Nickel and base metals continue to drive exploration in the Sudbury mining camp with a handful of junior miners preparing for winter drill programs.
Magna Mining, the redevelopers of a decommissioned INCO property near Whitefish, reported some high-grade nickel hits this week from its first drilling program at the former Crean Hill Mine.
The Sudbury junior miner acquired the shuttered underground mine last month and launched a maiden 2,000-metre program this fall.
Now dubbed the Denison Project, the Crean Hill Mine is located in the southwest corner of the Sudbury basin. The company released a new mineral estimate for the project showing more than 31 million tonnes of nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold.
With 10 drill holes completed so far, the company reported some high-grade nickel intersections of 3.8 per nickel over 10.8 metres of drill core, including 6 per cent nickel over 5.8 metres.
These are the first assay results from the program since the acquisition. The drilling program was targeting areas for advanced exploration and potential bulk sampling.
In a note to shareholders, the company said the results received so far provide evidence that Crean Hill can be a big volume, high-grade producer with huge potential for massive nickel and copper sulphide mineralization in some untapped footwall deposits.
Diamond drilling resumes in early January. The company has a 12,000 to 15,000-metre program queued up for Crean Hill in the new year.
The company has set its sights high on becoming the next nickel producer in the Sudbury basin.
