Meliyan West
Location, Access, Description
The Meliyan West property is composed of 13 contiguous mining claims covering an area of 678.65 hectares within the Eeyou-Istchee James Bay territory, in the Nord-du-Québec Administrative Region of Quebec (NTS: 33B12). The property is located about 20 kilometres east of the Opinaca Reservoir and 110 kilometres south of Sakami (Qc). The claims are wholly owned by Globex and are not subject to any underlying royalties or third party interests.
The property is located on the northern shore of Gladman lake. The physiography of the property is typical for the James Bay area, being characterized by gentle relief with rolling hills, abundant lakes, rivers and streams and sparse to medium density conifer forests and brushlands. All trees have small trunks and the vegetation is mostly dense in low and medium elevation areas, and sparser when rising along the hills. Elevations are comprised between 270 m and 355 m above sea level. The property is centered on a 2 km long outcropping area ENE-oriented that rise at 355 metres above sea level.
There is no access by road to the property so access is by float plane or helicopter. The KM 381 truck stop is located about 100 km southwest and has a helipad. It is also possible to access by road to the Eleonore Mine located 17 km west of the property and that hosts a regional airport. A power line running south from the Eleonore Mine passes about 14 kilometres west of the property. Much of the overburden is moraine and glacial fluviatile deposits which will assist in any road construction.
Geology and Mineralization
Regional settings
The Meliyan property is located in the Opinaca Sub-province, within the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Archean rocks of the Opinaca have been metamorphosed to granulite facies and partially melted. The property is composed of ENE-trending paragneiss and diatexites of the Laguiche Complex and intrusive rocks of both the Janin and Gladman intrusive suites. Apart from Proterozoic diabase dykes, rocks in the region are Archean in age. Rocks of the area were affected by a main deformation phase D2 responsible for the development of a penetrative fabric that gives the regional structural grain. The volcano-sedimentary rocks of these two sub-provinces recorded the effects of two other deformation phases, one anterior (D1) and the other posterior (D3) to the main phase D2. The SE-trending Prosper shear zone marks the Opinaca – La Grande contact 10 km south of the property, with an abrupt change in metamorphic gradient from upper greenschist/lower amphibolite in the La Grande Subprovince to upper amphibolite/granulite in the Opinaca Subprovince. The area of lake Gladman was mapped between 2007 and 2010 by Bandyayera and Fliszár (RP 2007-05) and Bandyayera et al. (RG 2010-02) from Quebec Ministère de l’Energie et des Ressources Naturelles. Historical works by MRNF and mining companies made it possible to recognize different metallogenic contexts in the Meliyan West property area, including gold (Eleonore Mine : 2023 Probable & Proven Resource of 9.4Mt @ 5.22 g/t Au), Cu-Ni-PGE (Giard Ultramafic intrusion), polymetallic Mo-W (±Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag) mineralization associated with the Janin Intrusive Suite (Jojopam, Lac Gladman), U-Th-ETR mineralization within the Janin NYF pegmatites (Ech 5519720) and rare metal (LCT) mineralization associated with S-type pegmatites (Fliszar, Rose deposit : 2023 Probable Reserves of 26.3 Mt @ 0.87% Li2O and 138g/t Ta2O5). The Prosper shear zone is the main gold metallotect of this area and hosts several worked deposits, including the Roberto deposit (Eleonore Mine). Several gold (Au) showings were also recognized south and west of the property (Marchand, Inex, Dominique). Recent lithogeochemistry interpretation by the MRNF also indicates a good potential for Rare Metals LCT type mineralization (Li, Cs, Ta) within the peraluminous pegmatites of the Gladman Suite (RG 2010-02). Bandyayera and Fliszár (RP 2007-05) demonstrated two contexts of mineralization associated with pegmatites: 1) lithium and rare metal mineralization in white tourmaliniferous pegmatites of Pikutamaw and Asimwakw (Fliszár showing: 1.83% LiO2 and 1.1% Rb on selected samples; 2) the presence of beryl crystals in the pegmatites of the Opinaca Reservoir sector which indicates a real potential for the discovery of emeralds in the white pegmatites of the Opinaca Reservoir area.
Property Geology & Mineralization
Rocks of the property are made of paragneiss and diatexites of the Laguiche Complex, intruded by pink granites and granodiorites of the Janin Intrusive Suite and garnet-muscovite-tourmaline pegmatites of the Gladman Suite. A Qz-diorite / tonalite intrusion from the Féron Suite is also reported in the center part of the property. NW-SE diabase dikes are reported in public data around the property. The most interesting rocks of this area for lithium and rare metal mineralization are those of the Gladman Suite which reassembles the S-type pegmatite unit resulting from the partial melting of sedimentary rocks and therefore favourable to rare metal mineralization, in order to separate it from the other units of the Janin Intrusive Suite, which have an igneous origin (I-type). The Gladman Intrusive Suite consists mainly of massive, locally foliated, heterogeneous granitic pegmatite. It is typically white although a strong hematite locally gives it a well pink hue. The rock commonly contains 1 to 2% biotite, up to 5% red garnet, more rarely black, < 1% muscovite and locally up to 10% tourmaline. Graphic or myrmekitic textures are locally noted on white K-feldspar megacrystals up to 20 to 35 cm in diameter (RP 2007-05 ; RP 2009-06). The unit contains up to 30% enclaves of migmatized paragneisses or banded diatexite from the Laguiche Complex.
History
Geologists of the Quebec MRNF carried-out several geological mapping and sampling programs in the Lower and Medium Eastmain area during the past 30 years (MB 98-10, RG 2000-10, RG 2001-15, ET 2002-06, ET 2007-01, RP 2007-05, RP 2009-06). More recently, the area of the Opinaca Reservoir has been mapped by Bandyayera et al. (RG 2010-02).
Limited work has been undertaken historically in the vicinity of the Meliyan West property. Most recent works are presented below :
In 2005, Canadian Royalties Inc. executed a DIGHEM airborne geophysical survey on the Sharks Project including the Meliyan West Property (GM 61662). In 2006, Golden Valley undertook a large lake bottom sediment sampling program (GM 63140). Several weak gold anomalies were obtained on the Meliyan West Property.
Between 2005 and 2007, Everton Resources Inc. carried out geological mapping, soil sampling and rock stripping on the Opinaca B Block (GM 64181). Several gold occurrences in bedrock were discovered as a result from exploration works performed by Everton since 2005 inside the property. Lithogeochemical sampling undertaken in 2006 and 2007 led to the discovery and definition of significant gold occurrences, namely Inex, Claude, Charles and Dominique targets.
In 2011, Virginia Mines and Aurizon Mines carried out prospection and geological mapping, and wrote a 43-101 Technical Report of the Eleonore East Property which included the Meliyan West Property (GM 66255). In 2012 Virginia and Aurizon carried out Till sampling on the Eleonore East Property searching for gold (Au) mineralization (GM 67577).
In 2016, Osisko Mining carried out rock sampling on the Eleonore JV project which included the Meliyan West property (GM 70262).
These works identified several conductive axis concordant to regional foliation/gneissosity in the Meliyan West property area, some of these being considered as moderate to high priority targets for gold and base metals exploration (GM 61662).
Rare metals (Li-Cs-Ta-Nb) potential of the property seems to never have been explored yet.
Resources and Potential
Historical works in the area of the Meliyan West Property highlighted high priority targets with geophysical responses typical of those observed over sulphide or graphitic source. Some of these coincide with magnetic lows or gradients that could reflect contacts, faults or shear zones. Such structural breaks are considered to be of particular interest as they may have influenced or controlled the emplacement of economic mineralization (GM 61662). Several gold anomalies were also obtained in bottom lake sediments geochemistry (GM 63140) and till sampling (GM 64181, GM 67577, GM 70262).
It is therefore recommended to proceed to a complete compilation of historical geoscientific data available in the area of the Meliyan West Property in order to fully evaluate the regional metallic context. Particularly, it is of first necessity to locate historical conductor axis and verify if follow-up works have been undertaken.
The property also benefits of an underexplored potential for Rare Metals mineralization associated with LCT pegmatites, thus it is of great importance to carry-out prospection on the Meliyan West Property in order to sample S-type pegmatites of the Gladman Suite. Depending on the results, systematic prospection, soil geochemistry or reverse drilling should be planned on the property.