern Quebec, about 60 km northwest of Gaspé, in the Gaspésie – Îles de la Madeleine Region. The property is composed of 6 mining claims covering an area of 338.25 Ha. Globex holds 5 claims and retains a 3% Gross Metal Royalty (GMR) on the 6th.
Access to the property by VTT is possible via a dense network of gravel roads and forestry trails. Numerous commodities can be found in Gaspé (60 km) and Grande Vallée (13 km) regarding contractors, skilled labor, equipment rental, as well as sleep and food accommodation of remote workers.
Geology and Mineralization
The property is located in the Appalachian Province of the Canadian Shield. The area was mapped several times by geologists of the Quebec Ministère des Ressources Naturelles. The region is characterized by a succession of large ENE-trending thrust nappes composed of Paleozoic sediments, volcanic rocks and intrusions, and deformed by the Acadian orogeny during the Middle Devonian period (ET86-06).
Rocks of the property are essentially composed of folded Paleozoic sediments of Cambrian to Ordovician age. Reddish mudstone and argillite of the Orignal Formation occur in decimeter-thick beds.
Metallogeny
Rocks of the property area are composed of Paleozoic sediments deformed and metamorphosed during the Acadian orogeny. These sediments are locally enriched in silica (SiO2), alumina (Al2O3), iron (Fe2O3) or magnesium (MgO) oxides. The area of the property therefore hosts several occurrences of industrial stone quarries.
The Orbite Alumina deposit is located in the south part of the Orbite Alumina property, on the royalty claim of Globex (3% GMR). NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) by Genivar in 2012 estimated Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,040 Mt @ 23.37% Al2O3, 52.62% SiO2, 8.42% Fe2O3 and 1.64% MgO (Doran et al., 2012).
Measured and Indicated Resource of 67.3 Mt @ 23.4% Al2O3 and 0.05% TREO (Total Rare-Earth Oxides) are also reported in Quebec public data (SIGEOM) on the Grande Vallée quarry, located about 1.2 km west of the property.
History
varying from 24% to 25% Al2O3.
A lithochemical survey and a bulk sampling were performed by the Institut National de Recherche scientifique (INRS) in November 2005. The chemical analyses performed on the red fragmentary shale revealed average Al2O3 content of 23.36% and 8.95% Fe2O3, which is clearly above normal ranges.
From 2005 to 2007 prospecting was conducted by Orbite Aluminae Inc. (now Tuilebec Inc.) and has allowed the identification of five zones with red clay deposits or fragmentary shale, associated with units of red shale of the Orignal Formation. Trenching and DDH (106 holes, 13,058 m) between 2007 and 2010 led to the writing by Genivar of a NI 43-101 PEA on the Orbite Alumina deposit which considered an open-pit mining with an 25-years mine life at a high production rate of approximately 11,000 tonnes per day.
Tables below present two different scenarios anticipated in Genivar 2012 PEA of the Orbite Alumina deposit (Doran et al., 2012) :
Resources and Potential
Historical work confirmed the presence of a favorable Resource (Indicated Resource of 1,040 Mt @ 23.37% Al2O3, 52.62% SiO2, 8.42% Fe2O3 and 1.64% MgO) for open-pit production to eventually begin at Orbite Alumina deposit. Doran et al. (NI 43-101 PEA, 2012) dressed a series of additional work recommendations including geological, metallurgical and mining studies in order to move the project forward toward construction of a metallurgical grade alumina industrial plant.
Orbite Aluminae (now Tuilebec) does not appear to have completed the recommended work, and the economic context (metal prices) has changed significantly since 2012. It would be necessary to review the data from the 2012 PEA and reassess the project in the current economic climate in order to verify its viability.