Overview
Mink’s Montcalm project is located adjacent to Glencore’s historical Montcalm Mine, 65 km northwest of Timmins, Ontario. (See Figure 1 and 2) The Montcalm Mine had historical production of approximately 3.93 million tonnes of ore grading 1.25% Ni, 0.67% Cu and 0.051% Co. (Ontario Geological Survey, Atkinson, 2010).
Mink Ventures’ Montcalm property consists of the Montcalm Joint Venture (JV) and its recently acquired Gambler Property. Together these two properties now cover approximately 100 km2 of prospective geology within the Montcalm Gabbro Complex (MGC). More specifically from a geological perspective Mink’s JV holdings cover approximately 10 km2 of the gabbro phase of the MGC which hosted the former Montcalm Mine. Further, the Gambler Property hosts approximately 11 km of strike length on an ultramafic horizon within the MGC which is very prospective for nickel sulphides. Despite some historical exploration programs on Mink’s claims there has been relatively limited drill testing (approximately 1 drill hole/1 km) and the vast majority of the current holdings have not undergone state of the art airborne geophysical surveys with greater depth penetration and or airborne gravity surveys. (See Figure 3)
Mink’s limited exploration program to date has demonstrated that the usage of both borehole IP and surface ground IP are cost-effective tools in developing new potential base metal targets. In the future, Mink intends to continue further target development on the Gambler and eventually drill test a number of anomalies identified on the Montcalm JV.
Significant advances in IP geophysical technology have enabled deeper penetrating systems with incredible clarity. The new IP systems allow for the production of 3D geophysical models of mineralized zones. Mink is benefitting from the work of previous operators who left numerous EM targets unexplained or untested in historical holes; these holes can now be probed with the new borehole IP technology. Borehole IP systems now have the capability to see a 250-meter radius around a borehole and significantly below the end of the drill hole, which is an extremely cost-effective way of evaluating both disseminated and more massive targets at depth. The deepest known nickel copper cobalt lenses at the Montcalm Mine are known to extend from approximately 250 to 400 meters vertical depth, which is well beyond the capability of many older surface EM systems.
Historical work at the Glencore mine site demonstrated that in addition to the higher-grade Ni Cu Co lenses at the mine, there is potential for disseminated mineralization. In some instances, this type of mineralization is associated with a magnetic high and no coincident electromagnetic (EM) response (ex. Hole MAC9731 (see Figure 4). Numerous magnetic targets of this nature are present on Mink’s claims both within the Hook Zone and across the South Target Area of the property representing valid exploration targets.
The recent surface IP survey on the South Target Area on the Montcalm JV lands outlined a number of previously undetected anomalies proximal to strong magnetic responses similar to the magnetic anomaly tested by hole Mac97-31 on the mine property. This test case of IP surveying proximal to magnetic anomalies demonstrates a reliable technique for outlining new targets possibly representing potential new zones of mineralization.
Both disseminated and/or stringer mineralization as well as massive mineralization responds well to IP surveying and Mink’s new technology approach in this area utilizing both borehole IP and surface IP surveys rather than EM has proven successful in generating significant new targets. A good example of this is shown in Figure 4 where flight lines from historical EM surveys were flown directly over large magnetic anomalies shown in red in the SW Target Area with and no EM response was detected. Ground IP detected numerous IP targets associated with the magnetic response and these represent new base metal target areas.