North American Nickel (NAN-V) to drill 3,000 m at Maniitsoq
May 28, 2013 - News Release
North American Nickel Inc. has finalized the 2013 exploration plan for its 100-per-cent-owned Maniitsoq project. The program, which is scheduled to commence in mid-June, will consist of a minimum of 3,000 metres of diamond drilling to follow up on 2012 discoveries and test new geological, geophysical and geochemical targets identified from a review of exploration datasets. Surface pulse time domain electromagnetic surveys and 550 line kilometres of helicopter time domain, electromagnetic and magnetic surveying will also be undertaken in areas not covered in 2011 and 2012.
North American Nickel's chief executive officer, Rick Mark, states: "We expect this to be a busy, exciting and productive year at Maniitsoq. Our experience on the project for the last two years and particularly our camp/drilling experience last year has allowed us to ramp up for our planned $5.5-million 2013 program smoothly and efficiently. Chief geologist John Pattison has been full-time on the project since we left Greenland last September. COO Neil Richardson will accompany our expanded ground team to Maniitsoq in early June with drilling expected to begin on, or around, June 21, 2013. Target identification has been very successful, as we now have identified more than 100 targets for consideration at Maniitsoq."
Key elements and objectives of the 2013 Maniitsoq program are as follows.
Diamond drilling:
- To explore along strike and down plunge of the high-grade mineralized zones intersected by North American Nickel in 2012 at Spotty Hill and Imiak Hill (for example 123.94 metres at 0.81 per cent nickel, 0.21 per cent copper, 0.03 per cent cobalt and 0.26 gram per tonne platinum group metals, including 24.20 metres at 1.75 per cent nickel, 0.34 per cent copper, 0.06 per cent cobalt and 0.52 gram per tonne PGM, at Spotty Hill and 26.98 metres at 0.98 per cent nickel, 0.44 per cent copper and 0.04 per cent cobalt, including 16.64 metres at 1.36 per cent nickel, 0.52 per cent copper and 0.05 per cent cobalt at Imiak Hill). For example, planned pierce points for three holes were designed to test the interpreted down-plunge extension of intersections in holes MQ-12-001 and -002 at Imiak Hill last year;
- To test new, high-priority conductors identified by helicopter-borne time domain electromagnetic surveys flown by North American Nickel in 2011 and 2012. Priority will be given to high-conductivity targets associated with mafic-ultramafic rocks such as target P-63 (see the company's press release dated March 20, 2013, for details);
- Three-component bore hole electromagnetic surveys will be undertaken to increase the effective search radius of the hole. In cases where a hole has intersected conductive mineralization, the BHEM data can help determine its orientation. In cases where a hole fails to intersect a target conductor, the BHEM data can often provide more precise information on the direction to the conductor which allows the geologist to design a more accurate follow-up hole to intersect the target.
Field checking of potential drill targets:
- Over the winter North American Nickel's exploration team combed through all available exploration data from the project area. As a result, the inventory of potential targets has increased to over 100. To date less than 40 of these have been checked in the field. This year a four-person team will be dedicated to checking as many of the other targets as possible.
- The field checking will consist of prospecting, rock sampling and in some cases channel sampling and/or geological mapping.
Surface pulse time domain electromagnetic surveys:
- Focused PEM surveys will be done over selected targets where further detail is required. The PEM system may also be used to test geophysical and geological hypotheses prior to drilling.
Helicopter time domain electromagnetic and magnetic surveys:
- The surveys will be flown over several small blocks that cover areas of geological interest outside the main Greenland norite belt and in areas recently acquired by North American Nickel.
The 2013 exploration program will be conducted from a field camp situated within the project area. The camp logistics will be supplied by Xploration Services Greenland ApS of Nuuk which will also provide general expediting and support to the project. Westcore Drilling Ltd. of Salmo, B.C., will perform the diamond drilling, and Crone Geophysics & Exploration Ltd. of Mississauga, Ont., will conduct the BHEM and surface PEM surveys. All of these contractors are experts in their respective fields.
Qualified person
All technical information in this release has been reviewed by Dr. Mark Fedikow, PGeo, who is the qualified person for the company and president of North American Nickel.
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