RE: News
MPM's partner on the Mt. Kakoulima project is FNX Mining Company Inc. ("FNX"). FNX took the McCready West Mine Ni discovery, the Inter Main Deposit, from discovery to production in 14 months. The FNX exploration team comprises ex-Inco, Falconbridge and WMC senior geologists and management. MPM benefits from the expertise of a proven, world class nickel exploration team in FNX and is very well leveraged for exploration successes.
FNX suggested that the geological model of the KIC may be compared to that of the mafic-ultramafic intrusion that hosts the Jinchuan nickel-copper deposit in northwest China. Jinchuan is the third largest producer of nickel in the world (behind operations in Sudbury and Noril'sk, Russia) and hosts an estimated 500 million tonnes at grades of 2.21% nickel and 1.71% copper. The Mt. Kakoulima intrusion is approximately 60 km long of which the MPM/FNX property license covers 30 km on the north and south margins.
"The KIC appears fertile for the formation of nickel sulphides and the basal contact has a favourable orientation for exploration. The exploration program started out based on a geologic concept. We have now verified the concept. The next phase is to hunt for economic deposits," stated Mr. Gino Falzone, President of MPM.
Phase 3 is planned to begin in the coming days and will consist mainly of drilling to explore favourable targets with a focus on following up on the disseminated sulphide intersections, further defining the geometry of the basal contact and locating possible traps to massive Ni-Cu-sulphide accumulations.
The basal contacts are the most common location for nickel-copper sulphide mineralization (as at Sudbury). The KIC is the largest mafic to ultramafic dyke-like body in the world where the basal contact has not been tested.
The best historical drill intersections by Afcan-Semafo in 1997 graded 4.72% Ni, 1.51% Cu, 0.22% Co and 3.0 g/t Pt-Pd over 0.51 metres. Afcan-Semafo continued to focus on the upper sequences and did not explore the lower sequences or the basal contact at the intrusion, which the FNX exploration team believes are the most prospective target areas for nickel-bearing massive sulphides.