- Volcanogenic massive sulphide (copper-zinc-silver) and gold targets defined and ready for drilling and trenching
- Airborne survey identifies additional VMS and gold targets for ground follow-up
- Iron formation could host iron ore deposit
- Road accessible year round
- 100%-owned by Amador
- Large land position
NTS: 52K16
Latitude: 50° 58' 25" N
Longitude: 92° 26' 42" W
85 km east of the gold mining town of Red Lake, Ontario
Property
The Company owns a 100% interest in 452 claim units covering 7,232 ha in the Birch-Uchi-Confederation Lakes greenstone belt. The vendor retains a 2% NSR.
Work History (Figure 2)
The property is 20 km southeast of the past-producing South Bay Mine. The South Bay copper-zinc-silver massive sulphide deposit produced 1.6 million tons of ore with an average grade of 1.8% Cu, 11.06% Zn and 2.12 ounces silver per ton. The Maskooch Lake property covers a geologic environment prospective for hosting volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) and precious metal mineralization.
The north arm of a tightly folded sequence of sericitized, intermediate to felsic pyroclastic rocks and sulphide facies iron formation has been traced by airborne and ground follow-up geophysics over a strike length of 2.5 km encircling Maskooch Lake. Stripped outcrops southeast of Maskooch Lake have exposed synvolcanic amphibole-garnet-magnetite alteration within an autoclastic breccia, and strong gossanous alteration hosting chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite along a magnetite-rich exhalative horizon. The mineralization occurs across widths of up to 20 m over a 200 m strike length. This work was carried out by the vendor of the property.
A grid was established by Amador in the winter of 2006-2007 over the property where strong VLF-EM and magnetic anomalies appear to coincide with existing mineralized showings. The main anomaly is over 800 m long, trends under a lake to the west and may be folded to the east where a large 300 m by 300 m anomaly occurs at what is interpreted to be the nose of a fold. The grid was extended over the lake in the spring of 2007 followed by magnetometer and induced polarization (IP) surveys.
During the spring of 2007, the Company staked an additional 406 claim units (1,624 ha) and completed a 760 km VTEM airborne survey. This work was initiated based on a review of the ground geophysical data in conjunction with local and regional showings and geology. The new land package covers an area with volcanogenic massive sulphide and gold mineralization potential.
Some areas that are associated with airborne EM anomalies were prospected. Three trenches were completed over conductors and one trench was completed over an IP gold target. The nose of a fold was tested by two lines off MMI, a geochemical method that detects metal ions in the ground. The work has produced a series of targets ranging from drill ready to areas that require prospecting and trenching.
Targets and Proposed Work (Figure 3)
- An anomalous Au-Cu trend along the south shore of Maskooch Lake has been outlined by an IP survey. Sampling by the vendor has returned assay values ranging up to 1.12% Cu and 200-500 ppb Au from along the trend. This area is to be trenched or drilled.
- Immediately east of the IP zone, and possibly an extension of it, a zone of EM conductors and an associated magnetic high extends eastward from the east end of Maskooch Lake and wraps around to the west-southwest. This feature is interpreted by Amador geologists to be the nose of a fold. The area of the fold is swamp covered with no rock exposure.
The northern limb of the fold has been investigated historically by trenching, and values up to 0.45% Cu were obtained by the vendor of the property. These old trenches require cleaning, detailed examination and resampling. The sulphide-rich zone has chalcopyrite and pyrite rimming fragments in a breccia zone that extends into a swamp. The length of this zone remains unknown and needs to be determined.
West of the fold nose, on the south limb of the fold and about 250 m south of the eastern end of Maskooch Lake is an area of anthophyllite alteration. The alteration may indicate the presence of a metamorphosed pipe that has potential for hosting VMS-style mineralization in the vicinity of the nose of a fold. In this geological environment the nose of the fold is a very prospective target for mineralization making it a high priority for testing by drilling. The fold nose area is covered by overburden or swamp.
- Approximately 1.25 km due north of the east end of Maskooch Lake is an arsenopyrite zone with sericite alteration that was outlined by Amador. The zone lies on a section of a northwest-trending regional shear zone. Although no gold has yet been found in the arsenopyrite zone, it and the shear zone are targets for gold mineralization along strike. The arsenopyrite zone and its strike extension are ready for trenching or drill testing.
- The area 300 m north of the arsenopyrite zone contains a gossan cap that has been partially trenched. The gossan represents a zone of oxidized sulphides that may indicate the presence of a massive sulphide (copper-zinc-silver) zone beneath the gossan. Channel sampling here by Amador has returned anomalous values up to 0.16% Cu. The gossan cap will be investigated by trenching or drilling to determine what underlies the cap. This is a VMS copper-zincą goldą silver target.
- Some other follow-up targets that require additional work prior to trenching or drilling include:
- A single EM response, in claim 4213331 at the junction of two logging roads approximately 1.75 km west-southwest of Maskooch Lake, is associated with a weak magnetic response and gold in quartz veining. It requires prospecting.
- Approximately 1.5 km south of Maskooch Lake a series of east-west aligned EM conductors are associated with a magnetic high. The conductors and magnetic high were outlined by the VTEM survey. The western area of the linear EM anomalies, to the southwest of Maskooch Lake, needs to be prospected for the presence of massive sulphides.
- Two parallel linear conductors about 2.3 km northwest of Maskooch Lake, approximately one kilometre long and 300 m apart, are oriented east-northeast and are associated with a magnetic high. This area requires prospecting for VMS mineralization.
- In claim 4214468, about 1.7 km west-northwest of the arsenopyrite zone, a weakly sinuous EM feature appears to be offset in the vicinity of the interpreted northwest regional fault. The area of the offset is between two magnetic highs and requires prospecting for mineralization associated with the inferred fault zone.
- An iron formation in the south-central part of the property, about 3.2 km south-southwest of Maskooch Lake, has potential to host an iron ore deposit and needs to be explored for its economic potential.
Geological Modelling
The Maskooch geology is possibly similar to the FII and FIII rhyolite volcanic horizons at the Confederation Lake and Sturgeon Lake VMS deposits in northwestern Ontario.
Advantages Of Working In This Area
Geologically, the area has been under-explored in the past due to a paucity of mapping by the provincial government. The area is largely covered with overburden and previous work in the area was very limited.
Today, Amador has a number of mostly new and some previously known targets to investigate. They range from showings from past exploration (arsenopyrite zone) that require further exploration to the discovery of numerous magnetic and coincidental EM targets that were outlined by the VTEM survey flown for Amador.
Why Explore Here
The Maskooch Lake area is an exciting exploration target. Very limited exploration has been carried out in the past. Amador has used VTEM, a state of the art airborne geophysical system that can penetrate thick overburden, to explore the hidden potential of the property. This resulted in the delineation of numerous conductive and magnetic features previously unknown that now require follow-up exploration for their copper, zinc, silver and gold potential.
The area has been geologically active. Two interpreted regional faults could have acted as conduits for mineral-bearing fluids during the intrusion of the Maskooch Lake Stock into rhyolites. The rhyolites appear to be similar to the rhyolites in the Confederation Lake and Sturgeon Lake VMS deposits. Gold and copper mineralization are present as are indicator minerals such as arsenopyrite, and alteration in the form of anthophyllite. The presence of a gossan cap that has not been penetrated holds the possibility of massive sulphide mineralization beneath the surface gossan.
The above showings have been discovered based on very limited initial ground exploration. The entire property has been flown with the VTEM geophysical survey, but prospecting has assessed less than 10% of the surveyed area leaving 90% of the property still to be prospected.
Additionally, the area can be reached year round by logging roads, thus minimizing transportation costs and allowing more dollars to be spent on drilling and trenching.
