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The
Estrades-Caribou
project is one of Cogitore's key projects. It is located in
Northwestern Quebec
approximately 95km NE of the town of La Sarre
and is easily accessible via public roads and a forestry road that
provides
access to the former Estrades mine.
The
project
comprises three distinct claim blocks that are contiguous:
- the
Estrades Mining Lease (M.L. #795):
the lease is 30% owned by Cogitore and the remaining 70% is owned by
Atals Precious Metals inc.
- the
Estrades Claims: the Estrades
and Newiska claims are subject to an April 23, 2004 agreement between
Cogitore and Inmet mining Corporation whereby Cogitore earned a 50% JV
interest and then subsequently increased its interest to 55% by making
expenditures in which Inmet elected to not contribute.
- the
Caribou claim block: the
Caribou claims are subject to a September 10, 2007 agreement between
Cogitore and IAMGOLD whereby Cogitore can earn 70% of IAMGOLD’s
interest.
Together, these three claim blocks
cover about 20
kilometres
of the
favourable horizon hosting the former Estrades mine.
The property is located within
a regional belt of east-west
striking
volcanic and sedimentary rocks that host the Matagami, Joutel,
Brouillan and
Casa Berardi Mining districts. The property is located 45 km west of the
Joutel
central volcanic complex and 15 km east of the Casa Berardi gold
mine currently operated
by Aurizon Mines Ltd.
History
The
Joutel
complex hosts the former Joutel, Poirier and Agnico Eagle-Telbel Mines
that yielded
approximately 9 million tonnes of ore. In 1985, a
volcanogenic
massive sulphide (VMS) deposit was discovered in the Estrades property
in a
sector now covered by Mining Lease #795. The deposit consists of a
series of massive
sulphide lenses hosted by felsic volcanic rocks. The deposit is EW
trending and
vertically dipping. It is drill indicated over a strike length of over 2 km with an average
thickness
of <1-3 metres.
The deposit is made up of three successive Zn-Cu-Pb-Au-Ag bearing
sulphide
zones, respectively (from West to East): the Main,
the Central, and the East Zones. The zones may in fact represent
faulted-off
portions of a formerly single massive sulphide sheet.
In 1990, the Main Zone was
developed with a ramp by Breakwater to a
vertical depth of 200
m and over a strike
length of 150 m.
From July 1990 to May 1991, a total of 174,946 tonnes of ore
were extracted at a
grade of 1.1 % Cu, 13.0 % Zn, 6.4 g/t Au and 172 g/t Ag. In 2006, an
independent NI-43-101 compliant resource calculation was completed in
the Main
Zone by Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle, and resources of the Central Zone
were
calculated in the course of a feasibility study competed in 2008 by
GENIVAR. Mineral resources identified in
the “Indicated” category and compliant with NI-43-101 regulations are
tabled
below:
| Zone |
tonnes |
%
Zn |
%
Cu |
%
Pb |
g/t
Au |
g/t
Ag |
| Principale |
560,672
|
10.3
|
0.7
|
0.9
|
5.2
|
174
|
| Centrale |
148,500 |
8.1 |
1.1 |
0.8 |
4.1 |
122 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
709,172 |
9.8 |
0.8 |
0.9 |
5.0 |
163 |
A
detailed
feasibility study was completed in 2008 and is available on SEDAR. The
study
was based on the following concept:
- Extend
existing ramp from -200m to -415m
- Access the
Central zone with a track drift
- Mine at
rate of 800 tonnes per day
- Truck the
ore to a custom mill
- Improve on
metallurgy (better recoveries and concentrates)
The study showed that
mining of the known resources could be profitable at zinc prices around
$US1.00
but Cogitore’s management decided instead to focus on exploration of
adjacent
claims where the discovery of a bigger deposit could significantly
improve on
the economics of the Estrades deposit.
CARIBOU
The Caribou
project is
located along the western extension of the Estrades mine and limited
exploration work carried by Cogitore led to the discovery of a new
massive
sulphide deposit in February 2009. Four holes have intersected high
grade
massive sulphides containing copper, zinc, gold and silver. A fifth
hole
(CAR-09) hit a thin massive sulphide block caught up in a sheared
quartz
vein. Grades obtained so far have been
quite high, which indicates that a high quality mineralizing system has
been
active in the area:
| Hole |
from
(m)
|
to
(m) |
length
(m) |
%
Cu |
%
Zn |
g/t
Au |
g/t
Ag |
| CAR-02 |
310.0 |
311.7
|
1.7
|
2.52 |
6.99 |
1.48 |
62.8 |
|
|
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CAR-04
|
541.0
|
542.6
|
1.6
|
6.41
|
4.89
|
4.10
|
114.3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
CAR-06
|
621.8
|
623.3
|
1.5
|
2.37
|
10.97
|
0.50
|
58.2
|
|
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CAR-07
|
643.7
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646.0
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2.3
|
3.84
|
5.99
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1.69
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52.2
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CAR-09
|
385.0
|
385.3
|
0.3
|
1.75
|
6.12
|
1.23
|
58.8
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The massive
sulphide
lens extends over a strike length of 400 metres and
a vertical extent of over 400 metres, and remains
open to the east and at depth.
This massive sulphide discovery at Caribou is located 3.7 kilometres to
the west of Estrades deposit but along the same stratigraphic horizon.
The
Caribou project, known initially for its gold potential, was acquired
from
IAMGOLD with the main objective of testing the interpreted extension of
the
Estrades mine horizon while using the knowledge learned at Estrades
since 2005. A
deep penetrating
InfiniTEM survey was completed in early 2008 and the discovery was made
while
testing an anomaly located along the newly interpreted extension of the
Estrades mine sequence. Massive sulphide mineralization is accompanied
by
chlorite and sericite alteration in the footwall felsic rocks and the
geological environment is similar to the Estrades environment except
that the
copper grades so far have been significantly greater than those
observed at
Estrades. The bedded “exhalative” tuffs hosting the Caribou massive
sulphides
are quite similar visually and chemically to the “Key Tuffite” marker
in the
Matagami camp.
Future
work will be focused on the delineation of the Caribou deposit to the
east and
at depth, and on the exploration for additional massive sulphide lenses
to the
west. Data compilation suggests that the Estrades mine horizon extends
at least
for another 3
kilometres to the west, where interesting MegaTEM
anomalies remain untested.
Finally, the project being
located on strike with the major gold deposit(Casa Berardi mine: >4
Million ounces of gold), the gold potential will also be
evaluated. In particular, gold intersections located in the east
part of the Caribou property, grading respectively 11.5 g/t Au over 1.5
metres and 7.4 g/t Au over 1.4 metres, needed to be followed up.
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