Canadian explorer Power Nickel (TSX-V:PNPN) says it has made a fresh near-surface, high-grade polymetallic discovery 5km northeast of the main Nisk deposit.
The company drilled 15 holes into the Lion Zone during its winter program in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory of Québec.
One hole (PN-24-048) returned 15.27m @ 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 16.13g/t silver, 1.89% copper, 7.07g/t palladium, 1.26g/t platinum, and 0.8% nickel.
This included 5m @ 0.94g/t gold, 12.76g/t silver, 1.14% copper, 14.23g/t palladium, 2.92g/t platinum, and 0.06% nickel; and 1.7m @ 1.27g/t gold, 99.84g/t silver, 12.3% copper, 15.45g/t palladium, 0.6g/t platinum, and 0.38% nickel.
The highest grades came from hole PN-24-053, where drilling hit 5m @ 1.76g/t gold, 102.9g/t silver, 12.7% copper, 20.87g/t palladium, 1.02g/t platinum, and 0.4% nickel.
This intercept featured 2.25m @ 2.37g/t gold, 133.68g/t silver, 19.85% copper, 31.78g/t palladium, 0.86g/t platinum, and 0.37% nickel.
CEO Terry Lynch says Power Nickel is now establishing some boundaries delineating a high grade and thick core that is surrounded by well-mineralised but thinner edges.
“Holes 48 and 53 are examples of the former, while a hole like 47 is coming from that 100-metre-wide core zone,” he says.
“The system starts essentially at surface and goes down to 275 metres.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Exploration Kenneth Williamson says hole 55 and 59, both of which assays are still pending for, contain a “lot of massive PGE-bearing chalcopyrite”.
Lynch told Mining.com.au recently the company expects to drill 8,000m by the end of summer at Nisk.
Power Nickel will continue to drill at the Lion Discovery in the upcoming summer season, following up holes PN-24-051 and PN-24-062 — the deepest mineralised intersections to date.
PN-24-051 returned an interval of 11.4m @ 0.24g/t gold, 13.95g/t silver, 2.51% copper, 3.2g/t palladium, 19.59g/t platinum and 0.18% nickel, from around 233m deep while PN-24-062 delivered a 1.7m interval from around 343m deep.
Assays are still pending for PN-24-062.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
