Four junior miners were either drilling, thinking about drilling, or finishing up drilling in the Snow Lake area as the calendar flipped from March to April 2017.
An endorsement to the diversity of the Snow Lake Camp, the variety of minerals (Ni, Au, Cu, Zn, Co, Li) these companies search for greatly contrasts the proximity of the deposits within the camp. All four properties are situated in a 20-mile radius of the Town of Snow Lake.
Firstly, in a March 6 release, Wolfden Resources Corporation announced favourable initial results from their winter drilling program, which began in early February on the Company’s 100 per cent-owned Rice Island property. The property encompasses 26 square kilometres and is located 10 kilometres south-southeast of the Town of Snow Lake.
Wolfden advised the drill program has successfully extended nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization within a recently discovered feeder structure, contiguous to the historic Rice Island deposit. “Specifically, the first four (4) drill holes tested a prominent electromagnetic conductor at shallow depth, believed to be reflecting mineralization located to the southwest of the known deposit, in an area where there had been no historical drilling,” the company’s release read. “All four of the drill holes intersected significant nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization highlighted by hole RI-17-30, yielding an intercept of 2.24% Nickel, 1.42% Copper and 0.10% Cobalt over 8.30 metres.”
The company says that this new zone of mineralization, known as the Boundary Zone, is interpreted to be a feeder dike or conduit. Further advising that conduits are an important component within magmatic Ni-Cu-Co mineralizing systems and on their own can be hosts to economic deposits. The Boundary Zone remains completely open along strike to the southwest and to depth.
“The remainder of the winter drilling program will test a series of conductors believed to be related to the Boundary Zone that continue for at least 700 metres to the southwest of drilling completed to date,” the company says. “Additional drilling will be completed on a series of strong conductors underlying the New Lower Zone on Rice Island.” Previous drilling completed by Wolfden on this zone returned intercepts of up to 2.32 per cent Ni, 1/29 per cent Cu and 0.16 per cent Co over 21.1 metres as well as 3.97 per cent Ni, 0.95 per cent Cu and 0.18 per cent Co over 4.60 metres; it also remains open at depth. Additional drill results will be reported as they become available.
Next, on March 17, Copper Reef Mining Corporation announced they had mobilized a drill to their North Star-Gold Rock property, west of Snow Lake. The company was preparing to drill seven holes in its New Discovery vein, finishing up by the end of March, as part of its first phase of a larger drill program in their Gold Rock Vein area.
“The New Discovery vein is on a separate parallel structure approximate 300m east of the North Star-Gold Rock structure and is virtually unexplored along a strike length of 4 km,” said Copper Reef. “The Discovery vein itself has been traced for 80m in outcrop before striking under muskeg to the north and south. A mapping and prospecting program in the area of the new vein returned gold values up to 93.44 grams per tonne gold from grab samples collected this past fall. At the south of end of the vein, an old pit 3 by 4 meters was found, circa 1920’s, where a 2m wide mineralized vein is fully exposed. There is no record of this vein or pit.”
On the heels of that announcement, on March 21 Rockcliff Copper Corporation announced they had recently completed surface geophysical survey which identified a large untested conductive plate below Hudbay Minerals’ Pen Zinc Deposit, which itself is partially located on Rockcliff’s 100 per cent owned Penex zinc property. The “Penex” is located less than 200 metres from up-dip near surface portion of the Pen deposit. Rockcliff’s property hosts the down dip continuation of the Pen deposit and is part of their “Snow Lake Project.”
Ken Lapierre, president and CEO of Rockcliff, was quoted in the release and he noted, “In exploration, geophysics is crucial in discovering buried conductive plates that could end up becoming high grade base metal mines in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake mining camp. We are fortunate to have acquired 100% interest in the Penex Zinc Property by staking. The Property covers the down dip continuation of the high grade Pen Zinc deposit where it crosses onto our Property at approximately 300-350 metres vertical. With our geophysical survey identifying a strong untested conductive plate immediately below the known deposit and continuing to at depth of at least 800 metres vertical bodes well for high-grade zinc mineralization to continue on the Property. We will continue to explore and prepare the Property for a planned drill program in 2017.”
Finally, on April 4, Far Resources advised that they were mobilizing a drill to their Zoro Lithium Property, located east of Wekusko Lake’s Crowduck Bay. This Drill Program is expected to further advance the geological understanding of the property and to position the company for ongoing exploration on Zoro, including upcoming drill programs.
Back in early January the company announced assay results from their initial seven-hole, 1,140 metre drill program on the property. The focus of the program was to verify historic drilling on Dike #1, one of its seven known lithium-bearing dikes. Each of seven drill holes intersected lithium-bearing pegmatite mineralization over intervals of up to 28 m. These intercepts compare favorably with historic data reported by Green Bay Uranium Ltd. in 1956. The main lithium-bearing mineral present in all holes was coarse-grained spodumene.
With these four companies hard at work bolstering their portfolios and proving up their properties, the mining related prospects of the area can’t help but benefit.
