Summary:
The Huguenot Coal Project lies within a belt of Mesozoic strata that form part of the Rocky Mountain Foothills of northeastern BC. The stratigraphic succession broadly represents an alternating sequence of marine shale and marine and non-marine clastic lithologies. These strata were uplifted during the Laramide Orogeny, resulting in the development of thrust faults and intense folding. The main structural feature in the region is the broad, northwestplunging, Belcourt Anticlinorium. Lower Cretaceous coal measures are located along the western and eastern margins of this structure, with the Huguenot property located along its northeastern limb.
The coal seams of greatest potential are found within Lower Cretaceous strata of the Gates Formation. At Huguenot, the Gates Formation contains ten coal seams and/or coal zones numbered, in ascending order, from 1 to 10. The thickest is Seam 5, which ranges between 2.59 and 9.71 metres (m) (but is typically between 5 and 6m thick). The seams correlate northwest and southeast with those being evaluated by Belcourt Saxon Coal Limited (BSCL).
The property consists of mostly easterly dipping strata that lie within three main structural blocks; each block being separated from the other by thrust faults. The North Block is underlain by the Holtslander North Thrust and is located in the north of the property. It contains near-homoclinal, moderate, northeasterly- to easterly-dipping coal measures. The Middle Block is carried on the Holtslander South Thrust. Strata dip northeasterly throughout most of this thrust sheet. In this block, strata have moderate dips with localised steepening in the centre of the area. The South Block is situated in the southeast of the property, where the strata are steep, easterly-dipping to slightly overturned and form the eastern limb of an asymmetric anticline, the fold axis of which defines the western limit of the coal measures.
Mineralization
Mining sections have been defined either from discrete coal seams where all, or most, of the coal-bearing interval forms a single mining section, or as parts of a coal zone where one or more coal layers occurring in relatively close vertical proximity to one another, form separate mining sections. Thin, internal, rock bands, if present, are included in the mining sections. Thicker rock bands (in this instance 0.31m or more, as defined in GSC Paper 88-21 are omitted, even though, in practice, some would almost certainly be mined with coal in medium- to large-scale production scenarios. The mining sections are taken to a minimum true thickness of 0.60m. Coal at Huguenot can form discrete coal seams of variable thickness, or form thin seams interbedded with coaly shale and carbonaceous shale to form coal zones which, in themselves, are mappable stratigraphic units. Some “zones” consist of only one mappable coal layer/ply where other zones may include multiple mappable coal layers.
The North and Middle Blocks of the Huguenot property are considered to conform to the Moderate Geology Type. Although the dip of the strata in these blocks at times exceeds 30° it is consistent and the coal seams can be traced and correlated easily across the area. The South Block is considered to be Complex Geology Type.
North Block
A total of ten coal seams and/or coal zones are present within the North Block. Seam/coal zone nomenclature used in this report follows that used by Denison across their former Belcourt property; in ascending order they are numbered 1 through 10. The main coal splits that form part of a coal zone are assigned the number of the zone plus a letter. The letter ‘A’ indicates the lowermost coal split in a series; however, this is complicated in Coal Zone 6 by the presence of coal splits below Seam 6A. Consequently, this part of the zone is referred to as 6L.
All seams/coal zones with the exception of Seams 7 and 10 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The main coal seams are Seams 1, 5, 6B, and 8; these are the thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams. Typically, the minor seams (i.e., 2A, 3B/3B Lower (3BL), 3D, 4, 6L, 6A, 6C Lower (6CL), 6D, and 9) meet seam thickness or coal to rock (C/R) ratio minimums only over portions of the blocks. Seams not considered to be potentially mineable, can still be traced geologically throughout the remainder of the block. Other coal seams/splits such as 3A, 8B and some splits above Seam 9 might locally exceed 0.60m in thickness but are not currently deemed to be persistent enough to present mineable targets.
Middle Block
A total of ten coal seams and/or coal zones are present within the Middle Block. All seams/coal zones with the exception of Seam 7 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The main coal seams are Seams 1, 5, 6L, and 8; these are the thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams. Minor seams 2A, 3B, 4U, 6B and 9 meet seam thickness and C/R ratio minimums across the Middle Block, whereas seams 2D, 2EF, 2HI, 6D and 10 meet mining section criteria locally. Where these latter seams do not meet seam thickness or C/R ratio minimums, they can still be traced geologically. Coal seams in the Middle Block are progressively terminated towards the south by the Holtslander South Thrust Fault such that the lowermost seams only extend as far south as the central portion of the block. Only seams stratigraphically higher than Seam 6B are present at the southern end of the block.
South Block
Of the 10 coal seams and/or coal zones present within the South Block all seams/coal zones except 3, 7 and 10 provide potentially mineable coal intervals. The thickest and most laterally continuous of the coal seams are Seams 1,2Z, 4, 5, and 6L; Seams 6B, 6D, 8 and 9 are present in the southern half of the block. The distribution of the Gates coal measures within the South Block is largely determined by the presence and attitude of the Holtslander South Thrust Fault. Surface traces of the stratigraphically higher coal seams (above 6L) are progressively terminated towards the north by this thrust fault; this fault also forms the northern limit of the coal seam traces and of the South Block as defined herein.