Little Steel Lake Property
Location and Access
The Little Steel Lake property consists of two claims (16 units) in Tuuri Township of the Thunder Bay Mining Division. The property is situated roughly 25 km east of Terrace Bay, Ontario at a point where the Steel River crosses the Trans-Canada highway. The Trans-Canada highway cuts through the south-central part of the claim block, making for excellent access across the claims. A well-kept trail that leads to the mouth of the Steel River provides access to the southern part of the property, while a trail leading north to Johnny Lake provides access to the northern portion of the claim block.
Regional and Local Geology
The claim block is located within the Wawa volcanic belt of the Superior province of the Canadian Shield. The belt consists of both volcanic and sedimentary rocks that have been intruded by Archean age rocks, ranging from ultrabasic to granitic. Late diabase and lamprophyre dykes intrude all rock types in the area. Large outcrop areas are abundant throughout the claim block. Existing government maps indicate the claims to be underlain mostly by sedimentary rocks, except in the western part where volcanics and gabbro are the dominant rock type. The regional trend of the lineaments and rock units is west-southwest.
Greywacke and mica phyllite are the most prominent rock units within the property with subordinate amounts of slate and schists. Andesite and basalt form the bulk of the volcanic sequences inter-bedded with pyroclastic horizons. In many cases the sediments are difficult to distinguish from the intermediate to felsic tuff and may have been derived from pyroclastic rocks. Small masses and sill-like bodies of ultrabasic intrude the sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The Terrace Bay batholith situated about four miles to the northwest of the property, has metamorphosed the country rock to the greenschist facies. This felsic intrusive is associated with several gold and base metal occurrence in quartz and quartz-carbonate veins, within shears and fault zones.
Area Exploration
The area immediately east of the Little Steel property has seen a great deal of success in recent years. In 1999, prospectors Duncan Michano and Brian Gionet put down three trenches on the northeast shore of Black Fox Lake over a series of quartz carbonate veins containing green mica-altered zones crosscut by quartz and Fe-carbonate veins with minor calcite and disseminated pyrite. Several rock samples showed above background values of Au, Ni and Cu. The highest gold value was 2.5 g/t. The strike length of the altered zone was noted to be 350 meters while dipping into the lake at both ends.
Prospector interest resurfaced after Operation Treasure Hunt in 2000 when the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (“MNDM”) performed regional airborne geophysical surveys over the region. In December of 2001, a local prospector took a sample of float on the eastern portion of the Black Fox property, which contained visible gold and assayed 172.1 g/t gold. Sampling and assaying by the Ontario MNDM office in Thunder Bay has returned consistent results ranging from 165 to 189 g/t gold. The hydrothermally altered float samples (silica, sericite and iron carbonate with pyrite) consist of fragile angular blocks that are assumed proximal to their source location. In May 2002, prospecting by another local prospector, Duncan Michano, revealed a 30-meter wide zone of fuchsite-altered quartz carbonate veining. The property was optioned to RJK Minerals. During October 2002 and January 2003, RJK Explorations Ltd conducted an exploration program of plant tissue biogeochemical sampling and mechanical stripping. RJK reported grab samples assaying up to approximately 2.8 g/t. Au from Michano’s zone. The analytical results of the plant tissue biogeochemical sampling showed elevated Au values over the showing area in two sample sites (4.5 ppb and l .9 ppb Au) as well as three additional anomalous areas down ice from the showing. The property was, however, returned to the vendors and has since been re-optioned to Lund Gold. Lund Gold is expected to be drilling early in 2011.
In 2002, a cursory examination by Daniel Courtney, geologist, Kaministiquia, Ontario indicated low grade but significant anomalous platinum (117 ppb) mineralization in the gabbroic intrusive approximately 250 meters north of a small pond in the northwest part of the Little Steel Lake property. Courtney stated the geological mapping and geochemical sampling represented part of a 'first phase' of grass roots exploration and that further work on the property was strongly encouraged, given the high degree of potential for a significant PGE and/or Au deposit.
In addition, Galahad Metals is exploring their Bozema Lake property on the northern boundary of Lund’s claims. One occurrence in the Bozema Lake area is in an extensive exhalite unit, and was penetrated by two drill holes by Gulf Minerals in 1980, including one with 10m of 8.65 % Zn (including 4.7 m of 16.9 % Zn). Galahad has had recent success in uncovering several interesting zinc intersections through their own drill programs and expects to be active again in this area.
To the west, Galahad has recently optioned the Kellyn property from local prospectors. The highly prospective Kellyn property is comprised of a gold and base metal vein system that occurs along the contact between ultramafic rocks and a granitoid body. Historic data indicate that up to 2.72 oz/ton gold and 31.4 oz/ton silver were found on the property. One sample collected by Galahad Metals contains 26.8 g/t (0.84 oz/tonne) gold and two contain from 3 to 13 oz/tonne silver.
Previous Property Exploration
Gold was first discovered in the Little Steel Lake area in 1875 when Mr. D. McKellar found visible gold in a quartz vein at Victoria Cape. Subsequent activity in the area resulted in the discovery of the Empress Mine north of Jackfish Lake in 1895 and the Ursa Major mine 3 km north of the Empress Mine. In 1951 Simard-Swetz staked a Pb,Zn,Ag,Au showing on the south side of the CPR tracks just east of the Steel River (on the Little Steel Lake claims). He carried out surface trenching on the main showing with the best results returning 3.4 g/t gold, 13.0 g/t silver, 0.53% lead and 0.21% zinc over a 3.6 meter wide chip sample. A reconnaissance mapping program had been completed by the G.S.C. and the O.D.M. prior to 1953-54 when J.W.R. Walker mapped the area at a scale of l in: 1/2 mile (Walker, 1967 via Woolham, 1987).
In 1982, Silver Sceptre performed geochemical, geological and geophysical (I.P./VLF/MAG) surveys and limited drilling on the property. Mr. David Bell (consulting geologist for Silver Sceptre) indicated that mineralization appears to be concentrated within an exhalative zone stratigraphically above a carbonate-rich ultramafic flow. The exhalative model proposed that the sulphides, carbonates, cherts and mineralization represent primary sediments precipitated out of geothermal muds and brines during a fumarolic period of volcanic activity. Sampling confirmed the presence of anomalous gold values in the favourable horizon for the exhalative model. Occurrences further east along this horizon (Little Steel highway and railway occurrences) contain anomalous zinc and copper. Silver Sceptre noted five strong EM conductors on the north side of the highway. Only one of these was drilled, leaving the other conductors as untested and intriguing targets for follow-up.
In 1993 the property was re-staked and subsequent re-sampling of the Simard-Swetz showing returned values up to 24 g/t silver, 1% zinc and 1% lead. The property was optioned in 1995 to Echo Bay Mines as part of a larger property. Echo Bay conducted prospecting, reconnaissance mapping and sampling prior to giving the property back to the vendors.
Current Property Exploration
The Little Steel Property was explored again in 2009 by prospectors using OEC funds. This work consisted of 4.55 line kilometers of cut grid lines; 4.3875 line kilometers of magnetometer/VLF EM; and prospecting. A total of 42 samples were collected from the property. Assays from the main showing returned 23.2 g/t silver, 0.13% zinc, 0.10% lead and 302 ppb gold. Ten meters east, and along strike of the Simard-Swetz horizon two samples assayed 16.2 g/t silver and 1.3% copper and 9.6 g/t silver, 1.15% zinc and 0.69% lead, respectively. Other areas that returned anomalous mineralization were sample #5 (1555 ppm zinc) and sample #7 (2090 ppm zinc) from the Little Steel Railroad showing and sample #12 (1185 ppm copper) from a rusty shear zone crossing the highway at L200E.
A visit to the property after the OEC program was complete uncovered more high-grade values in the vicinity of the Simard-Swetz showing. A sample of this outcrop was sent to the MNDM for assay and returned 31.0 g/t silver, 3.04% lead and 1.43% zinc. A subsequent visit this spring (April 2010) returned 27.7 g/t silver, 2.97% lead and 2.06% zinc.
Summary
There exists high potential for further expanding the known mineralization in this area. While the area has seen some sporadic exploration, there has been no detailed mapping or prospecting neither of the rocks along the main exhalative, nor of the gabbroic/mafic volcanic rocks along the sedimentary contact. Recent discoveries by prospectors in this area have uncovered very high-grade gold that have led to subsequent option agreements.
Moderate copper (1.3%), zinc (2.1%) and lead (3.0%) grades on the property suggest that there may be a base metal rich horizon in the footwall of the graphitic shear which hosts the high silver values (31.0 g/t) at the main showing. The property is currently available for option.
