McVicar, BHP stake ground north of Superior

Partners McVicar Minerals (MVR-V) and BHP (BHP-N) have staked a second platinum group metals (PGM) property on the north shore of Lake Superior.

The 174-claim property is named Foxtrap, after the Foxtrap Lake, 16 km northwest of the town of Coldwell.

The claims are associated with gabbros of the Coldwell intrusive complex and an airborne magnetic anomaly along the gabbro’s margin. Numerous nickel-PGM deposits and showings have been found in the basal part of these gabbros. For example, the Two Duck Lake gabbro hosts the Fleck/Marathon deposit, where resources stand at 37 million tonnes grading 1.1 grams palladium and 0.27 gram platinum per tonne, plus 0.38% copper and 0.032% nickel.

The partners plan to carry out an airborne electromagnetic survey over the new property in order to delineate possible drill targets for nickel-PGM sulphide mineralization. Prospecting and geochemical sampling may follow.

The Coldwell complex sits at a triple junction of a mid-continent rift system, possibly at the base of a failed arm. McVicar says a combination of tholeiitic and alkalic magmatism within Coldwell, coupled with the northern Prairie Lake-Killala Lake-Chipman mafic intrusions, suggests an extension environment in this corridor.

McVicar believes Foxtrap may be a feeder system for the Coldwell gabbro and is thus a prime target in the search for high-grade nickel-PGM mineralization.

In the latter half of 2000, the partners became involved in their first two PGM projects on the north shore of Lake Superior.

In November, they signed a letter of intent to option the Spruce River nickel-PGM property from Vancouver-based East West Resources (EWR-V). The 299-claim property is 120 km northeast of Thunder Bay, adjacent to the 200-claim Muskrat Lake PGM property, staked by the McVicar-BHP partnership in June 2000.

Under the Spruce River option, the McVicar-BHP joint-venture can acquire a half-interest by spending $600,000 over five years, including at least $60,000 in the first year.

The McVicar-BHP partnership plans to carry out an extensive geophysical survey on the two groups of claims.

In early 2000, McVicar teamed up with BHP to explore for nickel and PGM deposits in North America, particularly in the Lake Superior region. McVicar and BHP will spend up to $3 million over three years at a 1-to-4 ratio, respectively, with McVicar serving as operator until a significant discovery is made, at which time BHP will take over.

In the late 1990s, BHP had backed McVicar’s search for nickel projects in China.