Mustang riding high

Mustang Minerals (MUM-V) has intersected significant nickel-copper mineralization at its Maskwa property, 140 km northeast of Winnipeg, Man.

Highlights of drilling include one hole that cut three zones of mineralization between 90-125 metres downhole. This hole intersected:

• 4.6 metres grading 1.0% nickel and .16% copper at 90 metres, and
• 10.7 metres grading 1.4% nickel and .35% copper (this includes 3 metres of 1.85% nickel) in hangingwall zones and
• 8.2 metres at 1.26% nickel and .27% copper (this includes 3.7 metres at 1.6% nickel and .27% copper) in the Maskwa zone.

Another hole hit 16 metres that graded 1.74% nickel and .12% copper at a downhole depth of 261 metres. This included a 1.5-metre intercept that graded 2.98% nickel.

Sixteen holes were drilled along a 400-metre strike and to a maximum 275-metre vertical depth. Every hole intersected a minimum of 0.97% nickel over more than 9.5 metres.

The layered Bird River sill extends for eight km across the property and hosts the Maskwa nickel deposit along its basal contact. The Maskwa zone varies from 3-18 metres in width.

In the hangingwall and footwall of the Maskwa zone a couple of holes intersected massive sulphide veins about 0.25-metre-wide that graded 3.5-3.8% nickel, 0.96-3.2% copper and .15-.2% cobalt.

The sill is about one km thick and is interbedded with metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks belonging to the Archean Bird River greenstone belt. The property is cut by numerous north-trending faults and block faults.

From 1974-1976, about 332,000 tonnes were open pit mined from the Maskwa deposit to a vertical depth of 46 metres. This ore graded 1.16% nickel and 0.2% copper.

Dumbarton, about 1.2 km east of the Maskwa deposit was accessed by ramp and underground development between 1969 and 1974. The mine produced 1.5 million tonnes grading 0.81% nickel and 0.30% copper. It was mined to a vertical depth of about 150 metres and along a 430-metre strike-length.

In 1999 it was estimated that the Maskwa deposit-hosts a calculated measured resource of 2.7 million tonnes at 1.27% nickel, 0.21% copper, 0.04% cobalt, and 1.37 grams platinum plus palladium per tonne to a vertical depth of 335 metres. This was not calculated using National Instrument 43-101 standards.

The Dumbarton nickel deposit and F zone copper deposit are hosted along the basal contact of the underlying mafics in contact with a sulphide facies iron formation.

The F-zone copper deposit was partially developed by ramp and underground workings and is located east of the Dumbarton nickel deposit.

The 12.5-sq.-km property is about 60 km from the town of Lac du Bonnet. It comprises a mining lease as well as mineral claims. The mineral rights are owned by Global Nickel, a unit of Mustang Minerals. There is a 1% net smelter return royalty payable on the property.