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Commodore Project

Overview  |  Background  |  History Geology and Mineralization  |  Mineral Resource
2009-10 Program  |  2011 Program

Property Overview
Ownership 50%
Past Production Morris Mine : 17,000 oz Au & 29,300 oz Ag
Deposit Type Quartz vein hosted in volcanics, sediments and porphyry
Historic Resource Commodore Deposit: 51,800 oz (669,500 t @ 2.4 g/t)
Location Lebel and Gauthier Twps. Adjacent to Upper Canada mine property
Status JV with Newstrike Resources. Actively exploring Commodore gold zone.

Background

In February 2009 the Company and Newstrike Resources Ltd. (“Newstrike”) formed a 50%-50% joint venture to purchase and explore 36 mineral claims located in Lebel and Gauthier Townships. In August 2009 the joint venture completed the purchase with each party paying the vendor $95,000 cash and issuing 35,000 shares of Newstrike and 10,000 shares of Queenston. In September, the joint venture consolidated a larger land package in the area with the purchase of an additional 4 adjoining claims from a third party, Newstrike contributing their 6 claim Morris property and Queenston adding 11 boundary claims.



The combined Commodore property now contains 57 mineral claims comprising 25 patented and 32 unpatented claims. As additional consideration for the contribution made to the JV by Queenston, Newstrike issued 600,000 common shares to Queenston. In September 2009 the JV commenced an exploration program on the property targeting a variety of gold zone.

Brief History

Gold was first discovered on the property in early 1930’s and between 1936 to 1941 Morris Kirkland Gold Mines milled 111,566 tons recovering 16,699 oz of gold and 29,300 oz of silver at recovered grades of 4.5 g/t Au and 7.9 g/t Ag. The property was serviced by two shafts with the #1 shaft sunk to approximately 35 m depth and the #2 shaft sunk to approximately 495 m. Since the mine shut in 1941 very little work was completed at the mine site. Apart from a variety of individuals and mining companies completing a variety of small programs, including geophysics and drilling, between 1944 to 1994 very little meaningful exploration was completed on the Commodore property. In 1995 Sudbury Contact Mines completed exploration leading to the discovery of the Commodore Zone, a shallow gold deposit containing an historic mineral resource of 6,669,500 t grading 2.4 g/t (500,000 oz Au). Other than a program of stripping and shallow drilling at the Morris mine in 2008 by Newstrike Resources, no other work was reported on the property since 1996.

Property Geology and Mineralization

The Commodore property is favourably located within a key structural - stratigraphic corridor that hosts significant gold mineralization in the Kirkland Lake gold camp. The property is centered along the Lebel – Gauthier Township line between the past producing Bidgood, Moffat Hall and Morris gold mines to the west in Lebel Township and the Upper Canada Mine to the east in Gauthier Township. The Commodore property is underlain by an east-west trending southerly dipping sequence of volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Timiskaming assemblage. This is the same assemblage of rocks that host the Kirkland Lake main break gold deposits 10 km to the west and the Upper Canada Mine, 2 km to the east.

Based on a geological compilation completed in the area by Queenston, there are 3 bands of Timiskaming sedimentary rocks composed of arkosic sandstone, greywacke and conglomerate that range in thickness from 200 – 800 m. Between the sediments are three bands of intermediate alkalic volcanic rocks (trachyte) containing both flows and tuffs. Both the sedimentary and volcanic rocks dip vertical or steeply to the south. In the northeast corner of the property a syenite body intrudes the sedimentary and volcanic assemblage.

In terms of gold potential, the most favourably rocks occur on the southern portion of the property within a structural corridor related to the Larder Lake Break. The Larder Lake Break is located 1 km south of the property and two related subsidiary structures, the Upper Canada Break and 03 Break trend through the property one kilometre apart. Within the structural corridor the rocks are deformed, carbonated, contain disseminated pyrite and host the Commodore gold deposit. Gold mineralization has been identified in the south-western portion of the property along the Upper Canada Break north of highway 66. Along this structure, the Outcrop Zone occurs in intensely altered volcanic and sedimentary rocks containing pyrite, chalcopyrite and magnetite. Surface grab samples taken by Sudbury Contact Mines in 1995 from the zone returned gold values up to 2.4 g/t.  Drilling by Sudbury Contact Mines in 1995-96 outlined the Commodore Zone below and north of the Outcrop Zone. The Commodore Zone represents a zone of mineralized breccia at the sedimentary – volcanic contact in the vicinity of the Upper Canada Break.

Historic Mineral Resource

A total of 21 holes were drilled by Sudbury Contact outlining a 250 m long gold zone with an average thickness of 11.7 m to a vertical depth of 180 m. The zone strikes at an azimuth of 100 degrees and dips 55 degrees to the south. The best intersection was in hole Egg-8 reporting 5.5 g/t Au over 20 m including 12.4 g/t Au over 6.7 m.

Following the 1995-96 drilling program Sudbury Contact Mines calculated an inferred mineral resource for the Commodore Zone amounting to 669,500 t grading 2.4 g/t averaging 7.9 m thick including a higher grade inferred resource of 278,500 t grading 3.8 g/t with an average thickness of 3.5 m. The mineral resource was calculated by Lorne Burden in 1997 when the property was under option to Sudbury Contact Mines Ltd. and should not be relied upon as it has not been verified by a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. 

2009-10 Exploration Program

In October 2009 the JV commenced a exploration program on the property. The first four holes, totalling 851 m, targeted the HG Zone discovered by previous owners in 1995. The HG Zone is represented by a single drill hole, Egg-04, which intersected visible gold in a quartz vein that assayed 43.5 g/t Au over 1.5 m. The four initial holes completed by the JV intersected gold mineralization believed to be associated with the HG Zone. The best interval  reported was in hole COM-09-04, drilled 50 m west of the HG Zone, assaying 4.5 g/t Au over 7.8 m including a 5.0 m interval assaying 6.3 g/t Au containing 14.9 g/t Au over 1.0 m. The intersection in COM-09-04 occurred at the bottom of the hole indicating the mineralization remains open to depth. Hole COM-09-01 drilled 50 m below the HG Zone intersected a broad interval assaying 0.6 g/t Au over 19.9 m. Approximately 50 m above HG, hole COM-09-03 intersected an interval assaying 0.7 g/t Au over 12.7 m including a 1.0 m interval assaying 4.8 g/t Au. East of HG, hole COM-09-02 intersected a 1.0 m interval assaying 2.1 g/t Au.

Continuation of the drilling program in 2010 included 31 drill holes totalling 10,290 m.  The 2010 drilling targeted the Commodore, Egg and Morris mine mineralization and tested a series of IP geophysical anomalies.  At the Commodore Zone drilling was unable to extend or enhance the grade of the known mineralization beyond the limits of the existing deposit.  At the Egg Zone new holes intersected mineralization that extended the zone to the west and to depth with best results intersected in holes COM10-16 and COM10-35 assaying 1.47 g/t Au over 4.0 m and 2.5 g/t Au over 5.0 m respectively.  The IP anomaly drilling tested a series of targets located north of the Commodore and Egg zones with the best results from holes COM10-30 and COM10-32 intersecting 2.1 g/t A over 5.1 m and 1.16 g/t Au over 7.1 m respectively in altered porphyry. The most encouraging results in 2010 were encountered on the Morris mine property.  The most significant results were 2.08 g/t Au over 4.8 m (including 6.93 g/t over 1.0 m), 2.47 g/t Au over 2.8 m and 5.69 g/t Au over 1.0 m, 8.01 g/t over 1.0 m and 1.06 g/t Au over 51 m(see news release July 21, 2010).



The drilling results from both the Commodore and neighboring Pawnee property (100% Queenston) supports the potential for significant mineralization aligned along historic surface trenching southwest of the Morris shaft.  Queenston drilling on the Pawnee property has extended the favourable mine sequence on the Commodore property for 1,000 m west of the main shaft.

2011 Program

In 2011 the JV will review the balance of drilling results of the 2009-2010 program prior to commencing further exploration.