Palladium One Reports High-Grade Results: 5.0% Nickel_Eq over 1.4m at Smoke Lake

Results from the summer soil sampling and diamond drill program on the Tyko Copper-Nickel Project have been received, by Palladium One Mining.

Derrick Weyrauch, President and CEO, "We have four new multi-line EM anomalies with coincident copper, nickel and cobalt soil anomalies. This supports our belief that there is much more mineralization to be discovered on the wider Tyko project. Of particular interest is the large 800-meter Bulldozer South anomaly which has returned the highest copper and cobalt in soils from the Tyko project to date, and suggest the potential for a substantial discovery.

Smoke Lake continues to advance with the strike of the known mineralization growing to 430 meters. Disseminated mineralization remains open along strike to both the northwest and southeast. An Induced Polarization geophysical survey is planned for this winter to continue to chase this mineralization."

The summer field program consisted of:

• A 100-meter spaced, 3,100 line-kilometer VTEMmax survey, which is the largest and most sensitive electromagnetic (EM) survey ever flow on the Tyko Project. It identified four new multiline EM anomalies in new areas with no previously known mineralization or drillings (see news release October 28, 2021).
• Reconnaissance mapping prospecting, and trenching including detailed soil sampling over all four multi-line VTEMmax anomalies which has returned copper, nickel and cobalt values comparable to those which resulted in the discovery of the Smoke Lake nickel-copper zone (Table 1). 
• A resumed Phase II drill program on the Smoke Lake zone consisting of 1,973 meters in 9 holes which returned up to  5.0% Ni_Eq over 1.4 meters in hole TK21-052.
• A bore hole electromagnetic (BHEM) survey on a 799-meter drill hole drilled as a geophysical platform to test for massive sulphides beneath the Smoke Lake Zone.

The results of soil sampling on each new multi-line VTEMmax anomaly are detailed below:

West Pickle Lake Anomaly
This 600-meter anomaly is located 2.5 kilometers west of the RJ zone, which returned up to 1.04% nickel and 0.23% copper over 16.2 meters in hole TK16-002 (see news release April 12, 2016). Soil sampling returned up to 116 ppm nickel and 153 ppm copper in two different samples that are only 60 meters apart suggesting a strong nickel-copper signature (Figure 2 and 3).

Bulldozer South Anomaly
This 800-meter anomaly produced the most abundant and highest copper in soils in the history of the Tyko project with up to 891 ppm copper (Figure 2). This high sample is also only 110 meters northwest of a historic prospecting sample which returned 0.23% copper with anomalous nickel (144 ppm) and palladium (18 ppb) in melanogabbro, having 5% finely disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite (see Ontario Mineral Deposit Index MDI000000001913). Similar to the VTEM anomalies there are several clusters of soil anomalies in the Bulldozer South zone that require follow up. Interestingly, the metal ratios of the soil anomalies closely follow those of the historic Bulldozer Showing with high copper and cobalt values (up to 3.34% Cu, 0.12% Ni, 0.24% Co, 0.38 g/t Pd, 0.08 g/t Pt (see Ontario Mineral Deposit Index MDI000000001901)). Cobalt in soils was particularly high with up to 142 ppm Co (Figure 4). The Bulldozer South zone also occurs in a very strongly magnetic portion of the Bulldozer Intrusion suggesting ultramafic rocks may be present at depth.

Bulldozer North Anomaly
This 200-meter anomaly is noteworthy as one line contains a strong EM anomaly which is comparable in intensity to the anomalies detected over the Smoke Lake zone. The Bulldozer North, like Bulldozer South anomaly correlates with a very strongly magnetic portion of the Bulldozer Intrusion, potentially representing ultramafic rocks. The copper in soil response over this anomaly was weaker than at Bulldozer south but closely overlapped the EM anomalies with copper in soil response over multiple lines having up to 63 ppm Cu (Figure 1).

The Bulldozer North and South Anomalies represent the first EM and soil anomalies detected within the large mafic-ultramafic Bulldozer Intrusion. The Bulldozer intrusion is host to one historic copper-nickel-cobalt showing (the Bulldozer Showing), which consists of remobilized disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrite in a shear, suggesting that more widespread copper-nickel-cobalt mineralization may occur within the larger intrusion. 

Cupa Lake Anomaly
This anomaly consists of a cluster of two multi-line anomalies which when combined cover 400 meters of strike length, returned the second highest and most widespread soil anomalies from the summer field program as well as the highest nickel in soils (139 ppm Ni). There is good correlation with high nickel and copper values occurring in the same samples indicating strong nickel-copper signatures. Copper values were the second highest of the 4 multiline anomalies with up to 512 ppm Cu.

Of particular note is a strong soil anomaly with 320 ppm copper and 50 ppm nickel located only 25 meters west of the strongest Bedrock Pick VTEMmax anomaly (Figure 1 and 2).

These anomalies are present in an area where previous mapping by the Ontario Geological survey has identified metasediments and mafic volcanics representing remnants of greenstone belt material within the Black Pic tonalite batholith, and hence may represent favourable conditions for the perseveration of magmatic copper-nickel sulphide mineralization similar to the Smoke Lake zone, located only 8-kilometers to the west

 

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