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Canada
Canalask, Yukon
Canalask Project: Nickel-Copper-PGE
Status
- 100% owned, Tier 1 Project
Target
- Chonolith hosted massive and disseminated sulphide.
- Potential for Voisey’s Bay style magmatic sulphide nickel-copper-PGE mineralization.
Location and Setting
The Canalask Project is located in the Whitehorse Mining District, approximately 320 km west of Whitehorse and is easily accessible by road from the Alaska Highway near Beaver Creek, Yukon.
Canalask lies within the 150km long Kluane Mafic-Ultramafic Belt which includes other nickel-copper deposits such Nickel Shaw, owned by Nickel Creek Platinum and which hosts a NI 43-101 measured and indicated resource of 323 million tonnes grading 0.26% nickel and 0.15% copper.
Land Status
The 100% owned Canalask Project consists of a contiguous block of 179 quartz claims covering an area of approximately 3,400 hectares.
Geology and Mineralization
The Canalask Project covers the lateral extent of the northwest – southeast striking, steeply dipping “White River Intrusive Complex” (WRIC), which is part of the larger Kluane Mafic-Ultramafic Belt. The Kluane belt extends from northern British Columbia to east-central Alaska, within the Pennsylvanian to Triassic Wrangellia Terrane volcanics and sediments. The belt is host to numerous nickel-copper +/- platinum-palladium deposits and prospects, most notably the past producing Wellgreen Deposit, now held by Nickel Creek Platinum Corp., approximately 110 kilometers to the south. The WRIC occurs as a sill-like body of ultramafic and mafic rocks 100 to 150 meters thick and dipping approximately 50 degrees to the southwest. The northern margin of the WRIC represents the basal footwall contact zone while the southern margin delineates the upper hanging wall intrusive contact. The intrusion itself is dominantly composed of peridotite and dunite with a mineralized basal gabbro zone.
The WRIC is a favourable setting for magmatic nickel-copper sulphide mineralization as it is considered a “feeder system” with a high volume of magma flow. As evidenced by the abundance of magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE showings at the base of the WRIC and the discovery of the Ni-rich Canalask footwall deposit, the project hosts strong potential for both “magmatic feeder-type” basal deposits and “epigenetic footwall-type” footwall deposits. The geological setting draws comparison to the world-class Norilsk Ni-Cu-PGE camp.
Exploration on the project dates to the 1950s when the Canalask footwall zone was originally discovered, drilled and partially developed. A Historical resource estimate on the footwall hosted Main Zone is quoted at 400,000 tonnes at 1.35% Nickel by Discovery Mines Ltd. in 1968 (Yukon Assessment Report 094599). Early Metallurgical floatation test work returned concentrate grades as high as 19.7% Nickel (Yukon Assessment Report 093256). Exploration continued on the project up to the early 2000s through a series of surface programs including geochemical surveys, geological mapping and geophysics. During these campaigns numerous high-grade Ni-Cu-PGE showings, such 4.7% Nickel, 0.6% Cu and 6.82 g/t PGE in grade samples at the Discovery zone (Yukon Assessment Report 094599), were discovered along the length of the ultramafic-mafic body. In 2006 Falconbridge completed line cutting and a ground based transient Electromagnetic survey early version of Lamontagne’s UTEM system, as well as completed a NI-43-101 Technical Report (Yukon Assessment Report 094599) on the project. However, before Falconbridge could drill test the project they were acquired by Xstrata (now Glencore) and the project was dropped during the subsequent reorganization.
The Company has conducted a high-resolution drone magnetic survey (Figure 2) which helped refine the geometry of the prospective ultramafic dyke. Additionally, in Q4 2023 the Company re-established access trails, re-cut grid lines and carried out a ground based transient Electromagnetic survey using Lamontagne’s UTEM system for further refinement of the conductors first identified by Falconbridge (Figure 3 and 4). The Company’s reconnaissance prospecting has included up to 2.1% Ni and 6.17% Cu in grab samples (Figure 5 and 6).
Proposed Exploration Program
A drill program paired with a down hole EM is planned to test the conductor first identified by Falconbridge.
Agreement and Terms
The property is subject to an NSR and deferred contingent consideration.