The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2024 - January 15, 2025
SPC Nickel geologists carrying out mapping and sampling at the Muskox copper-nickel-PGM project.
Amidst the growing demand for critical minerals, SPC Nickel Corp. made notable advances in 2024 at its Muskox project in Nunavut, Canada, uncovering exceptional nickel, copper, and platinum group metal (PGM) grades through a high-impact summer exploration program aimed at redefining the potential of this district-scale opportunity.
Acquiring the Muskox project in 2021, SPC Nickel has been advancing its district-scale nickel-copper-PGM project, considered one of the last true camp-scale opportunities for these critical minerals in North America.
Located roughly 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the Muskox project spans 65,340 hectares (252 square miles) within the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut.
Known for its rich geological diversity, the region remains largely underexplored despite evidence of nickel, copper, and platinum group metals, as well as other resources like gold, silver, zinc, lead, and diamonds – with mineralized systems that draw comparisons to world-class mining districts such as Norilsk in Russia, Sudbury in Ontario, and Voisey's Bay in Labrador, Canada.
Originally discovered in the late 1950s by International Nickel Company (Inco), Ltd. during an aerial survey, the Muskox intrusion has revealed extensive mineralization spanning tens of kilometers over nearly half a century of intermittent exploration.
Early work by Inco included a standout result of 5.48 meters averaging 7.5% copper, 3.2% nickel, and 19.7 grams per metric ton palladium, platinum, and gold.
Subsequent drilling in the 1980s by Equinox Resources Ltd. yielded additional high-grade intersections, such as 13.74 meters averaging 4.83% copper, 2% nickel, and 5.69 g/t palladium-platinum-gold in hole EQN87-05.
In the late 1980s, resumed exploration by Inco resulted in an early mineral resource estimate for the Pyrrhotite Lake target – part of SPC Nickel's current Muskox property – outlining 155,000 metric tons averaging 2.6% (approximately 8.89 million pounds) copper and 1.2% (approximately 4.1 million lb) nickel.
After the turn of the century, Silvermet Inc. conducted exploration in the region in 2007, however, results from its work were not reported.
Kicking off its 2024 season in early July, SPC Nickel launched an intensive exploration program at Muskox focused on geological prospecting, rock sampling, geochemical surveys, and detailed mapping.
This program was designed to refine targets identified through a historical data compilation and satellite imagery analysis, which revealed 19 high-priority targets directly associated with the Muskox Intrusion.
However, the majority of the work focused on three high-priority targets within the Intrusion – Pyrrhotite Lake, Keel Breccia, and Equinox Trench.
Pyrrhotite Lake, located along the eastern margin of the intrusion, has shown significant mineralization with historical results identifying massive sulfide zones rich in nickel, copper, and PGMs.
The Keel Breccia target, positioned at the dynamic interface between the feeder dyke and the main body of the intrusion, offers promising potential due to its association with magmatic breccias, a feature linked to world-class nickel deposits.
Meanwhile, the Equinox Trench area has yielded high-grade copper and PGMs, with past exploration highlighting a network of sulfide veins and stockwork mineralization.
The program incorporated modern exploration techniques, including advanced geochemical surveys and high-resolution mapping, to enhance the understanding of Muskox's mineralized systems.
By integrating historical data with new insights, the company aimed to uncover untapped potential within the intrusion, identifying additional zones of interest that could support future drilling campaigns.
Preliminary results validated Muskox's immense potential, with rock samples collected returning grades as high as 19.5% copper, 9.42% nickel, and 107.3 g/t PGMs at Equinox; 12.4% copper and 3.85 g/t PGMs at Speers Lake; and 9.02% copper with 1.88 g/t palladium at Pyrrhotite Lake.
Looking ahead, SPC Nickel plans to further evaluate these targets at Muskox through a targeted drilling campaign later this year. This next phase will focus on expanding known zones of mineralization, particularly at Equinox and Pyrrhotite Lake, and testing additional targets of interest identified during the 2024 field season.
With the integration of historical and modern data, the company seeks to delineate resources that could pave the way for future development and position Muskox as a cornerstone project for critical minerals in Canada.
"The presence of high-grade copper-PGM footwall veins with values up to 19.5% copper and multiple ounces of PGM's is truly spectacular and uncommon outside of the known nickel-copper-PGM districts," said SPC Nickel President and CEO Grant Mourre. "Our field work at Muskox, including this most recent program, has significantly advanced our understanding of the opportunity and leads us to conclude that previous exploration has only scratched the surface of the true potential of the Muskox Intrusion."
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