Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd.
Parkin Properties
The Parkin properties consists of four properties (Glencore Parkin, Milnet, Parkin CBA, and Parkin East) covering 23 km2 located on the northeast corner of the Sudbury Basin, approximately 45 kilometres north-northeast of the town of Sudbury, Ontario.
The Parkin properties are being explored for high-grade polymetallic nickel, copper and PGEs within the 9.5-kilometre strike length of the Parkin Offset Dyke in Sudbury, Ontario. The properties include the past-producing Milnet mine, the high-grade Milnet 1500 Zone, the historic near-surface Parkin resources, the Malbeuf Zone, and a number of high-grade surface occurrences.
The quality of the mineralization found in the Parkin Offset is high. The average nickel tenor for the mineralization found within the Parkin Offset is approximately 4%, which is comparable to the tenors of some deposits found in the Copper Cliff Offset dyke.
Wallbridge has an option to earn a 100% interest (and a current ownership of 50.4%) in the Milnet and Parkin East properties, an option to earn a 98.5% interest (and a current ownership of 48.9%) in the Glencore Parkin, and an option to earn a 50% interest (and a current ownership of 0.4%) in the Parkin CBA property. Under a JV agreement, Lonmin Canada Inc. has an option to earn a 50% interest in all of Wallbridge’s interests in the Parkin properties.
Brief History
The historic Milnet mine produced 157,130 tons averaging 2.26 g/t Pt, 2.98 g/t Pd, 0.93 g/t Au, 1.49% Ni and 1.54% Cu. At the time of production, orebodies #1 and #2 were mined to a depth of approximately 150 metres.
Between 2008 and 2012, Wallbridge completed drilling on the Parkin properties through a joint venture funded largely by Impala Platinum Holdings Limited (“Implats”). Drilling in 2009 beneath the Milnet mine discovered the Milnet 1500 Zone, which yielded significant mineralization. Drilling from 2010 to 2012 was directed further north with much deeper drilling beneath the Milnet mine following the Milnet 1500 discovery.
Significant intersections at the Milnet 1500 Zone included: 0.78% Ni, 2.57% Cu, 1.50 g/t Pt, 2.52 g/t Pd, and 3.99 g/t Au over 14.24 m from 1,499.66 to 1,513.90 m (2009, hole WMM-014) and 4.11% Ni, 0.60% Cu, 1.40 g/t Pt, 2.68 g/t Pd, and 0.23 g/t Au over 8.0 m from 1,473 to 1,481 m (2011, hole WMM-015-W2). Modelling of mineralized intersections and borehole electromagnetic geophysics indicated that the Milnet 1500 Zone is a minimum of 400 metres by 35 to 60 metres with an unknown true width. The full extent of the zone is not known and most of the dyke in the area has not been tested by drilling.
A historic surface resource was reported in 2002 on the Glencore Parkin property and included five zones along a strike length of ~700 metres, which are less than 200 metres from surface. It included an Indicated resource of 264,000 tonnes grading 0.70% Cu, 0.65% Ni, 0.62 g/t Pt, 0.80 g/t Pd and 0.23g/t Au, and an Inferred resource of approximately 87,000 tonnes grading 0.7% Cu, 0.4% Ni, 1.2 g/t Pt, 1.1 g/t Pd and 0.6g/t Au. These historic mineral resources occur at surface and above 200 metres depth.
The drilling in 2015 and in early 2016 by the Wallbridge-Lonmin JV significantly expanded the extent of the near surface mineralization around the historic resource at Glencore Parkin and identified several areas with significantly thicker mineralization than previously intersected (i.e. 24.25 m of 1.22% Ni, 1.50% Cu, 0.81 g/t Pt, 0.96 g/t Pl and 0.38 g/t Au from 35.60 to 59.85 m in hole WMP-170). One objective of the 2016-2017 program was to determine the viability of initial bulk sampling within the top 50-100 metres from surface. Another objective was to establish a significant resource from surface to 600 metres depth with an exploration target of 1.5-5.0 Mt with typical Sudbury grades.
In addition, several drill holes intersected significant mineralization at shallow depths outside of the historic resource:
- Hole WMP-195 with 1.36% Ni, 1.02% Cu, and 1.59 g/t TPM (including 0.67 g/t Pt, 0.74 g/t Pd, and 0.18 g/t Au) over 7.46 m from 58.60 to 66.06 m.
- Hole WMP-199 with 0.85% Ni, 1.61% Cu, and 1.40 g/t TPM (including 0.61 g/t Pt, 0.64 g/t Pd, and 0.15 g/t Au) over 10.30 m from 77.0 to 87.3 m.
Several significant intersections drilled subsequent to and below the historic surface resource are open laterally and to depth, and are either associated with off-hole BHEM conductors that have never been drill tested or in-hole BHEM conductors that extend past the hole.
The exploration program funded by Lonmin was put on halt at the end of 2017, due to Lonmin’s acquisition by Sibanye-Stillwater. Up to that time, Wallbridge had completed 205 diamond drill holes for a total of ~46,000 m on the Glencore Parkin, 22 holes and 11 wedges for a total of ~37,000 m (including wedge pilot holes) on Milnet, a total of 14 holes totalling ~8,000 m at Parkin CBA and has completed no drilling on Parkin East.
The Malbeuf Zone located immediately northeast of the historic surface resource was discovered in 2015. Six of the seven holes drilled intersected semi-massive to massive Ni-Cu sulphides and defined the zone over a strike a length of 140 metres. Drill hole WMP-205, approximately 400 metres down plunge of this zone, intersected 1.90% Ni, 0.30% Cu, and 0.70g/t Pt+Pd+Au over 0.53 m from 757.04 m down-hole, supporting the down plunge continuation of this zone.
In addition to the Ni-Cu-PGM mineralization, Wallbridge has also intersected high-grade gold mineralization associated with quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins cutting the Archean volcanic rocks adjacent to the Parkin Offset dyke. To date, 24 drill intersections have returned between 0.92 and 44.00 g/t gold on the Parkin properties, including 44 g/t Au over 1.4 m and 11.85 g/t Au over 1.09 m.
Geology and Mineralization
Ni-Cu-PGM mineralization on the Parkin properties is typical of that hosted by quartz diorite offset dykes in the Sudbury mining camp. Examples include the prolific deposits at Vale's North and South Mines hosted by the Copper Cliff Offset dyke; Vale's new Totten mine in the Worthington Offset Dyke and KGHM International Ltd.'s recent discovery on its Victoria project, also hosted in the Worthington Offset dyke.
The Parkin Offset dyke is sub-vertical, or dips very steeply to the east, and has a width of up to 135 metres. South of the Milnet mine, the dyke strikes roughly northeast. At the Milnet mine, and near the southern boundary of the CBA Parkin north block, the dyke follows two left-stepping (northwest trending) flexures, each for about 250 metres. The dyke is discontinuous along these flexures with pinched terminations interpreted to be a structural control on the Milnet mine mineralization. North of these flexures, the dyke is between 30 and 90 metres thick and strikes NNE for several kilometres. The dyke generally consists of massive quartz diorite (QD) on the margins with inclusion quartz diorite (IQD) and minor meta-breccia (an inclusion bearing phase with a partial melt matrix) in the center.
Ni-Cu-PGM sulphide mineralization within Offset dykes in Sudbury is associated with IQD ± meta-breccia and is often concentrated within structural traps in the dykes such as vertical or horizontal pinches/terminations, flexures in the dyke, splays/convergences of the dyke, along margins or “pressure shadows” of large blocks caught up in the dyke (particularly coarse mafic blocks). The Parkin Offset dyke is no exception. The Parkin properties include nickel, copper and platinum group metal mineralization at the past-producing Milnet mine, the high-grade Milnet 1500 Zone, the recently drilled Malbeuf Zone, and a number of high-grade surface occurrences. The quality of the mineralization found in the Parkin Offset is high, with the average nickel tenor for the mineralization being approximately 4%, which is comparable to the tenors of some deposits found in the Copper Cliff Offset dyke.
Several occurrences of gold mineralization hosted in the Archean volcanic rocks have also been delineated on the property. The mineralization is associated with carbonate-quartz-epidote veins with ±pyrite±chalcopyrite and appears to be discontinuous and “nuggety” in nature, though much more work is required to delineate mineralized trends.
Mineral Resources (historic)
The Glencore Parkin property hosts a 2002 historic surface resource of 264,000 tonnes grading 0.70% Cu, 0.65% Ni, 0.62g/t Pt, 0.80 g/t Pd and 0.23 g/t Au in the Indicated category, and approximately 87,000 tonnes grading 0.7% Cu, 0.4% Ni, 1.2 g/t Pt, 1.1 g/t Pd and 0.6g/t Au in the Inferred category, occurring from surface down to 200 metres depth. Due to significant amount of additional exploration work (surface stripping and drilling), this resource estimate is no longer current and should be considered historic.
The 2002 resource estimate of the historic surface resource was generated using available drill data and Gemcom software. Five mineralized zones were modelled using a minimum true width of 2.0 metres and an NSR cut-off grade of C$40/tonne. The NSR cut-off was calculated using US$0.80/lb copper, US$3.00/lb nickel, US$10/lb cobalt, US$450/oz platinum, US$400/oz palladium, US$270/oz gold, a $450/t smelter charge deduction and a concentration ratio of 30/(Cu%+Ni%). Grades were defined for each of the mineralized zones (block models) using a 35-metre search and an Inverse Distance Squared method with a sample minimum and maximum of 1 and 15, respectively. These searches were confined to the modelled solids.
Source: https://wallbridgemining.com/our-projects/ni-cu-pgm/parkin-offset-properties/
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IT Technician (Support IT), Fénélon Project
The technician IT will report to the Project Manager, the schedule is 4/3.