A little-known exploration and development company is betting that a property near a long-defunct Hudbay mine could play a role in Flin Flon’s mining future.
Saskatoon-based Canadian Platinum Corp (CPC) plans to begin a two-hole drill program on its Craig Lake Project in the first half of 2016.
“Taking a fresh look at past geophysical and geochemical results, and the close proximity of the project to a past producer, certainly increases the probability of making a discovery at Craig Lake,” Gary Billingsley, president of CPC, said in a news release. “Additional mineral resources in the Flin Flon area would certainly be welcome, and that adds to the positive attributes of this project.”
The Craig Lake Project consists of mineral dispositions covering 9,250 hectares of land within 1.7 km of Hudbay’s former Westarm mine.
The Westarm mine, located 15 km south of Flin Flon on the Saskatchewan side of the border, operated from 1978 to 1985 and again from 1994 to 1996.
CPC said work to date on the Craig Lake Project has included a helicopter-borne electromagnetic survey, a ground mobile metal ion survey, a downhole geophysical survey and the completion of four test drill holes.
This year’s drill targets were derived from work carried out by CPC in 2011 and 2012, the company said.
Downhole geophysics detected “a significant high-conductance source below the drill holes outlining a steeply-dipping plate measuring in excess of 300 metres by 300 metres along strike and down dip,” CPC said.
The downhole survey was followed up with a surface deep-penetrating time domain electromagnetic (DPEM) survey to confirm and better define the downhole anomaly, the company said.
The DPEM survey resolved the downhole results into two separate targets. A surface metal ion survey in the area of the geophysical targets yielded anomalous values for copper, zinc, silver, gold and nickel.
On its website, CPC describes its focus as “the acquisition and development of a diversified portfolio of resource properties with an emphasis on platinum group elements, but including precious, base and strategic metals.”
