Article by: Mining News North Alaska Energy Metals Corp. July 16 announced that drills are testing three targets on the Canwell block of claims at
Article by: Mining News North
Alaska Energy Metals Corp. July 16 announced that drills are testing three targets on the Canwell block of claims at its Nikolai project, where a combination of geology, geochemistry, and geophysics have identified compelling potential for bodies of nickel-rich massive sulfide mineralization.
Nikolai is comprised of two blocks of claims – Eureka and Canwell – that each host intriguing nickel targets. Alaska Energy Metal’s inaugural drill program at Nikolai, which was carried out last year, built upon previous exploration at Eureka, which hosts a very large and thick zone of disseminated nickel- copper-cobalt-platinum group metals mineralization.Results from the 2023 and previous drilling outlined a deposit at Eureka that hosts 813 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.22% (3.88 billion lb) nickel, 0.07% (1.28 billion lb) copper, 0.02% (303 million lb) cobalt, and 0.15 grams per metric ton (4.03 million oz) palladium-platinum-gold; plus 896 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.21% (4.23 billion lb) nickel, 0.05% (1.04 billion lb) copper, 0.02% (327 million lb) cobalt, and 0.12 g/t (1.34 million oz) palladium-platinum-gold.While Alaska Energy Metals originally planned to carry out a 15,000-meter program that would continue to upgrade and expand Eureka, as well as test for higher-grade massive sulfide nickel mineralization at Canwell, the company has opted for a smaller program on the Canwell claim block.
Lying about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of Eureka, Canwell is the site of the original nickel discovery at Nikolai, which was made during an exploration program led by Alaska Energy Metals CEO Greg Beischer in the 1990s. At the time, Beischer was working as a geologist for INCO Ltd., a large mining company searching the area for high-grade nickel.While this 1990s-era exploration found outcropping massive sulfide nickel at Canwell and discovered the lower-grade Eureka Zone, this historical work did not turn up the large pods of high-grade massive sulfide nickel INCO was looking for.Alaska Energy Metal resumed the search for high-grade massive sulfide nickel mineralization at Canwell with mapping, sampling, and geophysical surveys carried out last year.
COMMENTS