Nine Mile Metals Ltd. (CSE:NINE, OTCQB:VMSXF, FRA:KQ9) CEO Patrick Cruikshank talked with Proactive about the latest drilling progress at the Wedge project and the company’s work to expand mineralization beyond the historic mine area.
Proactive: Welcome back to the Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Patrick Cruikshank, CEO of Nine Mile Metals. Patrick, it is great to see you again. How are you?
Patrick Cruikshank: I am great. Thanks for having me back.
The company has released another hole from the drill program, and it appears to be continuing to expand the mineralization. Tell us about this particular hole, where it was located and what the company encountered.
This is the third hole we released, and all three holes were drilled from the same pad.
In the northeastern part of the mine, toward the eastern extension, we drilled a fan of holes into an area that had never previously been drilled or mined. By the time the holes reached a depth of around 300 metres, they were approximately 50 to 100 metres apart.
It is a very economical approach because we can turn the drill rig and drill at different angles from the same location. This hole reached approximately 390 metres, and we encountered around 125 metres of mineralized intervals.
Across the three holes, we have now observed almost 500 metres of visual mineralization. The challenge is that all of that core has to be cut, which has created a bottleneck in preparing and sending the samples to the laboratory.
We have just finished cutting this hole and will forward the samples as soon as possible.
Does that give you confidence that the company is drilling in the right area? As you mentioned, this section had never previously been drilled.
Yes. We do not have complete records of the original mine workings, so we do not know exactly where all of the tunnels are in the central part of the historic mine.
The upper portion was mined and later collapsed, which means we cannot simply drill through the old workings. There could be old equipment or other obstructions underground.
As a result, we have moved toward the eastern flank, western flank and areas below the historic workings. The drill rig is currently testing the system at depth.
We are looking forward to the next results. Being three-for-three so far is encouraging.
There is still a significant amount of drilling to come from the 10,000-metre program. How should investors view the results at this stage? Is it fair to describe them as positive early indications?
Yes. This is our third drill program at the Wedge, and we learn much more from each campaign.
We have developed a three-dimensional model with Apex Geoscience, Mike Dufresne and our technical team. We also have historic information from more than 300 drill holes.
Some of the historic data is not completely accurate. GPS technology was not available when much of the earlier work was completed, and historic operators may not have disclosed every detail about where mineralization was located.
The result is an evolving, live three-dimensional model. We are excited to take the project to the next level, and we will probably expand the drill program.
A second rig is also coming. We still want to test the company’s other targets rather than focus only on the Wedge.
The weather has been favourable, and the program remains on track. Our success has actually slowed us down because we would normally encounter 30 or 40 metres of mineralization rather than intervals of 100 or 200 metres. It is a good problem to have.
You mentioned the importance of modern geology and modern exploration techniques. Is this an area that particularly benefits from those advances?
It does. Geophysical technology has advanced significantly, particularly when working with conductive volcanogenic massive sulphide systems and critical minerals.
What is especially interesting is that we are identifying multiple new lenses. That is why we believe the mine has strong economic potential and can be brought back into production.
Historically, operators did not have access to today’s geophysical technology. They also did not assay for all of the metals we are interested in today. The historic focus was mainly on lead and zinc, so copper, gold and other metals were left behind.
We are seeing strong results, and geophysics is helping us expand the project footprint.
We also expect to conduct borehole surveys on the western side. We plan to complete four or five surveys that will examine the surrounding geology in all directions at regular intervals down to approximately 500 metres.
Those surveys should provide visibility of around 200 to 300 metres in multiple directions. They may help us identify historic workings and determine where mineralized lenses remain intact.
We have held off drilling parts of the western and northwestern areas until we receive that information, primarily for safety reasons. That work is expected to begin within the next two weeks.
However, it is not only the geophysics that matters. The interpretation of the information is critical.
That is where we have differentiated the company over the past two years. We brought in Mike Dufresne, who has experience in the Bathurst VMS camp, and we recently hired Art Hamilton, an experienced VMS professional with knowledge of the Bathurst camp.
We are building the company’s technical talent, and that is being reflected in our drill targeting. The intersections speak for themselves.
Patrick, thank you very much. It was another great update, and we look forward to our next conversation.
Thanks for having me.
Patrick Cruikshank, CEO of Nine Mile Metals.
Quotes have been lightly edited for style and clarity