Drilling at Impala Canada and Transition Metals‘ Sunday Lake property, 25 km north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has returned high-grade intercepts of up to 4.28 g/t total platinum group metals (PGM) over 9.2 metres.
Between January and March, Impala drilled 4,295 metres in three holes at Sunday Lake, with hole 32-W1 and 33 directly targeting the ‘Big Red’ anomaly.
The project is 75% held by Impala, with Transition holding a 25% free carried interest until Impala completes a feasibility study.
Drill highlights include 23 metres of 2.42 g/t total PGM (1.29 g/t platinum, 1.03 g/t palladium and 0.09 g/t gold) starting from 1,263 metres downhole in hole 32-01.
This interval includes 9.2 metres of 4.28 g/t total PGM (2.27 g/t platinum, 1.85 g/t palladium and 0.17 g/t gold).
Hole 33 hit 26 metres of 2.55 g/t total PGM (1.38 g/t platinum, 1.05 g/t palladium and 0.12 g/t gold) starting from 1,435 metres downhole.
This interval includes 8 metres of 3.89 g/t total PGM (2.15 g/t platinum, 1.57 g/t palladium, and 0.17 g/t gold).
A high-grade section of the zone is 4 to 15.8 metres thick, with grades of over 5 g/t total PGM
Hole 31, which targeted a separate anomaly in the central area of the property, returned highlights of 21 metres grading 1.02 g/t PGM (0.6 g/t platinum, 0.37 g/t palladium and 0.05 g/t gold).
Four drill holes have so far tested the Big Red anomaly to date; all have hit high-grade PGM mineralization.
Transition Metals says the roughly 500- by 400-metre anomaly appears to be part of a larger, 1,200- by 400-metre untested magnetotelluric anomaly that trends northwest-southeast.
The broader mineralized zone at Big Red ranges from 20 to 60 metres thick, with grades from 2.2 to 5.51 g/t total PGM.
A high-grade section of the zone is 4 to 15.8 metres thick, with grades of over 5 g/t total PGM.
“Sunday Lake continues to represent an exciting and important PGM property for Transition Metals,” said Scott McLean, the company’s president and CEO, in a release.
“Two holes from the recent drilling program intersected the outer extent of the ‘Big Red’ anomaly and continue to provide high grade intersections over broad widths. In addition, the completion of a third hole into a separate, high quality MT anomaly demonstrates the widespread nature of the PGM mineralization across the property. Exploration on the property is still at an early stage and with continued drilling there is excellent potential of building a significant mineral resource going forward.”
Transition Metals also holds 100% of the Saturday Night property, 16 km west of Sunday Lake, which features similar mineralization and geology.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining
Journal)