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https://minesite.com/archives/features_archive/2004/may-2004/starfield260504.htm Feature Story Date : May 26, 2004 Starfield Resources Expects Exciting Drilling Results at Ferguson Lake This Year. It must have been disappointing for Glen Indra and the team from Canadian listed Starfield Resources to see so few UK investors at the Global Mining Show in London last month as the company already has a number of them on its register. However it had already raised most of its recent C$7.5 million placement from funds in London. Regular trips are made to provide updates on progress at the Ferguson Lake mineral district in Nunavut where the company has been exploring for the past five years. During that time the massive sulphide resources have been expanded over tenfold to 60 million tonnes in the indicated and inferred categories. Many of Canada’s largest undeveloped mineral resources are located in Nunavut, though most of the news seems to centre on diamond exploration. This new territory was only formed in 1999 and it covers 1.9 million sq kms of what were formerly the Keewatin and Franklin districts of the Northwest Territories. Most of the population is Inuit who were given fee simple title to about 16 per cent of the land now referred to as Surface Inuit Owned Lands. There they have surface title, but the Canadian government retains the mineral rights. The Inuit were also given fee simple title and mineral rights to about 2 per cent of the land which is called Subsurface Inuit Owned Lands. Seems a bit on the mean side from a distance, but Nunavut is arctic country and it takes a lot of money and the most modern technology to make a success out of exploration up there. According to brokers BMO Nesbitt Burns in its Weekly Gold Monitor issued towards the end of last year there are six major undeveloped mineral deposits in Nunavut of which the 60 million tonne Ferguson Lake Nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metal deposit is one of the leaders.. The others are the Meliadine projects owned by a jv between Comaplex Mineral and Cumberland Resources; Hope Bay owned by Miramar; the George/Goose lake project owned by Kinross; Meadowbank is another Cumberland Resource project; and the High Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit operated by Wolfden Resources. Interestingly, part of Hope Bay is on both Surface and Subsurface owned land which could add to complications over mining permits. Ferguson Lake, however, is on Surface Inuit Owned Lands and was discovered by Inco in the 1950s. Back in 2002 Starfield announced that frequent platinum group metals mineralisation had been encountered in the footwall during definition drilling on the eastern shallower portion of the West Zone where PGM-bearing Cu+Ni massive sulphide units were known to exist. This first phase drilling programme was highlighted by a 1.11 metre low-sulphide intercept grading 14.04 g/t platinum and 19.62 g/t palladium. This intersection was made about 30 to 50 metres below the massive sulphide sytem of the West zone and was characterised by its very low sulphide content. In the past, this ”low sulphide” material was not sampled because of the lack of visible nickel and copper bearing massive sulphides. A new diagnostic approach was therefore taken using magnetic susceptibility measurements in subtle alteration zones. This identified areas of anomalously low magnetic response in the low sulphide mineralisation system that appear to correspond with the new PGM mineralization. Airborne magnetic geophysical survey anomalies were shown to be coincident with the massive sulphide host gabbroic rock and it was a simple step to carry out ground geophysical UTEM surveys which defined conductive anomalies within the gabbro. Nothing is simple in geology until it proves itself and in 2003 the proof was in the pudding. A new UTEM survey along the SW magnetic trend identified a continuous strong UTEM conductor ‘119 zone’ which was continuous with the West zone and West zone extension extension where drilling has been carried out. Drilling in the ‘Pit Area’ of the West zone targeting the interpreted strong UTEM conductor along strike to the east resulted in significant intercepts of massive sulphides including 20.95 metres grading 1.53% copper, 0.97% nickel, 0.09% cobalt, 2.25 g/t palladium and 0.23 g/t platinum. Thus strong UTEM conductors have proved themselves as consistently resulting in the discovery of this type of mineralisation as well as platinum –palladium low sulphides throughout the property. Drilling this year will seek to identify the low sulphide platinum and palladium mineralisation along the continuous 8 kms and more of strong UTEM conductor. Testwork using a dense media separation plant has already shown that high recovery of platinum group metals is possible and this could mean low cost processing of low-sulphide material. Dogged is probably the best word to describe the Starfield team and dogged is the only way to win when operating up in Nunavut. The prize, however, could be high.