Highlights

• Copper- silver and lead-zinc- silver mineralization in skarn, manto and epithermal settings
• Huge 150-km2 project encompassing entire dome
• 7 new discoveries by Threegold

Project Data

Property center point coordinates:

Activity in the area

• Xstrata Copper

end faq

Background

The Lemieux Dome Project consists of two contiguous property blocks: the 100% owned Lemieux block (178 claims covering 10,157 ha) and the Mont-de-l'Aigle block, under option from Ressources Appalaches (178 claims covering 5,727 ha; see below for terms). The project covers a surface area of approximately 158 km2 in the Lemieux Township just south of Parc National de la Gaspésie, about equal distances from Ste-Anne-des-Monts, Murdochville and New Richmond.

Two prospectors first discovered mineralization in the area in 1909 as they worked their way up rivers and streams, chasing mineralized boulders. A government geologist produced the first geological map of the area in the 1910s, recognizing and outlining a prominent domal structure. The Lemieux Dome, as it became known, underwent two major exploration periods: the first in the 1910s and 1920s, and the second during the 1950s when a renewed interest in base metal exploration sparked a major boom with up to 10 different companies working simultaneously.

Threegold moved into the area in 2005 and has since acquired a significant position and can now claim to be the first company to have consolidated the entire geological structure under one owner. This provides a significant advantage as the structure can now be evaluated as a whole instead of focusing on individual isolated features.

Geology

The Lemieux Dome is a subcircular anticlinal geological structure almost 10 km across. It affects the Siluro-Devonian metasedimentary rocks on the north flank of the Connecticut Valley-Gaspé Synclinorium. The core of the Lemieux Dome is occupied by the St-Léon and Forillon sedimentary formations, whereas the Shiphead and Indian Cove sedimentary formations, as well as the Yorl Lake and York River volcanic and sedimentary formations, are found along the periphery. Basalts of the York River Formation are particularly abundant in the southern and eastern parts of the dome where they represent the predominant lithologies. All formations are cut by numerous felsic intrusions, from monzonites to dacites, which occur as dykes and sills.

At present, the most attractive feature of the area remains the impressive number of mineralized veins and breccias. In the 1940s and 1950s, they were explored by trenching and drilling, which revealed structures 1 to 10 m wide and more than several hundred metres long. Grades for the veins and breccias range from 1-10% Zn, 3-7% Pb and 10-500 g/t Ag.

Several mineral deposit types have been proposed for the property, the most important (and probable) of these being related to intrusive stocks. These types of deposits include copper porphyries, copper skarns, and massive sulphide replacements in marble and limestone (mantos). The central and southern parts of the Lemieux Dome have seen little exploration and have only been probed by a few short holes.

After carrying out extensive exploration on the project during 2007 and 2008, Threegold made the strategic decision to step back from the veins and breccias and focus on the entire structure as a whole. This approach is paying off as company geologists are now able to establish a new stratigraphic column that helps explain why some of the earlier efforts did not materialize in discoveries. This information is currently being integrated in a new and improved geological model for the area that will be used to predict and decipher underground mineralization that has so far eluded drilling programs despite many surface occurrences.

Terms of the Appalaches option

Threegold signed an option agreement with Ressources Appalaches for the Mont-de-l'Aigle Property that was announced on January 17, 2007. Under the terms of the agreement, Threegold Resources must incur $2M in exploration expenditures within 5 years to earn a 50% interest in the property. The company is currently in the fifth year of this agreement and must spend $373,836 to complete the earn-in.

end faq