Idefix

Additionally, in 2013, significant PGE mineralization was discovered 900 meters immediately south of the Idefix Ridge. This area called “La Colline” includes a PGE-enriched zone defined by 34 continuous sawn channel samples which average 1.4 g/t Pt+Pd+Au, 0.28% Cu and 0.1% Ni over 31.35 metres. Samples at La Colline display interstitial and net-textured sulphides. The geochemical signature of the mineralization at La Colline is commonly associated with nickel-copper massive sulphides and one of the key indicators for a Noril’sk-type deposit at Idefix.

After reviewing all accumulated information at the Idefix Property, new interpretation based in part on the presence of sulphide globules along the Idefix Ridge and net-textured sulphides at La Colline suggest, with a high degree of confidence, that the reef-type mineralization was the result of the redistribution of nickel-copper-PGE sulphides in the magma from a massive sulphide source somewhere nearby in the sill. It also implies that PGE-rich nickel-copper massive sulphides (Noril’sk-type) should now be the primary target model.

Globules are blebs of sulphide that have been transported away from a pool of massive sulphide over relatively short distances by an injecting pulse of magma during sill emplacement while the sulphides and host rock were still molten. The globules are delicate and rapidly deteriorate with distance from the source, meaning that the larger and more cohesive globules will be the closest to the massive sulphide source.

Because the Idefix Property was explored mostly for a reef-type PGE deposit, i.e., a low sulphide system, an EM geophysical survey was not considered originally. With the new interpretation suggesting the proximity of a massive sulphide body, a VTEMÔ survey was conducted during the summer of 2016.

The geophysical survey highlights a long continuous conductor along the base of the Idefix Ridge, which results from the high conductivity of the graphitic sedimentary units underlying the Idefix mafic-ultramafic sill. However, there is another very interesting anomaly located between La Colline and the southeast end of the Idefix ridge that could very well underline a massive sulphide body. Unfortunately, drilling in 2013 would have missed this conductor and so it remains unexplained to date. Concentrations of sulphide globules in large blocks of rocks that have fallen from the very steep south facing end of the ridge were observed but the possibility of more falling blocks was considered too high a risk to continue prospecting along that face. Northern Shield hopes to conduct a short drill program at Idefix to test this conductor in the near future.