GEOLOGY & MINERALIZATION
The currently known gold deposits at Back River are comprised of Umwelt, Llama and Goose (all on the Goose Property), and the George deposits approximately 50 km to the north of the Goose Property. The Goose and George deposits are historical deposits which formed the resource basis upon which Sabina acquired the property in June 2009. The Umwelt and Llama deposits are among the discoveries Sabina has made since acquiring the property, and are the only two of the Sabina discoveries which are included in the current resource estimate and PEA.
Most of the known or observed gold mineralization identified on the Back River Project is associated with quartz veins, silicification and shearing. The mineralization occurs within silicified and variably sulphidized iron formation and to a lesser extent sedimentary units that appear to have a spatial association with narrow porphyritic felsic dykes and mudstones. Sulphide minerals observed on the Back River Project include pyrite, arsenopyrite, and pyrrhotite. Sulphide mineralization may be associated with accessory chlorite, carbonate, hornblende and grunerite. Visible gold is locally present, especially when sulphides are greater than 10% and when coarse-grained arsenopyrite is present.
On the Goose Property, gold mineralization on the Goose deposit is predominantly structurally controlled. The deposit is situated within the lower iron formation and underlying sediments beneath the Goose antiform structure, which resides within a 500m + wide corridor of widely spaced, subparallel north to northeast trending southeast dipping, normal faults that have up to 30 m of left-lateral displacement and a down dropping of individual fault blocks of up to 75m. The Umwelt and Llama deposits are underlain by similar geology to Goose. Suphidized oxide and silicate facies banded iron formations are cut by felsic and gabbroic dykes. Airborne and ground magnetics suggest that the iron formations are strongly folded. Recent drilling at Llama confirms the complexity of the structural history of that area, but tighter drill spacing in 2012 is allowing a continuous high grade gold bearing antiform structure to be defined.
Gold mineralization at George is located within oxide iron formation near the stratigraphic base of this unit. Less significant gold mineralization is also hosted within silicate iron formation. Gold bearing zones are associated with sulphide concentrations in the iron formation and are commonly accompanied by increased quartz veining and attendant alteration of the surrounding rocks.
For further details on the geology and mineralization of the Back River Project please see the Company's latest AIF and NI 43-101 report available in the Public Filings section of this website.
EXPLORATION
Sabina acquired the Back River Project from Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) on June 9, 2009. Since acquisition, nearly all exploration has been confined to the Goose property and all exploration has focused on finding new gold mineralization away from the existing Goose deposit.
2009:
Sabina completed a diamond drill program consisting of 6,690 meters and 27 diamond drill holes. Work also included geophysics consisting of Mag and IP surveys, ground geophysics consisting of walking and skidoo Mag surveys, and mapping and prospecting north of Llama Lake. Drilling commenced in July and continued into September, 2009.
2010:
Sabina completed 157 diamond drill holes totally 40,203 meters of core on the Goose block. Drilling was focused on the Echo, Llama and Umwelt target. This drilling resulted in the discovery of significant new gold mineralized zones at Llama and Umwelt. Drilling commenced in March and continued into October, 2010.
2011:
Sabina completed 132 diamond drill holes totaling 53,451 meters of core on Back River Project. Drilling was mostly focused on the Goose block to expand and increase the existing resources on the Llama and Umwelt deposits. Additional discovery level targets were drill tested in 2011 that resulted in the discovery of new gold mineralized zones at Goose Neck South and Camp Zones. Drilling also took place on the George block where 39 diamond drill holes were completed totally 8,378 meters looking for targets that were analogous to the deposits at the Goose block.
2012:
A $65 million, eight drill, 76,000 metre work program is underway on Sabina's Nunavut projects, with the vast majority of the focus on Back River. The camps at Goose and George have been provisioned for up to 100,000 metres of drilling to enable aggressive follow-up on positive results. The drilling campaign got underway in March and is expected to continue through October.
The Back River objectives for 2012 are:
1. To continue to expand the known resources at depth and along strike on the Goose claim block;
2. To drill test remaining high potential targets on the Goose claim block;
3. To drill test high priority shallow targets at the George claim block identified by the exploration tool box;
4. To upgrade existing inferred resources as needed for the planned 2013 pre-feasibility study;
5. To begin evaluation of high potential targets on the other Back River claim blocks; and
6. To complete necessary baseline studies needed to support the environmental assessment phase of the project.
Please visit our News Section for ongoing 2012 exploration results.
