re: Ann: New Nickel Sulphide Discovery at Fis... Spredn,To my...

re: Ann: New Nickel Sulphide Discovery at Fis... Spredn,

To my limited knowledge, the biggest difference between magmatic nickel sulphide deposits and komatiite deposits(Camelwood)is the location of the host rock during ore deposition. There are almost certainly major differences in chemistry but we won't go into detail.

Magmatic is intrusive meaning the magma hasn't broke through earth's surface and therefore tend to be in large masses within chambers. The magma will be hotter and almost always has more time to differentiate, meaning more time to drop out heavy minerals ( Ni, Cu, PGE, Au, etc) which will migrate to the bottom of the magma chamber due to gravity. The magma then solidifies from cooling (freezes in geological time) then most likely gets metamorphosed (cooked) and deformed (chopped up and folded) through tectonic processes. The rocks on top of the chamber weathers (erodes) away to the present day elevation.

Komatiite is an extrusive rock meaning it that has broke though the earth's surface in a volcanic eruption event. The lava spills out the vent and forms lava flows cooling much more rapidly than magma that is insulated below the earths surface. Depending on the size of the volcanic eruption, the amount of komatiite (lava) produced may vary which is directly linked to the amount of metals available for deposition. Lava travels in sheets, channels forming lava tubes, lobes, fingers and as the lava cools, heavy metals drops out and migrates to the bottom of the lava channel. The ore deposited in this case would pitch and swell depending on the morphology of the lava channel. The Komatiite channel then gets covered by another volcanic event but this time the lava is basaltic (slightly less mafic then Komatiite)and then the unit goes through the same geological processes (ie. folding, faulting, uplift, subsidence, metamorphosis, etc.)

The main point here is that the metals in magma and komtiite type nickel systems are deposited at different locations with respect to the earth's crust. Magma is below the earths surface and komtiite is above. The morphology, volume, temperature and chemistry of the host rocks are different leading to differences in metal association and capacity.

There are many more factors that determine which type is better (more economic) but if all else is the same, I feel more optimistic towards a Magmatic nickel sulphide deposit mainly due to it's larger size potential and possibly richer metal associations (Hint: SIR).

At this point I can't comfortably say Cannonball is or isn't magmatic without petrography studies and a robust deposit model to support this claim. All we can hope is that craigrussell is correct that ROX clipped the edge of the magmatic nickel sulphide ore body. Only drilling will tell.

It is nonetheless exciting to see the MD use "magmatic" in the announcement. Whether this magmatic source is nearby or kms down we don't really know just yet.

GLTA and please DYOR

Here is a nice presentation by Western Mining Services:
http://www.wesminllc.com/assets/downloads/pdf/wms_nis_presentation.pdf