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Shining Tree
Shining Tree (Gold)
- Ownership: Part of South Timmins Mining JV with Fancamp Exploration (75% Platinex, 25% Fancamp)
- Location: Shining Tree, Ontario, Canada
- Land package: 23,242 ha (232 km2)
- Target commodities: Gold, Silver, Copper
Summary
The Shining Tree Project is a distict-scale gold property. It covers a large section of the Ridout Tyrrell deformation zone (RTDZ) which trends as far west as Newmont’s Borden Mine, through the area of IAMGOLD’s Cote Gold deposit, and across Aris Gold’s Juby Project.
Location and Access
The Shining Tree property is located near the small town of Shining Tree approximately 100 km southeast of Timmins and 125 km north of Sudbury. Access is via Hwy 560 which runs directly through the property. The property is well serviced with infrastructure and is accessible for exploration 12 months of the year.
Exploration History
Gold was first discovered in Shining Tree in 1911 which led to a gold rush and a proliferation of small, high grade, claim holdings. Many of these, over 30 on the property, were developed underground by shafts and drifts. This first phase of exploration resulted in production from the Ronda Mine, but in 1940 all operations were shut down for the war effort. A land dispute after the war suppressed much of the exploration until 1995. The bulk of the work on the Shining Tree property since that time has been carried out by PTX Metals.
Geology and Mineralization
The Shining Tree property is underlain by the Ridout-Tyrrell Deformation Zone (RTDZ), which is such a trans-crustal structure, along which several world-class gold deposits are spatially and genetically associated. The Shining Tree property is also centred on the axis of a regional gravity high signifying an area of thick supracrustal rocks and under-plating by oceanic crust. In the Abitibi these associations are conducive to the discovery of major gold deposits. In fact, the Shining Tree property is situated on the strongest gravity anomaly in the entire gold belt of several hundred kilometres length.
The RTDZ mainly separates the older Keewatin Volcanic Assemblages (2.704 to 2.760 million years) from the younger Porcupine Assemblages (2.680 to 2.690 million years) in Shining Tree area. The Porcupine Assemblages comprise felsic intrusions, conglomerate and turbidites and calc- alkaline to alkali volcanics. The RTDZ is associated with second and third stage deformation in the area. Several NNW trending regional late faults associated with fourth stage deformation also cross the Shining Tree property and offset the RTDZ six km to the left.
Gold mineralization is associated with three or four stages of deformation. A total of 30 prospects and developments on the property have explored principally lode gold deposits on the property with production having been achieved at the Ronda Mine in 1939-1940. Not so well explored but evidenced by the abundance of fine grained gold in glacial till, orogenic gold is believed associated with the RTDZ and associated splay faults. There is significant potential for the property to host one or more Tier 1 gold deposits especially associated with the RTDZ.
The property is underlain by an Early Precambrian assemblage of WNW trending, steeply dipping felsic to mafic and ultramafic metavolcanic rocks as well as metasedimentary rocks and alkali metavolcanic rocks of Porcupine age. These rocks are intruded by pre-orogenic feldspar porphyries and hypabyssal diabase dikes and sills of Nipissing Age. The Porcupine aged metasedimentary rocks are believed to have accumulated in a regional rift. Later south to north compressive faulting along the axis of this rift has been identified as the Ridout-Tyrrell Deformation Zone. Major NNW sinistral wrench faults, including the Michiwakenda Lake Fault which crosses the Shining Tree property, are regional in scale. Related subsidiary parallel shears and possible splays carry significant gold mineralization on the Shining Tree property.
At least three ages of gold mineralization are known on the property with coarse gold having been found in some of the older vein deposits which are in abundance. The RTDZ mineralization is estimated at 2676.5 to 2677.5 Ga in age and the possibly related Herrick and Ronda Mine deposits are believed associated with the younger transpressive structures.
Ownership and Agreements
PTX Metals holds a 100%-ownership interest in the property with approximately 10% of the property subject to NSR royalties ranging between 2-3%. Staking and strategic acquisitions were conducted over several years with expansion of the property including the acquisition of the Skead Holdings, Skead-Ashley Gold Mines, Treasury Metals Goldeye-Leonard, and Ronda Mine properties (Alamos) to bring the Shining Tree property to a current size.