Rockridge Resources has concluded its geophysical project at the Knife Lake Copper Project situated in Saskatchewan, Canada (the “Knife Lake Project” or “Property”).
Knife Lake VMS Project Location Map (Image Credit: Rockridge Resources).
The Knife Lake Project, comprising 81 claims totaling 55,471 hectares (137,069 acres), is an advanced-stage zinc, copper, silver and cobalt exploration property in Saskatchewan where the Knife Lake Deposit is located.
The final results from the Phase 2 helicopter-borne electromagnetic (EM) and horizontal magnetic gradiometer geophysical survey have been received by Rockridge. The survey, which was concluded in October, employed Geotech Ltd.’s VTEM Plus system and considerably extends VTEM coverage of regional target areas from the Phase 1 survey finished in February 2020.
Phase 2 was productive in recognizing numerous conductors that merit follow-up exploration in regional target areas with no advanced geophysics and restricted to no comprehensive geological mapping or prospecting. The conductors, which form linear characteristics with an estimated combined strike length of 19 km, correlate with the highly prospective stratigraphy that hosts the Knife Lake VMS Deposit.
After the conclusion of the VTEM survey, a field crew was sent to explore major anomalies and further describe drill targets by means of surficial mapping and prospecting. They are awaiting the analytical findings from the field program. Geophysical plate modeling of the newly attained VTEM data is ongoing and will be used to further improve targeting for Rockridge’s future drill programs.
The initial results from this phase of geophysics are very encouraging as we have identified targets along 19 km of newly identified EM anomalies and prospective stratigraphy. Modern exploration tools such as airborne electromagnetic and horizontal geophysical surveys have been and will continue to be an important part of ROCK’s exploration strategy at Knife Lake.
Jonathan Wiesblatt, CEO, Rockridge
“We await the results from the recently completed field program and plan to commence another diamond-drilling program in the new year,” Jonathan Wiesblatt added.
Knife Lake Geology and History
The Knife Lake Deposit is understood to be a remobilized VMS deposit. The stratabound mineralized zone is about 15 m thick and comprises gold, copper, silver, zinc and cobalt mineralization which dips 30° to 50° eastward over an identified strike length within Rockridge’s claim area spanning 3,700 m and an identified average down-dip extension of about 300 m.
The deposit is held by felsic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks that have been metamorphosed into upper amphibolite facies. The deposit comprises VMS mineralogy that has been considerably altered and partly remobilized during the emplacement of granitic rocks. The mineralization overlaps the boundary between two rock units and is found on both limbs of an interpreted overturned fold.
The company has finished twenty-four holes comprising 3,096 m of diamond drilling in the 2019 and 2021 winter drilling programs. This signified the first drilling on the property since 2001. Both programs have provided the company’s technical team crucial with insights into the property geology, mineralization and alteration that will be applied to future regional exploration on the extremely prospective and hardly explored land package.
Key points from the drill programs include formerly conveyed hole KF19003 which intersected net-textured to semi-massive sulfide mineralization from 11.2 m to 48.8 m downhole. This 37.6 m interval yielded 2.03% Cu, 0.19 g/t Au, 9.88 g/t Ag, 0.36% Zn and 0.01% Co for a projected 2.42% CuEq.
Furthermore, earlier reported drill hole KF19001 overlapped net-textured to fracture-controlled sulfide mineralization from 7.5 m to 40.6 m downhole. This 33.1 m interval yielded 1.28% Cu, 0.12 g/t Au, 4.80 g/t Ag, 0.13% Zn and 0.01% Co for a projected 1.49% CuEq.
In August 2019, Rockridge reported a first NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Knife Lake deposit which entailed a pit-constrained indicated resource of 3.8 million tons at 1.02% CuEq and an incidental resource of 7.9 million tons at 0.67% CuEq using a 0.4% CuEq cut-off.
Qualified Person
Kerry Bates, P. Geo., a “qualified person” for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and a geologist working at TerraLogic Exploration Inc., has appraised and approved the technical and scientific disclosure in this article concerning the Knife Lake Project.