Power Nickel Inc (TSX-V:PNPN) said it has discovered a “very significant” new mineralized zone with high-grade platinum and palladium associated with copper (CU-PGE) in a previously undrilled target area some five kilometres northeast of its main Nisk deposit located in the Eeyo Istchee James Bay territory, Québec.
The area, identified as ‘Wildcat’, represents a completely new target to explore and is wide open laterally along strike and at depth, Power Nickel said.
It said the target is characterized by a strong magnetic anomaly from an ultramafic unit previously mapped in the surface outcrop. Ultramafic rocks consistent with the main Nisk deposit were intersected in hole PN-23-031A, but the high-grade mineralization is hosted in amphibolite and tonalite, which lie on top of the ultramafic sequence, the company explained.
Drillings results from hole PN-23-031A revealed 1.47% copper (Cu), 13.1 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag), 0.28 g/t gold (Au), 5.71 g/t palladium and 20.76 g/t platinum over 7.75 metres (m), including 3.90% Cu, 25 g/t Ag, 0.52 g/t Au, 19.97 g/t palladium and 90.60 g/t platinum over 1.75m.
"Wow, what a hole! Hats off to the team for identifying the outcrop and selling me on testing it,” commented Power Nickel CEO Terry Lynch in a statement.
He said the company only drilled to a depth of 200 metres, as it is planning Ambient Noise Tomography over the area, looking for similar signatures to the main Nisk mineralized zone.
“It is entirely possible that the massive sulfides containing the nickel sequence are below this unit deeper in the ultramafic. It's not unheard of for nickel deposits to have a lot of high-grade PGM's but this hole is special,” he continued.
“Obviously, we will be following this sector up in our next round of drilling. This certainly has the potential to contribute greatly to the project's economics.
"This was a great surprise following up on continued good news from the exploration program,” he added.
Preliminary data from a recent Airborne EM survey over the mapped 5.5-kilometre ultramafic section identified several encouraging signals, which will be followed up in the company’s fully funded Q3/Q4 2023 campaigns, scheduled to start in late July.
Power Nickel is a Canadian junior exploration company focusing on high-potential copper, gold, and battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com