Introduction
The Maze Lake Property ("Property") is a large claim group totaling approximately 12,409 Ha located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut approximately 90 km southwest of Rankin Inlet.
The property is underlain by Archean greenstone belts that have been recently shown to be coeval to the Abitibi Subprovince.
Historic exploration on the property has defined three geochemical anomalies defined by till, lake water, frost boil, frost heave and boulder, and lake sediment sampling. Altered, mineralized structural zones are associated with both Anomaly 1 and Anomaly 3.
Drill intersections from a small number of drill holes on Anomaly 3 have defined a 200m wide altered shear zone with high grade gold ranging up to 15.06 g/t Au over 1.92m.
Laurentian considers the project to be the equivalent to an early stage project during the initial discovery of gold in the Timmins or Kirkland Lake camps, and is seeking a major partner to advance the highly-prospective property.
Property Description & Location
The Maze Lake project is located on Inuit Owned Lands (surface and sub-surface). The surface rights are managed by the Kivalliq Inuit Association ("KIA"), while the sub-surface rights are managed by the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated ("NTI"). The project consists of three partially-contiguous Inuit Owned Lands Exploration Agreements ("EA's"); Maze 1, Maze 4 and Maze 5 for a total area of 12,409 Ha. Most of the project is located on NTS topographic map 55K/05 with small portions on 55K/03, 55K/04, 55K/06 and 55L/08. The center of the property is situated at 94o 40' longitude and 62o 20' latitude.
The property is a Joint Venture between Laurentian Goldfields Ltd. and Maze Lake Metals Limited Partnership, with Laurentian Goldfields holding a 57% interest, and Maze Lake Metals Limited Partnership holding a 43% interest. Laurentian Goldfields initially earned an interest through an agreement with Terrane Metals Corp., which was subsequently acquired by Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. and reorganized into the Maze Lake Limited Partnership. Terrane Metals Corp. acquired the Property as part of a divestiture of exploration properties acquired by Goldcorp Inc. from Barrick Gold Corporation after the takeover of Placer Dome Inc. ("Placer") in 2006. A subsidiary of Placer acquired the Property in April of 2003 from Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated through an agreement where the company would own 100% of the property under certain conditions (subject to a 12% net profit royalty payable to Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated with respect to commercial production on the Property).
Exploration History
The region is significantly underexplored with very few exceptions (e.g. Meliadine deposit). Only minor exploration has been carried out on the property. In 1988, Sikaman Resources Ltd. carried out a surface exploration program that discovered several targets in the project area.
Western Mining Corporation completed regional and local follow up till sampling in 2000 that delineated anomalous values within the current property.
Placer conducted exploration programs in 2003 and 2004. Work included extensive lake water and frost boil surveys with selective prospecting and localized geological mapping which resulted in the delineation of three geochemical anomalies (Anomalies 1-3). An airborne magnetometer survey was completed over much of the property and a small Induced Polarization Survey was completed over part of Anomaly 1.
A total of 1,242m of diamond drilling was completed in 2004 on Anomalies 1 & 3. Favourable results from Anomaly 3 include (core width) 6.29 g/t Au over 4.83m including 15.26 g/t Au over 1.92m (ML 004) and 1.35 g/t Au over 16.46m (ML 003).
In 2007 Laurentian and Terrane conducted a combined surface geology, geochemistry and diamond drilling program, with a total of 1,005m of drilling completed in four holes. Results from this program, which focused on Anomaly 3, extended the known strike length of the Haputilik shear zone to 2km, and included results of 5.9 g/t Au over 0.5m.
Geological Setting -- Regional, Property
The property is underlain by Archean supracrustal rocks of central Hearne subdomain. Recent work correlates the central Hearne subdomain with the Abitibi Subprovince of the Superior (Davis et al 2004, Bleeker & Ernst, 2007).
The Archean supracrustals comprise two volcanic assemblages that are unconformably overlain by Timiskaming-type sediments. The belt has been intruded by three igneous suites that include a late, Timiskaming-type alkalic suite. The basement Archean rocks were subjected to at least two deformation events (2691 Ma and 2681-2666 Ma), the latter broadly contemporaneous with peak gold mineralization in the Abitibi and associated with gold mineralization on the Maze Lake property.
Two altered and mineralized structural zones are defined on the property. To the south underlying Anomaly 1, northeast trending shearing has been identified along the contact with Timiskaming-type sediments and along major lithologic contacts within File Lake. Widespread quartz-ankerite veining occurs within chloritized, sericitized, and ankeritized shear zones along the contacts and at low angles to it in potential Riedel-type shears.
To the north in Anomaly 3, similar alteration and mineralization has been observed along a 2km minimum strike length in Anomaly 3 along the south contact of a large synvolcanic gabbro sill complex. In the latter, disseminated chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, bismuthinite, and visible gold have been observed within and adjacent to quartz vein arrays within the shear zone. Both structures contain typical pathfinder anomalous elements including As, Mo, and Sb.
Local Deposits
The most advanced gold deposit in the region is the Meliadine deposit located 100km northwest of Maze Lake. The deposit consists of quartz vein arrays and silicification in iron formation along a major shear zone with a reserve of 2.6M oz Au, an indicated resource of 1.5M oz Au and an inferred resource of 2.6M oz Au
1. The Meadowbank gold mine, owned by Agnico Eagle has proven and probable reserves of 3.5M oz from a similar age Archean belt approximately 330 km north-northwest of Maze Lake
1. Laurentian considers these discoveries to be the results of one main pulse of exploration in the late 1980's and 1990's and that substantially more, and larger discoveries are possible from this Archean terrain.
Follow-Up
Laurentian is evaluating strategic options for the Maze Lake property and seeks an interested major partner to advance the Maze Lake property.
Mr. Mark J Pryor, Pr.Sci.Nat., is Laurentian's "Qualified Person" as defined in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 with the ability and authority to verify the authenticity and validity of the data herein.
References
Bleeker, W. & Ernst, R.
2007: Archean Cratons: A Global View, PDAC Presentation, PDAC Conference, Toronto, ON, March 6, 2007.
Davis, W.J., Hanmer, S. and Sandeman, H.A.
2004: Temporal evolution of the Neoarchean Central Hearne supracrustal belt: rapid generation of juvenile crust in a suprasubduction zone setting, Precambrian Research, Vol 134, pp. 85-112.
1http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Our-Business/Reserves--Resources/default.aspx
