Overview
The Magino mine property is a past producing underground gold mine located 40 kilometres northeast of Wawa, Ontario, approximately 14 kilometres southeast of the town of Dubreuilville. The property consists of seven patented mining claims, four leased mining claims and 69 unpatented mining claims totaling 2,204.495 hectares. A positive feasibility study was published December 2017 showcasing open-pit mining opportunity.
Geology
The property is located within the Michipicoten greenstone belt of the Archean Superior Province. The Michipicoten greenstone belt is a structurally and stratigraphically complex assemblage of volcanic, sedimentary and intrusive rocks that were metamorphosed to greenschist and amphibolite facies. Several suites of plutonic rocks ranging in composition from gabbro to monzogranite and syenite occur in and around the Michipicoten greenstone belt. The property is situated in the Goudreau-Lochalsh gold district of the Wawa gold camp.
Supracrustal rocks in the Goudreau-Lochalsh district consist of Cycle 2 felsic to intermediate pyroclastic metavolcanics capped by pyrite-bearing ironstone. To the north are pillowed, massive and schistose, mafic to intermediate metavolcanics and minor intercalations of Cycle 3 mafic pyroclastic rock. Several medium to coarse-grained quartz dioritic to dioritic sills and/or dikes intrude all metavolcanic rocks.
Gold mineralization at the former Magino Mine is primarily hosted by the Webb Lake Stock, which intrudes Cycle 3 mafic volcanic rocks. The Webb Lake Stock is a felsic intrusion that has been interpreted as being a trondhjemite but is referred to as a granodiorite in mine terminology and in this report. The long axis of the Webb Lake Stock is aligned roughly parallel to the regional supracrustal rock stratigraphy. The Webb Lake Stock is east northeast-striking and has a steep northerly dip. The granodiorite contains 5 to 10% veins of quartz with lesser carbonate veins and minor pyrite. The veins - 27 - generally parallel the orientation of the Webb Lake Stock and surrounding metavolcanics.
Argonaut is currently focusing its evaluation on shear related zones of gold-bearing quartz-sericitemineralization that contain narrow higher-grade gold-bearing quartz veins and stockworks which were the focus of former underground mining. Argonaut and the predecessor company that owned the Magino Project, Prodigy Gold Inc., completed surface drilling campaigns in 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016. These programs were designed to in-fill and expand mineralization identified by earlier drilling, and in some cases, replace older, non-compliant drill sample data.
History
The discovery of iron ore deposits around the turn of the 20th century in the Michipicoten area southwest of Wawa led to prospecting for other minerals. Gold was discovered in 1918 near Goudreau.
Prospecting and mining have been semi-continuous since then, being particularly active from the mid-1920s to the beginning of World War II. Gold production from the area was sporadic. Various companies owned, operated and explored Magino from 1917 to today.
Total drilling, both surface and underground, within the Magino resource area is approximately 371,450 metres in 2,414 holes. The Qualified Person responsible for this section was unable to verify drilling completed before 2006 and excluded that data from being used to estimate Mineral Resources. This resulted in the removal of about 114,000 metres of data associated with 1,273 holes, most of which were short, small diameter underground core holes.
Total historic production from the Magino property is 803,135 tonnes of ore yielding 114,319 ounces Au at 4.43 g/t Au.