On December 9th, 2004, Everton signed an option agreement with Azimut Exploration to earn up to 65% interest in two blocks covering 284 km² by spending $4.8 million in exploration work, and cash payment of $340,000 over 5 years. These claims are adjacent to Virginia Gold Mine Inc.'s Eleonore gold deposit in James Bay, Quebec, which was recently acquired by Goldcorp. Everton is the operator of the Opinaca project.
view 43-101 technical report

In November 2006, Everton announced the drilling results on Opinaca A and B. The 632-meter diamond drill program tested 6 targets along the Inex Zone on Opinaca A and a two-hole 413 meter diamond drill program tested a geological model at the Claude Target on Opinaca B. The results from Opinaca B confirmed mineralization similar to the Eleonore gold discovery and indicated a 10-km long gold bearing structure along a North-East corridor between the Claude Target on Opinaca B and the Manuel Showings on Everton’s 100%-owned Wildcat 5 property.

The drill program on the Inex Zone confirmed that the IP anomalies correspond to biotite-rich horizons containing up to 5% pyrite-pyrrhotite within paragneissic rocks. The mineralization is also locally associated to garnet-rich silicified bands. Some visible gold grains were observed in the core. The best results were obtained in hole OP-06-03 where 1.46 g/t Au over 4.0 m between 45.5 m and 49.5 m deep, including 3.03 g/t Au over 1.5 m. Some other isolated values grading up to 8.65 g/t Au over 0.6 m were obtained in this hole. Additional significant isolated values of 1.07 g/t over 1.0 m were returned in hole OP-06-01, 9.03 g/t Au over 0.5 m in hole OP-06-02 and 3.69 g/t Au over 0.5 m in hole OP-06-05. Overall four of the six holes drilled along the Inex Zone intersected gold values over 1 g/t as well as metric intervals grading over 100 ppb Au. This program confirmed the presence of gold throughout the Inex Zone and the nugget effect of the gold grades.

Everton also completed two drill holes totalling 413m to test a geological model at the Claude Target on Opinaca B. Drill-hole OP-06-07 was located to target the 5.62 g/t Au sheared outcrop. The entire drill-hole OP-06-07 is characterized by the presence of altered and sheared rocks containing a section of 40-meter wide moderate to strongly pervasive silicification zone within paragneissic and amphibolitic rocks, containing up to 10% disseminated fine-grained arsenopyrite, with minor pyrite and pyrrhotite and thin injections of microcline veinlets. The silicification zones are bounded by zones of biotitization, tourmalinization, and epi-dotization containing a variable amount of garnets. This mineralization is similar to the mineralization at the near-by Eleonore gold discovery. Assay results from the 189-meter long hole OP-06-07 returned very anomalous gold values closely associated with the arsenopyrite content and silica alteration.

The whole drill section graded 221 ppb over 186.8 meters, including a section of 1.0 g/t Au over 21.5 meters between 130.0 m and 152.5 m deep, including 1.4 g/t Au over 12 meters, including 4.6 g/t Au over 2.0 m. Several other intercepts grading between 1.01 g/t Au and 4.0 g/t Au over 1.0 m to 3.0 m were cut outside the main silicified zone. These anomalous gold results associated with pervasive silica alteration and fine-grained arsenopyrite mineralization suggest the proximity to a major mineralized system.

Following the results of the initial drill-test hole OP-06-07, Everton completed a 12-hole diamond drilling program for 2,624-meters to follow-up on the extensions of the zone during the winter. Nine holes tested the lateral extensions of hole OP-06-07 over a strike length of 350 meters and at an average depth of 100 meters, except hole OP-07-20 that tested the Claude Target at a depth of 200 meters vertical. The three other holes were testing IP and airborne electromagnetic anomalies 850 meters to 2.5 kilometers east of the Claude Target.

The silica-altered zone was recognized in all the nine holes drilling the 350-meter lateral extensions at Claude. Hole OP-07-20 that was targeting the zone at depth encountered visible gold over 1.5 meters. The three holes located hundreds of meters to the east did not cut any significant mineralization.

The winter program also completed 34 km of induced polarization (IP) survey in the Claude Target area and 59 km of IP over the Smiley Target, located on the Opinaca A property. The Smiley Target is located in the central part of Opinaca A and consists of an extended gold-in-soil anomaly located only 5 km north of the Eleonore gold discovery. This soil anomaly is supported by the presence of gold values of 2.41 g/t Au, 0.77 g/t Au and 0.18 g/t Au from three different till samples collected down-ice of the soil anomaly. Based on the encouraging results from the two drilling programs and the discovery of several targets, Everton designed a summer exploration program for the Opinaca A & B properties to accelerate exploration work around existing targets as well as to identify other targets from new areas.

During the summer, more than 4,000 outcrops on existing targets and new anomalous areas were prospected by field crews, yielding a total of 1,100 rocks samples, 465 till samples and 550 soil samples. Follow-up prospecting and sampling has led to the discovery of the Charles Target on Opinaca A where anomalous to high grade rock chip sample values ranging from 0.1 to g/t to 24.6 g/t Au were returned over an area of at least 500 m long by 100 m wide.
An additional 66 rock chip samples were collected and released on September 13th 2007. New rock chip sample results from the Charles Target, collected within an area of 50 meters x 10 meters, yielded results ranging from 1.0 g/t Au to 35.9 g/t Au. From the 66 new samples collected, 24 samples yielded values higher than 1.0 g/t Au, including 7 samples over 10.0 g/t Au (10.1 g/t Au, 10.4 g/t Au, 12.2 g/t Au, 21.6 g/t Au, 21.9 g/t Au, 28.0 g/t Au and 35.9 g/t Au). A rock chip sample from an outcrop located 670 meters on strike to the northeast of the Charles Target returned a value of 2.7 g/t Au. Two other rock samples collected 160 meters and 350 meters to the southwest along the strike of the Charles Target returned respectively 4.0 g/t Au and 1.1 g/t Au. The total strike length of the Charles Target defines a corridor of approximately 1.3 kilometers in length. The lithologies identified in this corridor are composed of garnet and sulphide-rich, chloritized and silicified metasediments in contact with pegmatitic intrusions. The mineralization is comprised of up to 20% pyrite, arsenopyrite with minor pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite associated with garnet and chloritic zones. Another gold showing located 5 km southeast of the Charles Target was also discovered.

An eight-hole 969m diamond drill program was completed in October to test the extensions of the Charles Target. All 8 holes intersected altered metasediments containing variable amounts of sulfide mineralization. Recent interpretation of the Charles Target suggests a possible extension further south where outcrop sampling returned three values ranging between 0.3 g/t Au and 0.4 g/t Au. A portion of the Charles Target was surveyed with a 10-km IP coverage prior to the drill testing.

Prospecting and rock sampling on Opinaca B led to the discovery of the Dominic Target located approximately half-way between the Claude Target and the Manuel Showing along the 10-km long gold-bearing corridor. Values obtained at the Dominic Target returned 6.1 g/t Au, 4.5 g/t Au and 1.7 g/t Au associated with pyrite within silicified and chloritized metasediments with quartz and pegmatite veins. Another sample located 3 kilometers southwest along the corridor returned 1.2 g/t Au.

Rock sampling and trenching work conducted in the Claude Target area, returned grab samples grading 5.84 g/t Au and 4.29 g/t Au and a channel sample grading 2.37 g/t Au over 0.5 m. These results were obtained from a new mineralized zone trending parallel on the northern side of the main Claude Target (hole OP-06-07: 1.0 g/t Au over 21.5m). More trenching is also planned in the Claude Target area for next summer to follow-up on IP anomalies on strike with mineralization.

Comprehensive prospecting and rock sampling along the 10 km long Claude-Manuel corridor has identified additional new high-priority targets on Opinaca B. Several rock samples collected along that corridor returned significant gold values over a strike length of 3 kilometers grading up to 6.1 g/t Au, 4.5 g/t Au, 1.7 g/t Au and 1.2 g/t Au. The mineralization contains up to 5% pyrite and is associated with silicified and chloritized metasediments with quartz and pegmatite veins.

To follow-up geochemical anomalies and to identify new exploration targets in 2008, an extensive trenching program will continue along the Claude-Manuel corridor in conjunction with ongoing prospecting and sampling programs on both Opinaca A and Opinaca B. The trenching program over the entire 10-kilometer gold-bearing Claude-Manuel corridor between the Claude Target on Opinaca B (under option from Azimut) and the Manuel Showings (12.01 g/t Au over 4.6 meters) on Everton’s 100%-owned Wildcat 5. This deformation zone coincides with lake-bottom sediment gold and arsenic anomalies lined up over its strike.

All IP anomalies along the deformation corridor will be investigated by rock sampling or mechanical trenching to identify additional drill targets. Twelve other clusters of lake-bottom multi-element sediment anomalies and numerous gold-in-till anomalies outlined during the previous campaign will be followed-up by prospecting and soil sampling.

The first drill program of 2008, which commenced in March, is designed to test coinciding airborne electromagnetic (AEM) conductors, induced polarization (IP) anomalies and geochemical targets processed in conjunction with a new interpretation of the structural regime of the area. The 2,000-meter drill program will focus mainly on the Smiley and the Charles targets, as well as the new Lola Target situated due east of the Smiley Target. The Lola Target consists of a major structural break oriented NE-SW where a series of AEM anomalies are delineated in the north-eastern extension of the Smiley Target.

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