The Calumet-Nord Project (the “Project”) with a strong potential for gold, silver and copper in the Proterozoic volcanic belt of l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet (MRC Pontiac, Quebec). The Project consists of 42 claims (24.5 km2) and is immediately adjacent to the north and east (Figure below) of the former New Calumet mine which produced from 1944 to 1968, 3.8 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 5.8% Zn, 1.6% Pb, 65 g/t Ag and 0.4 g/t Au (ref. 1). Following the end in the United States in 1971 of the redemption of gold at a rate of US$35 per ounce, the gold intersections of this former mine generated a great deal of interest. It is in this stride that Lacana Mining Corp. intersected 17 m grading 5.4 g/t Au in the underlying Migmatite zone of 15 m at the mined orebody (ref. 2, p. iv).
The option agreement for the Project has been signed with its owner, Ressources Tranchemontagne ltée and provides that the option may be exercised by Sphinx in exchange for the payment of an aggregate amount of $200,000 payable in two installments, $100,000 upon signing of the option agreement and $100,000 as of June 20, 2020, and the granting of a 1% net smelter return royalty interest, which can be bought back by the Company at any time in exchange of a payment of $1,000,000 in cash.
Several gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc showings are already known in the volcanic rocks of the Project (Figure below). They confirm the strong potential. A grab sample of the Cordierite showing, located 4 km northeast of the former New Calumet Mine, yielded 1 g/t Au, 65 g/t Ag, 0.38% Pb, 0.19% Zn and 0.09% Cu (ref. 3, p.13). In addition, a grab sample taken from square excavation, 5 m x 5 m in size, at the beginning of the 20th century found under a more than 100-year-old pine (see Lasalle, Figure below) yielded 0.75 g/t Au, 54 g/t Ag, 5.22% Zn and 4.5% Pb (ref. 3, p.13). The alteration associated with this mineralization (see photograph below) is identical to that of the New Calumet mine ore. In 2018, Tranchemontagne discovered this excavation (see Shea, Figure below). Analysis of a grab sample from a metric size block extracted revealed grades of 1.27 g/t Au and 3.84% Cu. The grab samples and the referenced photographs are of selected intervals and samples and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the Project.
The host rock is a dalmatianite with sillimanite, potassic feldspar and muscovite (see photograph below). This altered volcanogenic rock is in all respects similar to the SHMU (‘sillimanite-muscovite schist’) proximal to the large Cannington silver orebody operated by South32 Limited in Australia (35 million tonnes of mineral resources grading 498 g/t Ag, 11.1% Pb and 4.1% Zn as reported by BHP Billiton in 2004).
In 2016, SOQUEM carried out an electromagnetic and magnetic airborne survey on the Project. This survey, the first to be carried out on the Project, revealed numerous anomalies, among others in the vicinity of the Cordierite, Lasalle and Shea deposits (Figure below). These targets have never been explored. With the exception of the neighbourhoods of an old nickel mine (see Cowan, Figure below), only six (6) historical holes have been drilled on the Project.
References
1- Annual report,1968, New Calumet Mines Ltd.
2- Bishop, C. and Villeneuve, D., 1987. Report on the New Calumet mine gold property, Grand Calumet Township, Southwestern Quebec. Lacana Mining Corp., 77 pages, assessment report GM 44397 filed with the M.E.R.N.Q.
3- Bishop, C. and Gamble, D., 1991. Report on geological prospecting and geophysical magnetic and VLF-EM surveys on the Bérard property, assessment report GM 50750 filed with the M.E.R.N.Q.