Geology
The West Raglan property is located in Nunavik, northern Quebec, approximately 95 km south of the Northern Village of Salluit. The West Raglan property is a camp scale property covering an area of 70,700 hectares (707 km2). Its is located in the west-central portion of the paleo-proterozoic Cape Smith Belt (CSB), part of the Circum-Superior magmatic event which rims the Archean Superior Craton ( Figure 1). West Raglan Ni, Cu, PGE, Co mineralization is hosted in the ultramafic units of the Lac Esker Suite (1.89-1.87 Ga) which comprise a series of sub-volcanic ultramafic intrusions grouped in the South Trend (Povungnituk Group) and in the North Trend or “Raglan Trend” (located near the main contact between the Chukotat and the Povungnituk groups). These ultramafic intrusions host all known nickel sulphide mineralization in the Cape Smith Belt, including Glencore’s Raglan mine (North Trend) and the Canadian Royalties Nunavik Nickel mine (South Trend). The West Raglan property covers a 50-km strike of the North Raglan trend and an extensive portion of land which could represent Canadian Royalties types deposits of the South Trend. Information from neighbouring properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on Orford Mining’s properties.
Figure 1: Location of the West Raglan Property in the Cape Smith Belt.
Information from neighbouring properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on Orford Mining’s properties (1) Source: Glencore Resources & Reserves Dec 31, 2019.
Project Work
Significant exploration work was completed by Anglo American Exploration (Canada) Ltd between 2003 and 2010, and then by True North Nickel between 2012 and 2016. This exploration work essentially consists of several airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys as well as ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys, till and soil geochemical surveys, regional and detail mapping and surface rock sampling, plus 45,062 metres drilled in 239 holes. This work improved the geological knowledge and understanding of the area, and led to the identification of multiple “Raglan Type” Ni-Cu-PGE mineralized lenses in several zones of Frontier area, all located along the main Chukotat-Povungnituk contact. The best intersection from the Frontier lens cluster is 3.21% Ni, 1.32% Cu, 0.65 g/t Pt and 2.43 g/t Pd over 28.28 m in hole WR-08-164 (Figure 2)1.
Exploration work to date at West Raglan has identified outcropping sulphide mineralization over more than 35 km of strike length with very limited testing at many zones. Magnetic signatures, lithogeochemistry, and geology at West Raglan’s Frontier Zone are comparable to Glencore’s Raglan Mine. The Southern part of the property has magnetic and till anomalies suggestive of Nunavik Nickel Mine (South Trend) style mineralization (larger tonnage, high Cu and PGM) (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Map of the West Raglan Property showing the Frontier Zone and additional high-grade mineralization along the Raglan Trend.
Note that grab samples are selective by nature and values reported may not be representative of mineralized zones. All drilling intervals are down-hole lengths. True thicknesses cannot be estimated with available information.
On January 19, 2021, Orford Mining Corporation (Orford) announced it has reached a definitive agreement with Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd (Wyloo Metals) for a $25.0 million earn-in and joint venture over Orford’s 100% owned West Raglan property (the “Property”) in Nunavik, Quebec. The negotiated terms allow Wyloo Metals to earn up to 80% of the Project for total expenditures of $25.0 million over 7 years (view news release for details). The definitive agreement includes an approved program for year one of Wyloo Metals’ earn-in with a total budget of approximately $1.7 million. The program includes ground geophysics, geology, and geochemistry. This work program is expected to be implemented during the summer of 2021. Orford will be the project operator during the initial 51% earn-in by Wyloo Metals.
The 2021 work program focused on ground MLTEM geophysical surveying using very sensitive SQUID sensors at Frontier, Red, Beverly and Boomerang along the North Trend and highly prospective portions of the South Trend. The use of these sensors at Glencore’s Raglan mine property in the early 2000s are reported to have increased exploration success by 58% while targeting 2.5 times deeper[1]. This method had not previously been applied on Orford’s West Raglan property. The 2021 MLTEM-SQUID survey returned 435 responses which have been modelled. Of these, 72 have been identified as potential nickel sulphide targets with high conductance responses. Approximately 10 to 12 of the highest priority responses will be tested with diamond drilling during the 2022 exploration season. Orford will be operating the 2022 exploration program.
The $4.9 million 2022 program will be focused on diamond drilling of between 2,500 to 3,000 metres to test these newly defined targets at Frontier, Beverly & Boomerang along with borehole electromagnetics (BHEM). Field crews will focus on mapping and prospecting the vast and underexplored south trend
[1] Osmond et al, 2002, Finding Nickel from the B-Field at Raglan – ‘To B or not dB’, SEG Technical Program
1. Dombrowski, Clement. NI 43-101 Technical Report on the West Raglan Project Northern Quebec., Canada. Feb 2017.
Image Gallery
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Location of the West Raglan Property in the Cape Smith Belt
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Map of the West Raglan Property showing the Frontier Zone and additional grade mineralization along the Raglan Trend
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Helicopters at Camp Chukotat
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West Raglan Core Sample
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