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Exploratory drilling at Boreal Metals’ (TSX-V:BMX) volcanogenic massive
sulfide (VMS) Gumsberg project in Sweden continues to yield
high-grade mineralization at depth.
The results of a 1,458-meter drill program, released on Tuesday, were
primarily from the new South Zone Discovery at the
past-producing Östra Silvberg mine - a target Boreal has been
working since the first quarter of 2018.
Hole GUM-19-03 cut mineralization between 262.25m and 270.29m
downhole,
returning 5.12% zinc, 2.27% lead and 93 grams per tonne silver over 8
meters.
Hole GUM-19-01 pulled up even deeper core, intersecting 1.99m of 2.28%
lead, 25.52 g/t silver, 0.92% lead and 0.128 g/t gold, between 304.96 and
306.95m.
Significantly, two of the four holes drilled
at Östra Silvberg South Zone Discovery intercepted unmapped
mine workings that plunge deeper than expected and further east than
indicated by historical maps - suggesting that the mineralization is more
extensive than previously thought.
“We are delighted to see that the new Östra Silvberg South
Discovery continues to return high-grade silver-zinc-lead mineralization,”
said Boreal’s CEO, Patricio Varas, in the news release.
He added: “Drilling completed to date on this zone has returned consistent
intercepts from below surface to roughly 250 metres. This new discovery
at Gumsberg has relatively low density of exploratory diamond
drilling and remains open in all directions. We are excited for what further
delineation drilling may deliver in the future.”
Some context on Gumsberg is helpful in understanding the
progress Boreal Metals has made at this discovery.
The 18,300-hectare Bergslagen Mining District of southern Sweden
was mined from the 13th century through to the 1900s, with an astounding 30
historic mines on the property including Östra Silvberg - the
largest silver mine in Sweden from 1250 to 1590. Twenty-one holes were
drilled between 1939 and 1958.
The Gumsberg project is in good company, located within
the Bergslagen Mining District between the past-producing Falun
and Saxberget mines, and the
active Garpenberg and Zinkgruvan mines.
Boreal’s strategy is to develop VMS projects in old mining districts
in Sweden and Norway, that date back thousands of years, as far as the Viking
era.
In 2016 four holes drilled along one of the VMS mineralized trends, the
+2-kilometer-long Vallberget-Loberget trend, pulled up significant
intervals including: 2.8m of 17.9% zinc, 6.9% lead, 0.5% copper and 68.9
grams per tonne silver. Another 3.0m interval hit 9.2% zinc, 3.0% lead and
12.8 g/t silver.
New geophysical surveys plus reconnaissance drilling and analysis of
historical drill data identified fresh targets near historical workings.
In early 2018, while drilling under
the Östra Silvberg mine, Boreal drilled a hole that was so
high-grade, the area demanded further investigation. The hole returned about
22% combined lead-zinc, plus well over 600 grams per tonne silver. “In terms
of value it’s over $800 per tonne material, or higher,” Varas said in
an AOTH
video interview this past spring. “So we decided to follow up
this year.”
The final
assays of a two-month, 1,620-meter drill program were released in March. The
results, from the last four of nine holes, built on assays from the first four
holes which hit high-grade intercepts in the new South Discovery zone, about
40m south of the old mine workings.
“The grades that we’re getting are terrific, we’ve had some very good
continuity over a couple hundred meters of depth, by about 150 meters in
strike length,” says Varas.
Drilling at the South Discovery zone continued this past spring.
The geological theory Boreal is operating under, is that the high-grade
zinc-silver grades they are finding, look like re-mobilized mineralization
that precipitated out of the rocks as they were pushed and pulled during
volcanic activity millions of years ago.
The company is also noticing steep “chimney-like structures”
at Östra Silvberg that are analogous to the orientation of the
deposits found at the nearby Garbenberg mine, some of which go as
far as a kilometer deep.
The most exciting aspect of this, is the possibility of finding the
original VMS mineralization that could be the source of the re-mobilized
deposits.
“The drilling we’ve done suggests that we have something steeply dipping,
so we’re hoping to continue to follow that mineralization at depth,” says
Varas. “More importantly we’re hoping to find the source of the high-grade
mineralization at the new [South Discovery zone], in what we believe may be
primary volcanogenic massive sulfide beds.”
The next step for Boreal is to continue step-out drilling
at Östra Silvberg, while also testing drill targets at
the Vallberget-Loberget trend, identified in 2016. High-grade zinc
(sphalerite) mineralization was discovered there around old surface mine
workings, of a style similar to large deposits found elsewhere in
the Bergslagen Mining District, such as Lundin
Mining’s Zinkgruvan deposit.
Experienced team
Of course, it takes a great mining team to not only discover high-grade
VMS but find more of it and expand the mineralization into a deposit.
Fortunately, Boreal Metals has the goods.
Patricio Varas, Executive Chairman, has been working in mining for 30+ years
and he was a founder of Western Potash, raising over $240 million, he also
was instrumental in the discovery of the Santo Domingo Sur deposit in Chile,
now being developed by Capstone and was the project manager during discovery at Diavik,
a diamond mine operated by RIO Tinto in the Canadian north.
Karl Antonius is a finance professional with a 26-year career in Europe
and North America and founded Mandalay Resources Corp., which is now the
owner-operator of the Bjorkdal gold mine in Sweden, and initial
financier of the Viking Resources' Svartliden gold mine.
Boreal has a strong technical team which includes Eric Jensen and Dan
MacNeil.
Eric Jensen, Director of Boreal and General Exploration Manager for EMX,
has over 20 years experience as mine geologist, mine-site exploration
geologist, and grassroots exploration geologist.
Daniel McNeil, Vice President of Exploration, is a precious and base metal
specialist with over 16 years of experience with continental-scale project
generation to in-mine resource expansion, in a wide variety of geological
settings throughout the Americas and Eastern Europe.
Boreal has recently brought in former Boliden Management which
is very unique for an exploration
company. Thomas Söderqvist, Director, and Rodney
Allen, Techincal Advisory Committee, were both senior management of
the largest mining company in the region.
Thomas Söderqvist started as an underground miner at Boliden at
the age of 18 and had an impressive mining career leading him to becoming
number four at Boliden, as Senior Vice President, and in December 2018 was
the acting CEO at Boliden.
Rodney Allen is an economic geologist with nearly 40 years of experience,
specializing in the geology of complex ancient volcanic
regions. Throughout his 40 year career he was Head
of Exploration at Boliden and is credited withh reviving
the Garpenberg VMS mine
(near Boreal's Gumsberg Project).
Garpenberg was near closure with ore reserves running low, but over
four years, four new satellite deposits were discovered. Thanks to
Allen, Garpenberg's reserves were lifted from a few million tonnes
to 36MT, plus resources of 38MT and production of 42MT, for a total of 116MT
by the end of 2013. The four discoveries were the basis of an expansion
project in 2014 that nearly doubled Garpenberg's annual production.
Conclusion
Boreal stands out as a company with huge exploration potential, and the
company is knee-deep in mining experience. Director Jensen is a PhD geology
with tons of projects under his belt, and he has country experience. He knows
the Sweden portfolio back to front while with EMX, where he is the General
Manager of Exploration. Patricio Varas and Karl Antonius are mining veterans
who know what it takes to move projects forward both technically and
financially. We also like that the board has brought on
Thomas Söderqvist, who has worked for Boliden as a top
executive. Söderqvist not only knows the territory
(Boliden's Garpenberg mine is close to Gumsberg) he has
drilling supplier expertise.
Boreal Metals Corp
TSX-V:BMX, FSE:03E
Cdn$0.05 July 11th
Shares Outstanding 76m
Market cap Cdn$3.8m
Boreal website
*****
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