Companies snap up ground in Ontario’s Horwood Twp.

A land package of 109 claim units (about 17 sq. km) will be explored by Morgain Minerals (VSE) under separate agreements signed with two prospecting syndicates. The claims cover a recently discovered gold occurrence in Horwood Twp., about 95 km southwest of Timmins, Ont.

Three local prospectors — Douglas Lalonde, George Ross and Fred Ross — discovered the showing after tracing mineralized boulders. At the up-ice end of the boulder train, magnetic and electromagnetic surveys led the group to trench a geophysical anomaly. When the showing proved too big to expose with a hand-excavated trench, the prospectors called in a bulldozer and opened trenches along the strike of the anomaly.

Photographs of the area confirm that the group worked hard to make the showing marketable. Large areas have been stripped and sampled. Funding from the Ontario Prospectors Assistance Program made it possible to hire a bulldozer to carry out the work. Access is good, since the area was recently logged over and features a network of truck roads.

The gold occurrence is in an east-striking shear zone that dips steeply to the north. Mineralization is in quartz veins and stringers. The host greenstones are strongly altered with chlorite, carbonates and sulphides. The mineralized zone features a width of 30 metres, and trenches have encountered mineralization along an 850-metre strike length.

Grab samples from the zone, taken by the prospecting group, featured gold concentrations ranging from 0.7 to 16.4 grams per tonne, with an average of 4.3 grams per tonne (0.14 oz. per ton).

The second claim block covers ground between the Lalonde-Ross prospect and the Orofino deposit, about 6 km to the west. Morgain will spend $400,000 on the Lalonde-Ross property and $350,000 on the second block, over three years. The prospecting groups retain carried interests of 3% of net smelter return and receive cash payments and shares in Morgain. Morgain is establishing a grid and has contracted for magnetic, very-low-frequency and induced-polarization surveys. Drilling could start in two weeks.

To the east of the showing, a block of 3.4 sq. km has been acquired by equal joint-venture partners Tandem Resources (ME) and Goldhunter Explorations (ASE). The companies report that there are mineralized showings in sheared volcanics along strike from the Morgain property. The prospecting group will receive cash and shares, and will retain a carried interest of 3% of net smelter return.

Tandem and Goldhunter plan to carry out surface work, including stripping and trenching, on the showings.

Continental Caretech (CDN) has an option to acquire the claim blocks north of the Lalonde-Ross property. The company regards the ground as attractive because the mineralized shear dips northward, and there is a possibility of other shear zones parallel to it.

Under the option agreement, Caretech will spend $100,000 exploring the 6.5-sq.-km property in the first year, and $300,000 over three years. Ground geophysics are planned.

The vendors will receive $200,000 and 200,000 shares over two years, and retain a 3% interest in net smelter return. Continental Caretech can buy back a 2% interest and has a right of first refusal on the remaining 1%.