The Bellechasse Gold Belt

• Site of the first gold rush in North-America in 1828
• Strategic land position comprising 80% of mineralized belt
• 397 mining claims spanning 16,300 hectares
• Excellent infrastructure nearby

The Bellechasse property lies at the end of the Appalachian range of mountains, located in Bellechasse, Panet and Ware Townships approximately 110 km southeast of Quebec City and about 70 km northeast of the town of Saint-Georges . The 100% owned property is comprised of 397 claims covering 16,300 hectares.

The property covers up to 80% of a known mineralized belt. Mineralization with potential economic interest is hosted in zones of fracturing and brecciation in the older intrusives or other pre-existing competent rocks in structural features related to regional trans-current/transform faults. Regional prospecting has located a series of post-Taconic ultrabasic bodies with associated alteration zones that contain base and precious metals. The Bellechasse project consists of multiple known gold-bearing areas:

Bellechasse-Timmins Gold Deposit

• 
  The Bellechasse-Timmins Gold Deposit lies within one of these claim blocks 7km south of the town of St-Magloire in Bellechasse Township.
   
   
   
   



• The Timmins Zone is a quartz vein breccia system hosted in an older diorite intrusive.
   

• 
  The Bellechasse-Timmins Deposit is comprised of what has been previously considered four separate zones; the Timmins Main Zone (now call Timmins 1), the Timmins South (now called Timmins 2), the 88 Zones and the Ascot/Road Zone. Spatially the four zones occur within an area 825 metres long by 650 metres wide.
  
  
   
• All four of the mineralized settings are hosted in the earliest phase of the albite diorite intrusion having the maximum shearing and brecciation. The hydrolic fractured systems within this earliest intrusion were the sites of auriferous quartz deposition.
• The Timmins Zone is a quartz vein breccia system hosted in an older diorite intrusive.
• Auriferous quartz veining occurs throughout the T1, T2, the 88 Zones and Ascot/Road Zone intrusives. Within the intrusives there are economically significant zones ranging in width from 1 to 65 metres. These higher grade zones extend laterally and to depth as indicated by the frequency of quartz veining on the stripped surface and surface trenching.

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Gold mineralization in the Bellechasse area occurs in quartz/carbonate veins in albite diorite and related intrusive rocks, and also in minor amount in the veins within the volcanoclastic rocks that host the diorite.

The area in which mineralization is known measures approximately 875 metres along 045° and approximately 650 metres across the regional strike. Gold-bearing zones consist in quartz-filled structures which locally exhibit stockwerk pattern and may be brecciated. They are known to develop in plug-like protrusions of diorite emplaced in the country rock (T1 Zone) and in larger diorite masses (T2 Zone). 

The T1 mineralization at surface has a length of 130 metres and reaches about 65 meters width. The deepest drilling in the T1 Zone has intercepted gold mineralization in quartz veins within diorite at approximately 300m below surface and followed it down to 400m below surface.

The true thickness of the mineralized portions of the T2 breccia zones are narrower on average, but can be up to 15 meters.   They have been followed for 290 to 340 meters along strike and have been intersected at approximately 300 meters below surface. The T2 zones are still open along strike and to depth. The diorite masses generally dip steeply (70° to vertical) to the soutwest.

The brecciated section in the diorites have no obvious controlling faults or shear zones, but appear to be composed of wedged-apart blocks and fragments.  There is a clear tendency for veining to be oriented along 045° and to have better continuity in the 75° to 90° dip plane.  However, the smaller veins and veinlets are commonly randomly oriented within the brecciated zones.  Quartz veins are often wildly convoluted and discontinuous.  Vein and veinlet terminations are remarkably wedge-shaped.  These characteristics are consistent with natural hydraulic fracturing which would explain the apparent absence of controlling mechanical boundaries and sudden termination of well-developed breccias known from diamond drill holes at depth, below the top of the intrusive.

Currently, three types of gold-bearing structures are recognized:

T1-type:
Quartz-filled brecciated diorite in plug-like protrusions from the 'back' of underlying intrusive bodies.

T2-type:
Elongated quartz-filled breccia zones in the body of diorite intrusives.

Ascot-type:
Quartz-filled structures developed in the volcanoclastic rocks intruded by the diorites. This type is the expression of T2-type quartz-filled breccias in underlying diorite. 

Currently, exploration diamond drilling and surface trenching and bulk sampling have indicated one T1-type mineralized body. At surface this brecciated zone is about 130 metres long and up to 65 metres wide.

T2-type mineralized zones are indicated by diamond drilling, and five additional brecciated zones showing characteristics of the T2-type mineralization require additional drilling before they can be included with confidence.

The T2A Zone is traced by diamond drilling for 340 metres.  The diorite along much of this length has been stripped but the mineralized quartz-filled breccia appears to terminate below the top of the intrusive, with sparse evidence of its presence.

The T2B Zone is exposed intermittently at surface and has been traced along strike by diamond drilling for 290 metres. Where exposed at surface it lies along the contact of the diorite with the host volcanoclastics and is often obscured beneath them.

The 88E Zone comes to surface and has been traced for about 20 - 30 metres before disappearing under a swamp to the southwest and volcanoclastic rocks to the northeast.

Two trenches blasted across the strike of this mineralized zone show greater than 1g/tonne values over a true thickness of ~12m with ~6 metre wide 'core' that returned an average grade of 4.93 g/tonne from six bulk samples in two trenches.

The Ascot/Road Zone has been followed for approximately 600 metres and is the only one of this type known in the Bellechasse-Timmins area, although other similar vein systems have been located ~6km to the southwest at the Beland 2009 showing.

• 2006: Down the hole hammer drill program revealed the nuggety nature of the mineralization. Conclusion reached that large bulk samples (250 kg - 5 tonnes) are needed to adequately determine the average grade of the deposit.
• 2007: Airborne survey over the Bellechasse-Timmins and Lac Etchemin areas. Diamond drill program defined the edge of the T1 mineralized intrusive. Significant widths of the T2 mineralized intrusive exposed by trenching. The Rico trench (T1 bulk sample) yields 38m of 3.805 g/t Au at surface.
• 2008: Completed diamond drill program on T1 and T2 areas defining two new mineralized zones. Results included 8m of 3.48 g/t Au, 4m of 3.42 g/t and 4m at 2.317.
• 2009: Bulk sample completed on the Timmins 1 and Timmins 2 zones. Surface area of Timmins 1 enlarged to 110 meters by 50 meters at an average surface grade of 2.99 g/t Au. Results released March 2010.
• 2010: 16,000 meters of diamond drilling completed of which 14,243 at Bellechasse-Timmins. Significant intersections include;
   
  • BD2010-124  4.98 g/t Au over 13 metres in gold zone T1
    
    BD2010-125 7.57 g/t Au over 10 metres in gold zone T2B
    
    BD2010-132 2.03 g/t Au over 4 metres in gold zone T1
    
    BD2010-132 4.63 g/t Au over 3 metres in gold zone T2B
    
    BD2010-133 9.05 g/t Au over 9 meters in gold zone T2A
  • Timmins 1 was extended to approximately 130 meters in strike by approximately 65 meters in width at surface and a vertical depth of approximately 445 meters. Timmins 2 was extended to approximately 400 meters in strike, up to a true width of approximately 7 meters and a vertical depth of approximately 250 meters. The Ascot/Road zone was extended to a strike length of approximately 650 meters, a true width of up to approximately 7 meters and a true depth approximately 130 meters. All of these zones remain open.
  • During the 2010 diamond drill campaign, 7 mineralized zones were encountered in the 88 Zones, ranging up to approximately 100 meters in strike, 25 meters in true thickness and a vertical depth of up to approximately 236 meters. Grade highlights include:
     
  • BD2010-117  3.68 g/t Au over 34 metres in gold zone 88B
  • A 1700 ton bulk sample program in the Fall of 2010 exploration campaign, Golden Hope Mines Limited carried out a trenching and sampling program on the T1 Zone, T2 B Zone, Ascot/Road Zone, and the 88 Zones. A total of 280 metres of trenching was completed in 16 individual trenches: 5 trenches (84 metres) on the T1 Zone; 2 trenches (18 metres) on the Ascot/Road Zone; and 9 trenches (178 metres) on the 88 Zones.
    
    The purpose for the 2010/11 bulk-sampling program of the Bellechasse-Timmins mineralized zones was threefold;
     
    • to explore the 88 Zones to determine where the mineralization  comes to surface
    • to broaden the sampling of the T1 zone which was established at surface in the 2009/10 campaign.
    • to further investigate the nature of the distribution of gold in the Bellechasse-Timmins mineralized zones that causes diamond drill sampling to considerably underestimate the average grade
    • Results of the bulk-sample program at the 88 Zones included 6.49g/t over 6 meters and 3.37g/t over
       

• 2011 The drill campaign on Bellechasse-Timmins is was aimed at testing and further exploring the known zones: T1 and T2 and the 88 zones. The definition drill program was planned and executed by Golden Hope with the help of an independent consultant on the project; SGS-Geostat Canada.
  
  During the 2011 drill campaign, a total of 15,000 metres were drilled in 47 holes.
   
  Significant intersections include:
   

  Bellechasse-Timmins Significant Drill Results
  Hole Number	Zone	From (Meter)	To (Meter)	Length (Meters)	Grade (g/t)
  BD2011-171	T1	15	48	33	4.39
  BD2011-167	T1	374	380	6	1024
  Including		374	375	1	6140
  BD2010-124	T1	167	180	13	4.98
  BD2010-125	T2B	222	233	10	7.57
  BD2010-133	T2A	371	380	9	9.05
  BD2010-117	88B	255	289	34	3.68
  BD2011-157	T1	1	380	380	0.61
  Including		333	382	49	2.53
  BD2011-162	T1	152	264	112	1.33
  BD2011-166	T2	260	385	125	0.52
  Including		353	385	32	1.29



• 2012 Work on the Bellechasse-Timmins deposit continued through Q1 of 2012 during which 4,500 metres in 12 holes.
  • Production of the first ever NI 43-101 resource estimate for Golden Hope and the region of southeastern Quebec
    
    The following table summarizes the block model estimates using various cut-off grades:
  
  

  GOLDEN HOPE MINES LTD Bellechasse-Timmins
  Class	Tonnage (Tonnes)	Grade ( g/t Au)	Au (oz)	Cut-off (g/t)
  Indicated	5,286,000	1.20	204,000	0.30
  Indicated	3,496,000	1.61	181,000	0.50
  Indicated	2,905,000	1.83	171,000	0.60
  Indicated	1,700,000	2.58	141,000	1.00
  Indicated	692,000	4.32	96,000	2.00
  Indicated	367,000	5.98	71,000	3.00
  Inferred	3,816,000	0.96	118,000	0.30
  Inferred	2,673,000	1.21	104,000	0.50
  Inferred	2,173,000	1.36	95,000	0.60
  Inferred	1,127,000	1.90	69,000	1.00
  Inferred	311,000	3.32	33,000	2.00
  Inferred	124,000	4.75	19,000	3.00

  Note: Rounded numbers, base case cut-off >0.6 g/t gold and capped at 30 g/t.
  Author: Claude Duplessis, June 15, 2012

  
  

  The resource estimate using uncapped composites. This yields an in situ indicated resource of 313,900 ounces gold (2.9 million tonnes grading 3.36 g/t Au) and inferred resource of 102,000 ounces gold (2.17 million tonnes grading 1.46 g/t Au) using a cut-off grade of 0.60 g/t.

  • Gold recovery using gravity separation ranged from 37% to an outstanding 92% with an average of 77.3%, while total gold recovery using a combination of gravity separation and cyanidation ranged from 95.5% to more than 99.6% with an average total gold recovery of 98%.
  • In a gold liberation study in two composites, Composite Sample 1 had approximately 61% of the gold grains occur as liberated, 36% as exposed and 3% as inclusions (locked) in sulphides, oxides and non sulphide gangue.  In Composite Sample 2, approximately 42% of the gold grains occur as liberated, 55% as exposed and 3% as inclusions (locked) in sulphides, oxides and non sulphide gangue.

   

Campaign 2012 - Diamond Drill Results
		Bellechasse-Timmins Plan View 2011-12 Holes Click to download
		Bellechasse-Timmins Plan View of Sections Click to download		Bellechasse-Timmins Lithological Section Through All Zones Click to download
		Bellechasse-Timmins Section with Assay Results, Through Holes BD2011-157 and 164, Southwest Side of T1 Click to download		Bellechasse-Timmins Section with assay Results Through Northern Edge of T1, Passing Through Southern Edge of T2 Click to download
		Bellechasse-Timmins Section in the Middle of T2 Click to download		Bellechasse-Timmins Section Testing Northern Extension of T2 Through 169, 172, and 173 Click to download
		Bellechasse-Timmins Sections 20m Apart, Through 88 zones Click to download		Bellechasse-Timmins Structure Orientation using DIPS Click to download

Exploration Results - Archives