Massicotte
Location, Access, Description
The Massicotte property is located in Eeyou-Istchee James-Bay Territory, northwestern Quebec, about 130 km west of the village of Matagami and 180 km north of Rouyn-Noranda. The property consists of 45 mining claims totaling 1,863.4 Ha in NTS 32E13 & 32E14. The claims belong Probe Gold and Globex retains a 2.5% Gross Metal Royalty (GMR).
The property is located in a World-class mining infrastructure, easily reached by the roads that are well maintained in all seasons. Several mining operations and gold mills are currently active in the area. Sleep and food accommodation of remote workers is possible in Matagami.
Geology and Mineralization
The Massicotte property is located in the northern part of the Abitibi Subprovince which is an Archean greenstone belt which hosts some of the richest mineral deposits of the Superior Province; total endowment, including production, reserves and resources is estimated to be >9,375 t gold (Dubé and Mercier-Langevin, 2020). The Abitibi-Opatica contact is located 15 km north of the Massicotte property. The Opatica Subprovince is composed of high grade metamorphic rocks interpreted as the basal part of the Abitibi crust (Benn, 2006; Benn and Moyen, 2008; Daoudene et al., 2014; 2016).
The Massicotte property lies within the Harricana-Turgeon sequence essentially composed of E-W-oriented basalts intercalated with gabbro sills, and metasediments. Most of the property surface geology consists in sandstones, mudrocks and lesser banded iron formations (BIF) of the Turgeon Formation. Intermediate to mafic volcanic rocks of the Brouillan-Fénélon Formation are observed in the southern part of the property.
All Archean rocks of the area were verticalized during the Kenorean orogeny between 2.7 Ga and 2.68 Ga (Quebec Government’s report MB2016-01). The Lower-Detour (Grasset) regional fault crosses through the entire property in E-W orientation. The property is located on the north flank of the Brouillan-Ouest anticline whose hinge closes toward the west. Metamorphism is generally at the greenschists facies, except near syn- to post-tectonic intrusions where amphibolite facies is frequently observed. Proterozoic diabase dykes run through the area in N-S to NNW-orientation (Matachewan dykes).
The Massicotte property is hosted in the Sunday Lake – Lower Detour mineralized corridor which hosts both the Detour Lake gold mine (Production > 2,800 Moz Au ; Proven & Probable Reserves of 816 Mt @ 0.75 g/t Au (19.67 Moz Au) – 2024 NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Detour Lake Operations) located 20 km west of the property, and the Fénélon gold project (Measures & Indicated Resource of 21.66 Mt @ 3.40 g/t Au – 2023 NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment by InnovExplo for Wallbridge) located 60 km to the east.
The property is also located approximately 35 km northwest of the former Selbaie mine (53 Mt @ 1% Cu, 2% Zn, and 0.6 g/t Au – taken from http://www.balmoralresources.com/s/Projects.asp Accessed August 2015).
The Massicotte property is located in the eastern extension of the Lower Detour Lake Mine trend. Gold mineralization is spatially associated with steeply-dipping regional deformation zones including the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone (SLDZ), which hosts the Detour Lake Mine proper, the Lower Detour Deformation Zone (LDDZ), the Massicotte Deformation Zone (MDZ) and the Grasset Deformation Zone (GDZ). More specifically, gold mineralization is associated with quartz-carbonate-pyrite-pyrrhotite +/-tourmaline veins or disseminated or semi-massive sulphides (Castonguay et al., 2020).
History
In February 2012, Globex sold the 45 claims Massicotte property to Adventure Gold Inc. (“Adventure”), an active explorer in the area. Subsequently, Adventure Gold was acquired by Probe and Probe joint-ventured the property as part of a larger land package with Soquem on a 75% Probe, 25% Soquem bases. Probe is now the single holder.
Between 2012 and 2015, Adventure and Soquem carried out several geophysical surveys including Induced polarization (IP) (GM67199) and Airborne magnetic survey (GM69147) which highlighted several interesting targets for DDH.
Since Since 2018, Probe Gold carried out extensive exploration programs including new ground Mag and IP surveys (GM70797), prospection, Airborne magnetometry and DDH on the Detour property which englobes the Massicotte property (GM71718, GM71843). A 10,170 m (28 holes) DDH program was undertaken by Probe in 2022-2023 to test the best exploration targets that were generated by the 2020 and 2021 field programs (GM73757).
Resources and Potential
The Massicotte Property benefits of a privileged location within the prolific Sunday Lake – Lower Detour mineralized corridor which hosts both the Detour Lake gold mine of Agnico-Eagle and the Fénélon gold deposit of Wallbridge.
No resource has been estimated yet on the Detour property which hosts the Massicotte claims. The Detour property is presently intensively explored by Probe Gold for its economic potential for orogenic gold, VMS and intrusion-related mineralizations.