Reef
Project
In 1990, Noranda reported a historical resource of 454,000 short tons grading 0.308 oz/ton (10.6 g/t) Au uncut (0.262 oz/ton [9.0 g/t] cut) and 0.28% Cu, based on ~87 drill holes. Subsequent drilling by Aquila Resources (2011–2012) returned thick, high‑grade intervals that demonstrate scale and continuity, including 65.2 m @ 2.80 g/t Au & 0.17% Cu (incl. 8.9 m @ 13.14 g/t Au & 0.44% Cu), 94.6 m @ 1.53 g/t Au (incl. 3.9 m @ 14.89 g/t Au), and 16.55 m @ 12.88 g/t Au & 0.27% Cu (incl. 7.9 m @ 24.53 g/t Au & 0.38% Cu). Mineralization trends NE–SW, dips gently to the NW, and remains open in all directions. Our next phase will confirm the historical model, step out along strike and down‑dip, and test copper‑rich zones and lower‑grade envelopes that could support a bulk‑tonnage scenario.
Location & Infrastructure
The Reef Gold Project benefits from strong local infrastructure. It is accessible via a network of county highways and a mix of paved and unimproved town roads. The site is located approximately 12 miles east of Wausau, the county seat of Marathon County, which has a population of around 40,000 and offers full commercial and logistical support. The Canadian Pacific Railway runs through the village of Ringle, about 7 miles south of the project area, providing potential for future rail access. Additionally, a high-tension electrical power line crosses the eastern portion of the project site, offering proximity to grid power.
Regional Geology
The Reef prospect is located on the eastern flank of the Eau Claire felsic center, a geological feature characterized by thick, steeply dipping sequences of rhyolitic crystal (feldspar) metatuffs and fine lapilli metatuffs. These felsic rocks are bounded by fault contact on the east with a steeply dipping mafic volcanic sequence, composed mainly of metabasalt and andesite flows, along with interbedded metasedimentary and tuffaceous units.
This mafic sequence is intruded by various plutonic bodies, including gabbro, diorite, and granite, and is bounded to the east by the Wolf River Batholith. Metamorphism across the region has reached upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies, overprinting most original rock textures, though some tight isoclinal folding and primary bedding structures remain locally preserved.
The area is structurally dominated by the Eau Claire Fault Zone, a northeast-trending deformation corridor that forms the primary structural control on mineralization. This fault zone intersects the larger Eau Pleine Shear Zone, a major terrane boundary within the Penokean Volcanic Belt. The Eau Claire Fault is marked by en echelon shear and fault structures, which appear as linear magnetic highs in geophysical surveys.
Reef Project Geology
The Reef prospect is dominated by a steeply to subvertically dipping mafic volcanic sequence that trends northeast-southwest. The western and northwestern portions of the project area are underlain primarily by massive and pillowed metabasalt flows, interlayered with schistose mafic metatuffs. Felsic volcanic units are present but make up only a minor portion of the stratigraphy.
The mafic sequence is intruded by a variety of igneous bodies, including granite plutons, sheared and unsheared gabbros, and a swarm of felsic dikes and sills (ranging from quartz monzonite to biotite quartz diorite). A notable feature is an isolated serpentinized peridotite body composed primarily of serpentine and talc.
The most significant host for mineralization is a structurally deformed unit called the granofels—a biotite-rich, foliated, mylonitic rock interpreted to derive from gabbro. This unit dips gently (~15° NW) and forms a northeast–southwest trending, trough-like structural zone that contains the Reef gold-copper mineralization. Drilling has defined this zone over 2,400 meters of strike and up to 700 meters in width. The granofels is interpreted to be part of a second-order shear zone associated with the regional Eau Claire Fault Zone, which plays a key role in localizing mineralization.
Project Mineralization
Drilling at the Reef Gold Project has identified eight shallow, stacked orogenic gold mineralized zones hosted within the mylonitic granofels unit. These zones occur at depths of up to ~150 meters and are generally 1 to 5 meters thick, with some intervals exceeding 10 meters. The zones are lensoidal to sheet-like in shape, locally anastomosing, and trend northeast-southwest, dipping gently (15°–40°, locally up to 60°) to the northwest. Mineralization is closely associated with a swarm of felsic dikes and sills, and an unsheared gabbro body forms the footwall to the system.
The gold-copper mineralization is characterized by quartz-sulfide veins, vein breccias, sulfide lamellae, and sulfide veinlets. Sulfide assemblages are dominated by pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, with lesser pyrite and sphalerite. Gold occurs as native grains (up to 55 μm), and also in electrum and gold-telluride minerals. Trace minerals include cubanite, molybdenite, and telluro-bismuthinite.
Some zones near the surface show supergene chalcocite enrichment where they intersect the paleoweathering profile. The textures and mineral associations suggest at least two phases of gold mineralization: an early phase with gold encapsulated in sulfides, and a later phase where gold was remobilized into vein boundaries and microfractures.
Historical Resources and Drill Results
Company | No. of Drillholes | Total Meterage (m) | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Totals | 129 | 17,799 | ||
Reef Exploration | 30 | 4,105 | 1982-1985 | |
Noranda | 18 | 2,944 | 1986-1988 | |
Noranda – AGI | 39 | 6,250 | 1988-1989 | |
Aquila Resources | 42 | 4,500 | 2011-2012 |
In 1990, Noranda completed a historical resource estimate for the Reef Gold Project based on approximately 87 drillholes. Using a cutoff grade of 0.10 ounces per ton (3.43 g/t) and a minimum mining thickness of 5 feet (1.52 meters), the estimate outlined 119,300 ounces of gold contained within 454,000 tons, grading 0.308 opt (10.6 g/t) gold and 0.28% copper.
Further drilling by Aquila Resources (2011–2012) identified additional gold ± copper mineralization along strike to the southwest of the historic resource area. However, the geological relationship between this newer mineralization and Noranda’s delineated zones has yet to be confirmed.
Importantly, mineralization at Reef remains open in multiple directions, highlighting the strong potential for future resource expansion through continued exploration.
Company | Tonnage (tonnes) | Gold (Uncut) | Gold (Cut) | Silver | Copper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Noranda (1990) | 454,000 short tons | 0.308 opt | 0.262 opt | 0.25 opt | 0.28% |
~412,000 metric tons | ~10.60 g/t | ~9.00 g/t | ~8.60 g/t | 0.28% |
Drill Hole | Interval (m) | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | From (m) | To (m) | Included Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R12-38 | 65.2 | 2.80 | 0.17 | 80.5 | 145.73 | 8.9m @ 13.14 g/t Au & 0.44% Cu |
R12-40 | 94.6 | 1.53 | – | 8.5 | 103.5 | 3.9m @ 14.89 g/t Au |
R11-11 | 16.5 | 12.88 | 0.27 | 40.6 | 55.4 | 7.90 m @ 24.53 g/t Au & 0.38% Cu |
*Historical estimate (Noranda, 1990); not current under NI 43‑101 and not to be relied upon. A Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to classify these historical estimates as current mineral resources or reserves; GreenLight is not treating them as current. Significant data compilation, re drilling, re sampling, and verification may be required before any such estimates can be classified as current under NI 43 101. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that any historical estimate, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable or be converted to mineral reserves. Reported drill intervals are down‑hole lengths and may not represent true widths.
