Lockerby East Project, Ontario, Canada
Project Snapshot |
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Status |
Advanced-stage Exploration |
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Location |
20 km West of Sudbury, Ontario |
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Commodity |
Nickel, copper, and platinum-group metals (PGM) |
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Ownership |
Mining Patents |
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Current Exploration |
2023 Drill Program on Crean Hill 3 starting in Q1 |
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Historic Resources1 |
West Graham Deposit
Crean Hill 3 Property
1. A qualified person has not done sufficient work on behalf of SPC Nickel to classify the historical estimates noted above as current mineral resources and SPC Nickel is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. |
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Overview
The Lockerby East and the Crean Hill 3 properties are located ~20 km west of Sudbury, Ontario within the southwest corner of the Sudbury Basin. The properties host the near surface West Graham Deposit and the partially mined Lockerby East Deposit at depth. With the recent addition of the Crean Hill 3 Property, the West Graham Deposit has the potential to become an economically significant near surface resource. SPC Nickel aims to advance the West Graham Deposit and become Sudbury’s newest Nickel producer.
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Project Presentation
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Brief History
The Lockerby Mine was put into production by Falconbridge in 1971. In 2004, Falconbridge decided to put the mine on care and maintenance. In 2005, First Nickel acquired the property and resumed production of the Lockerby Mine and Lockerby East deposits. In 2015, First Nickel closed the mine and entered into receivership due to low metal prices and production issues. During a period of 44 years, from 1971 to 2015, the Lockerby Mine produced an estimated 9.6Mt of ore grading 1.83% Ni and 1.08% Cu.
In 2016, SPC Nickel announced the acquisition of the Lockerby East and West Graham properties. The Lockerby Mine itself was not acquired. Before going public, the remaining Landore ownership of the West Graham patent was purchased making the entire property 100% owned by SPC Nickel. In 2016, Bore Hole Electromagnetic surveys (BHEM) identified significant geophysical anomalies at depth below the Lockerby East Deposit. In 2022, a drill program was completed to expand and define the West Graham Deposit near surface. Additional work completed by SPC Nickel includes: auditing the historical drillhole database, updating the coordinate systems to NAD83, confirming collar locations and patent boundaries, surface mapping and sampling, and updating the 3D model.
The recent deal reached with Vale regarding the Crean Hill 3 property included some of Vale’s historical drill and channel sample data. All the drilling was done prior to 1960. The more recent channel samples highlighted where the West Graham Deposit outcrops at surface.
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Geology and Mineralization
The West Graham Deposit is situated in the southwest portion of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and straddles the contact between the Proterozoic aged Huronian Supergroup rocks to the south and the crystalline igneous rock of the SIC to the north. Locally the footwall rocks are dominated by mafic volcanics of the Elsie Mountain Fm. and granitic rocks of the Creighton Pluton. Localized zones of Sudbury Breccia occur throughout the footwall rocks.
Ni-Cu-PGM mineralization on the property is directly associated with the basal contact of the SIC and is hosted in Norite and Sublayer layers along the contact. On the property the SIC contact dips 45° to the north at surface, but gradually steepens until it rolls over dipping to the south where the Lockerby East Deposit is located (~900-1000m depth). Several additional rollovers associated with mineralization are modeled below based on a few mineralized drill holes.
Two distinct types of sulphide mineralization exist on the property. Disseminated blebs and net textured sulfides hosted in Norite make up most of the mineralization within the West Graham Deposit. Mineralization along the contact is in the form massive to semi-massive sulfide stringers and breccia veins. Although some contact mineralization is observed within the West Graham Deposit, the best mineralization of this type is observed further down within Lockerby East Deposit.
In 2009, First Nickel disclosed a NI 43-101 indicated resource for the West Graham Deposit totaling 8.55Mt grading 0.45% Ni and 0.31% Cu, along with an inferred resource of 2.0Mt grading 0.38% Ni and 0.30% Cu. The resource extends from 40m below surface to a depth of approximately 475m. The modelled zone ranges in thickness from 1.7 to 66m and strikes for 375m with a dip extent of up to 533m. The resource did not include any of the mineralization underlying the Crean Hill 3 Property and the stopped at the property boundary. Historical drilling suggests the mineralized zone extends at least 600m further to the west. Historic drill intersections include hole WG-26 that intersected 0.73% Ni and 0.28% Cu over 71.33m including 39.47m of 1.09% Ni and 0.41% Cu.
In 2010, First Nickel disclosed a NI 43-101 indicated resource for the Lockerby East Deposit totaling 0.18Mt grading 2.32% Ni and 0.87% Cu, along with an inferred resource of 0.04Mt grading 2.90% Ni and 0.80% Cu. The mineralization is predominately contact style, with narrow (<5m thick) semi-massive to massive sulphide breccia veins anastomosing proximal to the granite/SIC contact. The distribution of mineralization appears to be controlled primarily by the nose of the roll-over in the SIC contact at a depth of approximately 1,075m. Historic underground drill intersections reported by First Nickel include hole FNI3414 that intersected 5.60% Ni, 1.26% Cu and 0.10% Co over 10.0m
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Maps and Figures
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Photo Gallery
