SPC Nickel samples 9.42% nickel and 19.5% copper at Muskox, Nunavut
SPC Nickel Corp. [TSXV-SPC] reported assay results from its 2024 exploration program at the 100%-owned 650 km2 Muskox Ni-Cu-PGM (nickel-copper-platinum-group-metal) project, located approximately 75 km south of the coastal Hamlet of Kugluktuk within the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. Results confirm widespread high-grade base and precious metal mineralization associated with multiple geological environments within the Muskox intrusion.
The Muskox intrusion is one of the last undeveloped district-scale Ni-Cu-PGM prospects in the world. The project shares a similar geological environment to many of the world’s largest nickel-copper mining camps, such as Norilsk, Voisey’s Bay and Sudbury, and represents an excellent opportunity to make a world-class discovery.
Assay highlights – Equinox target: 19.50% Cu, 0.06% Ni, 6.40 g/t palladium (Pd), 0.87 g/t platinum (Pt) and 0.41 g/t gold (Au); 9.21% Cu, 9.42% Ni, 11.10 g/t Pd, 0.54 g/t Pt and 0.32 g/t Au; 7.89% Cu, 0.26% Ni, 93.10 g/t Pd, 6.69 g/t Pt and 7.57 g/t Au.
Pyrrhotite Lake target: 9.02% Cu, 0.11% Ni, 1.88 g/t Pd, 0.03 g/t Pt and 0.29 g/t Au; 2.09% Cu, 2.71% Ni, 0.63 g/t Pd, 0.03 g/t Pt and 0.06 g/t Au; 2.55% Cu, 0.05% Ni, 27.9 g/t Pd, 11.4 g/t Pt and 5.28 g/t Au.
Speers Lake target: 12.40% Cu, 0.04% Ni, 3.85 g/t Pd, 0.96 g/t Pt and 0.58 g/t Au; 6.79% Cu, 1.19% Ni, 4.82 g/t Pd, 0.54 g/t Pt and 0.99 g/t Au; 1.06% Cu, 1.94% Ni, 0.84 g/t Pd, 0.04 g/t Pt and 0.05 g/t Au.
Thirty-three rock grab samples assayed more than 2% Ni plus Cu, with 14 assaying more than 5% Ni plus Cu. Significant PGM-enrichment is indicated by seven samples assaying more than 10.0 g/t PGM.
Grant Mourre, president and CEO, commented: “Having spent more than 25 years exploring for magmatic Ni-Cu-PGM sulphides, I can say without a doubt that the Muskox project represents one of the best undeveloped district-scale opportunities that I have ever seen. The presence of high-grade copper-PGM footwall veins with values up to 19.5% Cu and multiple ounces of PGMs is truly spectacular and uncommon outside of the known Ni-Cu-PGM districts. Our field work at Muskox, including this most recent program, has significantly advanced our understanding of the opportunity and leads us to conclude that previous exploration has only scratched the surface of the true potential of the Muskox intrusion. Muskox’s scale and mineral prospectivity demonstrate the kind of project profile that is normally associated with major mine developers. It is truly a potentially transformative project in the heart of an emerging Tier 1 jurisdiction.”
SPC Nickel completed a seven-day prospecting program on the approximately 65,000-hectare Muskox project in early July. SPC Nickel’s field crews accessed the project via daily helicopter flights based out of the coastal Hamlet of Kugluktuk located approximately 75 km to the north of the project. A total of 112 grab samples were collected across multiple target areas, including the Equinox, Pyrrhotite Lake and Speers Lake targets, as well as additional target areas across the project. The breakdown of samples included 97 samples for assay analysis and 15 samples for complete geochemical analysis.
2024 highlights: Four distinct types of sulphide mineralization were encountered along the margins of the Muskox intrusion.
The main intrusive is a 60 km long by up to 11 km wide elongate-shaped body that is well differentiated and consists of gently inwardly dipping layers of dunite, peridotites, pyroxenites and gabbroic rocks. The total thickness of the exposed portion of the main intrusion is up to 1,895 metres based on drilling completed by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1963. Within the main intrusion, high-grade massive Ni-Cu-PGM sulphide mineralization occurs along the basal contact of the intrusion or in the adjacent footwall similar to the Sudbury and Norilsk camps.
SPC Nickel is exploring its key 100%-owned exploration project Lockerby East, located in the heart of the historic Sudbury mining camp, which includes the West Graham resource and the LKE resource.
SPC Nickel also holds three additional projects across Canada, including the large camp-scale Muskox project (located in Nunavut), the past-producing Aer-Kidd project (located in the Sudbury mining camp) and the Janes project (located 50 km northwest of Sudbury).