Juniors plan drilling on nickel prospect in Yukon

Glenhaven Resources (GNN-A) and Blackstone Resources (BZZ-V) are firming up plans to drill at the Taiga nickel-zinc property, situated 120 km northeast of Dawson City, Y.T.

The companies expect to mobilize a rig by mid-May, and be drilling by mid-June, says Blackstone geologist Brian Butterworth.

Glenhaven, which will conduct the work, is targeting two main areas: following up on last year’s discovery at the MM grid and exploring the area west of the grid.

Butterworth says work will focus on areas known to host barite mineralization, using data from a previous operator which outlined a barite resource, as nickel mineralization in the Yukon has been associated with barite horizons.

Last year, Glenhaven completed 12 holes designed to test the lateral and downdip extent of nickel mineralization at the DM and TB zones. One of the holes encountered 25.5 metres of mineralization grading 0.51% nickel and 0.41% zinc, including a 5.3-metre interval grading 1.4% nickel and 0.7% zinc.

For this next round, Glenhaven plans as much as 1,000 metres of core drilling. Additional mapping and sampling are planned for the area west of the MM prospect, as well as other targets to the north.

The company has raised $970,000 in flow-through financing to fund the work.

Glenhaven and Blackstone originally came to Taiga looking for exhalative lead-zinc mineralization. The nickel they found instead has led Butterworth to believe Taiga could represent a new type of exhalative nickel-zinc deposit. He says there are other occurrences like Taiga in the region, including the Nick deposit drilled by Inco and Falconbridge, as well as a few published accounts in China.

Mineralization occurs as vaesite (nickel sulphide) and sphalerite (zinc sulphide), and nickel carbonate, as recognized by scanning electron microscope. The MM area also exhibits barite and gypsum flooding and stockwork, which Butterworth believes could represent a vent area.

In all, Glenhaven and Blackstone have nearly 1,400 claims in northern Yukon.

Glenhaven is earning a 60% interest by spending $2 million on exploration, issuing 200,000 shares to Blackstone and paying $425,000 in cash.

In addition, the junior duo recently made application for a 328,000-ha platinum-palladium project on New Zealand’s South Island.

On its own, Blackstone controls several other polymetallic properties in the Yukon.