MacDonald Mines (BMK-V) starts drilling at Butler 3 target
Feb 21, 2013 - News Release
MacDonald Mines Exploration Ltd. has commenced its winter, 2013, drill program on the Butler 3 volcanogenic-massive-sulphide (VMS) target in the Ring of Fire (ROF). The newly delineated drill target exhibits coincident geochemical, density, conductivity and chargeability anomalies. The Butler property is located 36 kilometres west of Cliffs Natural Resources' Big Daddy chromite deposit.
Analogy to Kidd Creek deposit
The Butler 3 geophysical anomaly (density, induced polarization and electromagnetic) measures 100 metres wide by 500 metres long and is located east of the previously identified stringer mineralization. Last year's drill hole BP12-Cu11 intersected hydrothermal talc above this anomaly -- interpreted as the top of a large, overturned (approximately 90 degrees) VMS feeder system spanning over 1.5 kilometres in length. The Butler 3 geochemical signature and alteration zone are remarkably similar in size and alteration intensity to that observed at Kidd Creek mine -- one of the world's largest copper-zinc VMS deposits. It has been postulated that a Kidd Creek-type deposit is possible in the ROF due to the high-temperature magma chambers in the footwall of the VMS deposits here. The presence of komatiites, icelandite, talc and tin at Butler 3 is proof that the company has a high-temperature exhalative system capable of forming (a) large VMS deposit(s).
The importance of komatiites
The confluence of the prominent markers for high heat flow (komatiites and icelandites), combined with the abundance of highly altered felsic volcanic rocks (rhyolite), all point to this being a highly prospective area. Generally, the larger the alteration system, the larger the associated VMS deposit(s).
According to Dr. Larry Hulbert, PGeo, the only identification of unequivocal komatiites within the ROF is on the Butler Lake property. This has demonstrated to the company that the property has the potential to host significant mineralization due to the extreme temperatures and potential length of time for a VMS system to form. The only large VMS deposit with a komatiitic suite overlain by rhyolites (as present on the Butler 3 target) is the Kidd Creek deposit in Ontario.
Minister Tony Clement to take helm in the Ring of Fire
As reported today in the Feb. 20, 2013, edition of the National Post, the federal government has won accolades for finally naming a point man for the Ring of Fire. Minister Clement, president of the treasury board and head of a federal development organization for Northern Ontario, announced that he would take the lead role on the file at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"There is a lot at stake and we cannot afford to allow this development to stall and become mired in paralysis and uncertainty," he said in a speech in Thunder Bay.
The Ring of Fire, located in the James Bay Lowlands, is thought to contain $30-billion to $50-billion worth of minerals and is poised to be North America's first significant source of chromite.
Butler 1, 2 and 4
At the adjacent Butler 4 property, a DPEM geophysical survey (Crone Geophysics) is being completed, after which drill targets will be selected. The Butler 1, 2 and 4 occurrences all share the same stratigraphic assemblage and analogous geology as Butler 3, a characteristic of most of the producing VMS camps in the Canadian Shield.
Administration
Effective Feb. 20, 2013, a total of 5,195,000 stock options were granted to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the company in accordance with the terms of the company's incentive stock option plan filed with the TSX Venture Exchange and approved by shareholders on June 28, 2012. These options are exercisable at a price of 10 cents per share for a period of five years and are subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold period as required by the rules of the TSX-V.
The information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Quentin Yarie, PGeo, senior vice-president of exploration of MacDonald Mines Exploration, a qualified person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in National Instrument 43-101.
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