That Finland is an excellent place for exploration companies, shows Scandinavian Minerals, which has been taken over by First Quantum earlier this year. Another Canadian exploration company which operates in Finland, very close to the Scandinavian Minerals property, is Nortec Ventures Corp .. Nortec also owns promising projects in Labrador/Canada and Ecuador. We spoke with Nortec Venture’s President Mohan R. Vulimiri about the prospects of his company and we met a very considerate and honest CEO.
Mr. Vulimiri, your main project is the Kaukua Platinum-Palladium-Gold + Nickel and Copper Project in Finland. What is so special about Kaukua and what results did you get from your first drill programme?
We have drilled a total of 14 core holes in our Phase I and Phase II programs for a total 2188 metres. An area of 650 metres by 250 metres was investigated with an off-set drill spacing of 75 to 100 metres. This pattern of off-set grid drilling helps in determining the structural controls of mineralization. The mineralization (pyrrhotite – chalcopyrite and minor pentlandite) at Kaukua is present in marginal contact zone of the layered ultramafic gabbro-peridotite body with the Archean basement gneisses, similar to Stillwater complex of Montana. Mineralization similar to Merensky Reef of the Bushweld Layered Complex also occus in the upper layers of the ultramafic body.
What is unique of the Phase I and II programs is that 13 of the 14 drill holes with only 2188 metres intersected significant values of PGE's and gold as well as nickel and copper. The average grade of the mineralization is 1.2 to 1.5 grams PGE + gold over an width of 30 metres. Nickel and copper values are around 0.1 % and 0.2%. When there is not much statistical variation in grade it is very simple to calculate resources. The mineralization is very shallow and therefore could potentially be amenable to open pit mining. We need to hire an independent qualified geologist or geological engineer to put together the resources into a drill-indicated category.
How will your further drilling programmes for Kaukua look like?
Phase III drilling program consisting of 3000 metres of deeper drill holes both along strike and down dip is already underway. This program will extend the area by 200 metres along strike and 200 metres down dip. A further 5000 metres is also being planned, but, of course it depends on the results.
When do you expect to be able to publish a first resource estimate for Kaukua and what overall potential do you see for Kaukua?
Once we receive the first results from the Phase III program we will initiate the resource calculations etc. Ian Laurent, our Manager, Exploration, is very experienced in resource calculations. He recently joined Nortec, he is on his way to the Kaukua project. He has already started work on the resource block model. This will also be verified and checked by independent third party engineers.
What further plans do you have for Kaukua? Do you already have a roughly time-table?
As long as we keep getting good results from Kaukua we will keep carrying out the work program. Finland is a great country for infrastructure and support services. Work can be performed throughout the year in Finland.
Your second project is the Nickel-Copper-Cobalt TL Property in Labrador, Canada where you received high-graded nickel results. What are your further plans for the TL Property and what do you expect from it?
Diamond drilling recently commenced on the TL Property. There are lots of high grade mineralized showings on the property. The aim of this drill program (over 2300 metres) is mainly to determine the source of these high grade showings on surface. The program is designed to determine the presence of nickel-copper bearing massive sulphide bodies at depth similar to the deeper ore bodies at Voisey's Bay.
VTEM geophysical surveys were also carried out to locate any potential mineralized bodies at depth. Drilling will also test these VTEM anomalies.
40km north of the TL Property lies your third project, the Kingurutik Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project. Kingurutik is an early-stage project, whose surveyed prospective geophysical, ground based reconnaissance anomalies have never been drill tested. How will your first drill programme look like and when will it be started?
The Kingurutik project was acquired early this year because of the presence of very large gossan zones with coincident nickel – copper geochemical values. The property also lies in the same belt of rocks as the Benton-Teck property located approximately 10 kilometres to the east. Gossan zones are mainly rusty outcrops probably left over from weathering of sulphide bearing rocks. These rusty outcrops with anomalous nickel-copper values make the property very interesting.
VTEM geophysical survey was also carried out to determine if any potential massive sulphide bodies occur at depth. Preliminary data suggests the presence of two strong conductors. We have not received the interpreted results with recommendations for targets for drilling as yet. If these results warrant a drill program will be initiated.
In southern Ecuador you arranged an option agreement to earn a 51% interest in the Ganarin Gold/Silver Exploration Project. What merits does the Ganarin Project offer?
Management of Nortec has very good experience in the geology of epithermal gold-silver projects. These projects carry lots of risks. One has to have patience with these kinds of projects. Lets look at Aurelian's Frute del Norte and IAM Gold's Quimsacocha projects. It took Aurelian almost 4 years to make the discovery and IAM Gold's predecessor companies worked on Quimsacocha for almost 6 years. This is the reason, we, the Management, do not want to give up on Ganarin. We did get some interesting results with very wide epithermal chalcedony breccia zones. The project is also very close to infrastructure, all we need is a discovery. We have only drilled 2000 metres of core. The project has the potential to host large tonnages of gold-silver mineralization.
What is your current cash status?
The company is in very good financial situation. We have at present approximately $1.5 million in the treasury. The company also recently announced a brokered private placement for $1.6 million.
Will you be present at any European and/or German commodity conference in the near future?
We will be attending the Munich Resource conference taking place in November. We will also have a booth with the latest information available for any potential investor.
Why should potential investors invest in Nortec Ventures Corp. right now?
The Board of Directors and Management feel that Nortec is way undervalued with a potentially viable PGE + Gold, Nickel, Copper property in Finland. The Company also has good projects in Labrador. We, the Management of Nortec, are not in the business of just promotion. We want to build this company with viable mining assets. This is the only way build a company or to take the company to the next level.
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