Midland Exploration Inc. («Midland») is pleased to announce the signing of a new option agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (« JOGMEC ») for its Pallas project currently 100% owned by Midland.
The Pallas project totals 477 claims covering more than 210 square kilometres of mineral rights in the Labrador Trough (« Trough ») some 80 kilometres west of Kuujjuak, Québec. These new claims cover a large folded pluri-kilometric ultramafic-mafic complex known, in this section of the Trough, for its strong exploration potential for platinum group elements.
As per this agreement, JOGMEC has the option to acquire a 50% undivided interest in the Pallas project prior to March 31, 2016 by funding $2,000,000 in exploration expenditures.
Midland will be operator as long as it will hold an interest equal to or higher than 50% in the project. Midland is proud to join forces again with the major Japanese leader JOGMEC, and is looking forward to the start of its first focused exploration program by the end of February 2014.
Late last summer, Midland has completed a short reconnaissance program on the project. In only a week of prospecting, several new platinum plus palladium (« PGE ») bearing outcrops were discovered with values as high as 3.9 g/t PGE plus gold (« PGE + Au »).
The three new PGE + Au occurrences discovered during this first phase exploration are named Ceres, Pilet and Gaspar. On all 3 occurrences, vari-textured gabbro (gabbro with textures and crystals varying in sizes) with sulfides dissemination was observed over several meters (« m ») in thickness within layered gabbro. A similar reef-like unit is intimately associated with the main sulfide zone enriched in PGE + Au at the Great Dyke Deposit in Zimbabwe.
In one stop, 3 grab samples collected within 50 m of each other from the Ceres occurrence contained 2.9, 1.09 and 0.59 g/t PGE + Au respectively. This new mineralized trend, marked by a magnetic lineament, is located 4.4 kilometres east and parallel to the Midland's Enish mineralized trend (1.29 g/t PGE + Au found by La Fosse Platine) which strongly suggests a structural repetition of the Montagnais sills and opens consequently new and very extensive prospective ground. Midland controls already a very large position in this area.
The Pilet occurrence, returning 2.17 g/t PGE + Au, is characterized by pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite dissemination hosted in layered intrusion comprising fine to medium grained gabbros and associated vari-textured gabbro including pegmatoïdal portions. A grab sample taken 600 m along strike south returned 1.93 g/t PGE + Au while another one 75m to the north returned 0.56 g/t PGE + Au.
On the Gaspar occurrence (3.9 g/t PGE + Au), thirty four of sixty six grabs samples collected along the 2.6 kilometres that forms the Gaspar-Pilet mineralized trend, returned values between 0.1 to 3.9 g/t PGE + Au with a 0.328 g/t PGE + Au average.
In addition, some 14 kilometres north in the Itokawa Showing Area (1.73 g/t PGE + Au), several new significant PGE + Au bearing mineralized outcrops were also discovered with one returning 3.5 g/t PGE + Au. While prospecting farther along strike north, 5 grab samples returned 2.46, 1.54, 1.11, 0.99 and 0.77 g/t PGE + Au respectively. This mineralized trend has been traced over more than 250m.
Midland is encouraged by these new results which demonstrates the great potential of the region to host significant PGE + Au mineralization.
Source: http://www.midlandexploration.com/