Commander and Fjordland Announce Results from Drilling at South Voisey's Bay Nickel Project, Labrador
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Best results were from holes 17-2 which returned 0.8 metres grading 0.63% nickel, 0.30% copper and 0.1% cobalt and hole 17-6 which returned 3.9 metres grading 0.37% nickel, 0.27% copper and 0.1 % cobalt. The intersections are semi-massive to massive sulphide comprised of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. Both intersections occur within or at the base of the Worm Gabbro within a sequence of troctolite. They are overlain by several metres of blebby and net textured sulphides. Holes 17-3, 5 and 7 returned low nickel values. Three holes, 17-1, 17-4 and 17-8, located 1.8 km south of hole 17-6 tested a prominent low angle conductor within paragneiss adjacent to an arm of the Worm Gabbro and all three holes encountered zones of high sulphide with low nickel values hosted by structures and sometimes accompanied by mixed gabbro breccia. Borehole Electro-Magnetic (BHEM) data, collected by Crone Geophysics in November, defined several extremely high conductivity targets between holes 17-1, 17-4, and 17-8. In addition, BHEM data from holes 17-6 and 17-7 delineate a strong conductor associated with the intersected sulphides, and an even stronger non-decaying off-hole conductor.
Drill results are summarized below in Table 1 and hole locations in Table 2 at the end of this release. Sections and plans will be posted to the Company website. Reported core lengths are estimated to be true width for hole 17-6, while hole 17-2 is of unknown orientation.
Table 1: Results
Hole | From(m) | To (m) | length (m) | Ni (%) | Co (%) | Cu (%) |
FL17-2 | 52.4 | 53.2 | 0.8 | 0.63 | 0.11 | 0.30 |
FL17-6 | 45.3 | 49.2 | 3.9 | 0.37 | 0.10 | 0.27 |
Discussion
The large 29,400 Ha SVB Property is in central Labrador 80 kilometres south of Vale's Voisey's Bay Nickel mine and covers parts of the Pants Lake Gabbro Complex. The Pants Lake Complex contains host rocks with alteration and nickel mineralization styles consistent with high nickel prospectivity. This drill program tested a single exploration target centred of a portion of the Worm Gabbro, a 200 metre thick possible feeder dyke to larger magma bodies or chambers located both north and south of the area. Drilling was centred on modeled conductors derived from re-processed historical UTEM-3 surveys conducted in 2002 and 2014. Targeting incorporated recent geological concepts being successfully applied at the Voisey's Bay Mine wherein structure plays an important ore control role and where massive sulphide accumulations may also occur in wall rock structures.
Dawn Evans-Lamswood, project manager and former head of brownfields exploration at the Voisey's Bay Mine states, "Drill holes within the wall rock paragneiss (in particular hole 17-4) intersected a feeder environment that can be described as a "nursery" for sulphide production, an essential ingredient for the production of high grade sulphides. Key ingredients include ultramafic cumulates, digested paragneiss, magmatic contamination and structural controls to focus wall rock digestion, sulphide production and distribution. The observations suggest the system is not rootless, that it has a sulphide source rock and favorable structural constraints and establishes the SVB property as hosting a Voisey's Bay-styled nickel environment."
Ongoing work includes property wide re-processing of additional historical EM data including UTEM-3 surveys and Crone pulse EM surveys. Initial focus is on the large South Gabbro body where limited historical drilling has retuned elevated nickel within basal olivine gabbro units and in wall rock veins.
Expenditures by Fjordland have resulted in the increase of their property interest to 35%. Under the terms of the Commander/Fjordland option agreement, announced on June 5, 2017, Fjordland may earn up to a 100% interest in the property by paying Commander combined cash payments of $290,000, completing $8.0 million in exploration expenditures and issuing to Commander an aggregate of 4.5 million shares of Fjordland. Upon Fjordland acquiring a 100% interest in the project, Commander will retain a 2% NSR with Fjordland having the right to buy down 50% of the Royalty for a payment of $5,000,000 as a cash payment, or a cash payment equal $2,500,000 plus the issuance of shares having a fair market value of 50% of the buy down amount. Commander will receive a $10,000,000 advance royalty payment at the commencement of commercial production. Fjordland is 30% held by an affiliate of High Power Exploration Inc. who have separately entered into a funding agreement with Fjordland to provide up to $7.4 million in expenditures and $290,000 in property payments, following which Fjordland has agreed to assign a 65% project interest in SVB to HPX (see FEX news release dated August 28, 2017). HPX is a privately owned, metals-focused exploration company deploying proprietary in-house geophysical technologies to rapidly evaluate mineral prospects. The HPX technology cluster comprises systems for targeting, modelling, survey optimization, acquisition, processing and interpretation. HPX has a highly experienced board and management team led by Co-Chair and Chief Executive Officer Robert Friedland.
QA/QC
Drill core was NTQ with recoveries typically above 90 per cent. After drilling, the core is logged for geology, structure and geotechnical characteristics, marked up for sampling, and photographed on site. The cores for analyses are marked for sampling based on geological intervals with individual samples 1.0 m or less in length. They are cut in half lengthwise, with a rock saw on site. One half-core are stored on site for future reference. The other with half-core are bagged in individual plastic bags along with ID tag and sealed. The individual plastic sample bags are then placed into rice bags labelled with sample ID's for all enclosed samples (typically 3 to 5 samples per rice bag); and then the rice bag is sealed with packing tape. The rice bags are sent by commercial carrier to Eastern Analytical Ltd, Springdale NL. for assaying. A QA/QC program, including insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates with regular samples under, the supervision of Gary Thompson, P.Geo. was undertaken.
Upon arrival at Eastern Analytical rice bags and sample bags are inspected for tampering or damage during transportation. The samples are dried and then crushed to 80% -10mesh, and a 250g split is then pulverized to 95% 150mesh. A 200mg subsample is dissolved in four acids and analyzed by ICP-OES for 34 elements. Samples with significant Ni, Cu or Co are re-analyzed by atomic absorption following a three acid digestion. Eastern Analytical is an ISO17025 certified laboratory. On site supervision and core logging was by Dawn Evans-Lamswood, P, Geo.
Table 2- Drill Collars
Hole | Easting | Northing | Elev (m) | LENGTH(m) | Az | Dip |
FL17-1 | 567500 | 6147644 | 427.8 | 212.3 | 220 | -65 |
FL17-2 | 567430 | 6148949 | 436 | 153 | 210 | -55 |
FL17-3 | 567302 | 6148761 | 408.4 | 150.55 | 180 | -50 |
FL17-4 | 567676 | 6147783 | 421 | 271.1 | 170 | -50 |
FL17-5 | 566202 | 6148848 | 418.4 | 157.2 | 180 | -60 |
FL17-6 | 566660 | 6149010 | 450 | 150.85 | 180 | -50 |
FL17-7 | 566600 | 6149060 | 451 | 225.95 | 180 | -50 |
FL17-8 | 567598 | 6147584 | 408.4 | 151.55 | 220 | -65 |
Robert Cameron, P. Geo. is a qualified person within the context of National Instrument 43-101, and has read and takes responsibility for the technical aspects of this release.
About Commander Resources:
Commander Resources is a Canadian focused exploration company that has leveraged its success in exploration through partnerships and sale of properties, while retaining equity and royalty interests. Commander has a portfolio of base and precious metal projects across Canada and significant equity positions in Maritime Resources Corp. (MAE-TSX.V) and Aston Bay Holdings (BAY-TSX.V). Commander also retains royalties from properties that have been partnered, optioned or sold.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Robert Cameron, P. Geo.
President and CEO
For further information, please call:
Robert Cameron, President and CEO
Toll Free: 1-800-667-7866
info@commanderresources.com
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This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.