Apr 3 2024Reviewed by Lexie Corner
Azimut Exploration Inc. (“Azimut” or the “Company”) provided an update on the 2023 exploration program conducted on the Kukamas Property (the “Property”) situated in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec. Since entering into a joint venture option agreement with KGHM International Ltd (“KGHM”), Azimut has undertaken substantial exploration activities on the Property.
Image Credit: Azimut Exploration Inc.
In 2024, Azimut plans to conduct a thorough follow-up program sponsored by partners, which will involve drilling, an in-fill lake sediment geochemical survey, and targeted prospecting.
Highlights
- In 2023, exploration efforts involved conducting a heliborne geophysical survey spanning 3,199 line kilometers and an initial prospecting phase.
- Geophysical survey: The entire Property was covered by a high-resolution heliborne magnetic-electromagnetic VTEMTMPlus survey, with a total of 3,199 line k at 100 m line spacing. Along with minor isolated EM anomalies, ten target regions associated with strong to moderate VTEMTMPlus conductors or strings of conductors have been found.
None of these conductors, frequently associated with surface-exposed gold, copper, and nickel mineralization, has undergone drilling for testing purposes.
- Prospecting: The primary goal of this stage of the project was to investigate a number of geophysical targets that were found. The identification of an amphibolite-hosted nickel-copper-platinum-palladium showing with pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite veinlets that returned up to 1.36 % Ni, 0.12 % Cu, 0.206 g/t Pt, and 0.685 g/t Pd in grab samples was made possible by the collection of 114 rock grab samples from six target sites.
- The new nickel-copper-PGE finding has a good spatial association with a strong electromagnetic conductor that is 1 km long and has not been tested by drilling. Grab samples from other previous prospects in the same area produced values as high as 2.0 % Cu and 0.75 % Ni. Priority has been given to this area for further prospecting and maybe diamond drilling in 2024.
- A fresh discovery of gold (4.28 g/t Au in a grab sample of pyritic amphibolite) has been made along the Chain Lake fault, a large shear zone spanning several km that was previously identified on the Property. Further prospecting work will be conducted in this target area, which spans a 6 km strike on the western claim block and features a string of powerful punctual electromagnetic conductors.
- Numerous other extremely promising target sectors, such as a 12 km long gold-copper trend in the northern portion of the western claim block, have been designated for first-pass field evaluation. Grab samples from historical showings contained up to 12.54 g/t Au and 3.30 % Cu.
About the Kukamas Property
The Property consists of two claim blocks totaling 272.5 km2 and 537 mining claims with a cumulative strike length of 41 km. Large-scale infrastructure, such as high-voltage power lines, is advantageous to the project.
Situated on a road that leads to the La Grande-3 hydroelectric generating station, it is 4 km north of the all-weather Trans-Taiga route and the La Grande-3 airfield (Km 100). Radisson, which is 80 km to the west-northwest, is the closest town.
Geology and Target Types
The Property borders the metasedimentary Opinaca Subprovince to the south and straddles a promising greenstone band (Yasinski Group) inside the Archean volcano-plutonic La Grande Subprovince.
Two volcanic cycles, comprising calc-alkaline intermediate to felsic volcanics and tholeiitic mafic volcanics, as well as clastic deposits, iron formations, and ultramafic intrusions, define the geology. Significant shear zones have also been identified on the Property.
In the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, Kukamas has one of the greatest geochemical footprints for copper-gold, as evidenced by the presence of high levels of copper, silver, arsenic, and antimony in stream and lake bottom sediments, as well as stronger local concentrations of nickel and cobalt.
Four primary target types are under consideration: intrusion-related copper-gold, shear-related copper-gold, gold-rich iron formations, and nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE mineralization linked to ultramafic intrusive systems.
The Company's view regarding the robust exploration potential of the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region for intrusion-related nickel-copper-PGE deposits is further supported by the recent discovery of nickel at Kukamas and by another nickel discovery made by Azimut on the Wapatik Property.
Geophysical Contract, Analytical Protocols
Based in Aurora, Ontario, Geotech Ltd was tasked with conducting the helicopter-borne horizontal magnetic gradiometer and time-domain electromagnetic VTEMTMPlus survey. Geotech also conducted further processing, including Maxwell plate modeling, for several conductors.
Rock samples were dispatched to ALS Laboratories in Val-d’Or, Quebec. The samples underwent analysis for a 48-element suite through ICP. High-grade nickel samples underwent analysis via 4-acid digestion and ICP-AES finish. For gold, platinum, and palladium analysis, fire assay and ICP-AES finish methods were employed. Azimut adheres to industry-standard QA/QC procedures.
Source: https://azimut-exploration.com/