The PureGold Mine is located within the Red Lake Greenstone Belt (RLGB) of the Archean Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. Gold deposits in the RLGB are classified as orogenic gold deposits (Groves et al., 1998) and characterized by a spatial and temporal association with crustal-scale fault structures.
Property Mineralization
Madsen Deposit – Austin, South Austin and McVeigh Zones
Most of the historical gold production and most of the current mineral resources at the PureGold Mine are within the Austin, South Austin and McVeigh zones which, along with the 8 Zone, comprise the Madsen deposit. At the scale of the property, these zones all lie within much broader, kilometrescale planar alteration and deformation corridors that have been repeatedly reactivated during gold mineralization and subsequent deformation and metamorphism.
The distribution of gold within these planar structures is almost exclusively within variably altered basalt, and enhanced in close proximity to major lithological contacts, such as ultramafic sills, felsic dykes and felsic volcanic strata. The overall plunge of the different deposits occurring close to the Confederation assemblage (e.g., Madsen, Starratt and Wedge) is controlled by the intersection of the mineralized planar structures with the local stratigraphy, as exemplified by its intersection with two barren ultramafic sills in the PureGold mine. Here, the northeastern boundary of the Austin zone coincides ........