Otish Mountain region remains a hot spot

Montreal-based Plexmar Resources (PLE-V) leads the latest batch of companies to pick up land in the Otish Mountains region of north-central Quebec.

Plexmar has acquired by staking 496 sq. km bringing the company’s land holdings in the area to about 900 sq. km to trail only Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) and Majescor Resources (MAJ-V).

Plexmar’s new property is situated some 25 km “up ice” from Ashton’s recent kimberlitic discoveries. The property hosts clusters of lake-bottom-sediment anomalies with chrome, nickel, cesium, strontium, barium, lanthanum and thorium values, which Plexmar says may signal the presence of alkaline ultramafic rocks such as kimberlites. The property also plays host to several circular aeromagnetic anomalies.

Plexmar plans a two-month exploration program to confirm the presence diamond indicator minerals on its land package. Work will begin in early February.

The company is seeking a partner to “fast track” the development of its properties.

Elsewhere in the region, Searchgold Resources (RSG-V) has inked a deal giving it the exclusive right to acquire 52 claims covering 26 sq. km of land sandwiched by Ashton’s property to the northeast, and the Ditem Explorations‘s (DIT-V) diamond occurrence to the southeast. The property is contiguous to the south of Majescor’s Portage project, where BHP Billiton (BHP-N) can earn up to a 56% interest.

Searchgold can acquire the property by paying $13,000 in cash and issuing 600,000 shares. The vendor retains a 2% net smelter return royalty of which 1% can be bought back for $1 million. Release of the titles to the claims by the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources is pending. The deal is also subject to regulatory approval.

The property is cut a Proterozoic mafic dyke plus numerous northwest trending fault zones. Majescor previously stated that the source of its indicator mineral anomalies were related to major dykes of similar type and age. The Eastmain River also flows across the property.

Nearby, Maude Lake Exploration (MAU-V) has staked 70 claims. Maude Lake now has more than 50 kimberlite targets over a 83-sq.-km area. Maude Lake plans an exploration program, comprising mostly till sampling, aimed at identifying diamond indicator minerals. Work will begin in a few months.