Jun 11 2020
Rupert Resources Ltd ("Rupert" or "the Company") reports new drill results from its ongoing exploration programme at the 100% owned Pahtavaara Project in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, Finland.
The Company has intersected gold mineralisation within a pyrite-quartz vein stockwork that is up to 20 m wide and has a projected strike length from drilling to date of at least 400 m. The mineralisation remains open to the north east, the west and at depth with latest IP geophysics suggesting an un-tested offset to the sulphide zone. Heinä South is located 1 km north-west of the new Ikkari discovery where hole 120042 intersected 1.8 g/t Au over 137 m (see release dated May 12, 2020).
Highlights
The Heinä South target area is approximately 1 km2 (figure 1) with a high concentration of base of till anomalies. Drilling to date has focused on the northern-most part of the prospect.
- Holes 120011 and 120033 intersected the highest grades and are 200 m apart in the east and west of the target respectively. Hole 120011 intersected 5.2 g/t Au over 9.5 m from 39 m including 40.7 g/t Au over 1 m and hole 120033 intersected 482 g/t over 1m
- Hole 120007 intersected 5.6 g/t Au over 2.6m from 53.6 m, 10.4 g/t Au over 2 m from 84 m, and 26.1 g/t Au over 1.0 m from 174 m. The hole was drilled oblique to the anomaly but demonstrated early in the program the potential for scale.
- Hole 120031 intersected 2.6 g/t Au over 12 m from 83 m, including 5.0 g/t Au over 3 m from 87 m and Hole 120029 intersected 4 m @ 3 g/t Au and 2 m @ 3.49 g/t Au.
James Withall, CEO of Rupert Resources commented "The exploration drilling program at Area 1 has delivered some fantastic results from numerous targets. Heinä South, under up to 20m of cover has recorded the highest-grade intersection to date outside of our Pahtavaara mine. We have yet to test the full extent of the gold anomalism at this target with mineralisation identified in both a stockwork vein setting and within neighbouring intrusive rocks. The geology team continue to build up our inventory of close proximity targets at Area 1 that itself represents just a fraction of the almost 300 km2 licence package."
Summary
The 2019/20 regional exploration program has focussed on a series of targets in Area 1, which contains just 5 km of a 20 km prospective structure on the Company's licence. Over 14,000 m (80 holes) of diamond drilling has now been completed at Area 1. Table 1 highlights the best mineralised intercepts that have been drilled to date at the six discoveries since drilling commenced in April 2019.
Table 1. Reported intercepts >20 g AuEq from Area 1
Notes to table: No upper cut-off grade was applied. 0.5 g/t lower cutoff applied to all prospects except Ikkari where 0.4 g/t Au lower limit is applied. Unless specified, true widths cannot be accurately determined from the information available. Ranking based on gold price of USD1500/oz, copper price USD2.5/lb and 100% metallurgical recovery. New results in bold.
Heinä South
The Heinä South target was identified by a series of high-grade base of till anomalies (up to 11 ppm Au) and very limited drilling in the spring of 2019 (Hole 119031, see release from May 21, 2019, target previously called Vuoma South). Access for further drilling was limited to the winter season due to the low-lying wet ground conditions.
The gold mineralisation occurs within deformed sediments at a contact zone with intrusive rock types which are also mineralised to some extent. Evidence from drilling, base of till anomalism, ground magnetics and induced polarisation (IP) geophysical surveys indicate a sub-vertical zone that strikes ENE and drilling to date has identified gold mineralisation to 160 m vertical depth (figure 2). To the west, the IP anomaly appears to be offset to the north and a large section of the anomaly has not yet been drill tested.
Follow-up drilling at this target will occur when access is available later in the year to test extensions, parallel and offset structures, and the remaining base of till anomalies in the southern half of the prospect.
Mineralisation at the Heinä South prospect is covered with up to 10 m of transported glacial till with restricted access in winter due to low lying wet ground conditions. Gold mineralisation is associated with multi-phase pyrite within quartz-pyrite and massive pyrite veins, as part of a stockwork of quartz-carbonate veins. Zones of massive pyrite contain the highest grades (up to 10 - 40 g/t Au) with disseminated sulphides containing anomalous (<0.5 g/t) gold. Early quartz-carbonate veins are overprinted by extensional veins that include coarse-grained pyrite and form sub-parallel trends, broadly related to lithological contacts between sediments and mafic-intermediate intrusives, although mineralisation also occurs within both lithologies.
About the Pahtavaara Project
The Pahtavaara Project is located in the heart of the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, Northern Finland where the company owns the permitted Pahtavaara mine that is on active care & maintenance and within a contiguous licence package of almost 300 km2. The Company acquired the project for just USD $2.5m in 2016 and is undertaking exploration both at the existing mine and across the region to demonstrate the potential for significant economic mineralisation.
Area 1 comprises a large part of a structural corridor that lies between Kittilä Group allocthon to the north and the younger Kumpu Group basin to the south. The zone is dominated by large E-W to ENE trending faults which have controlled broad to isoclinal folding within the sediment-dominated (Savukoski Group) rock package. A complex network of cross cutting structures has focused multi-stage fluid flow, with gold mineralisation associated with massive to fine-grained disseminated sulphides and concentrated at favourable structural intersections and fold hinges.
Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports
Mr. Mike Sutton, P.Geo. Director and Dr Charlotte Seabrook, MAIG, RPGeo. Exploration Manager, are the Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the accuracy of scientific and technical information in this news release.
Samples are prepared by ALS Finland in Sodankylä and assayed in ALS laboratories in Ireland, Romania or Sweden. All samples are under watch from the drill site to the storage facility. Samples are assayed using fire assay method with aqua regia digest and analysis by AAS for gold. Over limit analysis for >10 ppm Au is conducted using fire assay and gravimetric finish for assays over >100 ppm Au. For multi-element assays Ultra Trace Level Method by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES is used. The Company's QA/QC program includes the regular insertion of blanks and standards into the sample shipments, as well as instructions for duplication. Standards, blanks and duplicates are inserted at appropriate intervals. Approximately five percent (5%) of the pulps and rejects are sent for check assaying at a second lab.
Base of till samples are prepared in ALS Sodankylä by dry-sieving method prep-41, and assayed by fire assay with ICP-AES finish for gold. Multi-elements are assayed in ALS laboratories in either of Ireland, Romania or Sweden by aqua regia with ICP-MS finish. Rupert maintains a strict chain of custody procedure to manage the handling of all samples. The Company's QA/QC program includes the regular insertion of blanks and standards into the sample shipments, as well as instructions for duplication.