FNX, Dynatec confirm zone at Norman (October 28, 2002)

Infill drilling on the North zone of the Norman nickel-copper deposit, northeast of Sudbury, Ont., has confirmed mineralization at vertical depths of around 165 metres.

The program, carried out by partners FNX Mining (FNX-T) and Dynatec (DY-T), intersected nickel, copper and precious-metal mineralization in massive-sulphide rock. The sulphide zones occur in the Whistle Offset dyke, a gabbro body that extends off the main Sudbury intrusion.

The North zone plunges at about 45 to the south, and the partners plan to test its down-plunge extension.

Copper grades ranged from 2% to 6%, nickel grades were mostly 0.1-0.5%, platinum and palladium generally graded 1-3 grams each, and gold graded a fraction of a gram per tonne.

The most copper-rich mineralization can carry higher platinum and palladium grades, running up to 11 grams platinum and 6.4 grams palladium per tonne.

The mineralized zones are typically between 1 and 4 metres wide.

One hole, no. 4033, intersected three zones. The first zone has a core length of 0.9 metre; the second, 12.2 metres; and the third, 33 metres. Given the angle of the drilling, true widths should be about 70% of the drilled lengths.

The 33-metre intersection graded 1.7% copper and 0.1% nickel, plus 2.4 grams platinum, 1.8 grams palladium and 1.2 grams gold per tonne.

Other infill drilling targeted areas nearer surface, with one hole cutting 43.3 metres of 1.7% copper, 0.3% nickel, 1.6 grams platinum, 1.1 grams palladium, and 0.6 gram gold per tonne. Another cut 6.6 metres that ran 5.9% copper, 0.4% nickel, 2.1 grams platinum, 1.3 grams palladium, and 2.1 grams gold.

Stripping near the up-plunge projection of the North zone unearthed massive sulphide mineralization, with channel samples running between 5.3% and 28.7% copper, with 0.1-1.1% nickel. Precious-metal credits in the zone ranged from 1.6 to 4.8 grams platinum per tonne, from 1.6 to 10.5 grams palladium, and from 0.7 to 4.4 grams gold.

Current drilling is testing another known area of mineralization, the 2000 zone, at a vertical depth of 600 metres and 750 metres down-plunge from the North zone. The down-plunge extension of the North zone that leads toward the 2000 zone is also being drilled.