The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
After spring break, drills to test resource expansion targets North of 60 Mining News – June 16, 2023
Core from drilling the nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM enriched massive sulfides at the Ferguson Lake project in Nunavut.
Dashed ovals mark areas being targeted by 2023 drilling at the Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM project.
Canadian North Resources Inc. June 15 announced that it has resumed the 20,000-meter drill program slated for this year at Ferguson Lake, a critical mineral project in Nunavut enriched with nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals.
According to a 2022 calculation, Ferguson Lake hosts 24.3 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.85% (455.4 million pounds) copper, 0.6% (296.3 million lb) nickel, 0.07% (37.5 million lb) cobalt, 1.38 grams per metric ton (1.08 million oz) palladium, and 0.23 g/t (180,000 oz) platinum; plus 47.2 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.91% (946.9 million lb) copper, 0.53% (551.5 million lb) nickel, 0.06% (62.4 million lb) cobalt, 1.4 g/t (2.12 million oz) palladium, and 0.25 g/t (380,000 oz) platinum.
This spring, Canadian North carried out a 6,151-meter spring on-ice program that targeted a portion of the 15-kilometer (nine miles) main mineralized horizon that trends under Ferguson Lake. The company paused drilling for three weeks during spring break-up to allow the regional caribou migration to pass through the property.
The summer portion of the drill program will focus on expanding and upgrading near-surface open-pit resources on the east and west sides of the lake.
"The company is continuing its planned 20,000-metre drill program in 2023, based on the results of the exploration program completed in 2022," said Canadian North Resource Vice President of Exploration Trevor Boyd.
Highlights from the 68-hole program completed last year include:
• 31 meters averaging 1.28% copper, 0.81% nickel, 0.09% cobalt, 2.02 g/t palladium, and 0.29 g/t platinum from a depth of 55 meters in hole FL22-442.
• 28.45 meters averaging 0.8% copper, 0.52% nickel, 0.06% cobalt, 1.38g/t palladium, and 0.19 g/t platinum from a depth of 30 meters in hole FL22-443.
• 10 meters averaging 1.72% copper, 0.81% nickel, 0.07% cobalt, 2.07 g/t palladium, and 0.23 g/t platinum from a depth of 123 meters in hole FL21-436.
• 21 meters averaging 1.11% copper, 0.71% nickel, 0.1% cobalt, 1.29 g/t palladium, 0.15 g/t platinum, and 0.050 g/t rhodium from a depth of 13 meters in hole FL22-470.
This summer's drill program is designed primarily to expand and upgrade the near-surface mineral resources of the West and East zones, as well as test for extension of these zones and define the potential of new near-surface resources along sub-parallel zones.
"We are presently operating with three drills testing targets along strike west of the West Zone, east of the East Zone and down-dip. A fourth drill will be added to the program soon in late June to test targets outside the main horizon," said Boyd. "This drill program is designed to expand and upgrade the near-surface mineral resources at the Ferguson Lake project."
In addition to drilling, Canadian North will carry out an in-hole geophysical survey, along with surface sampling and mapping programs at the nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM and lithium targets identified across the 253.8-square kilometer (98 square miles) Ferguson Lake property.
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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