Lac Kachiwiss
Location, Access, Description
The Lac Kachiwiss property consists of 32 mining claims totalling 1694.66 Ha in Letellier township (NTS 22J08) and is located 17 km northeast from the town of Sept-Îles (Côte-Nord, Quebec), approximately 780 km northeast of Montreal, at the end of Provincial Highway 138E. The claims are wholly owned by Globex and are not subject to any underlying royalties or third party interests. Local physiography is that of an undulating peneplain cut by rivers which now gives steep profiles. Relief is locally quite rugged with elevations comprised between 140 and 240 meters. Most of the property is covered with Boreal vegetation. Outcropping conditions are good on the entire property. Access to the property is not possible by road. One can access to the property either by small float plane or helicopter from Sept-Iles airport. A network of old exploration trails then allows to move easily by walk or VTT within the property.
Geology and Mineralization
The property lies near the southeastern boundary of the Grenville Province of the Canadian Shield. Rocks of the Lac Kachiwiss property belong to the Allochtone unit of the Grenville Province and consist mainly of gneiss derived from Precambrian sediments and granitoids. These rocks overlapped those of the Parautochtone unit during the Grenvillian orogeny (1.09 to 0.98 Ga). Metamorphism of Low Pressure – High Temperature reached the granulite domain and generated anatectic granites.
A northeast trending zone of pink potash and smoky quartz pegmatites is observed in the area of the property. The Baldwin feeder dyke hosts the Lac Kachiwiss deposit. That structure has been first described in 1968 following aerial and ground radiometric surveys (Baldwin – GM24612) and consists of a 975 x 700 m dyke oriented N045/-30°. U-Th mineralization is found as Uranitite, Uranothorite, Monazite and Allanite. At Lac Kachiwiss-2, U-Th mineralization is located in biotite / magnetite-enriched zones within pegmatitic granite.
History
The Sept Iles area has a fairly limited history of uranium exploration. The area was previously mapped by Faessler (RG021 ; 1945) and Franconi et al. (RG162 ; 1975), recent mapping may have been completed but a search for of recent government publications has not been undertaken.
The eldest exploration work known in Letellier township was completed by Seven Islands Mining Company (Hogan, 1953 – GM02296 & GM02463). They reported the results of prospecting and trench along 510 feet of a pegmatite dike of irregular narrow width, along with the drilling of 4 shallow diamond drill holes totalling 709 feet. The reports state that the widest pegmatite intersection was 9 feet, and all assays were below 0.1% U3O8. The exact location for this work is unclear but it likely refers to the Reid prospect located 8km south of Lac Kachiwiss.
In 1968, Satellite Metal Mines staked claims as the result of an airborne radiometric survey and carried out prospecting and trenching which led to the discovery of the Lac Kachiwiss deposit (0.075% U3O8 equivalent over 30 feet). Between 1975 and 1978 Getty Minerals staked additional claims and carried out extensive work including line cutting, geologic mapping, geochemical surveys, magnetic and radiometric surveys two diamond drilling programs (GM33074 & GM34330) and metallurgical testing (GM33620). Coll (1979, GM33620) reported that using conventional leaching methods a 92.9% recovery of an ore averaging 0.4 lbs U3O8 per ton was possible. The two drilling programs included 19 holes in 1976 and 7 holes in 1978 totalling 2,173m. Coll (1979) also reported (Not 43-101 compliant) “drill indicated plus geologically inferred resources amounting to 18.3 Mtons averaging 0.31 lbs U308/ton within a pegmatitic granite-aplite body”.
In 2008, Terra Nova undertook a 4,399.86m DDH program leading to the discovery of the Lac Kachiwiss-2 showing (Metsaranta and Bambic – GM64198). Surface grades were usually quite low but higher uranium concentrations were obtained at depth, justifying that there is possibly significant potential to expand the extent of known mineralization at depth and in strike.
Geological mapping of the area was actualized in 2010 by Quebec Ministry geologists (CG SIGEOM22J).
Resources and Potential
Following the 2008 DDH campaign by Terra Ventures, a historical Resource has been estimated at 18.3 Mt grading 0.02% U3O8 on the Lac Kachiwiss deposit. Following the conclusions of Terra Nova, the potential to expand known mineralization is still open at depth as well as in strike. Both exploration and infill drilling should therefore be undertaken to better define an economic resource.