Abstract
Champion Iron Cluster II is a grouping of 1,449 Mineral Exploration Claims covering 75,000 ha of the Labrador Through, 60 km South of the Bloom Lake Mine. Explored for nearly 75 years, this area is known to hold significant quantities of Iron Ore.
Over the last 15 years, exploration enthusiasm increased for the region and many actors s worked the area, which is now entirely consolidated under Champion Iron (apart from the Fire Lake Mine and adjacent claims). The Cluster II properties are in the Gagnon Terrane, in the Grenville part of the Labrador Trough in which metamorphism ranges from greenschist through upper amphibolite into granulite metamorphic facies from the margins to the orogenic centre of the Grenville Province. The high-grade metamorphism of the Grenville Province is responsible for recrystallization of both iron oxides and silica in primary iron formation, resulting in meta-taconites that are of improved quality for concentration and processing.
The challenge of such a land package resides in the many sources of information through different actors and time. Massive consolidation, standardisation and analysis work is required to properly gauge the economic potential of every deposit and establish priorities. Preliminary evaluation on historical data allows for the assessment of gaps in knowledge and represents a first step in the standardization required in the establishment of characterisation program. Specific sub-projects include:
- Compilation of geophysical surveys and drillhole data into one dataset and creation of 3D inversion models
- Standardization of core analysis, identification of gaps in historic data and re-modelling
- Development of a single, coherent set of economic assumptions across all deposits
Further exploration work on Cluster II will require a geometallurgical approach, which combines small scale tests to develop proxies linked to mineralogy knowledge of the ore. Such approach will serve to build a comprehensive model of the deposit allowing for risk management in production planning, plant management and environmental remediation/controls.