Bluejay Mining plc, the AIM, FSE listed and OTCQB traded exploration and resource development company with projects in Greenland and Finland announced the results from the first exploration programme of 2023 at the Enonkoski Nickel-Copper-Cobalt (‘Ni-Cu-Co’) Project (‘Enonkoski’ or the ‘Project’) in eastern Finland as part of the Joint Venture (‘JV’) and earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Finland Oy (‘Rio Tinto’) announced 10 November 2020.
Highlights
- Two drill holes for a total of 951.10 metres (‘m’) were drilled in January at the Laukunlampi target located 1.5 kilometres (‘km’) south-east of the former Laukunkangas Ni-Cu-Co mine (6.7 million tonnes (‘Mt’) at 0.78% Ni and 0.22% Cu were mined from Laukunkangas with the nickel grades of the off-set massive sulphide ores of over 5%, copper of up to 2% and cobalt of up to 0.3% (Geological Survey of Finland, 2020)[1]).
- Drill hole ENON0028 intercepted a significant width of mineralised vari-textured pyroxenitic-noritic units with multiple intervals of nickel-copper sulphide (pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite) droplet zones, and locally thin intervals of net-textured semi-massive sulphide mineralisation. The best mineralised interval in this hole yielded a nickel (‘Ni’) content of 0.41% whilst the remaining intervals within the sulphide droplet zones averaged 0.16% Ni (Table 2).
- A downhole electromagnetic survey (‘DHEM’) was conducted on both new drill holes during February.
- LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) scanning of drill core from ENON0028 has been completed.
- Geological and geophysical modelling is ongoing with the aim to define targets for follow-up drilling of the mineralisation that have been intercepted in several drill holes within the Laukunlampi intrusion.
- Spot measurements of the sulphide droplets in ENON0028 with a handheld pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence) show readings of up to 11% Ni demonstrating the exceptionally high Ni tenor[2] of the sulphides in this hole.
- Recent geological and geophysical modelling within the area of the former Hälvälä Ni-Cu mine and Makkola Ni-Cu deposit have indicated that the latter mineralisation is open at a shallow level along strike in an area untested by previous drilling.
January 2023 Results from the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co Project
The first diamond drilling programme of 2023 at the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co Project (see Bluejay’s RNS dated: 16 January 2023) was completed as planned in January at the Laukunlampi target located approximately 2 km south-east of the historic Laukunkangas Ni-Cu-Co mine (Figure 1; Table 1). The drilling was followed by a DHEM survey in February. All drill core has been analysed for geochemistry at ALS laboratories in Outokumpu (Finland) and Loughrea (Ireland). Key intercepts are presented in Table 2. LIBS scanning has been completed on drill core from hole ENON0028 by LUMO Analytics providing detailed elemental mapping of the drill core.
High tenor nickel and copper sulphide droplets and disseminated sulphides have previously been intercepted in pyroxenitic and noritic units close to the southern and north-eastern contacts of the Laukunlampi mafic-ultramafic intrusion. Both drill holes drilled in January intercepted extensions of the mineralised pyroxenites observed in previous drilling.
Bluejay holds, through its 100% owned Finnish subsidiary FinnAust Mining Finland Oy, three large scale project areas in East Finland – the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co project, the Hammaslahti copper-zinc-gold-silver project, and the Outokumpu copper-cobalt-zinc-nickel-gold-silver project. Bluejay subsidiary FinnAust signed a staged US$20 million JV and earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto for the Enonkoski Ni-Cu-Co project, announced 10 November 2020. The Company has also signed a conditional agreement for a partial divestment in a fourth Finnish project, the Kainuu Schist Belt Black Schist nickel-zinc-copper-cobalt project, for £4 million.
