Checkerboard
Location, Access, Description
The Checkerboard property consists of six (6) contiguous mining claims located in the southeastern part of Guillet Township, Quebec (NTS 31M07). The town of Belleterre is located 4 km west of the property. The cities of Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or are located 110 km northwest and northeast, respectively. The claims belong to the Belleterre Project of Vior Inc., and Globex retains a 2% Gross Metal Royalty (GMR).
The property is easily accessible in vehicle from Belleterre via a network of gravel roads and forestry trails. Food and sleeping facilities as well as gasoline are available in Belleterre. Many other commodities can be found in Rouyn-Noranda regarding daily workers, contractors and equipment rental.
Geology and Mineralization
The property is located in the Baby-Belleterre Greenstone Belt of the Pontiac Subprovince, about 10 km north of the Grenville Thrust. Geologists of the Quebec “Ministère des Ressources Naturelles” mapped the area several times (Auger, 1952; Tourigny and Goutier, 1994; Koïta, 2019).
Rocks of the area are composed of Archean massive wackes and metasediments variably injected with granitoid veins when approaching the batholiths, overlaying a series of acidic to basic flows interbedded with numerous tuffaceous sedimentary beds and diorite sills. Ultramafic rocks similar to peridotite are associated with strong magnetic anomalies in the immediate vicinity of the town of Belleterre. They can be heavily altered into serpentine and talc. NW- and NE-oriented Proterozoic diabase locally cut through every Archean lithologies. Metamorphism is at the upper Amphibolite / Granulite.
Rocks of the Checkerboard property are essentially composed of ENE-oriented basalts and gabbro sills of the Belleterre Group. Minor horizons of felsic volcanics and tufs, as well as quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes (QFP) are also intercalated.
Metallogeny
The Belleterre area has been explored for gold (Au) since early 20th century. Metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary assemblages with greenschist facies contain two main types of gold mineralization typical of mesothermal environments (MB91-18) : 1) quartz and sulfide veins within ductile-brittle shear zones and 2) oxidized iron formations undergoing pyrite replacement. Most gold showings are spatially associated with zones of intense ductile-brittle deformation characterized by the presence of gold-bearing quartz veins.
The Belleterre Mine located 1 km west of the Checkerboard property produced 2.18 Mt grading 10.73 g/t Au (750,000 oz Au) and 1.37 g/t Ag (95,000 oz Ag) between 1936 and 1959 (DV85-08). The geological environment is identical to that of the property.
Several Au and Zn showings are listed in the property area, most of it being associated with shear zones developed within bands of contrasting rock types. The Lac Guillet NNE Au showing located on the Checkerboard property was discovered by diamond drilling in 1986 ; assays up to 8.1 g/t Au over 1.50 m (GM45405) and 13.13 g/t Au over 1.0 m (GM63374) were encountered in historical DDH within diorite and sheared breccia with 15% quartz-carbonate veining. Mineralization is composed of traces to 3% disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite. Strong sericitization and carbonatation are observed in the hostrock.
However, no emphasis was placed on exploring for lithium and other rare metals despite the presence of a favorable geologic context due to the presence of peraluminous intrusions and pegmatites (Réservoir Decelles Batholite) and competent hostrock represented by basalt and diorite. A field of pegmatites rich in lithium and highly anomalous in Ta, Nb, and Be is present on the north shore of Lake Simard, about 30 km north of the property.
History
The Belleterre area was essentially explored for gold (Au) and base metals. Numerous historical exploration programs led to the discovery of numerous showings and deposits and the operation of two (2) mines (the Belleterre gold Mine from 1936 to 1959, and the Lorraine copper-nickel Mine from 1964 to 1968).
Since 2020, Vior has assembled and consolidated a large area of claims in the Belleterre region and has undertaken extensive exploration of the Belleterre area (geological mapping, rock and till sampling, geophysics, rock stripping, diamond drilling…) in order to carry out a general reinterpretation of the Belleterre belt. The whole Belleterre region was covered with very-high-resolution Airborne magnetometry in 2021. New fertile regional targets were identified as areas with significant gold exploration potential.
After the observation of numerous pegmatites on the field, Vior launched the “Belleterre-Critique” Project in 2023 designed to target lithium and other rare metals mineralization. Assays up to 2.88% Li2O (grab sample) and 1.58% Li2O over 1.25 m (DDH) were obtained in 2024 east of Simard lake, about 20 km north of the Checkerboard property (GM74626).
Resources and Potential
Extensive exploration by Vior since 2021 succeeded in highlighting both new fertile regional gold targets and numerous pegmatite dykes associated with lithium anomalies on the Belleterre Project.
Regional mapping and prospecting of virgin areas is still ongoing, and Vior has commenced a 60,000-meter drilling program designed to test the extension of known mineralization within the Belleterre mine axis and regional targets.
