The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Nickel Creek plans to test new target at SW Yukon project North of 60 Mining News – March 13, 2020
Looking down on the main Wellgreen deposit area on the Nickel Shäw nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in southwestern Yukon. This year, Nickel Creek Platinum plans to test targets beyond the main target area.
Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. March 11 said it plans to carry out exploration drilling, geophysics and sampling at its Nickel Shäw (formerly Wellgreen) nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in southwestern Yukon.
To fund this work, as well as permitting and other expenses, the company plans to raise C$4.4 million through a proposed non-brokered private placement being supported by a C$2.2 million commitment from Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund L.P., Nickel Creek's largest shareholder.
According to a 2018 estimate, Nickel Shäw hosts 323.4 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.26% (1.9 billion pounds) nickel; 0.16% (1.1 billion lb) copper; 0.25 grams per metric ton (2.6 million oz) platinum; 0.26 g/t (2.6 million oz) palladium; and 0.05 g/t (480,000 oz) gold.
This resource spans roughly 2,200 meters of an 18,000-meter trend within the company's land package. The company said historical and current mapping, geophysics, and limited previous drilling provide it with confidence that additional mineralization beyond the known resource may be identified.
One such area is Quill, an exploration target area about 1,700 meters southeast of the main Wellgreen deposit.
An electromagnetic geophysical survey carried out at Quill last year identified several strong conductors that are indicative of the massive sulfides that carry mineralization at Nickel Shäw.
"The ground electromagnetic technology is effective at targeting massive sulfides as it can determine the size and orientation of the conductive body," Nickel Creek Platinum CEO Diane Garrett said in December.
One conductive body identified with the survey is Target A, which has been modelled as several plates spanning an overall strike length of 800 meters and a dip extent of 200 meters. Target A has a conductivity-thickness greater than 5,000 Siemens, which Nickel Creek said could only be caused by connected sulfides or significant thicknesses of graphite.
Although graphite is a possible cause of the anomaly, the company says no significant graphite has ever been identified within the Nickel Shäw Complex, making Target A highly prospective. The anomaly at Target A does not extend to surface, so the company is planning to carry out a 1,000-meter drill program to see if the conductive body represents the nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM massive sulfide mineralization the company is looking for
A second anomaly, Target B, is a secondary target that appear to be a smaller single plate of mineralization that lies 30 meters below the surface. The company plans 200 meters of drilling to test Target B.
As a result of the success of the 2019 geophysical program at Quill, Nickel Creek plans to carry out electromagnetic surveys this year Arch, Burwash and the main Wellgreen deposit. Geologic mapping and surface sampling are also planned for near surface targets identified by the geophysics.
The C$4.4 million non-brokered private placement proposed by Nickel Creek would involve the issuance of up to approximately 73.3 million units at C6 cents each. The company is considering regular units, flow-through units or a combination.
Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund, which owns roughly 27% of Nickel Creek Platinum shares, has agreed to purchase up to C$2.2 million units that are unsubscribed for under the private placement.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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