Geology

The Belleterre property is situated in the Belleterre greenstone belt, a classic Archean greenstone belt of the Canadian Shield. The Belleterre Belt is part of the Baby-Belleterre Belt, which extends for nearly 60 km, east-west, is up to 5 km wide and comprises mostly volcanic rocks. Syn- to late - tectonic granitic plutons cut the volcanic sequence. The volcano-sedimentary assemblage is affected by an east-west to north-south schistosity with a subvertical dip. Two fault systems affect the rocks of the Belleterre Group; the primary main network is oriented ENE-WSW and secondary structures consisting of shear zones are oriented NW-SE to north-south.

The Belleterre greenstone belt has an overall crescent shape and arcs around a major tonalitic pluton located towards the west. The dominant rock type are volcanic flows, intermediate to mafic in composition locally intercalated with gabbro and diorite sills and narrow bands of volcaniclastic rocks and terrigenous sediments. Lamprophyre and quartz porphyry dykes are intruded throughout the belt. The rocks are metamorphosed to the greenschist metamorphism grade as evidenced by the pervasive presence of chlorite and biotite.