Harmsworth

The island of Newfoundland was subdivided by Williams (1979) into four main Tectono-Stratigraphic zones described as the Humber, Dunnage, Gander and Avalon Zones. The Harmsworth Project is located along the western side of the Dunnage Zone within the Exploits Subzone. The Dunnage Zone has been described to represented vestiges of Cambro-Ordovician volcanic arc basins and ophiolites that formed in the Iapetus Ocean (Williams, 1995). With respect to the lithological make up of the Dunnage Zone, Squires (2005) observed the zone comprises a structurally telescoped assemblage of ophiolitic and arc to back-arc-volcanic rocks plus volcaniclastic to epiclastic sedimentary rocks that collectively represents remnants of early to middle Paleozoic oceanic terranes.

Williams et al (1988) subdivided the Dunnage Zone into 2 subzones based on a series of faults termed the Red Indian Line (RIL) that they considered is a main suture zone. They labeled the subzone north of the RIL the Notre Dame Subzone and the subzone south of the RIL the Exploits Subzone. The RIL located just west (10 kms) of the property is marked by a narrow shear zone which appears to record mainly sinistral shear movement. The positioning of the RIL separating the Exploits Subzone from the Notre Dame / Dashwoods Subzone to the west of the RIL is based on contrasts in Ordovician – Early Silurian structure, stratigraphy and fauna (Williams et al, 1988). Williams et al (1993) further subdivided the Exploits Subzone into two zones based on lithological contrasts. The project is approximately 8 kilometers west of the Valentine Lake structural corridor, also a significant structural zone along which the Valentine Lake Gold Deposits now being developed by Marathon Gold are situated approximately 20 kilometers southwest.