Metal anomalies

Chidliak is all about Diamonds...but what about other minerals?

Now that the recent PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) is robust enough to migrate all of Chidliak from a Greenfield exploration site to a brownfield exploration site, a lot of previous work done at Chidliak needs to be revisited.

Beyond the 2 kimberlite pipes (CH6 and CH7), there are 72 other known kimberlites and several more kimberlite type anomalies that have yet to be drilled off.

But, what about other minerals? Has there been any indication at Chidliak for other minerals?
With the transition of greenfield exploration to brownfield exploration, the value potential of any other anomaly will have gone up. Sure, they probably will not be able to use the same mill (diamond processing), but the infrastructure and roadwork will be in place and paid for by the diamond mining.

One needs to go back to 2007/2008 when a lot of till sampling was done throughout the property and not completely restricted to KIMs (kimberlite indicator minerals).

Here is the press release with other mineral potential -- News release 2008-02-28_nr

Key Quotes from press release (see more detail in excerpts below)

"The Chidliak Sperrylite Anomaly is the strongest we have seen from an exploration survey and is similar to an anomaly obtained from an orientation test at Sudbury"

"Mr. Averill stated “This is one of the strongest gahnite anomalies we have seen.”"

"One sample contained 320 chalcopyrite grains which is considered to be highly anomalous. "

Excerpts from that news release:

Sperrylite Anomaly

"The Sperrylite Anomaly occurs over a broad area measuring approximately 10 km by 10 km. Of the 44 samples collected in this area, 17 contiguous samples contained anomalous sperrylite grain counts. Several samples outside of the Sperrylite Anomaly area also contain sperrylite including one sample with 60 sperrylite grains and 10% by weight of the mineral goethite. Goethite is present in gossans, which consist of iron-bearing weathered material that can overlie sulphide-associated deposits. Additionally, adjacent samples contained the minerals pyroxene and olivine. Pyroxene and olivine are associated with ultramafic rocks, the dominant source rocks for platinum/palladium and nickel mineralization. "

"Sperrylite is a platinum-bearing mineral that is often associated with rocks that contain platinum, palladium and nickel. Stuart Averill, President of ODM stated “Similar sperrylite grains recovered from till elsewhere in Canada were invariably found within a few hundred metres of their bedrock sources. The Chidliak Sperrylite Anomaly is the strongest we have seen from an exploration survey and is similar to an anomaly obtained from an orientation test at Sudbury”. Sudbury, Ontario is Canada’s most prolific nickel producing region."

Gahnite Anomaly

The Gahnite Anomaly is approximately 2 km by 2.5 km in size and nine of ten samples collected within the area contained highly anomalous concentrations of gahnite ranging from 47 to approximately 1,600 grains. Gahnite is a primary indicator mineral for metamorphosed massive sulphide lead-zinc-silver-copper deposits like the famous Broken Hill deposit in Australia. Mr. Averill stated “This is one of the strongest gahnite anomalies we have seen.”

Chalcopyrite Anomaly

The Chalcopyrite Anomaly measures approximately 15 km by 20 km in size and eight of the 15 samples collected within the area contained chalcopyrite grains. One sample contained 320 chalcopyrite grains which is considered to be highly anomalous. Chalcopyrite is a very common mineral in copper deposits but usually only a small proportion of the grains survive in weathered glacial till.

Peregrine diamonds has many diamond related anomalies to explore...but also have potential non-diamond mineral anomalies that have only had the surface scratched with a few samples taken. Now that there is an economic plan for infrastructure and all weather roads, these anomalies should be taken up a notch.