The Soufflot project is located in the Belleterre mining camp where a gold mine under
this name produced 2.18 million tonnes with a grade of 10.7 g/t Au from 1936 to 1959
(réf. 1, Figure 2). The project is constituted of 35 mining claims covering 19.95 km2. It
has been acquired on June 14, 2019 from Ressources Tranchemontagne Inc. [1] by
reimbursing the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Quebec’s (“MERN”) claim
designation fees.
The Soufflot project hosts the first gold showing discovered (1934, ref. 2) in what would
become later the Belleterre mining camp (Figure 2, Loken). This showing is also the
only one in the camp hosted by the sedimentary rocks of the Pontiac Group (ref. 1).
Furthermore, it is next to porphyry intrusive plugs. Only 11 shallow holes have been
drilled on it in 1944 (ref. 3) and since then no further drilling has been done. However
the geological setting appears to be similar to the Canadian Malartic mine (Figure 1)
which is hosted by Pontiac Group wackes intruded by porphyry plugs. Sphinx will
investigate the Soufflot project’s promising and underexplored potential by undertaking
a geochemical survey this fall.
References
1-Tourigny, G., 1995 : Structural Setting and Style of Gold-bearing Shear Zones in the
Belleterre District, Témiscamingue, Québec. Exploration and Mining Geology, Vol. 4,
pages 1-14.
2- Retty, J.A., 1934 : Loken and McKinnon claims, Halle township. Ministère des Mines
du Québec, rapport GM-692, 9 pages.
3- Ingham, W.N., 1944 : Township 81 Group ‘A’ claims of Consolidated Mining and
Smelting Company of Quebec Ltd.. Ministères des Richesses Naturelles du Québec,
rapport GM 10706-A, 3 pages.
[1] Tranchemontagne is a company controlled by M. Gauthier, a director of Sphinx.