Ontario Mineral Inventory

Ontario Geological Survey
Permanent Link to this Record: MDI000000000289

Record: MDI000000000289

General

Commodities

Primary Commodities: Gold

Location

Township or Area: Earngey

Latitude: 51° 3' 34.55"    Longitude: -92° 36' 13.19"

UTM Zone: 15    Easting: 527775   Northing: 5656527    UTM Datum: NAD83

Resident Geologist District: Red Lake

NTS Grid: 52N02SE

Point Location Description: Location from Woco vein; AF 52N02SE2018 (OM94-080), page 13

Location Method: Based on Assessment

Access Description: Road access is via the South Bay Road for approx. 70 km from Ear Falls, then follow the hydro line for about 6 km to the Uchi Lake Mine Site. The hydro line access is possible only on foot or by tracked vehicle during the summer. From the Uchi Mine, a good trail extends southward for one half mile to the property.

Exploration History

Prospecting was carried out on the claim group in the late 1920s. 1937: Woco Gold Developments, Ltd. was organized and carried out trenching to trace the Woco vein for a distance of 400 feet, and drilled 9 DDH totalling 853.4 m. 1968: C.J. Kuryliw sampled the Woco vein during his regional mapping in 1968 and received a "significant" value. 1968-71: Tashota-Nipigon Mines Ltd. carried out an exploration program, including geological mapping, and an EM survey. The property was acquired by J. Terrell in the 1980s who completed linecutting, ground mag and electromagnetic surveys over the entire claim group in 1988. Power stripping was completed on the Woco vein. 1990: Lac Minerals Ltd. carried out mapping. 1990: St. Jude Resources Ltd. carried out humus sampling. 1992: St. Jude Resources carried out stripping. 1993: St. Jude Resources drilled 2330 m of diamond drilling in 23 holes. 1994: St. Jude Resources drilled 11 DDH totalling 1325 m. 2005: St. Jude sold the property to Dollard Mines. No work has been reported by Dollard. 2010: Dollard Mines optioned the property to Premier Gold. No work has been reported by Premier. 2016: Argo Gold acquired the property. 2017: Argo Gold carried out prospecting, mapping, sampling, and downhole directional surveys on the 1993 and 1994 holes. 2019: Argo Gold drilled 10 DDH. 2020: Argo Gold completed stripping of the area from 2-10 m and over a length of 70 m, with an additional 155 m stripped later and finally mapped. Channel sampling was also completed with 201 samples from 95 m cut. 2021: Argo Gold completed diamond drilling at the property.

Assessment Work on File

Geology

Province: Superior

Subprovince: Uchi

Terrane: North Caribou

Domain: Uchi

Belt: Birch-Uchi

Geological Age: Archean  

Lithology

Lithology Comments

Apr 27, 2018 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Woco Vein is located at the contact of a dacitic flow (hanging wall) and a basaltic pillow lava (footwall). There is evidence of shearing at this contact (AFRI 52N02SE2018).

Mineralization

Mineralization Comments

Jan 30, 2014 (Syed Ali) - Assay: DDH 94-j-6 = 0.002 oz Au/ton across 1.55 feet. DDH 94-J-7 = 0.713 oz Au/Ton across 2.54 feet.

Jun 13, 2019 (Therese Pettigrew) - The Woco Vein has approximately 76.2 m strike length, over 152 m in vertical height, and 1-1.5 m width. Mineralization, other than visible gold, is very sparse. An occasional grain of sphalerite or chalcopyrite has been noted in the core from the quartz veins. Assays have returned as much as 1.909 opt Au (65.4 gpt Au) across a true thickness of 1.3 m (AFRI 52N02SE2018). Samples collected in 1992 from trenches returned assays of 0.31 opt Au over 17.8 cm, 0.32 opt Au over 25.4 cm, and 0.21 opt Au over 61 cm. The vein trends northerly and dips steeply to the west. The vein consists of a white to translucent quartz containing fine hairline fractures which contain chlorite and sericite and appear to be the location of the strongest gold mineralization. DDH AGW-19-001 returned 132.39 g/t Au over 1.80 m, including 304.0 g/t Au over 0.5 m. DDH AGW-19-005 returned 20.40 g/t Au over 0.5 m (Argo Gold March 22, 2019 press release).

May 09, 2023 (Paul Malegus) - Mineralization at Woco was extended to a strike length of 400 m from diamond drilling in 2021. Assay results from the 2021 drilling include 1.92 g/t Au over 1.1 m from AGW-21-020 and 0.45 g/t Au over 1 m from AGW-21-021 (Argo Gold, news release, November 17, 2021).

Alteration Comments

May 09, 2023 (Paul Malegus) - Alteration associated with the mineralization includes Tourmaline, Biotite and Carbonate (Assessment Report: 20000019402).

Mineral Record Details

References

Map - Confederation Lake, Precambrian geology

Publication Number: M2498 Scale: 1:50,000    Date: 1984

Author: Thurston P.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

MonoMap - Geology of the Earngey-Costello area, District of Kenora, Patricia Portion

Publication Number: R234 Page: 106-108  Date: 1985

Author: Thurston P.C.

Publisher Name: Ontario Geological Survey

Location:

Part - The Uchi Lake area

Publication Number: ARV47-03.002 Page: 77-78  Date: 1997

Author: Thomson J.E.

Publisher Name: Ontario Dept. of Mines

Location:

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For detailed information regarding this mineral record please contact the Red Lake Resident Geologist District Office