Starfield tags low-sulphide zone

Vancouver — On going drilling by Starfield Resources (SRU-V) has hit another low-sulphide, high-grade platinum and palladium intercept, this time below the massive sulphide mineralization at the West zone of the Ferguson Lake deposit, near Rankin Inlet in Nunavut.

Drill hole 104 was collared 500 metres east of hole 101, which, as previously reported, cut a 0.35-metre-thick zone, 15 metres above the massive sulphides, yielding 103 grams palladium and 26.7 grams platinum per tonne at a down-hole depth of 962.3 metres. The latest hole cut the massive sulphide horizon returning 1.24% copper, 0.94% nickel, 0.09% cobalt, 2.27 grams palladium an 0.3 gram platinum over 8.8 metres from 843.6 metres down-hole. A little over 1-metre below this intercept, the low sulphide zone was encountered yielding 9.9 grams palladium, 1.44 grams platinum over 0.5 metres.

Starfield reports that barite and biotite are associated with its high-grade platinum-group-metal (PGM) zone.

The new zone is believed to be a separate, sub-parallel horizon within the overall gabbroic host sill. It may represent a distinct mineralizing event caused by primary differentiation during cooling of the original sill.

Holes 101 and 104 mark the deepest holes drilled to date on the West zone.

So far this year, Starfields drilling activities have increased the inferred resource at Ferguson Lake to 51.7 million tonnes grading 0.92% copper, 0.58% nickel and 1.44 grams combined platinum and palladium. The estimate is based on a cutoff grade of 1% combined copper and nickel.

At a 1.5% cutoff, the resource weighs in at 25.5 million tonnes grading 1.15% copper, 0.87% nickel and 1.86 grams combined platinum and palladium.

Using a 2% cutoff, the resource is reduced to 9.3 million tonnes averaging 1.37% copper, 0.87% nickel and 2.06 grams combined platinum and palladium.

Lying 160 km south of Baker Lake, copper mineralization at the West zone was initially discovered in the 1950s by Inco (N-T) and followed up three decades later by a unit of Homestake Mining. The former pegged the West zone with a resource of 6.4 million tonnes grading 0.87% copper and 0.75% nickel, whereas the latter discovered showings of platinum, palladium and cobalt mineralization in sulphide-bearing outcrops.

Manual resource estimates for the East I zone comes in at 2.9 million tonnes grading 1% copper, 0.8% nickel and 1.2 grams combined platinum-palladium. The East II zone tallies 1.3 million tonnes grading 0.9% copper, 0.8% nickel and 1.2 grams combined platinum-palladium.

Starfield earned a 100% interest in the 20,000-ha property by paying $75,000 in cash, issuing 4.25 million shares and spending $1.7 million on exploration.