The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Geophysics light up three prospects on the Canwell claim block North of 60 Mining News – January 5, 2024
A helicopter at the Canwell site where high-grade nickel mineralization was first discovered at Nikolai in the 1990s.
Eureka and Canwell claim blocks at Nikolai.
The 2024 geophysical lines at Canwell.
Alaska Energy Metals Corp. Jan. 4 reported that the mapping, sampling, and geophysics carried out at Nikolai during 2023 has identified three intriguing targets with the potential for nickel-rich massive sulfide mineralization on this 23,361-acre (9,454 hectares) project about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southeast of Delta Junction, Alaska.
So far, Alaska Energy has focused its exploration on the Eureka Zone, an enormous band of disseminated sulfide mineralization enriched with nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group metals (PGMs), and gold.
According to a calculation based on historical drilling, two small deposits located about 1,800 meters apart host 319.6 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.22% (1.55 billion lb) nickel, 0.02% (115 million lb) cobalt, 0.05% (372 million lb) copper, and 0.13 grams per metric ton (1.34 million ounces) palladium-platinum-gold.
This initial resource represents about a mile-long (1.6 kilometers) section of the 10-mile (16 kilometers) Eureka Zone trend.
During the 2023 summer season, Alaska Energy drilled eight holes that cut roughly 300-meter intercepts of disseminated sulfides with grades nearly identical to the resource. These holes are currently being incorporated into an updated resource estimate.
While Alaska Energy's primary focus is building a large bulk-tonnage deposit of the nickel, copper, cobalt, and PGMs needed for the transition to low-carbon energy, the company continues to explore for the much higher-grade massive sulfide mineralization that attracted INCO Ltd. and Alaska Energy Metals President to Alaska during the 1990s.
Toward this secondary but potentially high-reward goal, the company carried out mapping, sampling, and geophysical surveys at Canwell, a Nikolai claim block about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of Eureka, where very high-grade massive sulfide samples were hammered off a small outcrop.
Samples collected from the Canwell claim block during 2023 turned up some high-grade samples at the Canwell target. Highlights from this sampling include:
• 5.26% nickel, 0.87% copper, 0.1% cobalt, 6.65 g/t palladium, and 1.71 g/t platinum.
• 5.07% nickel, 1.17% copper, 0.08% cobalt, 3.53 g/t palladium, and 2.21 g/t platinum.
• 2.32% nickel, 5.56% copper, 0.03% cobalt, 1.12 g/t palladium, and 1.47 g/t platinum.
• 2.72% nickel, 1.16% copper, 0.03% cobalt, 4.83 g/t palladium, and 1.81 g/t platinum.
• 3.09% nickel, 0.66% copper, 0.05% cobalt, 2.43 g/t palladium, and 4.08 g/t platinum.
• 2.89% nickel, 0.58% copper, 0.05% cobalt, 2.21 g/t palladium, and 1.53 g/t platinum.
Beischer, who collected similar surface samples at Canwell in the 1990s, is more excited about the geophysical signs of a buried body of the high-grade massive sulfides hinted at the surface.
The geophysical program was designed to test CSAMT responses over known mineralization and identify untested targets.
"The surface sampling results confirm high-grade historical results, but it is the geophysical program results that are really exciting," he said. "The geophysical surveys strongly suggest that the high-grade mineralization extends below surface, beneath prior, historical drilling."
During the 2023 season, Alaska Energy carried out ground-based controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) and time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) surveys at Canwell.
A two-stage approach was adopted, utilizing CSAMT as the first stage to designate low resistivity areas of ultramafic rocks in the subsurface and to define potential major fault structures. The second stage utilized TEM over low-resistivity zones defined in the CSAMT. This targeted approach was to locate potential ultramafic rocks and then observe electromagnetic responses that may reveal a conductive mineralized body.
This strategy identified multiple drill targets in three primary areas – Canwell; Odie, which lies about 1,000 meters Norwest of Canwell; and Emerick, which is about 3,700 meters further northwest.
At Canwell, geophysics identified a nearly vertical zone that was missed by historical drilling at the prospect. Alaska Energy plans to drill one hole to test the heart of this target during 2024.
At Odie, a geophysical line over an area where significant nickel was encountered with historical sampling and shallow drilling identified a prominent low-resistivity feature at depth. Much like Canwell, the shallow historical holes at Odie missed the feature identified by the 2023 geophysics. Alaska Energy plans to drill the plunging feature lit up with the CSMAT geophysical survey.
At Emerick, the 2024 geophysical line passed over and expanded upon an area where historical electromagnetic surveys identified a good EM response. The historical EM targets were never tested.
Alaska Energy's survey identified two areas with strong EM responses, one in an area with outcropping ultramafic rocks and the other without. The area with mapped ultramafic rocks at surface has been tested by historical drilling to the south, with disseminated mineralization encountered. Alaska Energy says further geological mapping and sampling around these anomalies will be completed with two drill holes proposed in 2024 to test the geophysical anomalies at Emerick.
"The geophysical surveys strongly suggest that the high-grade mineralization extends below surface, beneath prior, historical drilling. To test for higher-grade nickel and copper mineralization, we intend to drill these geophysical anomalies at the Canwell, Odie, and Emerick prospects in 2024," said Beischer. "It is notable that the sulfide mineralization is also strongly enriched in platinum group elements."
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated on Jan. 5 to better describe the two deposits that host the current Eureka Zone resource.
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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