Since most of the land in the area of the deposits is covered by overburden, the geology has been interpreted from drill information and magnetic surveys. Archean volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Meliadine greenstone belt underlie the property. The rock layers have been folded, sheared and metamorphosed. They trend west-northwest, dip to the north, and have been overturned. The rock units are truncated by the Pyke Fault, a regional structure that extends the entire 80-kilometre length of the property. The Pyke Fault appears to control gold mineralization on the Meliadine property.
Deposits
At the southern edge of the Pyke Fault is a series of oxide iron formations consisting of a northern magnetite-rich “upper” oxide iron formation and two southern “lower lean” weakly magnetic iron formations. These two oxide iron formations host the six Meliadine deposits. The deposits consist of multiple lodes of mesothermal quartz-vein stockworks, laminated veins, and sulphidized iron formation mineralization with strike lengths of up to 3 kilometres. Some of the lodes plunge shallowly to the west.
The Upper Oxide and the Tiriganiaq Formation (laminated siltstones) host the TIRIGANIAQ and WOLF NORTH zones. Within the Wesmeg Formation (volcanic rocks) is the Lower Lean, a chert-rich iron formation that contains the F ZONE, PUMP, WOLF MAIN and WESTMEG deposits. The Wolf (North and Main), F zone, Pump and Wesmeg deposits are all within 5 kilometres of the Tiriganiaq deposit.
The DISCOVERY deposit is 17 kilometres east-southeast of Tiriganiaq, and is hosted by the Upper Oxide iron formation in geology similar to the other deposits. Its gold mineralization is associated with abundant quartz-carbonate veining, elevated sulphide content (arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite) and hydrothermal alteration.
One hundred percent of the reserves and 66% of the resources are in the Tiriganiaq deposit, while F zone accounts for 12% of the resources and Discovery accounts for 11% of the resources. All six deposits remain open at depth and down-plunge.
* Source Meliadine December 31, 2011 Reserves and Resources
Deposits Maps and Sections:
