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Canada
North Rock, Ontario
North Rock: Copper-Nickel-PGE
Status
- 100% owned, Tier 2 Project.
- Available for Joint Venture.
Target
Magmatic copper-nickel-PGE mineralization hosted by an Archean age mafic intrusion.
Location and Setting
The North Rock Property is located approximately 25 kilometers east of Fort Frances in northwestern Ontario and is easily accessed via Highway 11 and local gravel roads.
The North Rock Property consists of 343 unpatented claims totalling approximately 7,000 hectares.
Geology and Mineralization
The North Rock Property is underlain by the 20km long Grassy Portage layered mafic intrusion and hosts four known zones of magmatic copper-nickel-PGE mineralization; the Beaver Pond, the Main South, the East and the West zones all of which occur at or near the base of the intrusion, along its western contact.
Copper-Nickel Mineralization
The most significant of the zones is the Beaver Pond Zone, which was discovered by Noranda in 1958 and subsequently explored from underground via a 90-meter deep shaft and one drift on the 70m level. Historic Resource Estimates1 for the Beaver Pond Zone, reported by Bergman (1973) range (depending on the cut-off grade) from 1,020,458 tons grading 1.17% copper to 265,230 tons grading 2.08% copper. The resource estimate was calculated to a depth 90m and the deposit appears to remain open to depth. One drill hole intersected 2.21% Cu over 36.5 feet at a vertical depth of 175 meters.
Other significant drill intersections reported by Noranda from within the Beaver Pond Zone include: 4.3% Cu over 8.1 meters, 4.1% Cu over 7.8 meters, 3.4% Cu over 8.0 meters, 1.5% Cu over 21.3 meters, and 1.0% Cu over 55.5 meters. These Noranda assays have not been verified and as such should not be relied upon. There is no record of any further mineral exploration work having been conducted on or near the Beaver Pond Zone, or on any of the formerly leased claims in the area, since the underground program was concluded in 1973.
Very little historical data exists regarding the abundance and distribution of nickel, cobalt, platinum group metals (PGM) or gold in the magmatic sulphide deposits present on the North Rock Property. However, recent grab sampling of a 10,000 ton surface stockpile of material recovered from underground development of the Beaver Pond Zone yielded assays of up to 8.9% Cu, 0.8% Ni, 0.05% Co, 1.6 gpt Pt, 0.7 gpt Pd and 0.7 gpt Au. Although grab sample assays are typically not representative of the overall grade, these results do confirm the presence of significant nickel, cobalt, PGM and gold values associated with the copper mineralization.
The three other known sulphide zones are less explored and occur over a 1.5 kilometer strike length along the base of the intrusion extending northeast from Beaver Pond Zone. These areas, as well as several other sulphide occurrences higher up in the intrusion, are all considered highly prospective for hosting additional magmatic nickel-copper (+/- PGE’s, Co) sulphide mineralization.
An airborne MAG/EM survey and three phases of drilling on the property were concluded from 2005 to the end of 2007.
The first phase of drilling was carried out in 2005 and consisted of 14 diamond drill holes totaling 3,906 meters. Phase 1 drilling was designed to test the depth extension of the known copper mineralization at the Beaver Pond Zone. All drill holes intersected widespread, varied amounts of net-textured copper-nickel sulphide mineralization similar to that reported by previous drilling by Noranda. Hole 4 appears to have intersected the core of the zone assaying 1.5% copper over 13.7 meters. The drilling also intersected a “hangingwall Platinum Group Metal (PGM) zone that can be traced for 500 meters along strike and to a depth of 200 meters. Assay values as high as 3.7 g/t Pt + 7.1 g.t Pd over 0.8 meters were reported.
The Company completed an airborne magnetic/EM geophysical survey over the property which detected several anomalies with a one kilometer long anomaly coincident with the East zone which is 1.2 km northeast and along strike of the Beaver Pond zone. Mapping and sampling confirmed the presence of PGM mineralization at the East zone and a Phase 2 drill program was set up to test the mineralization. The Company drilled 21 holes totaling approximately 4,000 meters with several holes intersecting PGM mineralization. Hole 20 intersected 3.7 meters (2.5 meters true width) from 151.9 to 155.6 metres grading 12.2 g/t Pt, 0.1 g/t Pd, 0.1 g/t Au, 0.6% Cu and 0.2% Ni.
In June 2007, the Company announced a Phase 3 diamond drill program of 25 holes totaling approximately 8,000 meters to test several airborne EM conductors over a 20km strike length on the entire Property. Drilling in the Belacoma area, approximately 4.0km northeast of the Beaver Pond Zone, intersected Platinum and Palladium mineralization as well with the following values: 3.5 g/t Pd over 2.8 meters, 1.2 g/t Pt and 1.0 g/t Pd over 1.0 meter, 2.9 g/t Pd over 0.9 meters and 1.6 g/t Pd over 0.9 meters. A number of other airborne EM conductors were tested with the majority explained by pyrrhotite veins and/or sulphide iron formation. The sulphide iron formation in the Nickle Lake area was found to be zinc rich with the best assay from hole 57 of 0.5% Zn over 19.6 meters.
In February 2008 the Company announced the discovery of micro-diamonds on the in the Grassy Ultramafic Pyroclastic. The Company took a 100 kilograms sample and sent it for processing by Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc. (“Kennecott”) in its Mineral Processing Laboratory, located in Thunder Bay, Ontario. A total of six diamonds were recovered with one sitting on the 0.212mm sieve, three were on the 0.106mm sieve and two were less than the 0.106mm sieve size. In December 2008, Kennecott and signed an option agreement to explore for diamonds on the Property but in September 2009 the Company was advised by Kennecott that it had completed processing a 1,200 kilogram sample taken during its summer exploration program and based on the results, concluded that the diamond potential is very low. Accordingly, Kennecott terminated its program and its option and returned the Property to the Company.
A Bore Hole Electromatic Survey (“BHEM”) followed by diamond drilling is proposed to explore for semi-massive to massive sulphide at depth along the lower contact of the Grassy Portage Intrusion.
Agreement and Terms
The North Rock Property is subject to an NSR.
Note 1 – Historical Resource Estimates
Readers are cautioned that the Company has not attempted to verify historic mineral resource estimates and therefore readers should not place any reliance on any historical estimate. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify a historical estimate as a current mineral resource, additionally, a qualified person has not yet determined what work needs to be done to upgrade or verify a historical estimate as a current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company is not treating historical estimates as current mineral resources.
A Historical Resource Estimate on the Beaver Pond Zone of the North Rock project is quoted at 1 million tons grading 1.2% copper by Bergman (1973) (Ontario Mineral Deposit Inventory record MDI52C11NE00029). The parameters, methodology and categorise used are not known, and thus the reliability of the estimate cannot be determined, however, it is still considered relevant as underground development and diamond drilling in the 1960 & 1970s supported the estimate and provides a guide for future exploration.