THE GLOBAL SEARCH FOR GOLD SPECIAL — Quebec’s James Bay region draws junior gold-hunters

Much of the gold exploration news coming from Quebec is being generated by projects in the volcanic belts in the James Bay region, roughly 300 km north of Matagami.

Small in comparison to the greenstone belts farther south, and less extensively prospected, the volcanic terranes around the Eastmain and Grande Rivers have been overshadowed by the Abitibi and Chibougamau gold camps. However, improved road access in recent years, combined with the legacy of Hydro-Quebec’s James Bay power projects, has lowered exploration costs and helped attract junior companies.

The region’s first gold producer, the Eastmain mine of MSV Resources (MSV-T), shut down in 1995 following two difficult years. Situated 300 km northeast of Chibougamau, near the eastern end of the Eastmain volcanic belt, the mine is far from the James Bay infrastructure and, indeed, was accessible only by air or winter road. The size of the deposit did not justify the cost of a mill, so ore from Eastmain was trucked out to Chibougamau in winter and milled at MSV’s Copper Rand mine.

MSV has now dealt an option on the project to Radisson Mining Resources (RDS-M), which can earn a half interest by investing $8 million in reopening the mine. The deal also calls for construction of a 450-tonne-per-day concentrator.

The agreement allows Radisson to acquire a 50% share in the mine’s equipment and inventory by paying half of its value. The company can also earn a 50% share in the surrounding 439 mining claims MSV holds by spending $1.2 million on exploration over the next three years. Radisson has yet to complete its own due diligence investigation on the project, and the agreement also requires that Radisson raise $10 million for the work.

The concentrator is expected to improve the economics of the project. With reserves of 780,000 tonnes grading 10 grams gold per tonne, the deposit could be back in production by mid-1997.

Farther west, gold exploration is heating up in the Eastmain and Grande greenstone belts. Virginia Gold Mines (VIA-M) has a large land position in both belts.

Potential at Radisson

The company has taken an option on a property near the western end of the Grande belt from Battle Mountain Canada (BMC-T). Called the Radisson property, it hosts an 8-km strike length of iron formation with gold grades of up to 11.9 grams in grab samples.

Farther east, Virginia has a joint venture with Barrick Gold (ABX-T) at its Grande property. Barrick is spending $3 million over four years to earn a 50% interest. Work carried out this summer has uncovered several gold-copper-silver showings with gold grades typically in the range of 1-4 grams per tonne.

At its nearby Grande South property, Virginia has channel-sampled its Wedding showing, the average grade of which is 9.9 grams gold over a 4-metre width.

Orezone Resources (ORZ-M) holds the Grande East property, adjacent to Virginia’s Grande South. Originally thought to be underlain only by intrusive rocks, Grande East has been found to have the iron formation and quartz-sericite schists that are known to host gold at Grande South. Some gold mineralization has also been found in a sheared gabbro.

Sirios Resources (SOI-M), which holds a property entirely enclosed by the Barrick-Virginia joint venture, has also found additional surface gold showings this summer. Showings on the property are in sulphidized iron formation and in quartz-tourmaline veins in sheared volcanics.

Meanwhile, Soquem has resumed drilling at the Clearwater project, where it is earning a half interest from Eastmain Resources (ESTR-C). There are at least 17 quartz-tourmaline veins on the property. Typically, these are 1-4 metres wide and exist in a deformation zone that is at least 1.2 km long.

This past spring, Soquem intersected several narrow vein structures with gold grades ranging from 17.4 to 40.5 grams. Ten drill holes, spanning a total of 3,200 metres, and surface stripping are scheduled.

Eastmain has dealt an option on its Lac Hudson claims, about 30 km southwest of Clearwater, to Orezone Resources. To earn a half interest, the latter will drill at least 2,000 metres as part of a 3-year, $600,000 work program. Orezone finished a reconnaissance program this summer and is now running a magnetic survey, to be followed up by an induced-polarization survey.

The prospect was drilled in 1988, following up on gold values in basal till that coincided with an electromagnetic conductor. Four holes encountered gold mineralization with grades of up to 7.9 grams, hosted by iron formation. Eastmain is also busy with trenching at its Reservoir project, 40 km west of Clearwater.