The Urban-Barry area, where the Windfall Lake property is located, has a long history of exploration. Multiple agencies and companies explored the area in the last eight decades. During a reconnaissance geological survey, Milner (1943), Fairbairn (1946), and Graham (1947) of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) mapped the area. In 1958, the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; 1812-G) completed a survey of the area. In the last half of the 1970s and through the 1980s, several companies, notably Shell Canada Ltd. (Shell), carried out sporadic exploration activity in the Urban-Barry area.
The first systematic exploration started in 1986, when Kerr Addison Mines Ltd. (Kerr Addison) drilled a total of nine core boreholes in the western part of the property to test electromagnetic conductors, which were identified by an airborne geophysical survey carried out by the Ministre de l’nergie et des Resources du Qubec in 1983.
In 1987, Resources Minrales DeMontigny Inc. (DeMontigny) carried out a ground magnetic and electromagnetic survey, and the mapping and drilling of eight core boreholes on the western half of the Windfall Lake property. The drilling resulted in the discovery of a gold-bearing graphitic argillite intruded by units of altered quartz-eye intrusive and mafic units. In 1988, five additional core boreholes extended the strike extension of the previously intersected gold-bearing graphitic conductor. The permit for DeMontigny’s 40 claims in the property expired in 1995. In the same year, Freewest staked the claims that DeMontigny had let lapse, and completed two core boreholes (289 metres). The boreholes intersected encouraging gold grades.
Alto Exploration Ltd. (Alto) drilled three boreholes (977 metres) in 1997, and optioned the property to Inmet Mining Corp. (Inmet), who drilled 30 boreholes (9,026 metres) in 1998 and 1999. Inmet dropped the option, which was subsequently picked up by Fury Exploration Corp. (Fury). Fury drilled 26 boreholes in 2003 and 2004, and then assigned its 37.5 percent option interest to Noront Resources Inc. (Noront) in 2004. Noront has continuously explored the Windfall Lake property with trenching, mapping, and diamond drilling since that time.
During 1996 to 1997, Murgor Resources Inc. (Murgor) carried out a broad exploration program that focused on the south central part of the property. An initial geophysical, trenching, and channel sampling program discovered three new auriferous zones. Murgor returned to the area in 2002 and expanded its Windfall Lake property claims through map staking. From January to March 2004, a GPS-oriented ground magnetometer survey was conducted over the entire property. During 2004 and 2005, Murgor excavated 41 trenches, which resulted in the discovery of five new gold occurrences.
Between November 2004 and July 2006, Murgor commissioned Abitibi Geophysics Inc. (Abitibi Geophysics) from Val d’Or, Quebec to conduct a total of seven induced polarization surveys (336.8 line-kilometres), and one transient electro-magnetic survey (51 line-kilometres) for Murgor. The induced polarization surveys identified a total of 16 moderate to strong chargeability anomalies. Murgor verified some of the anomalies by mechanical trenching and/or diamond drilling. The transient electro-magnetic survey identified a total of four significant anomalies. Two small, very conductive anomalies were located in the northeast corner of the surveyed area and were interpreted to lie close to the surface.