Standard Gold Zone
Location, Access, Description
The Standard Gold property consists of 44 mining claims totalling 1,758 Ha in Duverny township (NTS 32C12), 30km northeast of Amos (Abitibi, Qc) and 100km northeast from Rouyn-Noranda (Abitibi, Qc). The claims are wholly owned by Globex and are not subject to any underlying royalties or third party interests.
Topography in the area is generally flat and swampy with elevations comprised between 300 and 330 meters and not much outcrops. A NW-SE hill with elevations reaching 360 meters crosses the center of the property. The property is covered with boreal forest vegetation.
One can easily drive from Amos by the 395 North road. A dense network of gravel roads runs throughout the property allowing to navigate easily by truck and VTT to every part of the property.
Geology and Mineralization
The Standard Gold property is located in the Archean Abitibi Greenstone Belt, within the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Rocks of this area are composed of intermediate to mafic calc-alkaline volcanics of Lac Arthur Formation and tholeiitic basalts of La Morandière Group. Chicobi sedimentary basin lies north of the property bounded by the Chicobi-Nord and Chicobi-Sud faults. Berry Pluton is located west of the property and Duverny Pluton is to the south. Several diorite and gabbro intrusions of probable synvolcanic origin are observed throughout that area (MB95-24).
All these rocks are ESE-oriented and were verticalized and metamorphosed to the greenschists facies after successive tectonic events during Archean and Paleoproterozoic. Numerous mineralized occurrences are listed in the vicinity of the property. Regional metallogeny essentially consists of gold occurrences in mesothermal quartz-carbonate veins and shear zones within intrusive rocks, and a few base metals showings associated with sulphide stringers within volcanics.
The Standard Gold property hosts both Standard Gold (132,750t @ 5.43g/t Au non 43-101 compliant) and SG-11-05 (6.03g/t Au over 1m) gold showings which consist of several N200°/-80° quartz-carbonate veins cutting a N315° differentiated diorite sill within ankeritized and silicified Lac Arthur volcanics. Mineralization consists of pyrite with minor sphalerite, chalcopyrite and native gold and silver. Magnetic data from Globex’s 2021 NOVATEM survey shows a highly magnetic horizon corresponding to the diorite sill, of more than 5km of lateral extension (GM68171). Every demagnetized zone within that horizon could correspond to a possible auriferous alteration zone.
History
(A detailed description of historical work is given in GM68171.)
Standard Gold deposit:
Discovery of auriferous veins on the Standard Gold property dates from prospection works during the 1930’s. Limited diamond drilling (DDH) was soon undertook and an exploration shaft was sunk by Central Duverny Gold Mines in 1936 (GM08224). Limited production was carried out until the company went bankrupt in 1941. Goldvue Mines Ltd. took over the property in 1944 and carried out new DDH (GM00311). The shaft was progressively deepened to 1,275 feet (389m) in 1952 with 8,000 feet (2,438m) of lateral development over 8 levels. Production was stopped in 1953 due to uneconomic 35$/oz gold price conditions. Up to that time 81,500 feet (24,841m) of diamond drilling (57,200 feet underground and 24,300 feet on surface) had been done.
Limited geophysical surveys were carried out during the 1970’s. In the 1980’s, Standard Gold Mines and Esso Minerals Ltd. dewatered the mine and carried out numerous geological and geophysical surveys as well as DDH campaigns on the Standard Gold deposit (GM37203, GM40125, GM41879, GM44871, GM46956). In late 1986, following an agreement between Standard Gold Mines and Ste. Genevieve Resources Ltd., construction of a surface plant was begun in preparation for underground exploration and hopefully mining. In 1988, a non-compliant 43-101 resource estimation of 132,750 tonnes grading 5.43 g/t Au was calculated (GM46956).
Exploration works on the property where then put on hold until 2005 when Ressources D’Arianne proceed with surface sampling, trenching and a limited DDH program consisting in 12 holes totaling 808.1 meters (GM62167). In 2006 they commissioned the firm Groupe Conseil Genivar inc. to calculate a non-compliant 43-101 resource estimation (136,398 tonnes grading 4.25 g/t Au).
Threegold Resources acquired the property in January 2011 and started historical data compilation followed by geological mapping and grab sampling (GM68171). From November 2011 to February 2012, Bowmore Exploration completed nine (9) DDH totaling 3074,6m of drilling (GM68199) to confirm historical results and to test for a possible extension of the gold mineralization along the kilometric, intense carbonate (ankerite) alteration corridor. Best assays from that campaign include 19.05g/t Au over 1.00m (SG-11-01) and 1.43g/t Au over 8.00m (SG-11-06). Threegold then carried out geophysics and DDH compilation.
Rest of the property:
Limited historical work has been carried out on the rest of the Standard Gold property. Geological mapping as well as geophysical surveys including magnetism, electromagnetism (EM) and induced polarization (IP) have been conducted during the 1980’s. Several EM and IP axes were highlighted and explained in drilling by graphitic and pyrite-pyrrhotine horizons locally associated with weak metallic anomalies (GM36364, GM40187, GM42063).
Resources and Potential
Non-compliant 43-101 estimation calculated by Genivar in 2006 indicates a remaining Resource of 136,398t grading 4.25 g/t Au on the Standard Gold deposit. Further drilling and DDH compilation by Threegold in 2012 mentioned a few anomalous holes outside of the historical Resource so that there is a possibility to increase the tonnage.
Rest of the property remains poorly explored in comparison with the deposit area. Numerous EM and IP axes were highlighted by limited historical geophysical works and not all of them were tested appropriately. Particularly, no DDH has ever been implanted along the southeastern extension of the highly magnetic horizon in which both Standard Gold deposit and SG-11-05 showing occur.