Barraute

The Barraute property lies within the Archean Greenstone Belt of the Abitibi Sub-province of the Canadian Shield. The Abitibi Sub-province includes a series of bands of ultramafic, mafic and felsic volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks deposited between 2,790 and 2,690 Ma. All these rocks were deformed several times and verticalized during the Kenorean orogeny that occurred between -2.7 and -2.5 Ga (MB2016-01). Sub-circular pre- to post-tectonic TTG-type plutonic domains intruded Archean volcanic and sedimentary rocks.

The area of the property has been mapped several times in the past (MB86-21, MB95-24, RG2000-08, Projet 2015-01). The property is located in the Taschereau-Amos-Senneterre Segment (STAS) which is a large volcanic segment belonging to the Northern Volcanic Zone of Chown et al., (1992). The STAS is limited by a series of NW-SE shears : the Landrienne corridor to the south, the Macamic corridor to the west and the Chicobi-Sud corridor to the north. Regional foliation is molded around the Montgay, Lacorne and Pascalis-Tiblemont batholiths which are large felsic-intermediate intrusions surrounding the property. Regional metamorphism is at the greenschists grade but can reach the amphibolite grade near the intrusions.

The northern half of the Barraute property is occupied by the Laflamme Pluto which have been described as a syenitic intrusion in the past (RG109). Most recent works proved though that it is made up of varying proportions of monzonite, quartz-monzonite, monzodiorite and minor granodiorite of calc-alkaline affinity (BG2020-06). The Laflamme Pluto covers an area of ~6 km². Its long axis is oriented WNW-ESE and extends for 3.6 km, while its short axis is oriented NE-SW and extends for 1.7 km. Laflamme Pluto’s syn- to late-tectonic age looks favorable for gold mineralization (RP2009-04 ; RP2014-01).

The southern half of the property is composed of calc-alkaline intermediate to felsic volcanoclastites of the Figuery Group which represents the southern part of the STAS. Rocks of the Figuery Group are sub-divided into a Lower Figuery Group and an Upper Figuery Group (Projet 2015-01). The Upper Figuery Group is mostly composed with massive to porphyritic calc-alkaline andesites intercalated with lenses of felsic volcanics and volcanoclastites as well as mudstone. Some pyritic and graphitic tuff are also intercalated and locally in faulted contact within porphyritic andesites of the Upper Figuery Group in the central part of the property. The Lower Figuery Group is mainly composed of tholeiitic basalts and mafic volcaniclastites, and minor andesites. Some wide gabbro sills are also present locally.

These units are ESE-oriented and host numerous airborne electromagnetic anomalies INPUT and/or MEGATEM which are generally associated with graphitic and sulphide-rich (pyrite, pyrrhotite) volcanosediments (“tufs”). On figure 5 we can see that both Barraute VII-56 and Barraute-Zinc showings are associated with strong Input / MEGATEM anomalies.