The 2741ha Cook Property is a structurally-hosted gold project located in north-central Saskatchewan, 39km north-northwest of Missinipe and 90km north of La Ronge. The main occurrence is a series of NE trending quartz veins that contain visible gold. The claims were subject to sporadic historical exploration and have not been drill tested or explored using modern techniques.
The property is accessible by fixed wing aircraft from La Ronge or the village of Missinipe which in turn is serviced by an airport, Hwy 102 - an all-weather road and a hydro power grid.
The claims were acquired in 2023 are 100% owned by Eagle Plains with no underlying royalties or encumbrances.
Project Highlights
- Excellent geology favourable for gold deposits
- Significantly underexplored with encouraging early results
- Mineralization open in both directions along strike and to depth
- Bonanza-grade gold occurrences within the property boundaries
- Strongly anomalous under-evaluated gold geochemical anomalies
Geology
The Cook gold property is located within the northeasterly trending La Ronge Domain of the Proterozoic Trans-Hudson orogenic belt. The Trans-Hudson Orogen is considered a major orogenic belt that stretches from the United States through Canada and into Greenland, it defines the zone of accretion between the Hearne and Superior cratons. The La Ronge Domain is a volcanic-sedimentary-plutonic belt on the western flank of the Trans-Hudson Orogen in Saskatchewan of early Proterozoic age. The La Ronge Domain is flanked by the Rottenstone Domain to the northwest and interpreted to be a marginal sedimentary basin and arc-root complex while the Glennie Domain to the southeast is interpreted to be a similar granite-greenstone arc.
The Cook property is predominantly underlain by the regional Hickson Lake pluton (locally, the Hepburn Lake intrusion). The northeast trending Rennick Lake Greenstone belt occurs through the center of the property and consists of a complex of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks; predominantly biotite gneiss and biotite-hornblende gneiss. Metamorphic grade is low to middle amphibolite facies.
The Hickson Lake intrusive rocks are fine-medium grained, massive and typically granitic in texture. The contact zone between the Hickson Lake plutonic rocks and the metasedimentary/metavolcanic rocks of the Rennick Lake Greenstone belt is complex. Large, angular xenoliths of metasedimentary/metavolcanic rocks exhibiting sharp contacts occur within the plutonic rocks clearly indicating the intrusive relationship between the Hickson pluton and the Rennick Lake Greenstone belt. Shearing can be observed in the xenoliths and shearing is oriented parallel to the north-easterly structural trend of the region. Small bodies of ultramafic rock have been mapped on the property.
Mineralization
Mineralization at Cook Lake is structurally controlled and occurs along or near the contacts between the intrusive and volcanic rock units. Mineralization identified on the property includes, native gold, native copper, galena, molybdenite (Mo), pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, bornite, malachite, arsenopyrite and hematite. Pyrite and pyrrhotite are the most common sulphide minerals occurring as blebs and disseminations along quartz veins and wall rock contacts. Fine disseminations of galena commonly occur with samples collected from the Cook Gold Showing and fine disseminated blebs/plates of molybdenite commonly occurred within samples collected at the PA Showing.
The Cook Gold Showing/Zone is described as gold-bearing quartz vein structure up to 30m in length and averaging approximately 0.30m in width. Native gold occurring in masses up to 1.25mm was observed occurring in white to rusty red quartz and commonly in rusty vugs. Trenching and subsequent channel samples across the Cook Gold Showing structure assayed up to 79.95 g/t Au over 1m and an individual grab sample of quartz-rich material from the quartz vein structure assayed 398 g/t Au.
Details of the PA Showing gold mineralization are described as a series of discontinuous white to rusty red east-west trending auriferous quartz veins and pods hosted within a silicified amphibolite unit. Quartz veins and amphibolites have been crosscut by series of northeast trending pegmatite dykes. Chip/channel samples across the quartz vein structure up to 0.5m wide assayed up to 4.92 g/t Au over 0.15m and up to 0.139% Mo.
History
The Cook Au showing was discovered in 1959 and re-mapped in 1961.
In 1981, 1164 regional sediment samples were collected by the Saskatchewan Mining and Development Corporation. Anomalous Au results were found there was some doubt of the laboratory’s ability to produce consistent gold analysis of lake sediment samples.
In 1985 the Geological Survey of Canada conducted a lake sediment survey in the area resulting in one sample approximately 6 km’s southwest of the Cook showing returning 25 ppb Au.
Several groups visited the property in the late 80’s that resulted in geologic mapping, rock and chip samples, soil and till samples, as well as 10 meters of trenching over 5 trenches.
No work was done on the property between 1989-2019, when, 7 rock samples were collected from the trenches at the Cook and PA showing resulting in high-grade gold values up to 78.8 g/t Au, 2.7 g/t Ag, 0.146% Pb, 0.019% ppm Cu at the Cook showing and anomalous gold and molybdenum values at the PA showing.
Eagle Plains Exploration
Data Compilation
In Spring of 2023, the available historic data was digitized, referenced in GIS, and imported into a database.
Interpretation
Though vein widths at the Cook and PA showings are not extraordinary (0.3m), the gold grades are significant and worthy of follow up. A lake sediment anomaly and till sample anomalies at the southwest limit of the property warrant up-ice (northeast) follow up. The targets are structurally-hosted gold along contacts of the intrusive and volcanic rocks.
Future Work
Recommendations for future work are:
- Higher level compilation of historical exploration work including trench, channel sample, geological mapping, and geochemical survey locations
- Complete modern property-scale high resolution airborne magnetic, VLF-EM and radiometric survey. Bedrock exposure is such that radiometric responses would assist in remote mapping compilation and potential alteration mapping.
- Exploration target generation utilizing the above information
- Prospect and map the generated targets, conduct soil geochemistry over the most promising targets including the NE and SW strike extensions of the Cook & PA showings
- Channel/trench sample and drill test the best targets
Eagle Plains - A Project Generator
Eagle Plains Resources is a project generator with mineral exploration properties of merit that meet qualifying transaction requirements. The Cook Property, while not a project of merit, is available for option to partners. We facilitate the listing process for capital pool companies and initial public offerings while providing technical expertise for exploration programs. Companies interested in co-operatively exploring any of these projects please contact: Tim Termuende at tjt@eagleplains.com or Mike Labach at mgl@eagleplains.com or call 1 866 Hunt Ore (486 8673).
Updated December 6, 2023
