Base metals explorer Wolfden Minerals has cancelled its exclusivity agreement to buy a 65% interest in the Murray Brook project, the fifth-largest massive sulphide deposit in the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) of New Brunswick, from Votorantim Metals Canada, settling instead for a Manitoba nickel/copper claim.

“After full due diligence, we decided that the share dilution expected for the Murray Brook acquisition was excessive. We are very excited by the nickel property acquisition owing to its high discovery potential and the potential to define a sizeable deposit,” Wolfden CEO George Topping said.

Wolfden did, however, at the end of last month, acquire, by claim staking, the Brunswick No 6 West property comprising 154 mineral claims totaling 3 367 ha, located next to the formerly producing Brunswick No 6 mine.

The property was about 20 km south-west of the City of Bathurst, in the heart of the BMC.

The property was underlain by several kilometres of the favourable Brunswick Horizon, which hosted both the Brunswick No 12 mine, which had historic production of 137-million tonnes at 8.47% zinc, 3.44% lead, 0.37% copper and 102.2 g/t silver, and, immediately next to it, the Brunswick No 6 mine, which had recorded past output of 12.1-million tonnes at 5.43% zinc, 2.16% lead, 0.39% copper and 67 g/t silver.

A recent drill hole on the property had uncovered mineralised Brunswick Horizon rock types, and a follow-up borehole electromagnetic survey defined a strong offhole conductor within 30 m of the drill hole intersections. The strong anomaly delineated by the survey was not tested by drilling. Wolfden planned to drill test this anomaly in the spring and would also complete a property-wide compilation to help define additional drill targets.

MANITOBA TARGET
Wolfden, meanwhile, said it had acquired a 100% interest in the 600 ha quality nickel/copper property in Manitoba by claim staking.

The last work programme was completed on the property between 1956 and 1958. This work provided compelling evidence for the potential to define ‘Kambalda-type’ nickel/copper mineralisation on the property. Historic diamond drilling had found ‘spinifex-textured’ ultramafic flows, containing significant nickel and copper mineralisation.

This style of mineralisation often contained appreciable platinum-group elements (PGEs). Kambalda-type deposits were characterised by high nickel grades and tended to occur in clusters within the base of ultramafic flows in channel-like deposits.

The company was currently compiling the historic data and a detailed property-wide, high-resolution airborne geophysical survey would be completed in the near future to correlate with the known area of mineralisation and in an effort to define additional targets elsewhere on the property (the last airborne geophysical survey flown on the property was in 1956).

Diamond drilling would follow the geophysical survey.

Wolfden currently had $3.3-million of working capital, of which $1.9-million was flow-through funds.

As such, Wolfden said it was well-financed to resume exploration at its Tetagouche property, also located in the BMC, in June, and to undertake a larger programme on the new nickel property later in the year.