Coulon Project: emergence of a vast VMS system in James Bay
Mathieu Savard (Virginia Mines)

The Coulon property is located 15 km NNW of Fontanges airport, near Caniapiscau in the James Bay region. The project began with the discovery of a Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag occurrence in 2003. At the time, grab samples from the DOM discovery showing yielded grades up to 22.37% Zn, 4.77% Pb, 1.62% Cu, 482 g/t Ag and 482 ppb Au. Subsequent drilling from 2004 to 2007 outlined four massive sulphide lenses with Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization, whereas geophysical surveys revealed the presence of another lens.

The Coulon Belt lies at the junction of four lithotectonic domains, namely the La Grande, Ashuanipi, Minto, and Bienville subprovinces. On the property, the volcano-sedimentary assemblage consists of:

• quartz-plagioclase-biotite and sillimanite gneisses (felsic volcaniclastic rocks);
• mafic to intermediate orthogneisses (basalts, andesites);
• paragneisses (wackes, arenites);
• felsic orthogneisses (dacites, rhyolites);
• iron formations.

Polymetallic zones composed of pyrrhotite, pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, form semi-massive to massive lenses several metres thick, or occur as disseminations and stringers in anthophyllite-tremolite-quartz-chlorite-phlogopite-cummingtonite-garnet-orthopyroxene-bearing rocks. The latter are interpreted as high-grade metamorphic equivalents of hydrothermal alteration zones.

All mineralized zones and alteration zones found on the Coulon property are hosted in sillimanite gneisses, interpreted as a lapilli tuff unit, within a bimodal volcanic sequence that extends for more than 20 km strike length.

To date, five massive sulphide lenses have been identified. The best intersections to date are:

• 8.39% Zn, 0.95% Cu and 47.83 g/t Ag over 10.50 m in lens 44;
• 7.54% Zn; 1.69% Cu, 0.37% Pb and 43.64 g/t Ag over 20.64 m in lens 9-25;
• 4.49% Zn, 0.60% Cu, 1.37% Pb and 59.20 g/t Ag over 3.50 m in lens 43;
• 8.12% Zn, 0.73% Cu, 1.77% Pb and 127.00 g/t Ag over 24.00 m in lens 16-17;
• 12.65% Zn, 1.36% Cu, 1.54% Pb and 125.00 g/t Ag over 4.70 m in lens 08.

In 2008, Virginia Mines and Breakwater Resources intend to continue drilling, prospecting, mapping and geophysical surveying on the property.