another one to keep an eye on : take note 2o2s..., page-68

nice article Magma Metals closes in on potentially significant Canadian platinum discovery

Ultramafic boulder


Diversified explorer, Magma Metals has intersected a significant sulphide zone in ultramafic peridotite in the first hole drilled at its Thunder Bay North platinum-palladium project in Canada, suggesting that it has confirmed the source of high-grade surface platinum mineralisation in boulders, grading up to 9.5g/t Pt+Pd+Au, 1.0% copper and 0.3% nickel.

Magma is conducting a 1,500m diamond drilling program to test a number of magnetic targets identified at its Thunder Bay North and Beaver Lake projects, which are located within a well-established mineral province in northwest Ontario.

These contiguous projects are located approximately 50km southeast of the large Lac des Iles palladium-platinum mine and 5mtpa processing plant, and 50km northeast of the city of Thunder Bay.

Magma’s first phase of drilling at Thunder Bay North is targeting a magnetic anomaly approximately 1.5km long and up to 200m wide at Current Lake. The company is progressing a second hole at this project while awaiting assay results, due in January next year, from the first diamond drill hole.

Magma’s Managing Director, Dr Keith Watkins said that while assay results were still awaited, the zone of sulphides intersected in the first hole was considered to be highly significant, particularly the 10m wide zone containing two to eight percent sulphides.

“This rock is sufficiently magnetic that we believe it is the source of the large magnetic anomaly being targeted by the current drilling,” Dr Watkins said.

“Geophysical modeling of the anomaly indicates that it reflects a shallow, steep-dipping tabular intrusion, which is interpreted to be the source of the platinum-palladium-gold-copper-nickel mineralised boulders found on the western and eastern shores of Current Lake,” he said.

The East Shore Boulders are believed to have undergone only minor movement by glacial ice and are interpreted to be essentially in-situ. The West Shore Boulders are interpreted to have been transported at least 200m to the southwest by glacial ice.

Dr Watkins said the sulphidic peridotite intersected in the first drill hole was interpreted to lie down-dip from the East Shore Boulders and was identical in appearance to the mineralised boulders.

“We are very encouraged by the initial drilling, which, subject to assay results, has substantially upgraded the potential for a significant PGE discovery at Thunder Bay North,” he said.

- 20 Dec 2006