Advanced Explorations Discovers Nickel-Copper-Cobalt & Copper-Silver-Gold Mineralization on West Melville Peninsula
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/25/11 -- Advanced Explorations Inc. (the 'Company' or 'AEI') (TSX VENTURE: AXI)(FRANKFURT: AE6) is pleased to announce that results of its 2011 exploration program on the western portion of the Melville Peninsula (the 'West Melville Area'), Nunavut, include the important discovery of new Nickel-Copper-Cobalt ('Ni-Cu-Co') and Copper-Silver-Gold ('Cu-Ag-Au') mineralization.
Five zones of nickel-copper mineralization were identified, with better assay values of 0.86% Ni, 0.59% Cu, 0.04% Co and 0.40% Ni, 0.19% Cu, 0.04% Co, and one zone of high grade copper-silver-gold mineralization returned assays of 1.93% Cu, 33 g/t Ag, 0.35 g/t Au and 1.06% Cu, 18.8 g/t Ag, 0.14 g/t Au (Table 1).
John Gingerich, President & CEO, commented:
'We are very pleased with the quality of the prospects that have been defined to date and encouraged by the strike extent of the mineralized trends which in some cases extend up to 10 km. With the Company's very large land holdings in favorable geological terrains and over 350 gossans reported by Geological Survey of Canada ('GSC') mapping visible from the air, we were only able to scratch the surface as to the area's true potential. The prospect of discovering high grade Ni-Cu and Cu-Ag-Au systems provides the opportunity to create additional shareholder value through possible partnerships and/or spin-offs while AEI remains focused on the development of its core iron ore assets.'
Background:
AEI commenced reconnaissance prospecting of the West Melville Area from its base at the Roche Bay Iron Ore Project approximately 100 km to the east on the shore of the Melville Peninsula, in 2007. The area is underlain by the Archean aged Prince Albert Greenstone Belt, a typical volcanogenic 'greenstone' sequence of metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks including felsic, mafic and ultramafic volcanics, quartzite, pelitic and other metasedimentary units and banded iron formation. The area has seen sporadic exploration since the late 1960's; historical exploration successes include the discovery of iron ore, molybdenum and lesser amounts of uranium.
Late in 2010, the GSC announced a discovery of high grade nickel mineralization, with grades up to 8% Ni on the north side of the Adamson River within Inuit Owned Lands(1). The Adamson River Ni-Cu-Co showing is hosted by a relatively thick ultramafic body composed of cumulate textured peridotite, interpreted to be related to other ultramafic units that outcrop semi-continuously for more than 10km. The sulphide mineralization is located along the basal contact between the komatiitic peridotite and the underlying mafic volcanic and gabbroic rocks. The surface expression of the mineralized zone occurs as several gossanous zones over a strike length of approximately 40m. Assay values published by the GSC range from 0.73 - 7.34 % Ni, trace - 1.81% Cu and trace - 2.23% Co.
The Company staked its first claims in West Melville in 2010, focusing on the results of historical exploration and in 2011 expanded its land position to approximately 203,000 acres, with the addition of two prospecting permits and 37 additional claims.
Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Opportunities:
Discovery of the Adamson River Ni-Cu-Co showing has highlighted the prospectivity of the Prince Albert Greenstone Belt to potentially host significant magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits. This showing displays characteristics of 'komatiitic Ni-Cu Deposits' which are widely distributed in greenstone belt settings worldwide. Frequently referred to as the 'Kambalda-style Nickel Deposits', named after the Kambalda Nickel Deposits in Western Australia, examples in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Canada include the Alexo, Langmuir, Redstone and Texmont Mines near Timmins, Ontario and the Marbridge Mine near Val d'Or, Quebec.
Typically, magmatic nickel-copper sulphide deposits average between 0.7 - 3% Ni and 0.2 - 2% Cu, with tonnages ranging from a few hundred thousand to a few tens of million tonnes.
With the extremely large area to evaluate, which was significantly expanded in response to competitive staking, AEI's 2011 exploration program focused on reconnaissance evaluation of prospective targets for magmatic nickel-copper mineralization. A highlight of the program was the identification of a number of ultramafic rocks that were found to contain significant Ni-Cu values, generally in association with visible gossanous sulphides.
A total of 330 rock samples were collected by the Company in the West Melville area in 2011.
The highest nickel value obtained, 0.86% Ni and 0.59% Cu, was from a gossanous (komatiitic) ultramafic rock associated with a discrete magnetic high on the LZ 2 claim. Available geological mapping shows the area to be underlain by granitic rocks.
A 5km long southwesterly trend of anomalous nickel values associated with a subtle magnetic feature extends from the DY4 claim onto the adjoining Permit 7811. A sample of an ultramafic unit located on the DY4 claim returned assays of 0.40% Ni and 0.87% Cu. Elsewhere on the permit, sulphidized mafic and ultramafic rocks returned values of 0.10%, 0.13% and 0.19% Ni.
On the GW-OFR-TAR-COD claims, underlain by an interpreted narrow sliver of northeasterly trending mafic/ultramafic units, 35 samples of gossanous mafic/ultramafic rocks returned anomalous nickel and copper assay values, with 13 samples recording greater than 0.10% Cu (maximum 0.32%) and 2 samples with values of 0.24% and 0.25% Ni. The zone has a potential strike length of up to 10 - 20 km.
Southeast from the Adamson River Showing, samples from a large 50m x 100m gossan associated with ultramafic flows and intrusive rocks and coincident with a significant 'bull's-eye' magnetic anomaly on the CR claim returned a maximum of 0.11% Ni. Although the nickel values obtained were not extremely high, this target has considerable similarities to the Adamson River showing, where sulphides have been reported as disseminations and pods associated with mafic and ultramafic intrusive rocks, with intense talc-carbonate alteration.
Copper-Silver-Gold Opportunities:
Also within the Prince Albert Greenstone Belt, the Company has identified the potential for high grade copper-silver-gold mineralization.
In 2009, the GSC reported an assay of 1950 g/t (56oz/t) Ag and 0.33% Cu within a hydrothermally altered basaltic rock with visible native copper(2). AEI staked this area in 2010 and in 2011, the Company obtained grab-sample assays of 1.93% Cu, 33 g/t Ag, 0.35 g/t Au and 1.06% Cu, 18.8 g/t Ag, 0.14 g/t Au on the same zone (Table 1). Mineralization appears to be associated with sulphide rich carbonate-quartz stockwork veins.
The Company believes that this style of alteration and mineralization could be related to a Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) style of mineral deposit, typically rich in copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold and frequently occurring in a similar greenstone belt setting, which would be a prospective target for future exploration.
Other Commodities:
A third potential exploration target within the West Melville, molybdenum near Folster Lake, was originally discovered by Noranda Exploration in the 1980s(3). In historical reports, Noranda reported two separate grab samples assayed 7.0% and 11.56% Mo and a chip sample over approximately 1m, which included 0.43m of barren rock, assayed 4.44%. Mineralization occurs within both granitoid basement and Prince Albert Greenstone Belt rocks, in quartz veins and stringers within the granite gneisses adjacent to the granite-greenstone contact and in granitic dykes in the greenstone.
Prospecting of the occurrence by AEI in 2011 confirmed the high grade nature of the mineralization, with assays up to 3.19% Mo, and located mineralized veins over an area of 5 - 50m along strike and 5 - 100m wide. Seven samples returned assay values greater than 0.10% Mo; the Company is awaiting rare earth element analysis from these samples.
With over 200,000 acres of mineral rights covering the prospective Prince Albert Greenstone Belt and having completed two seasons of prospecting, the Company believes to be well positioned to utilize its acquired geological knowledge of the West Melville Area and its logistical base and expertise at Roche Bay to make additional discoveries of magmatic nickel-copper or copper-silver mineralization.
Follow-up exploration is required to further evaluate these promising targets. The Company's technical staff is currently working with its consultants to plan appropriate exploration activities for the 2012 field season, most likely to include an airborne electromagnetic geophysical survey early in the season over anomalous areas of mineralization and targeted preferential geological targets, additional prospecting, geological mapping, rigorous sampling and potentially initial diamond drilling.
Table 1
West Melville Project
Anomalous Rock Samples
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Prospect Sample % Ni % Cu % Co g/t Ag g/t Au
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Ni-Cu-Co Targets
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LZ2 11ATP060 0.86 0.59 0.036 0.50 0.0025
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DY4 11VSP158 0.15 0.87 0.020 2.70 0.0220
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DY4 11ADP215 0.40 0.19 0.037 0.70 0.0025
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7811 11KPP245 0.18 0.08 0.017 1.10 0.0220
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OFR 11ATP002 0.24 0.03 0.052 1.20 0.0025
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TAR2 11KPP220 0.25 TR 0.010 0.15 0.0025
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2905 11IOP018 0.14 0.05 0.015 0.15 0.0025
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2905 11ADP032 0.12 0.03 0.013 0.15 0.0025
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CR 11ADP031 0.11 0.03 0.127 0.15 0.0110
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Cu-Ag-Au Targets
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7811 11VSP086 0.0025 0.07 0.004 1.0 0.527
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7811 11ADP126 0.008 1.06 0.0004 18.8 0.136
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7811 11ADP127 0.0025 0.26 0.0014 4.9 0.110
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7811 11ADP125 0.0032 1.93 0.0022 33.0 0.345
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NB: 1) Samples are 'grab samples'; actual dimensions of mineralized zone is
unknown
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Maps and images of the West Melville Project Area will be made available shortly on the Company's corporate website at www.advanced-exploration.com.
All samples reported herein comprised grab samples that were initially prepared for analysis at a facility located in Hall Beach. 'Prepped' samples are then sent to Activation Laboratories Inc. in Ancaster, Ontario for analysis. Due to the inherent variability in rock grab sampling QC samples are not normally inserted in the grab sample stream, however, internal lab QC data was examined with no issues noted. Samples were analyzed by a Total Digestion (four acid) - 33 element ICP-AES analysis (ME-ICP61) and gold by Fire Assay-AA (www.actlabs.com). AEI's Melville exploration program is supervised by Steve Roebuck, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for AEI and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Roebuck has reviewed and verified the technical information contained in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
John Gingerich, President & CEO
ABOUT Advanced Explorations Inc.
Advanced Explorations Inc., based in Toronto, Ontario, is a resource development company focused on its Roche Bay Iron Ore Project in Nunavut, one of the world's largest developing iron ore districts. The Roche Bay Project is located proximal to a natural deep water harbour on the east coast of the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada giving it many logistical advantages. The project has an indicated resource of 323 million tonnes, outlined within a small portion of the potential 140 km of banded iron formation. This iron formation incorporates the Roche Bay deposits, the Company's Tuktu deposits and other targeted deposits in areas to the north, south and west of the Company's Roche Bay Project. The preliminary economic assessment from the Roche Bay deposit alone indicates a potential net present value of US $1.1 billion and the potential for rapid advancement into development of either iron concentrate or high value iron nugget products. A feasibility study is currently underway that is examining a concentrate start-up operation of 5 million tonnes per year. Future expansions will consider additional concentrate and/or iron nuggets as envisaged in the PEA filed on SEDAR. The management team has extensive technical, exploration and Canadian Arctic mining expertise to effectively develop the high quality iron ore opportunities on the Melville Peninsula.
References:
1 Houle, M.G., Gibson, H.L., Richan, L., Becu, V., Corrigan, D., and
Nadeau, L., 2010. A New Nickel Discovery in the Prince Albert Hills,
Melville Peninsula: Implications for Ni-Cu-(PGE) Exploration in the
Prince Albert Group; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 6729, 22p
2 GSC 2009 GEM Mineral Program
3 Noranda Exploration Report-Folster Lake Project, August 1980. NUMIN
#081271
This news release also includes forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The information reflects numerous assumptions as to industry performance, general business and economic conditions, regulatory and legal requirements, taxes and other matters, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Similarly, this information assumes certain future business decisions that are subject to change. There can be no assurance that the results predicted here will be realized. Actual results may vary from those represented, and those variations may be material.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the 'U.S. Securities Act') or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
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Contacts:
Advanced Explorations Inc.
(416) 203-0057 x226
www.advanced-exploration.com