Summary:
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 with the moderately northeast-plunging intersection between the mineralized structure and the Confederation felsic volcanics. The mineralized structure forms horsetail splays of mineralized lenses as it approaches and finally terminates against the felsic volcanic rocks in the deposit hanging wall. Moving southwest, the mineralized structure cuts downward through the Balmer stratigraphy, cutting the two ultramafic sills. The lines of intersection between the mineralized structures and these two sills plunge northeast and form the boundaries of the Austin (between the Confederation felsic volcanics and the first ultramafic sill) and the South Austin (between the two ultramafic sills) zones.
Madsen Deposit: 8 Zone
The geology and mineralization style at the 8 Zone is somewhat distinct from that of other known zones within the Madsen deposit. Gold at the 8 Zone occurs within strongly altered and veined peridotite of the Russet Lake Ultramafic. By contrast, most gold at McVeigh, Austin and South Austin Zones is hosted within mafic host rocks proximal to generally barren ultramafic units. The 8 Zone has a planar geometry, strikes generally north-south and dips to the east at approximately 45° which is significantly shallower than the other zones. As it is presently modelled, the 8 Zone is approximately 130 m along strike by 700 m down dip and by 30 m in thickness.
Russet South Deposit
Gold at the Russet South deposit is hosted within folded and/or boudinaged blue-grey quartz veins that are similar to those characteristic of the 8 Zone. At Russet South, the veins mostly occur within weakly deformed 10 m-scale wide, planar zones proximal to the northern contact of Russet Lake ultramafic volcanic rocks and on both the hangingwall and footwall of a smaller ultramafic sill parallel to this contact. The veins are most commonly hosted within relatively weakly biotite- amphibole altered basalt, though some occur within ultramafic rock and underlying iron formations. Despite the complicated arrangement of individual veins, due to their transposed nature, zones of high vein density, deformation, alteration and gold mineralization can be defined over hundreds of metres of strike length, trending broadly sub- parallel or at low angle to stratigraphy which is itself broadly folded about south-plunging D2 folds in the Russet Lake area. Projected to surface, these zones of high vein density extend over a footprint of approximately 650 m by 650 m, and have been defined to a vertical depth of 200 m.
Wedge Deposit: 86, DV, CK, MJ and OL Zones
The Wedge deposit comprises four resource zones (DV, CK, MJ and OL) and one mineralized zone (86) that remains at the exploration target stage.
The DV and CK Zones lie within the same structure that hosts the Fork Main Zone, but about 900 m along strike to the southwest. The intervening area is prospective for potential resource expansion and this area includes the 86 Zone exploration target. The 86 Zone was explored in 1998 by mechanical stripping and recent mapping of these outcrops (Cooley and Leatherman, 2015) suggests that 86 Zone may represent the southern extension of the Fork deposit as the host rocks are continuous and the style of mineralization is similar.
The OL Zone exploration target lies about 450 m southwest along strike from the edge of the CK Zone resource shape in an area characterized by deformed gold-bearing quartz veins hosted in zones of deformed quartz porphyry (QZPY) and strongly altered foliated zones (SAFZ). Outcrop stripping, surface rock sampling and diamond drilling by Pure Gold have delineated two parallel trends of alteration and veining separated by approximately 25 m and extending for a strike length of 200 m. The zone is open both along strike and at depth.
The MJ Zone is hosted by two concordant shear zones up to 40 m in width characterized by deformed gold-bearing quartz veins hosted within altered and deformed basalt and peridotite within the Russet Lake Ultramafic. Current drilling has delineated these shear zones over 500 m of strike length and to 320 m depth with the structure remaining open along strike and down-dip.
Fork Deposit and Fork Footwall Target
The Fork deposit lies within two concordant shear zones spaced 100-150 m apart. These structures strike north-north-easterly and dip about -60°. The upper lens is known as the Main Zone and occurs along a shear zone that is continuous to the southwest with the shear zone that hosts the DV and CK Zones. The distribution of gold within this shear zone is controlled by the intersection with the contacts of minor ultramafic sills and iron formation units within the basalt.
The lower lens has been referred to as the Fork Footwall Zone (and it occurs within the Russet Lake Shear Zone. Here the Russet Lake Shear Zone is wholly within ultramafic volcanic rocks of the Russet Lake Ultramafic and gold mineralization is interpreted to be associated with the intersection of the shear with internal flow contacts. Significantly, the Fork Footwall Zone occurs within the same structural/stratigraphic position as the 8 Zone which occurs about 1.8 km downplunge to the northeast.
A third resource domain (North-South Domain) has been modeled between the Fork Footwall Zone and Fork Main Zone.
Starratt
Gold mineralization at the Starratt target is of the same style as at the PureGold Mine. Gold occurs in similar strongly altered and deformed basalt (SAFZ) with the typical biotite-amphibole-diopside assemblage with local silicification and potassium feldspar alteration. The structural setting is also equivalent to the Madsen deposit whereby mineralized zones occur in planar bodies that cut at low oblique angles across the same ultramafic sills. As in the mine, plunge control of mineralization at Starratt is controlled by the intersection of ultramafic units and these interpreted early structures but at Starratt the plunge is steeper owing to the general steepening of the stratigraphy as the Balmer rocks become constricted between the Killala-Baird Batholith and the Faulkenham Lake stock to the southwest.
The mineralized lenses at Starratt extend for approximately 1,200 m strike length, vertical depth of 550 m, with a thickness of 10 m to 15 m.
Production
On October 24, 2022, the Company suspended operations and placed the PureGold Mine on care and maintenance. Operating and financial results 2022 are presented for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.
| Commodity | Product | Units | 2022 | 2021 | Avg. Annual | LOM |
|
Gold
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | | 79 | 970 |