Canadian Royalties hits new zone (February 27, 2003)

Vancouver The economic promise of the Expo-Ungava nickel-copper-platinum-palladium property got a shot in the arm with operator Canadian Royalties (CZZ-V) discovering another high-grade zone on the northern Quebec project.

Dubbed Tootoo, the latest find lies 25 km west of the Mesamax zone and is the third massive sulphide occurrence discovered by the junior in the past two years. The best drill results came from hole 2, which yielded 2% nickel, 1.91% copper, 0.11% cobalt, 0.6 grams platinum and 2.62 grams palladium per tonne over 22 metres. Included in this section was a higher-grade portion running 3.14% nickel, 2.56% copper, 0.17% cobalt, 0.8 gram platinum and 2.6 grams palladium over 10.5 metres.

Collared from the same site and testing the minerization up dip, hole 1 cut 44.12 metres grading 0.3% nickel, 0.4% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.22 gram platinum and 0.91 gram palladium.

Hole 3 targeted the down dip extension of the zone from the same site and returned 11 metres grading 0.3% nickel, 0.46% copper, 0.01% cobalt, 0.3 gram platinum and 1.09 grams palladium.

Mineralization is hosted in pyroxenite and is comprised of disseminated to massive pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite.

The holes were collared on the southwest portion of the 5-km long Tootoo pyroxenite. The only previous drilling in the area occurred in 1969 when a program targeted mineralization at the pyroxenite contact.

Moving 3-km to the west at the Mequillion North target, the company puched six holes from two sites covering a 200 metre strike length of a pyroxenite-peridotite body. The best results came from the western most holes, with hole MQN-1 cutting 22.3 metres grading 1.05% nickel, 0.93% copper, 1.01 gram platinum and 3.33 grams palladium. Some 200 metres to the east, hole 3 yielded 26.8 metres grading 1% nickel, 1.08% copper, 0.72 gram platinum, and 2.19 grams palladium.

The Snow Owl target was tested by one hole, which cut 79 metres of disseminated sulphides with a 40.5 metre section running 0.81% nickel, 0.21% copper, 0.29 gram platinum, and 0.64 gram palladium. The hole, which failed to reach the lower contact of the ultramafic body, was collared some 2 km east- southeast of the historic Expo Sulphide zone.

Canadian Royalties also completed four holes in the Kehoe area, 9 km west of the Expo deposit. Testing two separate ultramafic bodies from two sites cutting disseminated pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite, the best hole returned 11.7 metres grading 0.27% nickel, 0.49% copper, 0.37 gram platinum and 1.51 gram palladium.

The junior sparked interest in the project last year by reporting a series of high-grade drill intercepts at the Mesamax zoneThe Northern Miner (Nov 18-to-Nov 24 issue). Drill results completed so far, indicate a high-grade pod consisting of a broad zone of disseminated, net-textured and massive sulphides comprised of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite in, or adjacent to, a pyroxenite and has a length of less than 180 metres.

Some 3-km away, last year’s drill program over the TK target outlined a zone of mineralization over a 300 metre strike length with widths ranging to 3 metres to depths of up to 100 metres.

Canadian Royalties has the right to earn up to 70% in the property by spending $1.75 million over 4-years (now completed). It can boost its stake to 80% by completing a bankable feasibility study.

The property is 15 km south of Falconbridges’ (FL-T) Raglan nickel-copper mine and hosts three mineralized structures — Expo, Cominga and Mesamax, all of which were discovered in the 1960s. Resources at Expo- Ungava, which lies 12 km east of the new find, are pegged at 17 million tonnes grading 0.6% nickel and 0.8% copper. Included is a higher-grade core of some 3 million tonnes grading 1% nickel and 1% copper.

The junior currently plans to spend about $4 million on the project this year.