The MAN property is the subject of a joint venture agreement with ITOCHU Corporation of Tokyo, Japan. ITOCHU currently holds a 30% interest in the MAN property, and can earn up to a 75% interest by funding a total of US$ 40 million in exploration.
The 2013 field program on the MAN property was completed between May 29th and August 28th. The program included an eight hole, 2,991 meter drill program primarily targeting the Eureka Zone in the central part of the Alpha Complex, as well as prospecting and mapping work in various parts of the property.
The 2013 drill program successfully intersected the Eureka Zone, first recognized in 2012 (see press releases January 23, 2013 and May 23, 2013), in six of the seven holes that were targeted, with one hole being abandoned in a fault zone. An eighth hole, PNI-13-70, targeted coincident Induced Polarization (IP) and soil geochemical anomalies to the south of the Eureka Zone.
The drill results confirm the presence of what is now interpreted as a continuous zone of magmatic sulphide mineralization containing elevated concentrations of Ni, Cu, Co, Au, Ag, Pt and Pd. Estimated true widths of intersection for 2013 drill holes cutting the Eureka Zone in the central Alpha segment range from 120 m to 250 m.
Composite intersection grades across the mineralized zone in the drill holes range from 123 ppb to 212 ppb Au+Pt+Pd, 0.05-0.16% Cu, and 0.17-0.24% Ni. The mineralization also includes minor Ag and Co. Higher grade mineralization over narrower widths is present in most of the holes. 2013 drill results are summarized in Table 1, and collar locations are indicated on the accompanying map.
For ease of comparison to other occurrences, metal values are also reported as in situ Ni Equivalent (Ni EQ.) %. Metal prices used in metal equivalent calculations were derived from metal price forecasts (see note 3 in Table 1 for prices) reported in various recently published Preliminary Economic Assessments and Feasibility studies for other deposits. The reader is warned that use of metal equivalent values requires assumptions regarding metal prices that are subject to change.
The Eureka Zone extends over a minimum strike length of 15 km as defined by drilling and mapping. Prior years’ drilling in the zone has encountered intersections ranging up to 320 m estimated true thickness, with metal grades for complete intersections ranging up to 0.36 Ni EQ. %.
Results for previous drill holes that have encountered the zone are summarized in Table 2, and shown on the accompanying map.
Given that the Alpha Complex as a whole stretches for more than 30 km along strike it is likely that additional work could extend the Eureka Zone even further than the 15 km strike now known.
The thickness, strike length, and continuity of the Eureka Zone indicate that there is the potential to delineate a very significant tonnage of sulphide mineralization from which potentially recoverable metals would include Ni, Cu, Co, PGE, Au and Ag.
The metal grades and scale of a potential deposit in the Eureka Zone may be similar to that of the very large Dumont project of Royal Nickel Corporation, who recently published a positive feasibility study on the project. There are currently insufficient drilling data to define a NI 43-101 compliant resource in the Eureka Zone.
Dave McPherson, President and CEO of Pure Nickel Inc. stated "The results of our 2013 drilling program confirmed our interpretations regarding the scale and continuity of the Eureka Zone. We feel that we have made a significant discovery on the MAN property, and we believe the zone has the potential to develop into a very large deposit. We look forward to 2014 when we hope to start the resource delineation process".
Sample Procedures
Drilling diameter was HQ or NQ (47.6 or 63.5 mm). Core was transported from the drill sites to a processing facility where it was logged and sampled. The entire holes were sampled, with a standard sample size of 1.5 m, and 0.5m to 1.0m samples in mineralized intervals.
The drill core was cut in half by diamond saw, with half placed in polyethylene sample bags. The remaining half was returned to the core boxes for storage. Alternating blanks and standards were inserted in the sample stream at a rate of two blanks and two standards per 96 unknown samples.
The samples were packed in bags and shipped by barge and truck to Acme Labs or ALS Minerals prep lab facilities in Fairbanks, where the samples were logged, crushed to 80% passing -10 mesh, and pulverized to 85% passing -200 mesh (Acme method code R200-250, ALS Minerals method code Prep-31).
Pulps were shipped to Vancouver where they underwent chemical analysis by 30g Pb-collection Fire Assay with Inductively Coupled Plasma – Emission Spectrometry (ICP-ES) finish for Pt, Pd and Au (Acme method code 3B, ALS Minerals method PGM-ICP23), and by 0.25g multi-acid digestion (Aqua Regia-HF) followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of a multi-element package (Acme method code 1EX, ALS Minerals method code ME-MS61).
Jon Findlay, Ph.D., P.Geo, Pure Nickel’s senior geologist, supervised work on the MAN project, and reviewed the technical content of this press release. Dr. Findlay is a Qualified Person (QP) for the Man project, as defined by NI 43-101.
About the MAN project
The MAN Nickel (Ni) – Copper (Cu) – Platinum Group Element (PGE) Alaska property is located at the junction of the Denali and Richardson highways in south-central Alaska, approximately 250 kilometres southeast of Fairbanks. The property consists of both state and federal claims, with a total area of 47,208.1 hectares.
Five discrete mafic-ultramafic intrusive complexes occur on the property, the largest of which, the Alpha complex, measures approximately 33 kilometres by 3 kilometres.
