The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
On-ice spring drilling traces Ferguson Lake critical mineral zone North of 60 Mining News - July 19, 2023
Core from drilling the nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM enriched massive sulfides at the Ferguson Lake project in Nunavut.
Canadian North Resources Inc. July 18 said its 21-hole spring drilling program has further confirmed the continuity of the main mineralized trend extending roughly 15 kilometers (nine miles) across its Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metal project in Nunavut's Kivalliq region.
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 ounces) 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.
The purpose of the spring on-ice program was to test the main mineralized horizon trending under Ferguson Lake.
Canadian North reports that this drilling has successfully extended West Zone 1,200 meters to the east and East Zone 1,500 meters to the west, with the 1,800-meter section of Central Zone lying in between.
Highlighted from the spring drilling include:
• 14 meters averaging 0.32% copper, 0.34% nickel, 0.05% cobalt, 0.65 g/t palladium, 0.16 g/t platinum, and 0.01 g/t rhodium from a depth of 17 meters in hole FL23-501.
• 10 meters averaging 0.89% copper, 0.53% nickel, 0.08% cobalt, 1.05 g/t palladium, 0.12 g/t platinum, and 0.02 g/t rhodium from a depth of 47.6 meters in hole FL23-504A.
• Five meters averaging 0.83% copper, 0.34% nickel, 0.04% cobalt, 0.78 g/t palladium, 0.12 g/t platinum, and 0.01 g/t rhodium from a depth of 84.5 meters in hole FL23-515.
• Five meters averaging 0.61% copper, 0.83% nickel, 0.07% cobalt, 1.07 g/t palladium, 0.17 g/t platinum, and 0.01 g/t rhodium from a depth of 87.5 meters in hole FL23-521.
"The spring on-ice drilling program further confirmed the main mineralized horizon trending across Ferguson Lake," said Canadian North Resources President and CEO Kaihui Yang. "With this and the spring drilling programs in 2022, we have completed definition drilling of the west extension of East Zone, for an area of 1,500 meters by 100-300 meters, and the east extension of West Zone, for an area of 1,200 meters by 100-250 meters. Those near-surface mineralization zones will add significant new or up-graded resources to the current mineral resource estimates."
With the 2023 drill program resuming in mid-June, the company has completed more than 11,700 meters in 37 holes so far this year.
"With five drill rigs operating in the field, the company is continuing its planned 20,000-metre drill program in 2023," said Canadian North Resources Vice President of Exploration Trevor Boyd. "We are focusing on primarily expanding and upgrading the near-surface mineral resources of the West and East Zones; defining the potential new near-surface resources along sub-parallel M-Zone and A51 Zone; and testing the new targets along the east extensions of the East Zone and A51 Zone, West Zone South and South Discovery Zone. "
In addition to drilling, the company is carrying out in-hole geophysical surveys, as well as surface sampling and mapping programs on the nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM and lithium targets 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.
Reader Comments(0)