Completes Programme At Bannockburn Nickel Property
Grid Metals Corp. (TSXV:GRDM)(OTCQB:MSMGF) has had further success in the final results from the Q1 2021 Parisien Lake area drill programme at its East Bull Lake palladium property located near Sudbury, Ontario.
Drilling continued to intersect palladium-dominant mineralisation in the Central Parisien Lake Zone, including large step outs to the east of the main area of drilling.
Similar palladium-rich mineralisation was also intersected in two drill holes located several hundred metres to the south.
One of these holes also intersected a pyroxenite-hosted, platinum-dominant style of mineralisation – adding to a growing list of PGM-Cu-Ni sulfide mineralization styles discovered on the Property.
The company also completed an eight-hole drill program targeting bulk tonnage nickel sulphide mineralisation at its Bannockburn Township property located in the Timmins region of Ontario.
Highlights
- The Central Parisien Lake Zone was intersected in four additional holes, including step outs of up to 400m east of the main area of drilling. Significant results from these four holes are summarised in the table, below, and include:
- 14.0m of 1.2 g/t palladium equivalent (Pd Eq) grade in hole EBL21-10 containing a 1.0minterval of 7.0 g/t Pd Eq
- 14.2m of 1.3 g/t Pd Eq in hole EBL21-11
- 16.0m of 1.6 g/t Pd Eq in hole EBL21-12 including 8.0m with 2.4 g/t Pd Eq
- 6.0m of 1.9 g/t Pd Eq in hole EBL21-14
Two additional holes were completed in the South Parisien target area, located 400m south of the main area of drilling on the Central Parisien Lake Zone. Both holes intersected near surface palladium-rich mineralisation having similar characteristics to the mineralization in the Central Parisien Lake Zone.
One of the holes intersected a new, platinum-rich style of mineralization. The most significant results are:
- 7.0m averaging 1.1 g/t Pd Eq in hole EBL21-13 from 3.0m downhole depth
- 2.0m of platinum-rich mineralisation averaging 1.6 g/t Pt and 1.2 g/t Pd in hole EBL21-15
Vice-President of Exploration and Business Development, Dr Dave Peck, said the geochemistry and mineralogy of this Pt-rich intersection are broadly similar to those observed in the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa.
Previous geological investigations (e.g., Peck et al., 2001, Economic Geology, v.96, p.559-581) on the Property have identified a number of similar occurrences of pyroxenite-hosted disseminated sulphide mineralisation that tend to have a greater proportion of platinum relative to palladium than is typically observed on the Property.
However, these occurrences are exclusively present as sub-metre size inclusions within the Basal Layer. Accordingly, the intersection reported in hole EBL21-15 could represent a potential source layer for these inclusions – a concept to be tested by completing short step-out holes adjacent to EBL21-15 in the next programme.
Dr Peck said” “the palladium-rich Basal Layer, which is the primary host to palladium mineralization at East Bull Lake, has now been intersected in over 30 historic and recent drill holes over a strike length of >1.5 km.
“In addition, the first two holes drilled into the South Parisien Target area, located several hundred metres to the south, both collared in the same style of palladium-rich disseminated sulphide mineralisation.
“One of these two holes also intersected platinum-dominant mineralisation hosted by a narrow pyroxenitic unit. This represents an intriguing new target type on the Property – possibly a Bushveld-style PGM reef.”
Next Steps
Recent drilling and geophysical modelling indicates that the Central Parisien Lake Zone is associated with discrete resistivity low anomalies that the company believes are reflecting both increased alteration intensity and total sulphide abundance.
The trend of resistivity lows underlying the Central Parisien Lake Zone extends approximately two km further to the west into an area with no previous drilling and limited surface sampling. This represents an important target for the next phase of drilling, which is expected to commence toward the end of the summer. Other drilling being planned for the Parisien Lake area include:
- Follow-up on massive sulphide intersections and associated borehole EM anomalies obtained from the 2020 and 2021 drilling at Parisien Lake
- Complete short step out holes around the platinum-rich mineralisation intersected in EBL21-15
- Test for the presence of feeder structure-related palladium mineralisation in the modelled north-south structure cutting across the Central Parisien Lake Zone adjacent to which the best palladium grades and widths are present
In addition to the Parisien Lake target there are several other kilometre-scale exploration targets on the Property. Many of these targets have never been drilled and all exhibit similar favourable characteristics to those observed at Parisien Lake, e.g.:
- Outcropping or near surface palladium mineralisation
- Prospective geology (Basal Layer, Footwall Breccia)
- Low resistivity and total magnetic intensity
- Proximity to potential feeder structures
The company will soon initiate a summer field programme to help prioritise these other targets for drilling. Several of these targets will be tested in the next phase of drilling, following which the company will be in a much stronger position to determine where it should focus initial resource delineation drilling on the Property.
The company is also awaiting results from selective rhodium analyses and preliminary metallurgical test work on Parisien Lake core samples and expects to report on this work within the next several weeks.
For further information please visit: https://www.gridmetalscorp.com/
