The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 4, 2024
A drill tests a high-grade nickel target on the Canwell claim block at Alaska Energy Metals' Nikolai project.
Alaska Energy Metals tested three of 10 nickel targets identified on the Canwell calims at Nikolai.
A cross-section of low-resistivity and high magnetic susceptibility zones below outcropping nickel-copper sulfide occurrences at Odie.
Alaska Energy Metals Corp. Oct. 1 reported that its 2024 drill program at Nikolai included three holes to test intriguing high-grade massive sulfide targets on the Canwell block of claims at its Nikolai nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals project in Alaska.
Nikolai is comprised of two blocks of claims – Eureka and Canwell – that each host compelling 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 body 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.
This year, Alaska Energy focused its exploration on Canwell, a block of claims approximately 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of Eureka, where outcroppings of massive sulfides with very high-grade nickel have been found on the surface but drilling has yet to discover a large body of high-grade nickel.
Alaska Energy Metals tested three of 10 nickel targets identified on the Canwell calims at Nikolai.
Last year, Alaska Energy Metals carried out mapping, sampling, and geophysical surveys to identify the most compelling drill targets for its inaugural 1,048-meter drill program completed this year at Canwell.
With this information, the company drilled one hole to test for massive sulfides at each of the Emerick, Odie, and Upper Canwell targets.
The drill holes at Odie and Upper Canwell reached the planned target depths, while the drill hole at Emerick was stopped early due to extremely poor ground conditions at this property on the Denali Fault.
Assays are pending from the two holes that reached target depth.
A cross-section of low-resistivity and high magnetic susceptibility zones below outcropping nickel-copper sulfide occurrences at Odie.
"Despite the challenging ground conditions faced during this drill program at the Canwell prospects, our drill contractor was successful in reaching the planned total depth of drilling in two of the three drill holes at Odie and Upper Canwell," said Alaska Energy Metals Chief Geoscientist Gabe Graf. "Completing this inaugural drill program brings us one step closer to uncovering the critical mineral potential of the entire Nikolai project in Alaska."
In addition to the drilling, the company completed downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys in the hole drilled at Upper Canwell.
The DHEM surveys, which were completed by TMC Géophysique out of Quebec, tested for the presence of mineralized conductive zones for a 200-meter radius around the hole. Alaska Energy Metals will use the data from these surveys to determine if there are other massive sulfide zones nearby that can be targeted during follow-up drilling at Upper Canwell. Final results from this survey are expected by the end of the year.
"We look forward to receiving and sharing the analytical and DHEM survey results upon receipt later this quarter," said Graf.
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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