History
On February 14, 2007, it was announced that Cumberland and Agnico-Eagle had entered into a definitive agreement in which Agnico-Eagle would make an all share exchange offer for all outstanding and fully diluted common shares of Cumberland. The exchange was completed on July 9, 2007.
In the 1980’s, regional grassroots exploration programs outlined gold bearing Archean greenstone belts in the Baker Lake area. Asamera Minerals (with sixty percent interest) and Comaplex (with forty percent interest) were partners in the project. In 1984, Cumberland acquired Asamera’s sixty percent interest. The Third Portage deposit was discovered in 1987. These programs provided further information on the Third Portage deposit and outlined the Goose Island deposit, and the North Portage deposit. In 1997, Cumberland acquired Comaplex’s forty percent interest making it the 100% owner of the project. Further exploration programs discovered three other gold deposits: the Vault deposit (October 2000), the PDF deposit (October 2002), the Cannu zone (September 2005).
By 2003, Cumberland had identified several large, high grade shallow and closely spaced gold deposits at Meadowbank, thus establishing a major Canadian gold project. Currently, the Meadowbank gold project consists of ten Crown mining leases (7,395 hectares) and three Nunavut Tunngavik Inc exploration concessions (23,126 hectares) covering a total of 30,521 hectares. In February 2005, the results of a feasibility study that had begun in 2003 were announced. The study suggested that a conventional open pit gold mine would have a mine life of approximately eight years from probable mineral reserves of 2,890,000 ounces situated within closely-spaced, near surface deposits. In September 2006, Cumberland reported that the Cannu Zone contained approximately 85,000 ounces of inferred mineral resources. In August 2006, Cumberland received a positive recommendation from the Nunavut Impact Review Board for development of Meadowbank.
Agnico-Eagle plans to draw personnel from its Quebec base to complement and assist the workforce in Nunavut. We anticipate a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with citizens and government of Nunavut, much like our experience in Quebec.
Geology
The Meadowbank comprises a series of Archean-aged gold deposits hosted within polydeformed rocks of the Woodburn Lake Group; part of the series of Archean Supracrustal assemblages forming the Western Churchill supergroup in northern Canada.
Currently, three of the four deposits are planned to be mined. The Goose Island and Portage deposits are hosted by highly deformed magnetite rich iron formation rocks while an intermediate volcanic rock assemblage hosts the majority of the mineralization at the more northerly Vault deposit. In all deposits, gold mineralization is commonly associated with intense quartz flooding, and the presence of iron sulphite minerals (pyrite and/or pyrrhotite).
Deposits
Four gold deposits have been discovered along the Meadowbank gold trend, a 25 kilometre long trend encompassing 35,000 hectares of land. The known gold resources are situated within 225 metres of surface, making the project amenable to open pit mining methods. A zone of high grade, near surface gold mineralization, the Cannu zone, was discovered and evaluated during the 2005 drill program
The Portage gold deposits are defined over 1.85 km strike length and cross lateral extents ranging from 100m to 230m. The geometry consists of a NNW striking recumbent fold with limbs that extend to the west. The mineralization in the lower limb of the fold is typically 6m to 8m in true thickness reaching up to 20m in the hinge area.
The Goose Island deposit is similar in its geometry and setting to the Portage deposit, with a NNW trend and a steep westerly dip. The deposit is currently defined over a 750m strike length and down to 500m at depth (mainly in the southern end); with true thickness of 10m to 12m.
The Vault deposit is a planar and shallow dipping with a defined strike of 1,100m. The deposit has been disturbed by two sets of normal faults striking east-west and north-south and dipping moderately to the southeast and steeply to the east respectively. The main lens has an average true thickness of 8m to 12m. The hanging wall lenses are 3m to 5m.
Meadowbank 2008 Mineral Reserves and Resource*
|
Gold
(g/tonne) |
Silver
(g/tonne) |
Copper
(%) |
Zinc
(%) |
Tonnes
(000's) |
Gold Ounces
(000's) |
|
Probable Reserve |
3.45 |
|
|
|
32,773 |
3,638 |
| Indicated Resource |
2.17 |
|
|
|
21,956 |
1,531 |
|
Inferred Resource |
2.78 |
|
|
|
4,953 |
443 |
*Mineral reserves are not a subset of mineral resources.
Please refer to the company press release dated February 18, 2009 for further details on the mineral reserves and resources. The technical information has been prepared under the supervision of, and reviewed by, Marc Legault P.Eng., Vice-president Project Development, and a “Qualified Person” for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.