Metal Energy Corp said it has started diamond drilling on its Strange nickel exploration project in the Thunder Bay area of northwestern Ontario.
The Toronto-based company said it has planned approximately 1,500 metres (m) in two drill holes to target magnetic anomalies interpreted as ultramafic rock types overlying sedimentary units, typical of Proterozoic-age Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) nickel deposits.
"We are excited to have initiated the company's first drill program, having achieved this milestone in less than two months from listing publicly on the TSXV on November 29, 2021,” the company’s CEO James Sykes said in a statement.
“This is a testimony to the entire team moving the company forward at an expedited rate,” he added.
READ: Metal Energy announces diamond drilling exploration plans for 1Q 2022 at its Strange and Manibridge nickel projects
Sykes noted that with this month’s appointment of Mike Sweeny as vice-president for exploration and development, Metal Energy believes it has the right players and projects to establish itself as a preeminent nickel exploration and development company.
“We will eagerly anticipate the initial drilling results from the current Strange drill program,” Sykes said. “A technical success with this drill program would indicate that we would have discovered a new region that is possibly fertile for nickel mineralization.”
The Strange project is located within the Animikie Basin geological region, which includes major sulfide nickel deposits hosted within strata-bound ultramafic bodies mantled by mixed sediment-volcanic sequences, such as Lundin Mining Corporation (TSX:LUN)'s Eagle Mine and Eagle East deposit.
Metal Energy said geological and geophysical evidence supports the interpretations for Strange hosting the right komatiitic ultramafic rock types mixing with sulphide-rich sediments similar to other global Proterozoic MRS nickel deposits, such as the Kambalda nickel ore district of Western Australia, the Raglan area of Northern Quebec, Voisey's Bay area of the Labrador coast, the Noril'sk district within the Kola Peninsula of eastern Russia, and the Thompson Nickel Belt of Manitoba.
"The interpreted geology of the Strange project is very exciting as there are known similarities between rock types of the MRS and those that host the high-grade Voisey's Bay and Norilsk nickel-copper-platinum group element deposits,” Sweeny said. “Previous diamond drilling on the project simply didn't drill deep enough to intersect the target rock types, even though a borehole electromagnetic (EM) survey indicated a strong EM response at least 150m deeper than the end of their drill hole. We remain highly encouraged that our drill program with deeper drill holes will achieve success and identify the right ultramafic rock types for nickel-copper-platinum group element mineralization at Strange.”
Metal Energy is a well-funded nickel and battery metal exploration company with two projects, Manibridge and Strange, in the politically stable jurisdictions of Manitoba and Ontario, Canada, respectively. Both projects are subject to earn-in agreements where the company can acquire 100% exploration rights to approximately 16,200 hectares.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com