McDonald Project

General Information

The McDonald Project is located in the southwestern part of the Quebec Appalachians in the Eastern Townships region of the Province of Quebec. Uragold's Moe River Property forms the western edge of the property. The property then extends east out to the Eaton River property. The northern limits are 10 km from the city of Sherbrooke while the village of Hereford forms the southern tip of the property.

B.C. McDonald of the Geological Survey of Canada discovered the McDonald Auriferous Till in 1966. Surface till samples of heavy mineral concentrates were assayed to delineate auriferous areas within the sedimentary sequence of the Connecticut Valley-Gaspe Synclinorium. Auriferous till was found to be concentrated in an area at the headwaters of such placer gold bearing drainages as the Saumon, Eaton Rivers and the 400,000 plus ounce placer gold deposit of the Moe River. (Uragold 43-101 Technical Report, Nov 09) Gold in recent alluvium is being washed from the till through which these rivers and their tributaries flow. Uragold now holds this area of till.

Uragold is interested in finding the hard rock source from which the gold originated. It is believed that this source is somewhere within the company's claimed blocks.

Further work on the McDonald Auriferous Till by Rampton and Gleeson in 1981 (Dr V. Rampton, Dr C.F. Gleeson 1981) revealed non-visible gold with one concentrate sample yielding 2.69 g/ton au. The authors felt that the gold was local in origin and probably derived from the pyritiferous slates and quartzites of the Silurian-Devonian, St.-Francois Group (that strikes north easterly through the McDonald Project area).

The geochemical distribution patterns in the glacial drift suggest at least two possible localities for hard rock gold sources. The first could be northwest of Hereford Mountain in Compton County, while the second source may be east of Martinville in Clifton County.

A third possible source of lode gold has been suggested by geologist Pierre Geoffroy in the hills in the vicinity of Saint-Edwidge between the Moe River and Route 251. Mr. Goeffroy was exploring the gold placers of the Moe River for Exploration Minière Appalaches in 1986. In his report (GM43677), he wrote that high yielding placer gold concentrate samples from the tributaries of the Moe River were found at high elevations where glacial till overburden is practically non-existent. He proposed that weathering might have freed gold from gold bearing quartz veins.

Coincidently, in 1985 the Canadian Geological Survey conducted a heavy mineral sampling project throughout the Eastern Townships of Quebec (Y.T. Maurice and M. Mercier). One stream sediment sample concentrate gave 242.30 ppm gold. This sample was obtained from a site above the main glacial till overburden. This sample was also in the hills between the Moe River and Route 251 but some 4 km south of Saint-Edwidge.

Other gold showings on the McDonald Property include:-