Victoria MMZ

The Victoria MMZ was acquired by staking, with the idea of acquiring and then joining two known polymetallic showings, Victoria and Colonie, which were located in the centre and the eastern end of a magnetic feature visible in the most recent Quebec government airborne. It was subsequently proven that the mag feature represents the mineralized ultramafic body (Ni/Co/Pt/Pd), and there are co-incident EM anomalies associated with the interlayered VMS graphitic mudstone (Zn/Cu/Ag/Au). Victoria was first drilled in late 2020 with a small gauge drill that, due to mechanical issues, did not finish the initial program but did deliver compelling results. The Victoria MMZ exploration advanced through COVID restrictions and provincial pre-emptive forest fire restrictions to being a proven mineral occurrence over ~20km, drilled from surface to ~200m vertical depth within a 2.5km area depicted above.

What is Renforth Doing at Victoria?

At Victoria Renforth has two deposit scenarios we are working to prove, not necessarily mutually exclusive. First Renforth envisions at least one surface, low-grade bulk-tonnage deposit with ~0.2% Ni and payable Zn/Cu/Co in the ~300-500 MT range. Renforth hopes to delineate three or four such deposits within the district-scale project, capitalizing on the highly favourable logistics of operating in the southern Abitibi. This scenario is supported by a conservative extrapolation from what Renforth has already outlined in drilling in recent years, along favourable structures on the project.

*NOTE – there is no current 43-101 resource in place, Renforth is working towards a maiden resource statement

Secondly Renforth hopes to find considerably higher grade Ni ± Cu/Zn bodies at depth, situated along the planes along which the VMS-type horizon interacts with the ultramafic package. Renforth hopes to identify numerous deposits in the 1-3% Ni, 1-5% Cu ± 5-10% Zn (± payable Co) at 25-50 MT, which may or may not overlap.

*NOTE – there is no current resource in place, the preceding statements represent what Renforth is working to prove within the Victoria mineralized system

Victoria Geological Model

Our current geological model for Victoria is as follows: The Pontiac sediments host a pre-existing sulphidic, graphitic horizon which bears zinc and lesser copper and perhaps cobalt. Texturally, this sequence resembles an exhalite with laminated cherts and chert-sulphide layers sometimes present. Stratigraphic way-up is inferred to be northward based on scouring textures seen in SUR-21-28 and a gradual ramp-up of Pb values in country units in SUR-22-39, interpreted as the VMS hanging wall. This sequence has interacted with a series of ultramafic units (sills and/or flows) which have assimilated both sulphur and carbon from the Pontiac horizon, allowing pentlandite to be precipitated in proximity to sphalerite-pyrrhotite in places. The assimilated carbon produces a distinctive ferrodolomite contact alteration zone which is close to, or hosts, much of the mineralization.

Alternatively, pentlandite may have been generated in small amounts through the liberation of Ni during serpentinization, combining with Sulphur liberated by conversion of pyrite to pyrrhotite at amphibolite grade.

Geochemical Observations

 Zinc mineralization ties very strongly to sulphidic, graphitic sedimentary units. This can be seen geochemically with a very strong zinc-copper-cobalt-sulphur correlation. Higher zinc values correlate with drops in magnesium and modest elevation in incompatible elements such as yttrium. The reduced magnesium may correlate with a possible reduction in biotite and increase in muscovite that is observed in drill core close to the mineralized zones. It is possible that the sulphidic, graphitic units are a volcanogenic exhalite and, if so, it should be possible to recognise alteration halos.

Geochemically, it can be seen that the ultramafic system has two clear end-members; a mafic component that is Ni+Cr-enriched, and a komatiitic component which is both weakly Ni-enriched and partially Cr-depleted. Variolitic and spinifex textures are occasionally observed in core in the respective units. Spatially these are intricately interlayered within the Victoria belt, and some drillholes can pass through numerous stretches of each. This might suggest repeated eruptions or intrusions from a single, fractionating magma source. Each of the end-members might interact differently with the exhalite horizon and this may be an important control on nickel values. The evidence for Ni/Cr fractionation might also suggest that there is potential for true magmatic or komatiitic nickel mineralization within the Victoria system, which has not yet been discovered.

Nickel correlates with sulphur within the sedimentary/exhalite units, and these samples all have extreme Ni/Cr ratios. Nickel and sulphur also weakly correlate in the mafic component of the ultramafic system, but far less so in the komatiitic component. This speaks to the deposition of nickel close to preexisting sulphur sources and the presence of some amount of sulphidic nickel within the mafic-ultramafic system. Drill logs often mention clots of graphite within the ferrodolomite-altered, nickel-mineralized portions of the mafics-ultramafics, which again supports the assimilation idea, and bolsters the case for a geophysics-based exploration strategy.

Limited PGE assaying in early 2024 revealed that elevated Pt/Pd values tended to correlate with Bi and Te far more strongly than with Ni, Co or Cu, suggesting a minor telluride component within the ultramafics.

Modelling the Mineralized Zones

Three main mineralized zones can be seen in the existing drill data. A North Contact Zone (zinc-dominated) follows the northern edge of the ultramafic belt. The South Contact Zone is mostly zinc with some nickel overprint. The Ultramafic Zone runs through the centre of the belt and is exposed in the main stripped area. This carries both nickel and zinc and may have some amount of structural control. There are additional zinc-dominated parallel zones, particularly at the western end of current drilling, and there are some outlying high-nickel samples which might correspond to shear structures.

There may be a shallow westward plunge in the North Contact Zone. The data is less clear but there may be a similar trend in the South Contact Zone.

Geophysically, it is worth noting that the mineralized zones are within the magnetic trend. This can be seen both from airborne geophysics and magnetic susceptibility and is probably the result of pyrrhotite.

There might be patterns in the existing geophysics data that point to these hypothetical cross-cutting structures. There are low-angle embayment’s in the magnetic signal at Victoria which might correspond to the Ultramafic Zone and some outlying nickel-rich locations. This pattern could be applied elsewhere.

Assessment Reports for Drill Programs on the Malartic Metals Package

Selected Victoria Specific Press Releases (all press releases are on SEDAR+)