Talon Metals hits record nickel, copper grades at Tamarack

Talon Metals (TSX: TLO) reported assay results from three drill holes at its Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota.  

Highlights from drilling in the CGO (coarse grained orthocumulate) West area of the project included drill hole 21TK0330, which intersected 4.44 metres of mixed and massive nickel-copper mineralization grading 7.97% nickel and 11.25% copper (14.08% nickel-equivalent or 37.56% copper-equivalent), starting at 269.13 metres depth. This intercept represents the highest nickel and copper grades ever drilled at the Tamarack project.

Drill hole 21TK0317 intersected 5.23 metres of mixed and massive nickel-copper mineralization grading 5.29% nickel and 2.13% copper (6.36% nickel-equivalent or 16.97% copper-equivalent), starting from 247.97 metres downhole.

Drill hole 21TK0323 returned 13.25 metres of mixed and massive nickel-copper mineralization grading 3.97% nickel and 1.48% copper (4.82% nickel-equivalent or 12.85% copper-equivalent), starting at 190.75 metres.

“Grade is ‘king’ in mining, and our recent drill results of 8% to 12% nickel and 11% to 16% copper could be a king maker,” Brian Goldner, the company’s VP Exploration, stated in a press release.

A drill rig at the Tamarack project in Minnesota. Credit: Talon Metals.

“Not only are we proving a new dimension of the Tamarack Intrusive Complex with these best-ever drill results at the newly discovered CGO West location, but we are also showing that the mineralization is shallow and large scale.” 

The CGO West area lies just outside the Tamarack project’s resource area, about 100 metres to the north-northeast, and extends for an additional 400 metres where drilling shows the presence of shallow, high-grade nickel-copper mineralization.

Talon has previously reported 18 drill holes within the CGO West area, all of which have intersected nickel-copper mineralization.

Drilling within the CGO West area remains ongoing to further expand this enriched high-grade zone of nickel-copper mineralization, the company stated.

The Tamarack project, located 210 km north of Minneapolis and 89 km west of Duluth, consists of the Tamarack North and Tamarack South projects, with about 31,000 acres of private land and state leases. According to Talon president Sean Werger, it is currently the only high-grade development-stage nickel project in the United States. 

The company currently has an earn-in option to acquire up to 60% of the Tamarack project. To earn the maximum interest, it must make staged payments totaling US$22.5 million in cash and shares to partner Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO), spend US$10 million on exploration and development, and complete a feasibility study on the project.