Muskox to test new zones (December 12, 2001)

Muskox Minerals (MSK-V) has budgeted about $6.5 million for a proposed year 2002 exploration program for the Muskox platinum-palladium-copper-nickel project in Nunavut.

The proposal recommends 8,500 metres of drilling, 80-line km of audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) surveying plus 1,300-line km of airborne geophysical surveying.

Initially, a 2,000-metres drill program will test the new Pyrrhotite West, Keel Splay, NE Speers and SEM West zones, which were all identified through 35-line km of AMT surveying last summer.

Pyrrhotite West, a large conductive anomaly associated with a major fault structure, the Sinister fault, lies just 100 metres west of high-grade mineralization cut at Pyrrhotite Lake last spring. That drilling was highlighted by a 1-metres interval running 30.7 grams palladium per tonne, 2.4 grams platinum, 28% copper and 5.9% nickel. Another 5.7-metre section returned 9.5 grams palladium, 0.8 gram platinum, plus 8.8% copper and 2.7% nickel.

The Keel Splay zone, a subsurface conductive zone, lies down dip of the SE McGregor PGE rich sulphide occurrence, 5 km north of Pyrrhotite Lake. The zone is associated with the projected intersection of a splay from the Sinister fault with the Keel region of the Muskox intrusion. McGregor Lake trench samples were bested by sample 34835, which yielded 75.7 grams palladium, 7.4 grams platinum and 4.3 grams gold over 0.35 metre.

The SEM West zone lies about 750 metres northwest of the SE McGregor mineralized occurrence. The zone represents a zone of subsurface conductivity.

About 20 km north of Pyrrhotite Lake, is the NE Speers zone a 2.5-km-long zone of anomalous conductivity.

Situated 500 km north of Yellowknife, the targeted intrusion is exposed as an elongated north-trending series of mafic-to-ultramafic rocks. Funnel-shaped in cross-section, it dips gently to the north; is 15 km wide in the north, narrowing to 600 metres in the south; is exposed for a strike length of 50 km; and continues beneath cover to the north for another 40 km. The Muskox project comprises the entire intrusion, including its extension beneath cover to the north.

The junior began exploring the intrusion in 1995, and by 1997 it had acquired the rights to the entire intrusive complex. Earlier this summer, drilling on the Keel-1 and Keel-2 geophysical targets returned low-grade values. However, results from the latest hole drilled into the Southern Keel sector returned a more encouraging 8.4-metre section running 0.95% copper, 0.86% nickel, 0.12% cobalt and 0.15 gram palladium per tonne from 314.5 metres downhole.

Muskox recently dropped plans to form a joint venture at the project with British-based platinum producer Lonmin. Muskox gave no reasons for the termination.