Penarroya
Location, Access, Description
The Penarroya property is located in Eeyou-Istchee James-Bay Territory, northwestern Quebec, about 110 km west of the village of Matagami and 180 km north of Rouyn-Noranda. The property consists of 4 mining claims totaling 222.02 Ha in NTS 32E14. The claims are jointly held by Probe Gold and Midland Exploration, and Globex retains a 1% Gross Metal Royalty (GMR).
The property is accessible in vehicle from Matagami via the gravel road leading to former Selbaie Mine (17 km east of the property) and a network of forestry roads. Access is also possible by helicopter or seaplane on the Fauteux lake. Sleep and food accommodation of remote workers is possible in Matagami.
Geology and Mineralization
The Penarroya 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 less than 20 km north of the Penarroya 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 Penarroya property lies within the Harricana-Turgeon sequence essentially composed of E-W-oriented basalts and gabbro sills. Most of the property surface geology consists in intermediate to mafic volcanic rocks of the Brouillan-Fénélon Formation. The property is located on the north flank of the Brouillan-Ouest anticline whose hinge closes toward the west.
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). 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 Penarroya property is located just south of 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) 40 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 40 km to the east.
The property is located approximately 18.5 km west-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 Penarroya property hosts the Penarroya gold showing which returned anomalies of up to 4.3 g/t Au over 6.5 m in DDH (Sigéom). Mineralization consists in disseminated pyrite in a silicified-chloritized-sericitized rhyolite breccia within a shear zone (GM22497).
History
The first work recorded on the property appears to be a diamond drilling (DDH) program by Penarroya Canada Limited in 1966 and 1967 which led to the discovery of the Penarroya showing. DDH intersected gold values such as 3.79 g/t Au over 6.10 m (744-6), 6.40 g/t Au over 1.52 m (744-6) and 3.57 g/t Au over 2.13 m (744-10) (GM 22497). Copper values of up to 1.35% Cu over 0.30 m were also intersected in drill hole 744-8. Drilling, geophysical and geochemical work was subsequently carried out by various companies during the 1970s until the late 1990s.
In 2015, Globex carried out a compilation of all historical geoscientific data (GM69475). In 2018, Midland carried out high definition magnetic survey which covered the Penarroya property (GM71250). Since 2020, Probe Gold carried out extensive exploration programs including prospection, airborne magnetometry and DDH in the area surrounding the property (GM71718, GM71843, GM73758).
Resources and Potential
The Penarroya Property benefits of a privileged location directly south of 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 La Peltrie property which hosts the Penarroya claims. The La Peltrie property is presently intensively explored by Probe Gold and Midland Exploration for its economic potential for orogenic gold, VMS and intrusion-related mineralizations.