Vancouver — Following two years of exploration,
The deposit has an inferred resource of 32.44 million tonnes grading 0.86% copper and 0.59% nickel, plus 1.26 grams combined platinum and palladium per tonne.
The company is gearing up for another round of drilling, to last from March until July. The 40,000-metre program will mainly target the West zone.
The West zone still boasts 2.5 km of undrilled strike, and geophysical surveys indicate that the mineralization continues down-dip. A total of three drill rigs will work the property: two will focus on the West zone and the third will drill various anomalies.
Situated west of Rankin Inlet, in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, the 38,000-ha property consists of 34 contiguous mineral claims in an area of low relief and numerous small lakes. It is 150 km north of the tree line and about 114 metres above sea level.
The property is accessible by air from Rankin Inlet or Baker Lake. Ferguson Lake has a 1-km-long dirt airstrip capable of handling wheel-equipped aircraft. Supplies and services are sourced from Thompson, Man., 765 km to the south, or from Yellowknife, N.W.T., 900 km to the west.
The Nunavut government is studying the possibility of extending a road into the territory from northern Manitoba, with a potential route running close to Ferguson Lake.
Since winter temperatures in this sub-arctic region average minus 30 C between October and April, most exploration is carried out during the summer months. Geophysical surveys and diamond drilling are performed between March and May in order to take advantage of ice covered lakes.
History
In 1950, the exploration arm of
Most of the drilling (27,000 metres) focused on mineralized zones along a 9-km strike length east and west of Ferguson Lake, as well as the area beneath the lake. The rest of the drilling focused other targets within and outside the original 3,000-sq.-km concession area. Initial drilling in the West zone identified a resource of 6.4 million tonnes grading 0.87% copper and 0.75% nickel.
Homestake acquired claims and prospecting permits around Inco’s mining lease in 1986 and performed a reconnaissance program of geological mapping and sampling, in pursuit of platinum and palladium mineralization. A year later, Homestake’s claims were dropped, and four years later, in 1992, Inco’s mining lease was allowed to lapse.
In 1997, the Ferguson Lake Syndicate obtained the ground and re-established survey control. The syndicate performed prospecting and sampling in 1998. Starfield Resources officially entered the picture in February 1999 by inking a deal to acquire a 100% undivided interest in the property (which it still holds) from the Ferguson Lake Syndicate. The deal called for total exploration expenditures of $1.7 million and a cash payment of $75,000, as well as 4.2 million performance shares earned at the rate of one share for each 40 of exploration expenditures. The property is also subject to a 3% net smelter return royalty on mineral production, and a 3% “gross overriding royalty” on diamond production.
Geophysics
In the summer of 1999, Starfield kicked off an exploration program which included airborne and surface geophysical surveys, detailed geological mapping and sampling, preliminary environmental baseline studies and 3,918 metres of diamond drilling. The company expanded its geophysical survey coverage and drilled an additional 3,595 metres between April and June 2000.
Late last year, the company undertook a 10,000-metre drill program that extended the West zone westward by 2.4 km. The zone remains open. Currently, the resource at the West zone is pegged at 28.24 million tonnes grading 0.85% copper, 0.56% nickel and 1.27 grams combined platinum and palladium. This includes a high-grade section of 7.23 million tonnes grading 1.08% copper, 0.78% nickel and 1.95 grams combined platinum and palladium.
Discovered early last year, the M zone, about 6 km southeast of the East zone 2, was identified by geophysical surveys. The conductive zone measures 400 metres wide by 2,000 metres long and dips gently to the north. It was tested by five holes, and results confirmed the presence of sulphides. However, drill intercepts were inconsistent.
The best intercept came from hole 43, which tested the down-dip section of the central part of the conductor. The hole cut 23.3 metres grading 0.51% copper, 0.39% nickel, 0.057% cobalt, 1.05 grams palladium and 0.13 gram platinum, starting at a down-hole depth of 254.4 metres. This included a 7.17-metre section of 1.01% copper 0.71% nickel, 0.103% cobalt, 1.94 grams palladium and 0.13 gram platinum. Only a small portion of the M anomaly has been tested, and Starfield believes further work may be warranted.
Two smaller electromagnetic anomalies were discovered north and east of Anomaly 51. These conductors were drill-tested by four holes but yielded only low values of base and precious metals over narrow intervals.
Work to date on the East zone 1, under Ferguson Lake and close to the eastern shoreline, has identified a resource of 2.9 million tonnes grading 1.01% copper, 0.75% nickel and 1.18 grams combined platinum and palladium. This resource has a strike length of 1.1 km and remains open along strike to the east and at depth.
The East zone 2, about 500 metres east of East zone 1, hosts 1.3 million tonnes grading 0.94% copper, 0.80% nickel and 1.2 grams combined platinum and palladium.
The final three core holes drilled last year on the West zone were all collared from the same pad. These were drilled towards the south at angles of minus 60, minus 73 and minus 80, and represent the deepest holes completed to date. They tested the sulphide unit 600 metres downdip from the surface and 350 metres updip from the base of the geophysical target.
Results are as follows:
– Hole FL-65 — This hole intersected three sections of mineralization, including: 8.49 metres grading 1.20% copper, 0.43% nickel, 0.049% cobalt, 1.09 grams palladium, and 0.19 gram platinum starting at a depth of 329.8 metres down-hole. This included a 5.25-metre section of 1.31% copper, 0.64% nickel, 0.073% cobalt, 1.56 grams palladium and 0.25 gram platinum, while yet another section cut 21.38 metres of 0.64% copper, 0.62% nickel, 0.063% cobalt, 1.55 gram palladium and 0.29 gram platinum starting at 342.7 metres down-hole.
– Hole FL-66 — This hole cut five sections of mineralization, including: 15.81 metres grading 0.96% copper, 0.53% nickel, 0.059% cobalt, 1.38 grams palladium and 0.3 gram platinum starting at 341.8 metres down-hole. Included in the interval was a 7.80-metre section that assayed 1.22% copper, 0.88% nickel, 0.096% cobalt, 2.13 grams palladium and 0.35 gram platinum. Another section, starting at 364.3 metres down-hole, cut 15.35 metres grading 0.94% copper, 0.3% nickel, 0.035% cobalt, 1.13 grams palladium and 0.2 gram platinum.
– Hole FL-67 — This hole intersected six sections of mineralization, including: 19.25 metres grading 0.71% copper, 0.36% nickel, 0.04% cobalt, 1.08 grams palladium and 0.17 gram platinum, starting at 399.3 metres down-hole. The interval contained a 5.12-metre section that returned 0.78% copper, 0.71% nickel, 0.079% cobalt, 2.09 grams palladium and 0.1 gram platinum.
Another interval cut 18.2 metres grading 0.73% copper, 0.46% nickel, 0.057% cobalt, 1.21 grams palladium and 0.43 gram platinum, starting at 422.5 metres down-hole. This included a 6.02-metre section of 0.95% copper, 0.9% nickel, 0.102% cobalt, 2.25 grams palladium and 0.38 gram platinum.
Farther down-hole, at a depth of 422.5 metres, another interval cut 18.02 metres grading 0.73% copper, 0.46% nickel, 0.057% cobalt, 1.21 grams palladium and 0.34 gram platinum.
A fourth interval cut 14.4 metres grading 1.5% copper, 0.74% nickel, 0.087% cobalt, 1.85 grams palladium and 0.27 gram platinum, starting at 445.7 metres down-hole. This included an 11.84-metre section grading 1.71% copper, 0.89% nickel, 0.104% cobalt, 2.18 grams palladium and 0.3 gram platinum.
Starfield reports that these holes are among the best grades intersected to date, pointing out that nickel values are consistently higher than the earlier overall average.
The Ferguson Lake property is near the western margin of the Hearne geological province, a subdivision of the larger, Churchill structural province. The region is composed of Archean and Proterozoic-aged gneissic granitic and supracrustal rocks. Underlying the property are east-to-northeast-trending gneissic rocks that are cut by numerous dykes and small plutons.
Copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group elements are hosted in east-to-northeast trending, hornblendite units that dip moderately to the north. Most of these sulphide-bearing hornblendite intrusions are thought to be products of metamorphism of mafic-ultramafic intrusions that were emplaced along east-west fault zones. The source of these intrusions is unknown.
In a geological report, Nicholas Carter says the consistent strike and linear nature of the main hornblendite unit, which hosts the three principal mineralized zones, indicates that the intrusion may post-date most of the deformation and metamorphism in the surrounding gneissic rocks.
Drilling has shown that gabbro intrusions are widespread within, and adjacent to, several of the known mineralized zones, particularly the West zone. These plugs may represent a late stage of the evolution of the mineralized system.
Mineralogically, zones of pyrrhotite, pyrite and chalcopyrite mineralization occur as massive pods and lenses, as well as stringers and veinlets, and tend to manifest themselves on the surface as prominent gossans. According to Carter, these sulphide zones are best-developed in the upper, hangingwall portion of the hornblendite and as re-mobilized sections within the hangingwall gneisses.
Starfield Resources has 20.5 million shares outstanding.
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