A "Disruptive-Awaruite" Ni prospect in the Eastern Townships

Recent 2023 News items  prove serpentinized rock holds mineable Ni resources.

FPX Nickel is advancing an awaruite deposit at 0.10% Ni with the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) by drilling into serpentinized rock.

FPX Nickel CEO Martin Turene said on Monday in a news release,  
 
“A generative alliance represents a significant endorsement of the technical and economic viability of awaruite nickel deposits, which we believe represent a disruptive new source of low-carbon nickel supply for the electric vehicle battery supply chain...” 

link to the news release here

Fact : Awaruite and nickel-iron alloy are typically formed during the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks.

Recently Quebec Nickel has announced ddh results in serpentinized rock:


The Eastern Townhip ultrabasic intrusive belt has the potential for a near surface 
very large Ni mineable deposit and is located within all infrastructure, labour and port facilities.


Eastern Townships' Bedrock Geology

There is an ultrabasic belt running through the Eastern Townships described as the serpentinite belt. 

In 31H09 it is composed of four main rock types: peridotite, dunite, pyroxenite and gabbro, which alteration has occurred. (The serpentine rocks containing the chrysotile is not present throughtout all four main rock types.)

The fact is Ni sulphide has been evenly disseminated in zones across this belt not including awaruarite

This belt has a total thickness of approx. 4,800 feet.





 Historical Ni Research in the Eastern Township

"It has been known for some years that the host rocks of the asbestos deposits in the Eastern Townships of Quebec contain an appreciable amount of nickel."

"... the nickel content ranges between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent."   E. H. Nichol, 1959

In the 1996 'Nickel Deposits of North America Report' by H.R. Cornwall, pdf p.7 he summarizes :

" ...the assayed serpentines containing microscopically visible native nickel-iron and included unserpentinized crystals of olivine and pyroxene. The fresh olivine and pyroxene did not contain microscopically visible grains of native nickel-iron but never-the-less contained about the same percentage of nickel as the serpentine, 0.2 percent. 

Nickel found that in the serpentinized rock about one-half of the total nickel occurs as visible native nickel-iron; the rest apparently is in the silicate structure of the serpentine."


In 1990, Kennedy describes  "this serpentinite belt as a typical ophiolitic complex composed of gabbroic and dioritic rocks with variable amounts of pyroxenite, peridotite, and dunite. This group is a partially serpentinized ultrabasic intrusives that were emplaced in the crust along faulted zones of weakness."

The formation of deposits in the Eastern Townships by the hydrothermal alteration.

"The presence of a major active fault during the change of constraints mode, was an important factor of the Cassiar and Thetford Mines deposits",  O' Hanley (1988).

"The chrysotile deposits were formed during the deformation and the deterioration of the ultramafic rocks under conditions of low pressure and temperature metamorphism (300 ± 50 °C with hydrostatic pressures lower than 1 kbar)" (O' Hanley, 1991).


Bedrock Geology

Extent and potential of the mineralized zone can be inferred from the geology of nearby mines.

 - Thetford Mine Area Geology

Kennedy, 1990 wrote. "The Thetford Mines group contains four closely connected deposits that lie in a well-defined zone along the hanging-wall of a prominent fault structure marked by intensive talc-carbonate alteration (Kennedy, 1990). The zone has a length of 1.8 km and width of 457 m with the largest deposits of the King-BellJohnson complex extending to depths of 457 m or more. One of the major ore bodies within this region is the King/King-Beaver mine ore-body."

(click on map images to enlarge)


-The Jeffrey Mine Geology.

It has the largest chrysotile ore deposit outside of the former USSR.

Much like the Thetford the ore is found within serpentinized peridotite.

Amabili et al., 2004 wrote,

"The Jeffrey mine ore-body is cylindrical in shape and is bounded on both the hanging wall and footwall sides by major faults or zones of shearing that dip south-southeast at about 65-70 degrees".Structural Geology views: north end and the south end  of claim blocks.





These cross sections of the ultrabasic intrusion illustrates the lithologies, faults and compressed drag folding at depth.

These cross sections direct structural geology view of the claim block area. However,
it can be inferred harzburgite and dunite also lie on the west side of the claim block and serpentine on the east side.

Inferred Mineralogy of the ultrabasic formation from tailings data.

 "According to Dr. Lalancette of Nichromet Extractions Inc. the metallurgical recovery of the nickel is based on the work done by G. W. Riley in the 60’s on the Carey Canadian Mines tailings. One has to remember that according to the literature, apart from the nickel directly in the serpentine chemical formula, it is present in the asbestos tailings mainly in two forms : Heazlewoodite (Ni3S2) and a native nickel-iron alloy Awaruite (Ni3Fe). Even if some nickel has replaced the magnesium in the serpentine formula to form Garnierite (Ni,Mg(SiO3),xH20), its amount is small enough (NiO ± 0,25 %) as probably not to be magnetic."

Reference: Technical Report Resources Estimation of the nickel content in various asbestos mines tailings around Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada, 2007.

Historical tailings data is the only source to geochemical data.

The historical resources in the tailings demonstrate Ni & MgO content.

(click on image to enlarge)


More recently, these mine tailings data confirm as well:

         NI 43-101 Tech. Report, 2007



 Ni 43-101 Tech. Report Jeffery Mine tailings 2017 located 12 kms from the Ni & MgO prospective claim blocks also validate a mineable Ni & MgO resource in this intrusion.




 


Historical mines and deposits in the ultrabasic belt.



bedrock under the claim blocks:
harzburgite, dunite, peridotie and serpentinite.




















The potential for another large Ni deposit like the Dumont Nickel deposit exists as well does the technology to extract Ni sulphide, Ni alloy, and nickel silicate across the intrusion.



1)   Ni & MgO claim blocks  in 31H09 

      see the Claim map 

These claims have the same Ni & MgO potential as the Dumont Nickel project and are available for option.

The historic estimated reserves of the serpentinized rock drilled was approx 100 million tons.

In 1978 J McOuat calculated the estimated reserves.

Contact Watts, Griffths and McOuat  to confirm.

1506 -1 Yonge St.
Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5

Tel: 416-364-6244 

(click on map image to enlarge)
                        
                                  
























 Lili Asbestos Deposit's Zone B & C geology map


                            
Lili Asbestos Deposit 
Zones B & C 

          
                            
low res mag map over serpentinized rock 
 31H09

All data is obtained from Sigeom's deposit database. It  indicates the potential for a large Ni deposit ( and associated credits in MgO).

A"road map" for advancing this project  is outlined in the economically proven feasibility of   the Dumont Nickel mine near Rouyn-Noranda  pdf p.89-99,  (0.26 % Ni and geology) or the  Ronbacken Ni sulphide deposit in Sweden.



Historical Resource Estimates 

The recorded estimated total of the all the zones is approx 100 million tons.

Link o the Sigeom links,  'Comment - Mineralization' paragraph describing the chrysolite deposit resource size with approx 0.22-.29 % Ni + minor Co credits, 
excluding the Ni content in the unserpentinized rock of this intrusion.


These calculations were based upon open pit mining depths of approximately 100 m and with a significantly high cut-off grade. It can be inferred a larger resource exists at a lower cutoff. 

The potential for a large deposit exists for two reasons:

 1)  the thickness of the formation is approx 1500 m. Drill testing below 200 m to confirm grading of 0.29% NiO  and  39% MgO.

 2)  the serpentinization of certain portions of olivine was caused by the hydrothermal alteration and accounts for the evenly disseminated nature of the Ni mineralization. The source of the hydrothermal liquids is most likely the st Joseph fault which exists on the west side of the formation and has also altered the harzburgite and dunite as quoted above,  H.R. Cornwall,

" ...the assayed serpentines containing microscopically visible native nickel-iron and included unserpentinized crystals of olivine and pyroxene. The fresh olivine and pyroxene did not contain microscopically visible grains of native nickel-iron but never-the-less contained about the same percentage of nickel as the serpentine, 0.2 percent. "

There is also the potential to find the accummulation of  Ni at the basal contact, at the bottom of the sequential drag folding of rock layers  or in fault offshoot dykes or sills, as it was discovered at the Dumont Nickel deposit in the last 10 years.

Note:
Asbestos concerns:
and the accumulation of Ni at the basal contact.


Magnesium Potential

There is an inferred 39%MgO content which has the potenial to add significant value to the economic feasibility.
This Ni & MgO deposit is a direct comparison with WHY Resources MgO deposit in B.C. 



Additional claim staking over the intrusion is strongly recommended.


 Note: 

Asbestos concerns:

"Serpentine has less than 2% free fibre content, based on analyses of samples taken from the tailings pile for the 43-101 study conducted in 2017 and the Geocon study. These soils contain chrysotile, a type of asbestos that releases very low concentrations of fibres (Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail IRSST, Study and Research Report).

The asbestos fibres contained in the ore are not considered respirable asbestos fibres (Source:  CNESST)."


Reference: Alliance Magnesium


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