Introduction
Laurentian Goldfields is earning into a 100% interest in the Van Horne Property, located 8km southwest of Dryden, Ontario and within the emerging Wabigoon Subprovince, host to the Hammond Reef and Rainy River deposits. The Property has one of the highest concentrations of gold showings in the Kenora District and visible gold is common on the Property. In 2009, Laurentian identified three distinct drill-ready zones on the Property (Bonanza-Drake, Flambeau and Gator) and a 5km long Gold Trend that appears to link a number of historic exploration shafts. Laurentian completed a 2,500 metre diamond drill program at the Flambeau zone in 2011 with results confirming the bulk tonnage gold potential of the target.
Location
The Van Horne Property is located 8km southwest of Dryden, Ontario at the south end of Van Horne Township and extends partially onto Aubrey and Contact Lake Area Townships. The Property is geographically located between Eagle Lake and Wabigoon Lake. Provincial Highway 502 passes through the west end of the Property and connects approximately 8 km to the north with TransCanada Highway 17 in Dryden. The Property is approximately 10 km long east-west and 3.5 km wide north-south.
To learn more about the advantages of exploration in and around Dryden, Ontario click
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History
Two past producing mines, namely the Bonanza Mine and the Redeemer Mine (both amongst the earliest narrow vein gold mining operations in Ontario), are located within the Van Horne Property limits. Diamond drilling conducted in the 1980s, on claims within the current outlines of the Van Horne Property, led to historic (non NI 43-101 compliant) mineral resource estimates at the Vanlas deposit, the Flambeau Zone, and the Bonanza Mine. As a result of exploration activity to date, the Property is known to host 20 exploratory and/or production shafts, 53 test pits and 73 trenches.
Land & Purchase Agreements
Laurentian has the option to earn a 100% interest in 7 adjoining mining properties in the Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou Lakes Greenstone Belt near Dryden, Ontario. The 7 properties include 18 patented claims and 14 standard mining claim blocks totaling 1,083 ha. In 2009, additional staking and acquisitions by Laurentian increased the total area of the Property to 2,907 hectares.
Laurentian is the first company to consolidate these 8 separate properties. The Company believes that the abundance of gold occurrences on the Property is the result of a larger system of hydrothermal gold mineralization. The consolidation of the separate showings into a single property will allow Laurentian to fully explore the potential of this highly prospective area.
Geology
The Van Horne Property occurs along the north flank of the Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou Lakes greenstone belt within the western Wabigoon Subprovince. The Property is primarily underlain by Neoarchean, juvenile arc assemblages and Timiskaming-type arc-rift basins with alkalic, syn- to late tectonic intrusions and flows. There are 3 main volcanic assemblages south of Dryden between the Wabigoon fault and the Atikwa batholith which are the Eagle Lake, Lower Wabigoon, and Upper Wabigoon volcanics.
Mineralization
The Property occurs within the Lower Wabigoon volcanics and is primarily underlain by a volcanic complex, consisting of massive to pillowed mafic volcanic flows of calc-alkaline and tholeiitic composition that are typically carbonatized, chloritized, and contain disseminated pyrite and locally magnetite and quartz. Felsic volcanic flows occur along an east-west trend from north of Flambeau Lake to Larson Bay and may define either a depositional horizon or a fold axis. The flows are typically sericitized and carbonatized and become chloritized in the Guy Lake-Twingrass Lakes area. Disseminated pyrite and magnetite are common in flows and tuff variants. A quartz-diorite intrusion immediately north of Flambeau Lake with disseminated pyrite and magnetite may be a shallow intrusive equivalent.
The Van Horne Property is centrally located within a cluster of gold showings that contains one of the highest densities of gold showings in the region extending across a 12 x 3 kilometre east-west trend between Eagle and Wabigoon Lakes. Gold mineralization within, and immediately near, the Property occurs in quartz-ankerite +/- tourmaline +/- chlorite +/-pyrite/magnetite/chalcopyrite/galena/-sphalerite/molybdenite vein arrays within brittle-ductile fault zones. Based on the results of previous work, visible gold is common on the Property.
2008 Exploration Program
In August and October 2008, Laurentian's field crews completed a two-phase geological mapping and rock and soil sampling program on the Van Horne Property.
The highlights of the 2008 work program are based on a selective grab sampling program from a number of known and historic shafts, waste piles and vein outcrops across the Property. Gold assays as high as 124.5 grams/tonne were obtained along a gold-bearing trend some 5 kilometres long that may coincide with 1 or 2, approximately east-west striking, sub-parallel geological structures.
Highlights of Laurentian's grab sampling program from known gold showings on the Property are presented in Table 1:
Table 1. Van Horne Property 2008 Select Grab Sample Assay Results
| Showing Location |
Description |
Results |
Sample Number |
| Lone Jack |
Felsic Volcanic w quartz-ankerite veining |
124.5 g/t Au |
929686 |
| Lost Mine |
Quartz vein in trench adjacent to east shaft |
93.3 g/t Au |
31917 |
| Drake Mine |
Quartz vein material from waste pile |
44.8 g/t Au |
439849 |
| Little Jumbo area |
Intermediate lapilli tuff with quartz veins along foliation |
15.4 g/t Au |
929700 |
| Good Luck Mine |
Quartz vein material from waste pile |
8.8 g/t Au |
929961 |
| Good Luck Mine |
Quartz vein in trench |
8.4 g/t Au |
341809 |
In addition to the above, a program of lithogeochemical rock sampling, reconnaissance mapping, and mobile-metal ion ("MMI") soil sampling were completed on approximately 400 x 100 metre centres. MMI analyses have returned encouraging gold results along an easterly trend in the northern part of the Property, where outcrop exposures are minimal.
In order to better understand the structural setting of known gold mineralization on the Property, detailed structural mapping was completed on the East Zone near Flambeau Lake and on the Lost Mine shaft area in the eastern end of the Property.
2009 Exploration Program
In 2009, Laurentian's geological crew completed a program of property-wide trench mapping and sampling, infill geochemical surveys (rock, soil, lake sediment, spectral and petrographic), and an airborne magnetic survey. Laurentian defined 3 distinct, drill-ready zones: Bonanza-Drake, Flambeau and Gator. Channel samples returned high-grade assays of 36.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 0.5 metres (m), 19.8 g/t gold over 0.5 m, and 6.9 g/t gold over 0.5 m and grab samples up to 29.7 g/t gold (see news release dated January 26, 2010).
This work has defined a 5 km long Gold Trend. This east-west trending vein system appears to link a number of historic exploration shafts and historic resources. Laurentian believes that the alteration minerals and gold mineralization seen at surface are the expression of a robust hydrothermal system underlying the Van Horne property.
No Fieldwork was completed in 2010.
2011 Exploration Program
In July 2011, Laurentian completed a 2,500 metre diamond drill program targeting the Flambeau zone, the westernmost of a series of gold targets along the 5km Gold Trend. The drill program was designed to test the strike and dip extension of the Flambeau target, where recent stripping, rock and soil geochemical sampling extended the known strike length of mineralization from 300 to 750 metres. In all, a total of 10 holes were completed, targeting known surface mineralization as well as geochemical anomalies identified by Laurentian along strike to the east. The Phase 1 drill results support the presence of a large, near surface, intrusive centered, robust hydrothermal system at Flambeau, with mineralized quartz-ankerite stockwork development along a 600 metre strike length. Highlights from the 2011 drill program include*:
- 0.71 g/t Au over 15.27 m (VH11-002) and;
- 1.06 g/t Au over 16.57 m (incl. 6.95 g/t Au over 0.74 m, 30.40 g/t Au over 0.19m and 13.00 g/t Au over 0.33m (VH11-002);
- 0.73 g/t Au over 33.07 m (incl. 1.71 g/t Au over 8.80 m) (VH11-006) and;
- 1.34 g/t Au over 11.62 m (VH11-006)
*For a complete list of drill results,
please see news release dated September 29, 2011.
Follow Up
In 2012, Laurentian intends to satisfy exploration expenditure commitments of the underlying option agreements, with a balance of $50,000 in exploration spending required on the Property. Through modeling and a review of historic and current exploration results, the Company intends to refine targets on the Property with the intent of testing both the continuity of high-grade vein arrays present along the 5km Gold Trend, and advancing the prospective bulk tonnage Flambeau gold target.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this project summary has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Mark J Pryor, Pr.Sci.Nat., VP Exploration of Laurentian Goldfields, who serves as the Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects).
