Dalhousie North
Location, Access, Description
The Dalhousie-North property is located in northeastern Abitibi Region of Quebec Province, about 50 km east-southeast from Matagami and 180 km west-southwest from Chibougamau. It consists of 50 contiguous mining claims totaling 2,786.7 Ha in Bourbaux township (NTS 32F10). The claims are wholly owned by Globex and are not subject to any underlying royalties or third party interests.
Topography is quite undulated on the property with elevations comprised between 270 m and 320 m above sea level. The ¼ south-east of the property is wet due to the presence of the Lac au Goeland. Several streams connecting to the Lac au Goeland run through the property in a general ENE direction.
The property is accessible by car thanks to a network of gravel roads connecting to Matagami. A network of trails then allows to move easily by walk or VTT within the property.
Geology and Mineralization
Regional Geology
Rocks of the Bourbaux and Berthiaume townships are part of the NE extension of the Vezza-Bruneau volcano-sedimentary band (MB90-43; DP91-05). This sequence is located in the north-centre of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, more specifically at the SE end of the volcano-sedimentary and plutonic Harricana-Turgeon furrow (MB90-28). It is composed of Archean volcanic and sedimentary units of E-W direction with sub-vertical dips which form a homoclinal sequence with polarity pointing to the north. Several late and little deformed plutons intersect the volcano-sedimentary sequences and make foliation mold their perimeter. Base of the sequence is composed of massive and pillowed lava flows (so called the “South Volcanics”) surmounted by a large thickness of clastic sediments and iron formations belonging to the Taïbi Group. To the north we find the “North Volcanics” composed of felsic and mafic lava showing pillowed, porphyritic and vesicular textures. The band is bordered by felsic and mafic to ultramafic intrusions.
In the area of Dalhousie-North Property, this band is thinner and presents a homoclinal sequence composed of sedimentary rocks of the Taïbi Group at the base, followed by felsic to mafic volcanic rocks. This band is stuck to the north by the plutons of Lake Olga and Waswanipi-North and by the Anorthositic Complex of the Bell River, and to the south by the pluton of Waswanipi-South.
The main structure of the region is a large antiform formed by the double-dipped anticlines of Galinée and Pouchot whose heart is composed of the Bell River Complex. It is bordered by E-W folded sequences and large shear zones, some of which are folded by this antiform. The structural arrangement is the result of two phases of deformation and metamorphism: one before 2694 Ma and the other after 2685 Ma. A first E-W stage resulted in folding the Bell River complex, volcanics and sediments. Both Galinée anticline and Matagami syncline were formed by this deformation. The second phase, less important, is observed locally by small folds.
The shear zones of the region are characterized by strongly sheared or mylonitic structures of several metres thickness. The Ramsay Bay shear zone would represent a large overlap of the Bell River, Dussieux and Imbault volcanics on the Watson Lake volcanics, the Bell River Complex and the Opaoca Tonalite (RG2005-01). Rocks of the Bell River Complex are much less deformed in appearance than volcanics. Metamorphism of the Archean rocks of the region varies gradually from the greenschists to amphibolites grades, roughly from WNW to ESE.
Property Geology
The Dalhousie-North Property is set on rocks of the Anorthositic Complex of Bell River to the south, and on the Opaoca Tonalite to the north. The Bell River Complex is a large mafic bedded intrusion about 20 km by 65 km. The Bell River Complex is composed, in descending order, of gabbro (gabbronorite +/-olivine +/-magnetite), anorthosite, pyroxenite, magnetitite and peridotite. It is metamorphosed to the greenschists grade in the west and to the amphibolitic grade in the east. The Bell River Complex is divided on 3 parts that would represent different stages in the evolution of the Bell River Complex (RG2005-01) : the central part would correspond to the early and deep stage ; the eastern part would be median and intermediate in depth, while the western part would be the late stage and closest to the surface hence its association with the Matagami sulphide deposits. The Dalhousie-North Property is in the eastern part of the Complex. This complex is economically important since it is considered to be synvolcanic with the rocks of the Lake Watson and Wabassee groups and generator of Zn-Cu-Ag mineralizations of the Matagami Camp (RG137; MacGeehan 1979; MacGeehan and MacLean 1980a and 1980b; MacLean 1984; Piché et al. 1993).
The Opaoca Tonalite is a large intrusion previously included in the Olga Pluton (RG016; RG051), but the lithological and structural differences are too great to be the same intrusion. Opaoca Tonalite is fine to medium grained, with a light grey or pink color when freshly broken. It is homogeneous and generally foliated and characterized by the absence of coarse quartz. Biotite is the main mafic mineral (10 to 25%), while hornblende and chlorite are not present systemically in the rock. Hematite, magnetite, and epidote are observed quite frequently. The grains are granoblastic. The Opaoca Tonalite is gradually transformed into mylonite from west to east (RG2005-01). In several places, the Olga Pluton is injected into the Opaoca Tonalite. It is younger than the Bell River Complex as gabbro enclaves are observed inside.
Several pyroxenite dykes of NNE orientation appear in the Bell Centre Complex south of the property. Pyroxenite is variable in grain size depending on the width of the dyke (10 cm to several meters), often massive and may contain magnetite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pyrite in variable quantities.
Mineralization
Sulphides content in the area is much abundant and is responsible of numerous Input EM anomalies essentially concentrated near the lithological and structural contacts. Minor mineralizations in the area include lead, zinc, silver and gold showings.
The main mineralization types of the area are associated with the Bell River Complex. They consist of disseminated or massive Cu/Ni-bearing sulphides in a pyroxenite, levels of vanadium magnetite and ilmenite in a gabbro, and three types of mineralization of platinum group elements (PGE). The first type is associated with a stratiform melanocrate pyroxenite/gabbro level of metric thickness, the second is composed of disseminated sulphides in a sheared gabbro and the third is associated with an intrusive breccia with pyroxenite matrix.
History
Very limited exploration was done historically on the Dalhousie-North Property. A brief summary of public data of the Quebec Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF) is presented below:
Geological mapping of the area have been carried out and updated several times since Freeman & Black, 1944 (RG016). The most recent works are those of Goutier et al., 2005 (RG2005-01). A detailed overview of research publications available in this sector is presented in the bibliography section of this document.
In 1957, Kennco Explorations executed some Airborne Magnetic and Electromagnetic Surveys over a large property west of Lac au Goeland (GM05441), including the Dalhousie-North Property.
In 1981, the MERN undertook Airborne INPUT MK-V electromagnetic Survey in the Lac au Goeland area (DP84-25).
In 1991-92, the MERN carried out a prospection and grab sampling program in the area of the property which didn’t return any significative metallic anomaly (GM51857). Weak PGE anomalies up to 250 ppb Pt-Pd were observed within limited shear zones.
Between 2015 and 2018, Globex Mining Enterprises carried out geophysical surveying (GM72808), geological mapping, as well as stripping over some historical conductors on the Dalhousie Property (GM70957), located immediately south of the Dalhousie-North one. Assays up to 2.14% Cu, 1.11% Ni and 1 420 ppm V returned on samples taken from these strippings. Geophysical data highlighted the fact that every showings known on the Dalhousie property were associated with N-S discrete strong magnetic features that seem to extend to the north on the Dalhousie-North Property.
Resources and Potential
Magnetic surveys carried out in 2015 by Globex on the Dalhousie Property, located immediately south of the Dalhousie-North Property, showed that most of metallic occurrences in the area are associated with both Input anomalies and NNE-oriented highly magnetic structures corresponding to pyroxenite horizons within the Bell River Complex. As the ½ south of Dalhousie-North Property is set too on rocks of the Bell River Complex, the metallogenic context is expected to be quite the same.
Numerous Input anomalies are also listed within rocks of the Bell River Complex on the Dalhousie-North Property. The SE corner of the property particularly hosts strong input anomalies that could definitely be explained by sulphides (semi-massive, stringers, strong disseminations). Further EM / IP surveys over these Input anomalies would then help to identify massive / disseminated sulphides in order to guide future exploration works.
Finally, we can see on the geology maps too, that two Vanadium showings are located within a NNE gabbroic horizon that seem to extend to the north on the Dalhousie-North Property.
As a conclusion, and considering both the presence of numerous Input anomalies suggesting interesting sulphide content within the fertile rocks of the Bell River Complex, the existence of several Base Metals showings immediately south of the property that seem to extend to the NNE, and the very few historical works carried out on the property, we can considerate that the economic potential of the Dalhousie-North Property is presently strongly underexplored. Further geophysical surveys including Mag, Max-Min and IP should therefore be carried out on the Dalhousie-North Property, which would eventually highlight new potential for exploration and justify stripping or DDH works.