Q. posted this on the KXL forum when another poster therat begged for mercy. LOL. Thanks for the intepretation of the theory involved.- Jerry.

What I know is this: the greenstone belt in this part of Canada is from the Archaean age, the oldest rock on the planet, and the first part of what is now North America to be dry land. When the earth was very young, the core of the earth it is theorized had a much different, denser, ( richer?) core.

Komatiite is a type of lava or magma, depending on if it makes it to the surface or not. Since komatiitic flows have never been observed in the modern era, the study of them is ongoing.

However, what is known is that komatiite volcanoes occur as shield volcanoes, ( and of course, Ontario is located in the Canadian Shield). The magma is very dense and unlikely to reach the surface, although in some instances the lava flows of erupting volcanoes flows as quickly as water, perhaps due to separation in the magma chamber which leaves the heavier magma behind.

So, if you had a subvolcanic event, intrusive in nature, the result can be nickel and gold bearing deposits of a magnitude not repeated with volcanic or magmatic events later in the earth's history. The article I posted earlier hypothesized that during one event, rifting very nearly tore apart the continent in the area of Lake Nipigon, subsequent geologic events led to the formation of a large volcanic dome taking in the area of what is now Lake Superior. A volcanic dome would not have erupted, but pressures would have built up underneath it, and sills, dykes and conduits could intrude into the country rock for 100's of km's because of it.

The massive quartz vein system in the Geraldton/Beardmore area might be explained by this as well: there must have been quite a lot of super-heated water to precipitate out the gold and create the quartz mineral in this hydrothermal event, and I don't believe it was a slow emplacement that did it. The rifting very nearly created an inland sea where Lake Nipigon is now situated, so perhaps there was encroachment of the shallow seas before the rift slammed shut with the collision of the Grenville oregeny.

These are just my thoughts, the system is far too big to have a series of localized, coincidental VMS deposits so I'm searching for answers. I could be barking up the wrong tree, and have it completely bass-ackwards, but I believe the reason this massive system has gone undiscovered all these years under everyone's noses ( heck, under the HIGHWAY!) is that is doesn't jive with previously understood geology of the area.

I believe I recall Kodiak saying they had a "new insight" into the nature and origin of the deposit, so until they stake all the land they want, I don't think they'll be telling us what they know anytime soon...it being rather proprietary knowledge at the moment.

At any rate, these are just my theories, I am in no position to be presenting myself as a geologist, but it's amazing what we all can figure out if we put our collective wits together.