Nickel Tenor – Ni concentration in 100% sulphides.
In nickel exploration you look for nickel tenor, which is a reflection of how much nickel you know is in the sulfides as a percentage of that sulfide. If you have nickel tenor of 6-8% (Falconbridge’s historic numbers) and you have 50% sulfide in your deposit, you are going to have 3-4% nickel – you know the grade, you know the outcome if you hit sulfides and that outcome is usually fairly consistent.
Below is a graph of 2012 Imiak Hill drill core visuals.
Here’s the 2012 Imiak Hill assay results:
MQ-12-001 - 26.98 m @ 0.98% Ni, 0.44% Cu and 0.04% Co
Incl. 16.64 m @ 1.36% Ni, 0.52% Cu and 0.05% Co
Incl. 5.12 m @ 2.20% Ni, 0.55% Cu, 0.07% Co MQ-12-002
MQ-12-002 - 66.08 m @ 0.55% Ni, 0.20% Cu and 0.02% Co
Incl. 5.15 m @ 1.22% Ni, 0.49% Cu and 0.04% Co
Incl. 14.18 m @1.33% Ni, 0.38% Cu and 0.04% Co
Aug. 23, 2013 - North American Nickel Inc. TSX.V – NAN is pleased to announce that diamond drill hole MQ-13-026 intersected an 18.62 meter core length of sulphide mineralization averaging approximately 40 - 45% total sulphides, including numerous sections containing 65% to 80% sulphides, within noritic host rocks at the Imiak Hill nickel-copper-cobalt zone on the Maniitsoq project.
As you can see from the visual sulphide intersections listed below today’s news release is reporting visual sulphide intersections vastly higher than previously reported intersections. From today’s release – “sulphide textures, such as inclusion bearing massive and semi-massive sulphide, in MQ-13-026 are similar to those observed in the mineralized 2012 Imiak drill holes (MQ-12-001 and MQ-12-002); however, the volume percentage of sulphide in MQ-13-026 is significantly higher.”
The MQ-13-026 intersection occurs 142 to 159 m vertically below surface and is currently the deepest at Imiak, which suggests that the intensity of sulphide mineralization in the noritic host rock is increasing with depth.
Drill hole MQ-13-024 intersected a 14.15 meter long interval of well mineralized to semi massive sulphides with an estimated average of 30-35% total sulphides approximately 36 meters up-plunge of MQ-13-026.
Drill hole MQ-13-019, located 30 meters up-plunge of MQ-13-024 and 66 metres up-plunge of MQ-13-026 intersected 10.75 meters of sulphide mineralization that also correlates with Zone 30. This mineralization is more disseminated in nature.
Nickel Sulphide Deposits
North American Nickel has now delineated three, closely spaced, north-trending, near vertically dipping, steeply south-plunging mineralized zones at Imiak Hill.
“It is also important to note is that the intensity of the sulphide mineralization, as shown in the three holes referenced in this release, is increasing with depth. It is common knowledge that most nickel deposits occur at, or near the base of, mafic intrusions.”NAN COO, Neil RichardsonAug. 23, 2013 news release
Magmas (magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth - Lava is the extrusive equivalent of magma) originate in the upper mantle and contain small amounts of nickel, copper and PGE. As the magmas ascend through the crust they cool as they encounter the colder crustal rocks.
If the original sulfur (S) content of the magma is sufficient, or if S is added from crustal wall rocks, a sulphide liquid forms as droplets dispersed throughout the magma. Because the partition coefficients of nickel, copper, iron and Platinum Group Elements (PGE) favor sulphide liquid these elements transfer into the sulphide droplets in the magma. The sulphide droplets sink toward the base of the magma because of their greater density and form sulphide concentrations. On further cooling, the sulphide liquid crystallizes to form the ore deposits that contain these metals.
There are two main types of nickel sulphide deposits. In the first, Ni-Cu sulphide deposits, nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu) are the main economic commodities - copper may be either a co-product or by-product, and cobalt (Co), Platinum Group Elements (PGE) and gold (Au) are the usual by-products.
The second type of deposit is mined exclusively for PGE’s with the other associated metals being by-products.
Nickel sulphide deposits can occur as individual sulphide bodies but groups of deposits may occur in areas or belts ten’s, even hundreds of kilometers long. Such groups of deposits are known as districts. Two giant Ni-Cu districts stand out above all the rest in the world: Sudbury Ontario, and Noril’sk-Talnakh, Russia.
Metallurgy – QEMSCAN Report
I’ve sourced the following from a North American Nickel news release dated June 11th, 2013:
“QEMSCAN is a new technology that gives us a detailed picture of the mineralogy of our sulphide mineralization and host rocks and how it might affect the metallurgy in a mining/processing scenario. At this early stage of exploration it is very helpful for management and investors to know that, based on the mineralogical characteristics of the samples analyzed, there is potential for high nickel recoveries from both the Imiak and Spotty Hill zones.” John Pattison, North American Nickel’s Chief Geologist
- All three samples show high potential nickel recovery. Mineralogically limiting grade-recovery curves indicate maximum potential nickel grades of 35% at recoveries of 84 to 87%.
- Pentlandite is the main nickel-bearing mineral and it contains 95.5 to 96.3% of all the nickel in the samples. Silicate hosted nickel comprises less than 1% of all the nickel.
- Pentlandite P80 grain sizes range from 53 to 65 μm.
- Total potentially floatable pentlandite ranges from 96.3 to 97.6%.
- All copper is hosted by chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite P80 grain sizes range from 30 to 40 μm.
- Potential recoveries for copper are variable across the samples. Mineralogically limiting grade-recovery curves indicate maximum potential copper grades of 34% at recoveries of 52 to 77%.
- Total potentially floatable chalcopyrite ranges from 87.1 to 95.4%.
- Pentlandite and pyrite are the main hosts of the cobalt in the samples.
A complete copy of the QEMSCAN report can be downloaded here.
Results Discussion
A few things come to mind right away:
- Mineralization is very strong below compared to above; nickel 101 – with nickel sulphide deposits strongest mineralization is on the bottom of the intrusive or flow.
- They are onto the trend, figuring it out geologically, at least 2 of the three currently known Imiak Hill zones are open. Picture the zones as steeply dipping tubes - or better yet elongated lenses – from the base of the intrusive. No edges have been found and down hole geophysics says there’s more to come.
- Many of the historical holes drilled into Imiak Hill simply missed, they were drilled at the wrong angle to hit the lenses - the old holes were sub-parallel to the zones. Modern exploration and interpretative technologies have enabled NAN to ‘see’ better and figure out a tremendously complicated situation.
- There are almost 100 other targets on NAN’s massive Maniitsoq property.
Conclusion
North American Nickel TSX.V – NAN investors are going to have a very interesting rest of summer and fall. So too will VMS Venture TSX.V – VMS as VMS owns almost 30 percent of NAN’s shares.
It’s my firm belief NAN has definitely got the grade for a mine. With Pentlandite as the main nickel-bearing mineral metallurgy wouldn’t seem to be a problem. The question now becomes does NAN have the tonnage to justify a concentrator complex, a central processing area to process the ore from mining more than one lens at a time?
For sure both NAN & VMS (for its 27% ownership of NAN and imminent cash flow from its 30% carried to production piece of the high grade Reed Lake Copper Project) ought to be on all investors radar screens – discovery and cash flow with exposure to both copper and nickel (plus zinc, cobalt, PGE, gold & silver). They have both been on mine for a while, are they going to be on yours?
If not, they should be.
Richard is the owner of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource/bio-tech sectors. His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including:
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This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified.
Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission.
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