Lac De Maurès Est
Location, Access, Description
The Lac de Maurès Est property is located about 85 km north of the town of Chibougamau, in the Nord-du-Quebec administrative region. The property is composed of 4 mining claims totalling 218.34 Ha in NTS 32J09, Eeyou-Istchee James Bay Territory. These titles are presently held by a compagnie registered under the number 9474-9454 Québec inc. and Globex retains a 2% GMR. The property is set on Category III lands where exploration is allowed under authorization of Native Communities.
The property is accessible by road from Chibougamau, driving about 20 km on Road 167 north then turn left on Route du Nord for about 80 km. Then a network of gravel roads leads to the property about 20 km further to the north. Access to the property is also possible by helicopter or seaplane.
Topography is characterized by ENE-oriented gently rolling hills separated by large valleys. Elevations are comprised between 410 m and 450 m above sea level. A large part of this area has been cleared by forest fires in the last decades. Most of the property is covered with mosses and scarce black spruce plantation. The central part of the property is swampy due to the path of the De Maurès River which crosses the property in a ENE direction.
Many commodities can be found in Chibougamau regarding contractors, equipment rental, as well as sleep and food accommodation of remote workers. A hydro power line strikes approximately N-S toward Chibougamau, about 2.5 km SW of the property.
Geology and Mineralization
Regional Settings
The Lac de Maurès Est property is located in the Opatica Sub-province of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield (Card and Ciesielski, 1986). Rocks of the Opatica deposited between 2.82 and 2.68 Ga (Davis et al., 1995) and consist of both volcano-sedimentary rocks and gneissic domains (Hocq, 1994). Metamorphism gradually increases from south to north from the greenschists grade to the granulites grade, with evidences of partial melting (Sawyer and Benn, 1992). New geological and geochronological data indicate that the Abitibi and Opatica sub-provinces form a single lithotectonic block where Opatica represents the basal part of the Abitibi crust (MB2014-04, MB2016-01).
Rocks of the area of the Lac de Maurès Est property belong to the Archean Frotet-Evans Volcanic Belt (FEVB), a 250 km long structure which represents the second most important belt in Quebec and hosts the former Au-Cu Troilus Mine located about 35 km north of the property (Production 1997 – 2009 : 67.95 Kt @ 0.1% Cu and 1.07 g/t Au ; DV2010-01). The FEVB is a E-W to ENE-oriented Archean volcano-sedimentary band steeply dipping toward north, hosted in gneiss-plutonic terranes.
The FEVB is generally divided in four (4) different segments : Evans-Ouagama; Storm-Evans; Assinica et Frotet-Troilus (Boily and Dion, 2002) ; the Lac de Maurès Est property is located within the Frotet-Troilus one. Rocks of the Frotet Formation mainly consist in calco-alkaline pyroclastic deposits with intercalated gabbro and UM sills deposited between 2,793 and 2,755 Ma (Pilote et al., 1997, MB2000-12).
Numerous Gabbro sills are intercalated within the volcanic rocks of the FEVB and seem comagmatic with the volcanics. Historical geophysical surveys highlighted strong magnetic axis corresponding to peridotite and pyroxenite sills, as well as EM conductors (Figure 3). Granophyre sills are frequently observed in intercalation within the volcanics and are interpreted as the end product of fractional crystallization of the parent mafic magma.
Polyphase deformation of the area occurred between 2.7 and 2.65 Ga and varies from weak in the central part of the FEVB to intense on the south and north edges. The major structural features of the area are the Nottaway River and the Lucky Strike Stream shear zones and the Frotet anticline.
Granitoids intruded the area after major deformation phases (ET84-08). Metamorphism of the FEVB is at the upper greenschists grade to lower amphibolitic grade (RG96-11).
Property Geology
The property is located in the south structural domain of Gosselin (ET96-02), in the east part of a tectonic block delimited by E-W to NW-SE faults. Regional foliation at this place is ESE-oriented. Several E-W to SE folds are observed in the property area and are concordant to the regional foliation ; the property covers part of the fold hinge of the ESE-oriented De Maurès syncline.
On the Lac de Maurès Est property, the Frotet-Troilus segment is mostly represented by a large gabbroic unit intercalated with granophyre sills and intermediate volcaniclastics of the Frotet Formation. A large peridotite sill associated with numerous Input anomalies crosses the south part of the property and extends on both sides for almost 15 km.
Historical drilling and trenching on the Lac Odon deposit located immediately north of the Lac de Maurès Est property in the same geological environment, intersected some gabbro as well as massive locally sheared granophyre sills with epidote-silice-hematite alteration and weak Cpy-Py mineralization (GM55787).
Metallogeny
Since the 1950s, numerous mineralized showings have been discovered in the Frotet-Troilus region. These are grouped into three main categories: 1) Au-Cu, Cu-Au-Ag vein-type mineralization ; 2) Sulphide associated gold mineralization (Py-Po-Cp) and 3) Zn-Cu-Ag-Au volcanogenic mineralization.
The Lac de Maurès-Est Cu (±Ag ±Au) showing is located within the Lac de Maurès Est property. It consists in chalcopyrite-pyrite-pyrrhotite mineralization hosted in a quartz-carbonate stockwerk inside a carbonate-chlorite-silica altered pyroxenite. Historical work returned up to 11% Cu and 50 g/t Ag on grab samples (GM52492).
The Lac Odon Cu-Mo deposit is located within the De Maurès syncline hinge, about 1.8 km north of the Lac de Maurès property. Mineralization is both massive and within quartz veins ; it is hosted in a N220°/-25° shear zone injected with felsic material, inside a sericite-altered gabbro. Historical Resource (non NI 43-101 conformable) is estimated to 8,000t @ 3.01% Cu and 0.10% Mo (GM28490, ET96-02).
Platinum Group Element mineralization (PGE) is also present in the area of the Lac de Maurès Est property. Trenching by Virginia Mines west of the property in 2001 exposed a massive and homogeneous gabbro containing up to 1% finely disseminated pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite (GM59830). Historical work highlighted the Pyrox II East (0.15 ppm Pt, 0.73 ppm Pd, 0.14 g/t Au, 0.28 % Cu and 0.07% Ni), Pyrox II West (0.3 g/t Au, 0.57 g/t Pt and 0.81 g/t Pd over 0.55 m) (GM58478) and Rose (0.97 g/t Pt, 1.1 g/t Pd and 0.53 g/t Au) showings, located about 12 km NW of the property (GM59830).
The former Troïlus mine, located about 35 km north of the property, produced 2 million ounces of gold and nearly 70,000 tonnes of copper between 1997 and 2010.
Spodumene pegmatites are also listed at Moblan, about 35 km west of the Lac de Maurès Est property, within the Frotet-Evans volcanics. Mineralized dykes are grouped in the hinge of the Frotet anticline (Pearse, 2008). In date of January, 2024, Probable Reserve at Moblan are estimated to 34.54Mt @ 0.63% Li (NI 43-101 Feasibility Study Report for the Moblan Lithium Project, Eeyou Istchee James Bay Territory, Quebec, Canada).
History
Exploration in the property area began in the late 1950s and mainly consisted in geophysical and prospecting work, but the majority of the work was concentrated on the Lac Odon showing east of the property.
Trenching and diamond drilling by Tache Lake Mines in 1963 (GM13723) led to the discovery of the Lac De Maurès-Est showing (1.60% Cu over 2.8 ft – DDH B2). The company drilled 5 holes (1,521 ft) in 1963, then executed 6 more DDH (1,150 ft) in 1966 (GM18180). No economic mineralization has been encountered and the company dropped the claims (GM18254).
Prospection and trenching carried-out by Cerro Mining in 1971 in the Lac Odon area led to the discovery of disseminated to massive Cu-Mo mineralization in an altered gabbro (GM27663). Subsequent DDH intersected up to 5.61% Cu and 0.13% Mo over 4.8 ft (1.46 m) in sheared and silicified gabbro (GM27666), which defines the Lac Odon showing.
Numerous exploration work have then been carried-out by successive companies in the surroundings of the Lac Odon showing, including on the Lac de Maurès Est property. Works included geophysics Mag, EM and IP surveys (GM31741, GM44954, GM46960, GM53518), lake sediments geochemistry (GM34169, GM34187), trenching (GM54407) and diamond drilling (GM28490, GM55787, GM62463). Historical exploration succeeded in defining a ENE to NE-oriented mineralized structure over more than 400 meters within sheared gabbro and peridotite. Historical resource of 8,000t @ 3.01% Cu and 0.10% Mo have been estimated (ET96-02).
From the second half of the 1980s, both geophysical and geological surveys as well as diamond drilling (DDH) were carried out west of the Lac de Maurès Est property and led to the discoveries of the Pyrox East and Pyrox West showings (GM58478). These values are from small, 1-5 m podiform areas containing a strong disseminations of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite in a pyroxenite near the gabbro contact.
In 2000-2001, Mines Virginia undertook rock stripping and channel-sampling on the mafic / UM sill (GM59830). The Rose showing was discovered about 10 km west of the Lac Odon property, with assays up to 0.3 g/t Au, 0.57 g/t Pt and 0.81 g/t Pd over 0.55 m in channel-sampling.
In 2002, SOQUEM and Norbamec carried out geological mapping, rock stripping and sampling in search for PGE mineralization (GM59756). This work highlighted a 1,6 km long Au-Pt-Pd anomalous zone immediately west of the Lac de Maurès Est property.
In February 2017, G.L Geoservices conducted both magnetic and MaxMin surveys for Globex in the Pyrox East showing area. This survey revealed a conductive zone oriented N110° with a 45° dip to the north. A 129 m south-facing DDH was drilled by Globex in April 2017 to test this conductor (GM70295). A peridotite altered in talc and serpentine containing disseminated magnetite and stringers was intersected. No significant gold, platinum and palladium anomalies were obtained.
In 2018, Troilus Gold Corp. conducted an extensive exploration program within the Frotet-Evans segment of the FEVB (GM73251). Several grab samples and channel samples were taken in the Lac De Maurès-Est showing area and returned up to 2.12% Cu, 5.4 ppm Ag and 0.85 ppm Au (sample G721547). The best gold and copper values obtained were hosted by quartz veins and were obtained in three separate outcrops where the same two vein attitudes are repeated (N350° and N330°), with an EW foliation.
Resources and Potential
The property benefits of a favorable geologic context which is attested by the presence of a regional fold hinge and several showings and deposits of variable commodities in the surroundings. Historical DDH intersected limited mineralization and economic potential has never been reevaluated since the end of the 90s. It is thus recommended to plot and interpret historical DDH data in cross-sections, and to carry-out new ground geophysical surveys (Mag & IP).
Historical work also succeeded in highlighting Pt-Pd (±Au) mineralization west of the Lac Odon property. Mineralization presents a close association with mafic / UM sills of the Frotet Formation and is typically associated with sulphide (Po-Cp ±Py) disseminations making it easily identifiable in geophysics. A peridotite sill associated with numerous Input anomalies extend in the south part of the Lac de Maurès Est property and should be further investigated by ground geophysics (EM/IP) and stripping or DDH since no DDH has ever tested this area of the property.
It is also recommended to pay attention to pegmatites which could be encountered on the property since the Moblan Li deposit is located only 35 km west of the Lac de Maurès Est property in a very similar geological context. The property is indeed surrounded by several differentiated intrusions as potential sources of rare metals-enriched fluids for which competent rocks of the Frotet Formation would represent privileged hostrocks.
Globex also holds numerous strategic claims and royalties in the vicinity of the Lac de Maurès Est property.
