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Location: 165 km S from Sakami, Quebec, Canada
401 Bay Street, 16th FloorTorontoOntario, CanadaM5H 2Y4
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Deposit TypesGold mineralization at Eau Claire is structurally controlled and exhibits similar geological, structural and metallogenic characteristics to Archean Greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein (lode) deposits. These deposits are also known as mesothermal, orogenic, lode gold, shear-zone-related quartz-carbonate or gold only deposits (Dubé and Gosselin, 2007).Mineralization The Eau Claire deposit is a structurally controlled gold deposit. Mineralization occurs primarily in a series of sheeted en-echelon quartz-tourmaline veins and associated metre scale alteration zones. Carbonate within the veins is associated with gold mineralization. The overall trend of the mineralized veins is controlled by a structural corridor sub-parallel to the D2 Cannard Deformation Zone. Individual veins are up to 1 metre thick and extent for at least 100 metres along strike.Veins are composed of quartz and tourmaline; the ratio between quartz with accessory calcite to tourmaline can vary from 100 percent quartz to 100 percent tourmaline. The quartz-tourmaline veins are massive, banded and/or brecciated. Pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and rare molybdenite generally constitute less than 1.5 percent of the composition of these veins but can be upwards of 20% locally. Commonly, brecciated veins contain angular blocks of tourmaline, ranging in size from less than one to more than 25 centimetres in size. Fragments are cemented by a quartz-carbonate matrix. Breccia textures locally form a “piano key” pattern with angular tourmaline blocks aligned perpendicular to the vein walls. This texture is due to protracted deformation that affected already formed veins and generated new veins (tension gash veins developed on pre-existing laminated veins). The piano-key breccia has been observed throughout the deposit at all scales in tourmaline veins of less than 1 centimetre to more than 1 metre thick. A “ladder vein” texture has also been observed in outcrop at the 450 West Zone consisting of massive tourmaline layers with quartz-carbonate “ladders” aligned perpendicular to the vein walls.Gold occurs as isolated grains or as clusters of fine-grained particles. Irregular to sub-angular shaped gold grains range in size from less than 10 micrometres to 1 millimetre. In rare instances, grains up to 1 centimetre in size have been observed. Locally, veins contain micrometre-size clusters of visible gold particles. Tellurobismuthite (Bi2Te3) occurs throughout the deposit. Gold and tellurides occur within micro fractures in quartz, interstitial to granular tourmaline grains, at the contact between massive aphanitic tourmaline and quartz bands, and along tourmaline laminations.Gold mineralization also occurs within altered host rock without veining occurring as centimetre to several metre wide tourmaline-actinolite ± biotite ± calcite replacement zones around vein selvages.The two major vein areas discovered to date in the resource area (the 450 West and 850 West zones) form a crescent-shaped mineralized, surface projected footprint 1.8 km long by more than 100 metres wide, which has been traced to date to a vertical depth of 900 metres. Veins within the 450 West zone typically strike 85 degrees and dip 50 to 65 degrees to the south. Veins within the 850 West zone typically strike 60 degrees and dip subvertically.Alteration Alteration zones associated with gold mineralization are often wider and volumetrically more extensive than the veins (SRK, 2015). The alteration halo ranges from 1 centimetre to several metres wide. Composition and mineralogy of the alteration zones bordering the veins varies according to the bulk composition of the host lithology. Where the veins are hosted by felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks or felsic porphyry, the alteration occurs as silicified and tourmaline-rich replacement zones, and as massive bands along the foliation. Veins hosted within the mafic volcanic rocks are characterized by a symmetrically zoned alteration pattern with an internal actinolite-tourmaline dominant mineral assemblage, and an external biotitecarbonate dominant assemblage. These alteration zones range from centimetre to several metres in thickness.Both actinolite and tourmaline occur as non-foliated radiating prismatic and or fibrous aggregates and/or bands of acicular euhedral crystals. Biotite-carbonate assemblages occur more often as foliated, finegrained aggregates. Actinolite-tourmaline alteration enveloping veins may be gradational with the quartztourmaline veins and contain gold. It is common to observe significant amounts of gold within tourmaline and/or actinolite and/or biotite altered rock with little or no visible vein material. Wide intervals of biotitecarbonate rock often form an external alteration zone to the sheeted quartz-tourmaline veins within mafic volcanic host lithologies. Both actinolite-tourmaline and biotite-carbonate alteration assemblages represent the strike and dip continuation of the quartz-tourmaline vein system where structural attenuation may have boudinaged the veins.
