EXPLORATION 1997 — Overburden redraws boundary in Quebec

Vancouver-based Norcal Resources (NLR-V) and Gold Giant Minerals (GNR-V) have staked more than 1,300 contiguous claims in a newly discovered volcano-sedimentary belt near Val d’Or, Que.

Dubbed the Norgiant project, the claims host a 240-sq.-km, regional, magnetic anomaly coincident with a gold-grain anomaly found during a 1996 till sampling survey by Ottawa-based contractor Overburden Drilling Management.

“We feel it’s an area that has been overlooked,” says Bruce McLeod, vice-president of Norcal. “All we need now is a little success in our exploration.”

Until recently, prospectors and exploration companies had ignored the area, believing it to be representative of another barren pluton of the 1-billion-year-old Grenville geological province.

The area had never been staked previously, though government maps dating back to the 1960s indicate the presence of a magnetic high.

In 1996, Overburden collected more than 300 bulk-till samples along traverse lines set 5 km apart, and performed initial bedrock and boulder mapping. The company concluded that the area is underlain by gneissic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the 2.7-billion-year-old Superior geological province, with its single metamorphic overprint being of higher grade than that found in either Val d’Or or, 300 km to the northeast, Chibougamau. Overburden concluded that the magnetic anomaly was the result of a profusion of both iron-formation and kamatiitic (peridotitic) horizons.

“We’re putting the line between the Grenville and Superior provinces in its rightful place,” says Stuart Averill, Overburden’s president.

Following till sampling, the partners uncovered a gold grain anomaly, which is similar to the one that covers the Malarctic-Val d’Or gold belt.

Equally encouraging was the discovery of iron-formation boulders, which showed anomalous gold values.

Norcal has already completed a $100,000 airborne-magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the claims, the first ever there.

For its part, Overburden will perform ground geophysics and geological mapping, to be followed by infill and basal-till sampling on geophysical anomalies. Till sampling will be easier on the claims, as the till there is at surface, unlike in the region to the west where till is covered by a clay belt (the remnant of a glacial lake). New lumber roads will enable work crews to enter and leave the area with relative ease.

Since peridotites in the claim area can be associated with nickel-bearing deposits, Overburden is applying a new laboratory method that allows it to prospect for base metals at the same time as it tests for gold. Overburden hopes to define targets that can be drilled by late summer.

Operator Norcal can earn a half interest in the joint venture by matching Gold Giant’s expenditures of $300,000 by December 1999 and issuing 100,000 Norcal shares. The property is subject to a 2.5% net smelter return royalty payable to Overburden.