GM 29919 REPORT CONCERNING 69 MINING CLAIMS REPORT, to SILVERSTACK MINES LTD. concerning 69 MINING CLAIMS - 2760 ACRES held under Prosector's Lic. Nos. 326250&51; 322922; 342423 - 27 incl. ; 343323 - 27 incl. ; & 341305. GAND TOWNSHIP, ABITIBI - EAST, QUEBEC. OPAWICA AREA r. R. FORBES, B. COMM: B. ENG: P. ENG. Mini.3ttre des Ric ,e'sses ilaturelles, Québec SERVICE D2 L,1 DCJC!i iEA Ï K i'lCiN TECHNIQUE 5 A0U 1974 Date: No GM: 29919 } February 21st, 1974 Val D'Or, P.a. INDEX Page Introduction 1 General Economic Geology 5 Local Economic Geology 8 Conclusions & Recommendations 11 Engineer's Statement la Appendix I - Extract from Special Paper No. 2, Quebec Dept. of Natural Resources, 1967, pp. 116-118 inc. with portion of Map Nos. 3 and 4 111 _4 miles. Geology. Showing Sil-erstack claims. Appendix II - Extract from Dominion Gulf Aeromagnetic Survey 1947, 1" = 1 mile - showing relation- ship of Silverstack claims to airborne magnetic anomalies. Appendix III - Personal correspondence, Alan C. Lee to G.R. Forbes, February 1967 - Summary of Lenmac Mines Ltd. work in Gand Twp. Appendix LV - Claire map of Gand Twp. showing Silverstack claims, general geology and mineral showings . 1" = 40 chs. Appendix V - Description of Titles G.R. x0RBES INTRODUCTION 1) The Silverstack property consists of 69 contiguous, unsurveyed mining claims in the southern part of Gand Township, Abitibi-East, Province of Quebec. The claims comprise a U shaped block of 2760 acres, more or less, surrounding the holdings of Campbell Chibougamau Mires Ltd. on the west, north and east (see location map, Appendix 4). 2) Nearest town is Desmaraisville, 12 miles southwest which services The .uebec Sturgeon river Mines Ltd. and Coniagas Mines Ltd. Most convenient access is via a network of lumber roads extending eastwards 411 from the Senneterre-Chibougamau highway through Gand, Lesperance, La Ronciere, La Ronde and several other Townships further east. There are several thousand miles -cf these roads established by private pulp and paper companies, mostly Domtar and Kruger. The latter company has also established a town • complete with school and airport where the C.N.R. touches the west end of Lac Religue some 8 miles east of the Silverstack claims. k 3) Opawica Area has been a dormant gold camp for 20 years, overshadowed by developments in Matagami. and Chibougamau to the northwest and northeast about 70 miles and 50 miles respectively. During this 2 . G.R. FORBES period, the pulp and paper companies have cut "clean" one of the finest stands of black spruce and jack- pine in eastern Canada. In the process they have also cut claim posts, claim lines, Township lines, centre lines, range lines, 126 miles of surveyed picket line established by the writer in Gand Town- ship in 1946-47 and in some cases hydrographie tags. These marks in the bush are normally used by the prospector/claim staker to guide himself and his work in unsurveyed country and stake "astronomic 40 acre claims" as required by the Quebec Fining Act. 4) When staking for Silverstack in Gand Township it was noted that neither the hundreds of miles of excellent gravel roads, nor the town and airport referred to above are marked on the staking maps (1" a 40 chains) provided by the Quebec Department of Natural Resources which were in many cases illegible and contained errors in claim numbers. The Department of Lands and Forests provides some good topographical maps based on 1967 photography on a 1/10,000 scale but even these are away behind the pulp and paper Companies. G.R. FORBES 3. 5) When mapping in Gand Township in 1947, the writer found that Shaw's map No. 556A GSC 1937 shows Shortt Lake a full claim west of where it actually is in relation to Opawica Lake. Thus the exact location of the gold showings and geology described in Shaw's Report is in some doubt. 6) From the point of view of any exploration Company, such as Silverstack exploring Gand Township the activities of the Pulp and Paper Companies are a mixed blessing. Whereas they have cut down refer- ence points from which old gold showings and associated geology could normally be easily located from field notes, they have also, by establishing a network of roads provided cheap access and in the process of "cutting clean" i.e. everything but poplar, exposed a great deal of outcrop and interest- ing mineralization never seen before and marked on no map. In 1973 I covered Lesueur, Southern Gand, northern Lesperance and southern La Ronciere Town- ships by truck using the pulp companies' roads. I was impressed by the amount of interesting and easily observable outcrop which can be seen from the roads. At the time, the Quebec Government had a party en Lessard Lake, some 12 miles southeast of the present Silverstack claims. G.R. FORBES 7) One of the prime recommendations of this Report is that the Company should make strong representation to the Quebec Department of Natural Resources to place at least one field party in Opawica area, preferably Gand Township, this season to map the geology, pick up the mineral showings and tidy up the planimetry with :Low-level air photography as soon as the snow is off the ground so that outcrop can be easily spotted and located relative to the network of roads which at present are not displayed on any map either private, Provincial or Federal. 8) The area extending northeast from Quebec Sturgeon River Mines Ltd. lying between and adjacent to the two major fault zones (see map - Appendix I) is one of the best hunting grounds for gold ore bodies in Quebec under present conditions. The Silver- stack claims are centrally located in this area and cover three known gold showings together with favourable structure. Through consultation with Dr. Wa14.er Incrj_a m in Val d'Or, I gather the impr<-:s- sicn that The Quebec Department of Natural Resources and/or Soguem are aware of the potential of Opawica Area and would be favourably disposed to providing the air photography, geological mapping, G. R. FORBE;S 5, cartography and planimetry necessary to properly explore your claims. GENERAL ECONOr1IC GEOLOGY 9) A portion of the gûr,aral geology is shown on Appen- dix I. The Silverstack property lies centrally in the greenstone belt which extends for 90 miles northeast from Bell River towards Chibougamau and is the locus of a series of min^;:al discoveries notably near Cameron Lake, Wedding Lake, Burge Lake, Bachelor Lake and Oparzica Lakes. The linear distri- bution of these mineral showings is remarkable and is well displayed on maps accompanying Special Paper No. 2. Quebec Department of Natural Resources, 1967 from which Appendix I is an extract. 10) The dominant structural feature of the entire 150 mile area from Bell hiver to Chibougamau is the Waconichi,- Quevillion "break".(`) This is a truly regional fault or geosutural (b) line of weakness which, for much of its length is co-incident with the greenstone - sedimentary rocks. Where these (a) Cleveau, J. Northern Abitibi, Quebec; Fracture Zones and Mineral Possibilities; Can. Min. Journal April 1 1948 op 71-82., (b) Leo Springer' s term G. R. FORBES 6. rocks have been distorted, generally in the vicinity of younger intrusives in or near the regional "break" many important mineral discoveries have been made notably Opemisca Copper in Levy Township, 48 miles northeast of Opawica and Quebec Sturgeon River Mines 14 miles to the southwest. 11) From the point of view of economic geology the ore- making potential of the Waconichi-Quevillion "break" may be comparable to the Southern Abitibi Mineral belt. I held this opinion when mapping the area, 1946 - 1951 (see Engineer's Statement) and at that time came to the conclusio.Li that "Opawica Area" was one of the best places to look for a mine, as it occupied a faulted flexure in the general locus of mineral distribution. "Opawica Area" included north- east Lesueur, Southeast ido v_net, Southern Land, Northern Lesperance, Southern Laronciere and Northern La Ronde Townships. With the up-surge in metal prices, I see no reason to change this opinion and remain convinced, from first pricniples, that there is an important ore deposit in this area somewhere, probably gold-copper. G. R. FORBES 7. 12) Dr. Bruce Graham, G.R. 72, Southwest Part of Lesueur Township 1957 referring to Economic Geology concern- ing the Quebec Sturgeon River and Coniagas deposits states "... the overall structure, a block enclosed in a split of the Waconichi-Quevillon fault, may also be of fundamental importance in the location of ore deposits".... I agree with Dr. Graham. 13) As can be seen on Appendix I, the Silverstack claims lie in such a block flanked on the south by the Waconicihi-Quevillon fault occupying Opawica Lake and on the north by the parallel Bachelor • River branch fault about three miles distant. Younger intrusives occur between the two faults at both locations. On this basis alone, apart altogether from the known gold showings, the Silver- stack claims warrant thorough investigation. 14) What is urgently required, as soon as the snow is off the ground, is governmental geological mapping with air-photographic control of "Opawica Area" to provide planinetry and coordinate the work done in the past by Dubuisson Mines Ltd., Blouin Lake Gold Mines Ltd., New Malartic Gold Mi.ies Ltd . , Lenmac Mines Ltd . , Candore Mines Ltd., Nc randa Mines Ltd . , G. R. FORBES 8. Lake Opawica Mines Ltd. LaRonciere Gold Mines Ltd. and others who have concerned themselves with "Opawica Area" which is presently un-mapped though the means to do so lie ready to hand through the activities of the Pulp and Paper Companies.