Starfield kicks off 2002 exploration program (March 11, 2002)

Vancouver — Starfield Resources (SRU-V) has begun mobilizing drill rigs to its Ferguson Lake copper-nickel-platinum-palladium project in Nunavut for a new round of exploration.

This year’s program is designed to expand a high-grade zone discovered in the final hole drilled in 2001. This hole, FL-1014, was collared on section 6,800 west, the westernmost drill section on the Main zone, and cut 0.35 metres grading 103 grams palladium and 26.7 grams platinum per tonne, as well as 2.74 grams rhodium.

The platinum-palladium-rhodium mineralization is hosted in a discrete, sulphide-poor horizon that is sub-parallel to the main massive sulphide system. Starfield believes this platinum-group-metals zone may be near a mineralizing source area.

Drilling will also test deep targets that were outlined following a reinterpretation of geophysical data. For example, hole FL 67 will be extended by an additional 500 metres in order to test the lower limb of the folded system.

Starfield will also outline and define higher-grade bodies of mineralization, and the West zone will be tested for an additional 2 km along strike to the west.

Since acquiring Ferguson Lake in 1999, the junior has spent more than $14 million on geophysics, geological mapping and 43,000 metres of diamond drilling. Previously, in the 1950s, Inco completed 30,000 metres of drilling on the property.

The inferred resource is estimated to be 60.1 million tonnes grading 0.93% copper, 0.59% nickel, 1.32 grams palladium and 0.19 gram platinum, based on a combined cutoff grade of 1% copper-nickel. At a 2% cutoff, the resource shrinks to 12.7 million tonnes grading 1.39% copper, 0.85% nickel, 1.92 grams palladium and 0.28 gram platinum.

The West zone hosts 92% of the tonnage and includes two areas of higher-grade mineralization (in excess of 1.5% combined copper-nickel). These areas contain 8.2 million tonnes grading 1.07% copper, 0.82% nickel, 1.48 grams palladium and 0.25 gram platinum. The estimate is based on a cutoff of 1.5% combined copper-nickel.

The zone also includes a higher-grade section of 2.6 million tonnes averaging 1.18% copper, 1.04% nickel, 1.88 grams palladium and 0.32 gram platinum, using a 2% copper-nickel cutoff.

This massive sulphide resource reportedly represents only 25% of the known target.

In addition to the West zone, the deposit contains the East 1 and East 2 zones.