EXPLORATION – Cancor focuses on Zone B at Gemini project — Surveys, drilling point to promising polymetallic values at project in northwestern Quebec

Montreal-based Cancor Mines (KCR-M) is gearing up for another round of diamond drilling at its Gemini polymetallic property north of La Sarre in northwestern Quebec.

The 206-claim property is in Laberge and Casa Berardi twps., about 10 km south of Aurizon Mines’ Casa Berardi gold mine. Geologically, Gemini’s copper-zinc-gold-silver mineralization is hosted by a 20-km-long felsic belt that wraps around the Mistaouac batholith.

Between 1976 and 1991, a succession of companies — Hudson Bay Exploration & Development, Essex Minerals, Canamax, Falconbridge and Noranda — carried out drilling and geophysical surveying of various electromagnetic (EM) conductors. While many of these conductors proved to be graphitic or pyritic, there were sufficient “sniffs” to interest Inco (n-t), which subsequently acquired a full interest in the property.

Between 1991 and 1996, Inco spent $1.5 million on work that included prospecting, airborne and ground geophysical surveys, and reverse-circulation and diamond drilling. The work identified strong volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) alteration and massive pyrite intersections in a copper-zinc-gold-silver-bearing area dubbed “Zone B,” and, 4 km farther north in the same VMS horizon, in a gold-bearing area dubbed “Zone A.”

In November 1997, with Inco scaling back many of its exploration programs, Cancor acquired an option to acquire a half-interest in Gemini by agreeing to fulfil three requirements: spending $1.4 million on exploration over five years; issuing 300,000 Cancor shares over five years; and granting 300,000 Cancor options exercisable over four years.

Under the agreement, Cancor will remain project operator until it makes a positive production decision, at which time Inco may participate by either reimbursing all expenditures incurred by Cancor or transferring the remaining 50% of the project to the junior for a 2% net smelter return royalty.

Since beginning work at Gemini a year ago, Cancor’s main objective has been to probe Zone B at a depth of about 300 metres. To date, the company has spent $500,000 carrying out widely spaced, deep-penetrating induced-polarization surveys and EM and magnetic surveys, as well as confirmation and exploration drilling totalling 3,180 metres. The highlight of the program came from the last hole of the season, with the discovery of an 8.8-metre intersection grading 12.29% zinc, 0.19% copper and 2.29% lead, plus 208.16 grams silver and 1.15 grams gold per tonne, in the northern portion of zone B.

The geophysical work has extended Zone B, which is 1-12.5 metres wide, to a depth of 1,500 metres, though it remains open at depth and laterally.

Sulphide mineralization in Zone B consists of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite and rare pyrrhotite hosted by a mixture of fine-grained felsic tuff, rhyolite flows and cherty exhalative sediments, with the base metal sulphides, silver and gold being more abundant in the exhalative material.

Cancor also drilled several holes into the 3-km-long Zone A, confirming the presence of copper and gold mineralization associated with the VMS horizon. Zone A, which remains open in all directions and ranges in thickness from 1 to 12.6 metres, corresponds with a pyritized oxide-facies iron formation with local, thin, silica-carbonate exhalite. Sulphide mineralization consists of massive-to-semi-massive, fine-grained pyrite within sharply bounded lenses with a true thickness of up to 10 metres. Anomalous gold (up to 2.68 grams gold over 6.9 metres) occurs sporadically in these pyritic zones.

With its cupboard bare, Cancor is seeking flow-through financing for a 6,000-metre program of follow-up drilling tentatively scheduled to begin in January. Ideally, Cancor would like to raise $1 million, of which $750,000 would be used for exploration at Gemini. One of the first tasks will be to conduct a pulse-EM survey from the bottom of the last hole drilled in Zone B.

The Quebec government has recently pledged to subsidize deep exploration drilling in the Abitibi region. However, since Cancor’s exploration program is being financed through flow-through shares, it is not eligible for grants. Says Cancor President Kamil Khobzi: “It’s a good program for Noranda, Inco and Falconbridge, but not for junior companies, which are all financed with flow-through money.”

Some $50,000 of the money Cancor intends to raise will be used to explore the Etang-John gold property in Quebec’s Quvillon area. In partnership with Quebec government-owned Soquem, Cancor has completed a geochemical soil survey there that identified at least three anomalies at a contact between an iron formation and a volcanic sequence.