Juniors smitten by lonore

Spurred by Goldcorp‘s (G-T, GG-N) recent vote of confidence, exploration is heating up around Virginia Gold Mines‘ (VIA-T) lonore gold discovery in the James Bay region of Quebec.

In mid-December, Goldcorp inked a deal to acquire lonore via an all-stock deal worth more than $500 million. Goldcorp plans to table an initial resource estimate during the first half of the year. The results of a scoping study would follow by mid-year, with those of a feasibility study coming a year later. Many analysts expect that the project’s Roberto zones could contain up to 3.5 million oz. gold.

lonore covers 521 sq. km in the eastern part of the Opinaca Reservoir, along the Lower Eastmain belt, straddling the contact between the volcanic rocks of the La Grande sub-province to the south and sedimentary rocks of the Opinaca sub-province to the north.

Goldcorp quickly followed that deal up by taking a 9.9% stake in Virginia’s neighbour Beaufield Consolidated Resources (BFD-V, BCRSF-O) for $3.4 million. Beaufield’s 56-sq.-km Opinaca property covers the contact of the Ell Lake stock with sediments and conglomerates, and the interpreted extensions of the Roberto system, 8 km east. The property is home to several gold and arsenic anomalies.

Beaufield recently picked up another 202 claims totalling 100 sq. km, some 30 km west. The OPI-West land package covers the continuation of the rocks that host the lonore discovery. An interpreted ring structure measuring around 7 km in diameter occurs in the western portion of the property. It exhibits some geophysical similarity to the Ell Lake intrusion. Mapping is planned for the summer.

Partners Azimut Exploration (AZM-V, AZMTF-O) and Everton Resources (EVR-V, EVRRF-O) hold four blocks totalling 321 sq. km, immediately surrounding lonore. Lake-bottom-sediment sampling has outlined six areas containing anomalous values of gold, silver, arsenic and antimony. Each measures at least 1 km.

One of the anomalies is believed to coincide with a 1.7-km-long, gold-bearing trend where grab samples run 0.1-29 grams gold per tonne, with 12 exceeding 0.5 gram gold. Sampling at the western end of the trend encountered 2.85 grams gold, some 12 km northeast of the lonore discovery. Till sampling 5 km north of Eleonore returned significant gold.

Project operator Everton recently signed on for a second-year option on the property, under which it can take a 65% stake. Everton plans $900,000 worth of soil geochemistry, ground geophysics, trenching and drilling aimed at extending the trend to the east and west. Work will begin in March, funded via a recent $1.5-million investment by former Goldcorp chief executive Robert McEwen. He recently picked up an 8.8% stake in Everton by buying 3 million units at 50 apiece. The units include one share plus a warrant, with each warrant good for another share at 70 each for 18 months.

Everton is also a neighbour to Barrick Gold (abx-t, abx-n) and Goldcorp’s Pueblo Viejo gold deposit in the Dominican Republic.

Till sampling by partners Sirios Resources (SOI-V, SIREF-O) and Dios Exploration (DOS-V, DIOSF-O) has identified several gold anomalies on the Pontax property, 75 km southwest of lonore. Gold grades there run as high as 0.82 gram gold per tonne, with several of the anomalies clustered up-ice of lake-sediment anomalies containing up to 0.04 gram gold.

The partners recently added another 215 claims to hold some 600 sq. km. The companies operate under a deal that sees Dios pay for kimberlite indicator mineral processing, while Sirios picks up the tab for gold and base metals assaying. Each company has a buy-back option if the project ends up focused on their respective commodity.

Sirios holds a total of 900 sq. km under four projects in the lonore region, including the Cheechoo, Sharks, Kukames and Opinaca North properties.

Cheechoo adjoins lonore and appears to be underlain by the rocks that host that project’s Roberto and Roberto East zones. Golden Valley Mines (GZZ-V, GLVMF-O) can earn up to an 85% interest in Cheechoo by spending $1 million on exploration.

Late last year, grab sampling by Golden Valley at Cheechoo returned between 0.1 gram and 4 grams gold, and up to 1.73% copper. Results from lake-sediment samples are pending. The Sharks property, under option to Canadian Royalties (CZZ-T, CRYAF-O) has been rolled into the Cheechoo project. Kukames and Opinaca Nord each host regional gold anomalies defined by lake-bottom-sediment sampling.

Azimut is also paired with Eastmain Resources (ER-T, EANRF-O) immediately south of lonore, on the Azimut C block, and 14 km northwest, on the Azimut D block. Eastmain is earning a 65% stake in both blocks.

Soil sampling on C block returned up to 1.24 grams gold, with a continuous anomaly stretching some 7 km. Eastmain says the anomaly is comparable in size and magnitude to the one that led to the discovery of its Eau Claire gold deposit — with an indicated resource of 1 million tonnes running 9.46 grams gold, plus 3 million tonnes of inferred material grading 6.9 grams. The anomalies are underlain by the same rock formations found at the Roberto zone.

Eastmain holds 100% of the Dyna claim block, adjoining Azimut D block to the north, where soil sampling hit up to 0.23 gram gold; rock sampling surrendered up to 5.3 grams gold. Results are pending for another 900 soil samples and 100 rock samples from the nearby Road King claim.

Elsewhere in the region, D’Arianne Resources (DAR-V, DARUF-O) has launched a 3,000-metre drilling campaign on its property south of the Opinaca reservoir. The holes will test the Contact showing where surface sampling is highlighted by 85.7 grams gold and 567 grams gold. Some 60 channel samples on the 300 by 50-metre zone cut up to 38.1 grams and 105.8 grams gold. Eighteen samples from the quartz veins exceeded 5 grams gold. The holes are the first on the property and will also test for lateral zone extensions.

Meanwhile, mapping, stripping, and channelling will target the Chino zone, 1.4 km east, and Renard zone, 2.5 km southwest. Previous channel sampling on Chino cut up to 7.9 grams gold over 4 metres, 5.8 grams over 9 metres, and 10.7 grams over 1.4 metres. Surface sampling at Renard surrendered up to 6.4 grams gold.

D’Arianne recently added 55 new claims totalling around 29 sq. km, adjoining to the northeast.

Meanwhile, immediately west of lonore, Vantex Resources (VTX-V, VOGMF-O) has begun a magnetometer and induced-polarization survey of the 9-sq.-km ANA property. The work will focus on gold-in-soil anomalies identified in the centre area of the property last year. The company recently boosted its Opinaca holdings with 95 claims totalling 55 sq. km, northeast of the Eau Claire gold deposit.

A new player in the region is Stellar Pacific Ventures (SPX-V, SPVIF-O), which picked up a 4.7-sq.-km property surrounded by land held by Virginia and Beaufield. A Quebec government report indicates that the property is underlain by sedimentary and felsic intrusive rocks similar to those associated with the Roberto system. The company has staked another 19 sq. km, about 2 km south. A program of 60 km worth of line cutting is under way on the North block, in anticipation of magnetometer surveying. Field mapping is scheduled for the summer.

Eloro Resources (ELO-V, ELRRF-O) too has added some new ground on the La Grande and Eastmain belts of northern Quebec. The three properties carried a price tag of 600,000 shares plus $50,000 in cash; a 1% net smelter return royalty (NSR) can be halved by paying the vendor $500,000. Another 32.6 sq. km was staked contiguous to the Eastmain 1 property. Another deal will see Eloro pick up the Delta property from Carat Exploration (CRZ-V) in return for $30,000. Again, Eloro can halve a 1% NSR there for
$500,000. Grab sampling at Delta yielded up to 6.6% copper and 20 grams silver from a quartz-chalcopyrite vein exposed over 25 metres. The additions bring Eloro’s holdings in the region to 225 sq. km.