Wrightbar Mine
Location, Access, Description
The Wrightbar Mine property is located about 13 km east of the town of Val-d’Or, in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue Administrative Region, western Quebec. The property is composed of 10 contiguous mining claims totalling 204.86 Ha in Bourlamaque township (NTS 32C04), in the Vallée-de-l’Or County. These titles are fully owned by Globex mining entreprises inc.
The property is easily accessible by road from Val-d’Or. Paved highway 117 passes near the south boundary of the property and a gravel road extends from highway 117 to the centre of the property.
Topography is quite flat with elevations comprised between 320m and 330m above sea level. The property is covered with mixed forest of coniferous (black spruce, jack pine) and leafy trees (aspen, birch). Several areas of recent deforestation are observed in the western part of the property and could expose outcrops. Ground is swampy in the west part of the property due to several lakes and streams.
Many commodities can be found in Val-d’Or regarding contractors and skilled labor, equipment rental, as well as sleep and food accommodation of remote workers. The Canadian National Railway runs along Highway 117 south of the property. A hydro power line is also present on the Highway 117 roadside.
Geology and Mineralization
Regional Settings
The Wrightbar property is located in the Archean Abitibi Greenstone Belt of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Rocks of the Val-d’Or region consist of an Archean volcano-sedimentary sequences composed of ultramafic, mafic and felsic volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks (2714 ±2 Ma to 2704 ±2 Ma; Wong et al., 1991; DV97-01; DV98-05; DV99-03) separated by narrow sedimentary rock bands. Numerous Archean synvolcanic, syntectonic and late-tectonic intrusions set in place within both Archean volcanics and sediments (MB94-55). All Archean rocks of this area have been verticalized during the Kenorean orogenesis that occurred about 2.5 Ga ago.
In the area of the Wrightbar Mine property, the synvolcanic Bourlamaque Batholith (2,699 ±1 Ma – Wong et al., 1991), hosting a number of producing and past producing gold deposits, intrudes the ENE trending, steeply north dipping, overturned sequence of mafic and felsic submarine volcanic & pyroclastic flows of the Val-d’Or Formation (Louvicourt Group) and Jacola Formation (Malartic Group)
The Cadillac-Larder Lake (CLL) fault is the major regional feature of the area, extending on more than 250 km in a E-W strike. Numerous showings and deposits have been uncovered along this prolific structure in both Quebec and Ontario Provinces. The CLL fault strikes 6 km south of the Wrightbar Mine property and it separates the rocks of the Abitibi Sub-province in the north from those of the Pontiac Sub-province in the south. The Manitou fault strikes 650 m south of the property and it is associated with several gold and base metals deposits.
Regional metamorphism is at the greenschists grade and locally reaches the lower amphibolite grade around large Archean intrusions. Proterozoic diabase swarms cut through every Archean rocks.
Property Geology
The property is underlain almost exclusively by the Bourlamaque batholith within which all the known gold zones are found.
The Bourlamaque is principally a quartz diorite. Three phases of diorite have been recognized on the property: 1) Green porphyritic diorite composed of approximately 40% feldspar phenocrysts of about 5mm length. Quartz crystals make up 10% of the rock and can reach up to 10mm in length ; 2) Diorite of medium grain size (2 to 3 mm) displaying a grey colour. Quartz makes up 20 to 25% of the rock ; 3) Silicified diorite of fine grain size and grey colour. The rock type contains approximately 5% chlorite and ferromagnesian minerals in an aphanitic matrix. Epidote is a frequent alteration.
Contacts between the three types of diorite are gradational.
Metallogeny
The Abitibi Greenstone Belt hosts several world-class deposits and has produced more than 210 Moz Au historically (Dubé and Mercier-Langevin, 2019), which makes it one of the largest and richest in the world. The Larder Lake – Cadillac fault, located about 6 km south of the property, is one of the major gold metallotect in the Abitibi Sub-province.
The Bourlamaque Batholith, interpreted as synvolcanic to the surrounding volcanics (MM82-04), generally shows thrust faulted contact with the mafic and felsic volcanic units of the Val-d’Or Formation along its southern contact zone, which is the focus of much of the gold mineralization in the area as along the south margin of the batholith as exemplified by such deposits as the Beaufor, Perron, D’or Val, Wrightbar and Dumont deposits to name a few.
Gold is found in sub-vertical to shallowly dipping lenses which are largely composed of quartz, carbonates and tourmaline. These lenses occur in major fault zones that vary in width from 1.5 metres to 16 metres as well as in secondary faults. The lenses are often highly deformed and/or faulted and in some cases are brecciated when traversed by late faulting. The veins and lenses are generally narrow and high grade (reportedly up to 146.78 g/t Au over 0.6m).
Quartz makes up approximately 70% of the vein material with carbonates (15 to 20%) and tourmaline (5 to 10%) making up most of the rest. Pyrite and chalcopyrite are generally minor constituents (±1%) but can make up to 25% of the vein material in certain cases. The veins are bordered by sericite and carbonate alteration.
History
The first recorded work on the property refers to the discovery of a copper showing in the 1920’s. The following is a brief list of exploration carried out on the property.
1926 to 1930
Cariboo Corporation Ltd. trenching and drilling on the property mainly on adjoining claims which are now to the south of the property.
1971 to 1981
Manitou Barvue Mines Ltd. optioned the property and ceded the property to Soquem in 1976.
1981
Northwest Resources discovers gold bearing quartz veins.
1982
Wrightbar Mines Ltd. acquired the property and performed numerous drill campaigns with encouraging gold results.
1986
Wrightbar made an agreement with Belmoral Mines Ltd. Over 28,316 metres (92,900 feet) were drilled up to 1988.
1987
A ramp was driven to a vertical depth of 180 metres (590 feet) along with 3,260 metres (10,695 feet) of underground workings (drifts, galleries, raises). A total of 11,873 metres (38,953 feet) of underground drilling was performed. 10,076 tonnes were mined before the closure of the underground exploration program in June 1988.
1994
Lithos Corporation received approval to reopen the underground workings. By April 1996, Lithos completed 430 metres (1,411 feet) of underground workings and 8,170 metres (26,805 feet) of underground drilling. It was reported that by April 1996, 79,478 tonnes grading 0.19 oz/ton Au was mined. The operation was closed in 1997 but no final figure is available of the total tonnage mined.
2001
Globex Mining Enterprises acquired 100% interest in the property.
No work has been listed in public data since that date.
Resources and Potential
Previous work by Wrightbar and Belmoral Mines between 1986 and 1988 identified historical non NI-43-101 Resources of 304,657 short tons grading 0.227 oz/ton Au including a 25% dilution factor. (Source: Lithos Corporation Annual Report 1995). This non NI 43-101 conformable resource was identified above the 500 foot level and represents 70,000 ounces of gold.
In 1995, Lithos Corporation reopened the underground workings and are reported to have extracted 79,478 short tons of rock grading 0.19 oz/ton Au by April 1996. No final production number is available but it is thought that approximately 200,000 tons (non NI 43-101 conformable) of mineralized material of unknown grade remains accessible via the existing underground workings.
Partly paraphrased from Evaluation Report of the Wrightbar Property for Lithos Corporation by D. Gaudreault, B. Ing. and J.P. Huertas, Geol., B.Sc., April 1996, Geologica.