First Nordic Metals drilling Paubacken Project, Sweden
First Nordic Metals Corp. [TSXV: FNM; OTCQB: FNMCF; FRA: HEG0] has started diamond drilling at its high-priority Aida target on the 100%-owned Paubacken project, located in Vasterbotten county, northern Sweden.
The project is about 40 km south of the company’s resource-stage Barsele project (in joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.), and Aida specifically is about four km north of the Svartliden operating mill that is currently processing ore from Sweden’s newest gold mine, Fabodtjarn.
For the first quarter, the company plans to complete an initial 5,150 metres of diamond drilling at the Aida target using up to two diamond drill rigs. Currently, one drill rig is turning, operated by Finland-based Comadev Oy. A total of 24 diamond drill holes are designed to test over three km of identified structural corridor coincident with base-of-till/top-of-bedrock gold and pathfinder anomalism and stepping out on the discovery hole at Aida (PAU21003), with a near-surface intercept of 22.5 metres of 2.4 g/t gold.
Based on the success of the Q1 drill program, First Nordic expects to complete a further 5,000 to 10,000 metres of drilling on Aida throughout 2025 and remains fully financed to do so.
Taj Singh, CEO, commented: “It’s an exciting time on the Gold Line belt. Several top-of-bedrock rigs have been turning, and diamond drills are now getting going as well. Starting at Aida, we are beginning the most comprehensive diamond drill program ever carried out on the Gold Line belt outside of our Barsele project. A vast majority of the Gold Line belt structural/geochemical trend, where we are by far the largest claimholders, with 100-per-cent ownership of 80-plus kilometres of strike, has not been previously drill-tested due to the lack of surface exposure and previous exploration in the area. FNM is now in a position to drill test multiple multikilometric targets on the Gold Line belt.”
The Q1 2025 Aida drill program has been designed to step out on known mineralization and test over three km of strike along the four-km Aida target to understand size, geometry and structural controls of mineralization within the shear corridor.
Two previous drilling campaigns completed in 2021 and 2022 tested approximately one km of the structure and intercepted gold mineralization, including 22.5 m of 2.4 g/t Au in PAU21003. In 2023, follow-up BoT/ToB drilling expanded the mineralized footprint to the north and south along the structure to 1.5 km, including the highest ToB result to date on the project of 5.01 g/t Au. A total of only 1,492 m of diamond drilling has historically been done by First Nordic at Aida.
Ten drill holes are designed to test two km of structural corridor extending south from previous drill holes. Drilling here will test the southern extension of PAU21003, as well as the 5.01 g/t Au result from the 2023 ToB drilling. Wider-spaced drill holes are designed to test the rest of the southern extension of the target structure. Along the northern extension, 10 drill holes are planned to step out on previous drilling and test anomalous 2023 ToB results, including up to two g/t Au along the structural corridor. Four additional drill holes are designed to test targets on parallel structures to the east with anomalous ToB results.
The Aida target is a 4+km trend within the Gold Line structural corridor, close to the junction between the Svartliden shear zone to the southwest (historic high-grade gold mine) and the Gold Line main shear corridor. Located under approximately three to 20 metres of glacial till cover, the structural corridor was first identified in a regional top of bedrock drilling program in 2021. Lithostructural modelling of magnetic geophysics data interpreted the structural corridor as a second-order splay structure off the regional first order Gold Line belt structure.
The Paubacken project consists of four licences covering 19,737 hectares that cover the central part of an emerging district in north-central Sweden known as the Gold Line belt. The Gold Line belt is host to several significant gold deposits, including the company’s nearby Barsele project, as well as the Svartliden gold mine and mill complex and Faboliden development project (both operated by Dragon Mining Ltd.). The Svartliden mill is currently processing gold ores from the Fabodtjarn gold mine, which started mining operations in 2024.
The Paubacken project is strategically positioned between Barsele and Faboliden, and five km northeast of the Svartliden mine, within the Gold Line belt in northern Sweden. The project contains 22 km of the regionally significant Gold Line structure, which can be traced for over 200 km in regional geophysics data.
First Nordic is consolidating assets in Sweden and Finland, with a vision to create Europe’s next gold camp. The company’s flagship asset is the Barsele gold project in northern Sweden, a joint venture project with senior gold producer Agnico Eagle. Immediately surrounding the Barsele project, First Nordic is 100% owner of a district-scale licence position composed of three additional projects (Paubacken, Storjuktan and Klippen), which, combined with the Barsele project, total 104,000 hectares on the Gold Line belt.
Additionally, in northern Finland, First Nordic is the 100% owner of a district-scale position covering the entire underexplored Oijarvi greenstone belt, including the Kylmakangas deposit, the largest known gold occurrence on this belt.