Lac Elaine
Location, Access, Description
The Lac Elaine property is located in Eeyou-Istchee James Bay Government, Northern Québec, Canada (NTS 32G15&16), approximately 4.5 km northwest of Chibougamau. It consists of 25 contiguous claims covering a total area of 1,195.75 hectares in McKenzie and Barlow townships. The Project is easily accessible in vehicle by all- weather gravel roads connecting to regional highway #167.
The claims have been stacked by Globex in 2010 and then transferred in 2012 to Chibougamau Independent Mines (CIM), a subsidiary of Globex ; TomaGold optioned the property from CIM in 2023 (as well as several other properties of CIM ; see the General Map of Globex’s assets in the Chibougamau area), and both CIM and Globex will retain a 2% Gross Metal Royalty (GMR) on it.
Historical Resource of 1,388,915t @ 3.17% Zn and 1.77 g/t Au have been estimated by Chouinard et al. (2001) on the Berrigan Main Zone, located about 3 km east in strike of the Lac Elaine property (GM61359).
Geology and Mineralization
The Lac Elaine property is located in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The Abitibi Sub-province is known for its prolific and diverse rich mineral deposits; total gold production of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt (AGB) since the beginning of the 20th century is estimated at over 210 million ounces (Moz) Au (Dumas, 2024).
The Chibougamau region hosts some of the eldest rocks of the AGB; the area is dominated by a stacking of Archean mafic volcanic rocks intercalated with a few felsic units and some sedimentary units, intruded by two large batholiths : the anorthosite Doré Lake Complex, and the Chibougamau Pluto composed of tonalite and granodiorite. These two intrusions played a major role as regional mineralized features, and the vast majority of mines in the Lake Chibougamau area are located within or near these two intrusions. Regional metamorphism is at the greenschists grade.
The Chibougamau Mining District is located in the northeastern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and hosts a variety of deposits styles; Leclerc et al. (2012) documented volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) deposits, magmatic Fe-Ti-V and Ni-Cu ± PGE mineralization, early polymetallic (Au-Ag-Cu-Zn-Pb) vein deposits (to which the Property mineralization might belong), Chibougamau-type Cu-Au-veins, shear zone-hosted Au deposits, and Opemiska-type Cu-Au veins. Total production of the Chibougamau mining camp since the beginning of the 20th century is estimated at 1,624.9 Mlbs Cu and 3.22 Moz Au (Houle, 2019).
The Lac Elaine property is mostly underlain by ENE-trending mafic to ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Cummings Intrusive Suite, and also by mafic and minor felsic volcanic rocks of the Roy Group. The Cummings Suite is composed of three distinct ultramafic to mafic sills named, from bottom to top, the Roberge, Ventures, and Bourbeau sills. On a regional scale, these sills contain significant hydrothermal mineralization, such as that found at the Berrigan Mine (Larouche, 2012).
The Lac Elaine property is located in strike to the west of the Berrigan Main zone. Mineralization in this area consists of polymetallic sulphide disseminations, stringers and breccia. De Chavigny (2001) stated that at Berrigan “the sulphide content of the mineralized zone varies from 10% to 75%. Pyrrhotite is the most common sulphide, followed by sphalerite and pyrite. Minor galena and arsenopyrite have been described along with traces of chalcopyrite and rarely visible gold.”
The area also hosts significative potential for VMS mineralization (Lemoine and Lac Scott mines) and Ni-Cu-Co-Cr mineralization associated with ultramafic rocks of the Lac Doré Complex and Cumming sills.
History
Discovery of metallic mineralization in this area dates back to 1929 with the discovery of the “Lac Berrigan South Zone” in surface prospection. Numerous exploration programs (mapping, sampling, geophysics, diamond drilling…) have been undertaken by successive owners ; detailed history of exploration in the area of the property is presented in the NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Berrigan Mine property prepared by InnovExplo (Carrier, 2022).
Limited diamond drilling have been done on the Lac Elaine property prior to its acquisition by Globex in 2010. A total of 251 linear metres in 8 shallow DDH have been documented in Quebec public data (Sigéom); most of the drilling dates back to 1982 and earlier.
Recent developments :
In 2013, CIM carried-out Induced Polarization (IP) surveying which highlighted several positive chargeability axes concordant with Input-EM anomalies and low resistivity on the Lac Elaine property (GM68062 and GM68618). Such combined anomalies may be caused by sulfide concentrations in altered rocks or fractured zones. No follow-up in DDH has been undertaken to date on these targets.
In 2021, CIM requested the services of NOVATEM to fly a very-high resolution airborne magnetic survey over several of its properties in the Chibougamau area (GM72456), including the Berrigan claims. The IP anomalies of 2013 appear to be concordant with magnetic highs.
In 2022, CIM mandated InnovExplo to prepare a NI43-101 Technical Report on the Berrigan Mine property located immediately east of the Lac Elaine claims (Carrier, GM73728). Review of the Property’s history, geological setting, exploration status and potential confirmed the exploration merit of the area.
TomaGold optioned two (2) blocks of properties from CIM in 2023, including the Lac Elaine claims (CIM Press Release dated August 14, 2023). No work appears to have been carried out by TomaGold on the Lac Elaine property at this time.
In late 2025, the company conducted a 15-holes DDH program on the Berrigan Mine property which intersected significant zinc, silver and gold mineralization (TomaGold press release dated January 29, 2026). In particular, drill hole TOM-25-015 intersected a new deep massive sulfides zone grading 5.75% ZnEq (1.34 g/t AuEq) over 98.5 m under the known zones. The Lac Elaine property is in strike with the mineralized zones at Berrigan.
Resources and Potential
Historical work in the area identified a regional favorable context for several commodities including gold, zinc and silver. The property potential is supported by favourable geological and structural setting and the presence of well-documented metallogenic and litho-tectonic elements such as the layered mafic-ultramafic sills of the Cummings Complex, felsic volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks of the Blondeau Formation, and other structures and alteration (Carrier, 2022).
In a press release dated January 29, 2026, TomaGold stated that “Drill hole TOM-25-015, grading 5.75% ZnEq (1.34 g/t AuEq) over 98.5 m, is truly transforming the Berrigan Mine project and highlights a new semi-massive sulfide zone that extends at depth beneath the known zones. This very encouraging result suggests the presence of a large mineralized system that remains open at depth.”
This discovery is all the more interesting given that the Lac Elaine property is in strike with the mineralized zones at Berrigan, with a very similar geological context. Several IP axes concordant with magnetic highs and strong Input-EM anomalies that could indicate significant concentrations of sulfides have been highlighted on the property during past work and have not been tested in DDH to date.