The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 17, 2024
A drill tests a compelling high-grade nickel target on the Canwell claim block at Alaska Energy Metals' Nikolai project.
A view of the Canwell prospects from the Richardson Highway.
A cross-section of the Odie Prospect showing CSAMT low resistivity zones and a zone of high magnetic susceptibility below surface nickel-copper sulfide occurrences. Historical hole CAN-DH-06 encountered nickel sulfide mineralization on the fringe of the geophysical anomaly.
Alaska Energy Metals Corp. July 16 announced that drills are testing three targets on the Canwell block of claims at its Nikolai project, where a combination of geology, geochemistry, and geophysics have identified compelling potential for bodies of nickel-rich massive sulfide mineralization.
Nikolai is comprised of two blocks of claims – Eureka and Canwell – that each host intriguing nickel targets. Alaska Energy Metal's inaugural drill program at Nikolai, which was carried out last year, built upon previous exploration at Eureka, which hosts a very large and thick zone of disseminated nickel- copper-cobalt-platinum group metals mineralization.
Results from the 2023 and previous drilling outlined a deposit at Eureka that hosts 813 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.22% (3.88 billion lb) nickel, 0.07% (1.28 billion lb) copper, 0.02% (303 million lb) cobalt, and 0.15 grams per metric ton (4.03 million oz) palladium-platinum-gold; plus 896 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.21% (4.23 billion lb) nickel, 0.05% (1.04 billion lb) copper, 0.02% (327 million lb) cobalt, and 0.12 g/t (1.34 million oz) palladium-platinum-gold.
While Alaska Energy Metals originally planned to carry out a 15,000-meter program that would continue to upgrade and expand Eureka, as well as test for higher-grade massive sulfide nickel mineralization at Canwell, the company has opted for a smaller program on the Canwell claim block.
A view of the Canwell prospects from the Richardson Highway.
Lying about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of Eureka, Canwell is the site of the original nickel discovery at Nikolai, which was made during an exploration program led by Alaska Energy Metals CEO Greg Beischer in the 1990s. At the time, Beischer was working as a geologist for INCO Ltd., a large mining company searching the area for high-grade nickel.
While this 1990s-era exploration found outcropping massive sulfide nickel at Canwell and discovered the lower-grade Eureka Zone, this historical work did not turn up the large pods of high-grade massive sulfide nickel INCO was looking for.
Alaska Energy Metal resumed the search for high-grade massive sulfide nickel mineralization at Canwell with mapping, sampling, and geophysical surveys carried out last year.
A cross-section of the Odie Prospect showing CSAMT low resistivity zones and a zone of high magnetic susceptibility below surface nickel-copper sulfide occurrences. Historical hole CAN-DH-06 encountered nickel sulfide mineralization on the fringe of the geophysical anomaly.
Controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) and electromagnetic ("EM") geophysical surveys completed during the 2023 program identified strong low-resistivity and conductive zones immediately beneath outcropping high-grade massive nickel-copper-iron sulfide mineralization at three targets along a roughly four-mile stretch of the Canwell land package – Odie, Emerick and Upper Canwell.
The company says the CSAMT and EM conductive zones coincide with a strong magnetic susceptibility response. It is hypothesized that the conductive zone and magnetic response are caused by nickel-copper sulfides in the subsurface. CSAMT results clearly identified the limits of the ultramafic rocks that host massive sulfides at surface.
One drill hole is planned at each of the Canwell targets to validate the geophysical, geological, and geochemical evidence of buried massive sulfide mineralization.
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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