Somerset Trough Project

Somerset Island, NU

Copper exploration in the North.

Proven potential in a frontier terrane.

Location

Project Area

3750 km²

Strike length of prospective belt

~360 km

Grab samples

up to 8.99% Cu

The Somerset Trough is a grassroots exploration project on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada, comprising nearly 4000 sq-kms of tenements, wholly owned by Bronzite. The Property is located through central and southern Somerset Island, Nunavut in the Canadian arctic. It is situated between Resolute Bay to the north and Taloyoak to the south. The nearest major city is Yellowknife, NWT, which is located 1342 km southwest of the project. The project area extends over both the Qikiqtani and Kitikmeot regions of Nunavut.

Community and Environment

The Project covers the entire western edge of Somerset Island in Nunavut. Although Somerset Island itself is uninhabited, people from the surrounding Inuit communities occasionally use the land predominately for fishing and whaling. Notable areas of community use are Creswell Bay in central Somerset Island and Fort Ross, on the southeastern corner of the island. Wildlife in the project area consist mainly of sparse muskox herds and arctic wolves. Caribou, which historically occupied the northern and northwestern parts of the island, are largely gone from the region and are seldom observed.

Part of Bronzite’s mission is to ensure the environment and wildlife within are project area are not disturbed by our exploration activities. Part of the work that Bronzite intends to complete as the project develops are detailed environmental and wildlife studies, as little data have been collected in the region in the past. We are committed to fostering good relationships with the local communities, sharing the knowledge of the environment that our project brings, and supporting traditional hunting and land use activities by the surrounding communities.

Geology

The Somerset Trough is a Paleoproterozoic granulite-facies volcano-sedimentary rift basin situated within the Boothia Terrane; a newly recognized tectono-metamorphic belt situated on the western margin of the Rae craton. The evolution of region was marked by several discrete periods of magmatism, deformation, and metamorphism. Poly-deformed Archean to Proterozoic rocks of the Rae craton form the basement of the Boothia Terrane. At least three separate tectono-metamorphic events have shaped this terrane: the Rae Orogeny (2650–2600 Ma), the Arrowsmith Orogeny (2450–2300 Ma), and the Thelon Orogeny (2010–1900 Ma), which is temporally and spatially related to the formation of the Somerset Trough. Additional thermal and structural overprint ca. 1860 to 1790 Ma, possibly related to the far-field effects of the Trans-Hudson Orogeny, further modified the region after the rapid closure of the Somerset Trough rift basin.

Prospects

Somerset South

Results

Rock Samples

Cu up to 8.99%
Zn up to 2.25%
Ag up to 25.9 ppm


Scale Potential

~360 km strike length of prospective volcanic belt


Discovery Potential

District-scale potential in a newly discovered tectonic belt

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