Magusi River and Fabie Bay Mines
Location, Access, Description
The Fabie Bay and Magusi River massive sulphide deposits are part of a large property comprised of 142 claims and 1 mining concession (# 872) totalling 5,376 ha in Duparquet, Duprat, Hébécourt and Montbray Townships. The property is accessible by an all-weather gravel road leading to both deposits from highway 101, north of Rouyn-Noranda.
In March 2011, Globex acquired 100% interest in the Magusi River and Fabie Bay Mines property from First Metals Inc.
In 2011, Globex entered into a Letter of Intent with Mag Copper Ltd. (“Mag”) whereby Mag could earn a 100% interest in the Magusi-Fabie mine property by issuing 13,500,000 Mag Copper shares, making cash payments totalling $1,075,000 over three years, incurring $10,250,000 in expenditures on the property over a four-year period and reserving a 3% Gross Metal Royalty on production for Globex.
In 2014 and 2015, Mag met with substantial difficulty raising funds to meet its objectives to develop Fabie Bay. At year end, outstanding option payments of $175,000 were due Globex. In February 2016, Globex notified Mag of termination of the agreement and the property was returned to the Corporation. Globex is now updating the environmental permitting at the property and working to secure a new mining partner for the project.
Geology and Mineralization
(Source: October 1989 Feasibility Study by Deak Resources Corporation) The Fabie Bay copper deposit is enclosed in a sequence of overturned, but relatively undeformed mafic pillow lavas, breccias and tuffs. The partially mined ore deposit is a conformable lens of massive sulphide with a strike length of approximately 100 m in an east-northeast direction with a down-dip (70o) extension of approximately 180 m. The ore is composed essentially of massive, fine grained pyrrhotite (30%) disseminated and finely banded chalcopyrite (5%) and pyrite (25%). Sphalerite and galena are associated with oxidized zones and make up less than 1% of the sulphides.
The massive pyrrhotite contains both finely disseminated grains and wispy, discontinuous laminations of chalcopyrite. Finely interspersed fragments of non-sulphide material are inter-laminated with the sulphides. On the stratigraphic foot wall, narrow (less than 3 cm) layers of continuous massive pyrite and chalcopyrite lie at the contact with pillow lavas. This sulphide-volcanic contact is sharp but irregular, with large chloritized pillow fragments up to 8 cm in diameter enclosed within the massive sulphides.
Approximately 30% of the massive pyrrhotite has been subsequently altered by oxidation to pyrite which is distributed throughout the orebody in a grid-like network of conformable layers and cross-cutting veinlets. The pyrite-rich zones are usually bordered by lesser amounts of fine grained iron-rich carbonates, iron oxides and trace amounts of sphalerite and galena.
A siliceous zone, rich in disseminated pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite is inter-layered and broadly conformable with the massive sulphide body along the stratigraphic hanging wall of the orebody. This zone is composed of quartz (70%); disseminated sulphide (20%) and carbonate (10%). Pyrite predominates as the most abundant sulphide (85%) in these layers, followed by chalcopyrite (10%) and lesser pyrrhotite (5%). Copper values in the sulphide enriched portion of the siliceous zone are approximately the same as in the massive sulphide zone. This zone is interpreted as a sulphide-rich chert, later recrystallized during metamorphism to granulated quartz.
A broad zone of disseminated pyrite (1-10%) envelops the ore zone and contains weakly anomalous copper and zinc. This copper and zinc geochemical halo has been traced by diamond drill holes to a vertical depth of about 400 m, at which point it appears to be cut off.
The Magusi River orebody occurs in a series of acidic to intermediate lava flows which strike about east-west and dip south at 50o. These flows are intruded by bodies of diorite which are probably sills and roughly conform with stratigraphy. A few small dikes of feldspar porphyry also occur, again approximately parallel to the flows. In the vicinity of the ore zone, the rocks are highly sheared and altered to sericite and chlorite schists with varying amounts of talc and quartz. The ore occurs in a large body of massive sulphide within this schist.
The Magusi massive sulphide lens is at least 500 m long and extends to a least 400 m below surface. The western 300 m of strike length has a maximum thickness of 35 m with an average of about 15 m and contains all of the known resources. This thick part tapers abruptly to a narrow tail to the east averaging less than 3 m in thickness which persists along strike for at least 200 m.
All of the massive sulphide contains values in copper, zinc, gold and silver. The better values are found near the west end of the deposit and along the footwall of the massive sulphide. There are some scattered disseminated sulphides in the schists adjacent to the massive sulphides but metal values in the disseminated sulphides are low.
History
Prospecting in the Lac Duparquet area has been intermittent and sporadic, beginning in 1948 and having little exploration success in the early years. From 1962-63 Mining Corp. drilled two holes, one of which intersected the footwall schists of the Magusi deposit to within 20 feet of the massive sulphide lens. The second hole was collared 1.9 km south of the property in Montbray township without intersecting any mineralization. From that date, until the release of a Quebec Government sponsored INPUT survey in 1972, no work was recorded in the property area.
In 1972 a staking rush took place, predicated on the results of the then released airborne data. At that time a prospector from Noranda, Mr. Frank P. Tagliamonte and his partners, M. Labchuk and M. Arcus, prospectors from Duparquet and Toronto respectively, staked the area south of Lac Duparquet and optioned what is now Lots 38 to 43 Range 1, Hébécourt township, to Geophysical Engineering Ltd. This ground, in which the Magusi deposit was found almost immediately, attracted the attention of the directors of New Insco Mines who tied up nearby ground from the same vendors. Shortly after acquisition, a Dighem survey was flown and follow-up ground EM and magnetic surveys located a weakly magnetic conductive zone on Lot 48, Range 1 (Fabie Bay Mine). The first drill hole collared to test this conductor (HE No.1) intersected a 61.9 ft interval which assayed 2.96% Cu. A subsequent drilling program (68 holes, 44,191 ft) outlined a mineralized massive sulphide (pyrrhotite) lens estimated at 1.0 M tons averaging 2.5% Cu and 0.25 opt Ag (Zn less than 0.07%).
The Magusi River property was later purchased by Noranda Mines Limited in 1974 while the Fabie Bay deposit was leased from the Hébécourt Syndicate that same year. Noranda Mines, developed the Fabie Bay mine to the point of production and in 1976-77 mined a total of 103,574 tons of ore grading 2.64% Cu from a small open pit and sank a production ramp almost to the bottom of the known orebody. In 1977, due to depressed copper markets, Noranda requested that the Syndicate agree to close the mine and extend the terms of the lease. This extension was granted, however the Fabie Bay Mine was never re-opened and eventually was returned to the Syndicate in 1987 who subsequently optioned it to Deak Resources Corporation.
Deak Resources Corporation performed several feasibility studies. Both properties eventually became the property of A. J. Perron Gold Corporation and then Sikaman Gold Resources and two other associated juniors. Sikaman and its partners eventually went bankrupt and the claims fell open in 2002. Globex acquired 100% interest in the claims in 2002 and subsequently optioned the property to Noranda Inc.
Noranda drilled 5 deep holes to explore for a large deep orebody. They intersected uneconomic sulphides and terminated the joint venture in late 2003.
In 2004, Globex drilled an exploration hole on the east side of the Fabie Bay deposit. The hole encountered massive sulphides grading 3.44% Cu and 8.1 gpt Ag over 3.7 m.
Exploration and Development
On March 30, 2012, Mag announced by press release the results of an updated resource estimate for the Magusi River Copper-Zinc-Silver and Gold deposit prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (“RPA”) and reported in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) requirements. The press release summarizes the resources identified as indicated resources of 1,309,000 t grading 4.12% Zn, 1.99% Cu, 42.8 gpt Ag and 1.27 gpt Au and an inferred resource of 355,000 grading 0.39% Zn, 3.41% Cu, 24.2 gpt Ag and 0.26 gpt Au). RPA carried out the mineral resource estimation for the Magusi River Deposit using 3D block modelling. Although the resource estimate was prepared using the requirements of NI-43-101, a qualified person has not reviewed it for Globex and as such Globex recommends the reader to review the technical report filed by Mag on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The following table summarizes the RPA mineral resource estimate at an NSR cut-off value of $110/t:
|
Area |
Tonnes |
Cu% |
Zn% |
Ag (g/t) |
Au (g/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Grade Copper |
729,000 |
3.26 |
0.58 |
43.4 |
0.41 |
| High Grade Zinc |
580,000 |
0.39 |
8.57 |
42.1 |
2.34 |
| Total Indicated |
1,309,000 |
1.99 |
4.12 |
42.8 |
1.27 |
| Inferred |
355,000 |
3.41 |
0.39 |
24.2 |
0.26 |
Notes:
- CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of $110 NSR/tonne. - Mineral Resources are estimated using an average long-term copper price of US$3.50 per pound, a zinc price of US$0.95 per pound, a gold price of US$1,300 per ounce, a silver price of US$21.00 per ounce, and a US$/C$ exchange rate of 1.00 to 1.00.
- Grade interpolation was carried out with inverse distance squared (ID2) method.
- Mag provided RPA with NSR multipliers per metal unit. The NSR multipliers, which vary with head grades and metal recoveries, are based on SGS Lakefield metallurgical tests. The NSR values were calculated for each assay as well as each block in the model.
- Minimum underground mining width of two metres was used.