A junior miner has unveiled an aggressive new strategy to potentially develop a pair of promising mineral deposits near Flin Flon.
Callinex Mines has identified its Flin Flon and Pine Bay projects as the focus of future exploration based on what the company calls their potential to host the region’s next key deposit.
“The Flin Flon and Pine Bay projects are significantly underexplored at depth and have highly prospective targets defined by modern geophysics,” said Mike Muzylowski, chair of Callinex.
Max Porterfield, president and CEO of the company, said the move to target the deposits, potentially rich in zinc and copper, comes at an opportune time.
The zinc market “faces a medium-term supply deficit,” Porterfield said, while “copper continues to have positive long-term fundamentals.”
Similar strata
Located two kilometres southeast of its namesake community, the Flin Flon Project covers nearly 25 square kilometres with geological strata similar to the main mine horizon that hosts Hudbay’s 777 mine, according to Callinex.
The Flin Flon Project hosts several “highly prospective target zones,” Callinex said, including a high-priority target that overlaps claims owned by both itself and Hudbay.
That target is an electromagnetic conductor with an off-set magnetic anomaly. Callinex said the presence of both electromagnetic and magnetic anomalies increases confidence for potential massive sulphide mineralization.
While the target is interpreted to be of significant thickness based on surveying, this has not been proven by drilling, as additional work is needed, the company reported.
Deposits
The Pine Bay Project, meanwhile, is 16 kilometres east of Flin Flon and covers about 45 square kilometres. Within this vast area are four known historic deposits in the form of long-defunct VMS mines.
The Pine Bay Project consists of a newly consolidated land package that hosts “a large alteration zone” related to three of the four historic resource estimates, Callinex said.
In the 1990s, the property was primarily
explored by Placer Dome, a now-defunct mining company that conceptualized potential for a large VMS deposit at depth, said Callinex.
Callinex said subsequent geophysical surveys identified new targets, supporting the theory that Pine Bay and two other deposits may be part of a single massive sulphide deposit that has been displaced by faulting.
However, the premise that the alteration zone and deposits are part of a more extensive system must still be verified by additional drilling, the company said.
Muzylowski, a geologist who has helped discover 13 mines in the Flin Flon region, said Pine Bay is “underexplored at depth where larger deposits are increasingly being found.”
Proximity
In touting the promise of the Flin Flon and Pine Bay projects, Callinex cited their proximity to Hudbay’s Flin Flon processing facility and its projected need for additional ore in the coming years.
At this early stage, however, no agreement is in place between the two companies.
Porterfield also spoke of the “favourable permitting environment” in Manitoba even though the provincial government has come under fire in recent years for excessive delays in permitting mineral projects.
It should be noted that while the Vancouver-based Callinex is optimistic about the two projects, this confidence is based on what the company itself admits is incomplete information.
Moreover, neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of information supplied by Callinex vis-à-vis the two projects.
– With files from a Callinex Mines news release
