Copper and nickel mineralization at Ferguson Lake was discovered by Inco Ltd. in 1950. Over a 5 year period, an all-season camp was constructed, and geophysical surveying, geological mapping, and diamond drilling programs were completed.
The West Zone, East Zone, and Central Zone were explored along with other targets. A 10-ton bulk sample, extracted from the West Zone in 1953, was transported to Copper Cliff, Ontario, for mill testing.
In 1987, an independent reconnaissance of PGM potential was conducted with geological mapping around and within the Inco mining lease.
A field program in 1998 included updating survey controls at several points along the 1950’s Inco baseline, prospecting, and the collection and analyses of rock samples from the West, East, and other mineralized zones.
The 1999-2004 exploration programs in the West and East Zones traced intermittent bedrock exposures with geophysical surveys and diamond drilling of more than 150 holes (62,000 metres) drilled over 3 km of strike length. Most of these holes intersected intervals of several metres with more than 1% combined Cu-Ni, including significant sections of greater than 2% combined Cu-Ni plus PGM grades averaging more than 2 g/t.
From 2005 to 2008, exploration set to delineate the extend and depth of the West Zone limits with shallow and deep diamond drilling and to further test high-grade PGM mineralization in the low-sulfide content zones within the footwall mafic-ultramafic units. Significant intercepts were exampled by 8.1 g/t Pt and 12.2g/t Pd over 3.3 metres in the low-sulfide zones.
Diamond drilling during this time centered on advancing the existing Inferred Mineral Resource into the “Measured and Indicated” categories of resources throughout the West Zone. A National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Ferguson Lake property in Nunavut, Canada was issued in 2008 and updated in 2011, which is now outdated and no longer valid.
Over the 2009 to 2011 period, explorations included further drilling within the main deposit and to the southwest (3 holes, 1,866 m) intersecting the targeted deep extension of the West Zone extending it a further 250 metres along strike.
In May 2013, Canadian North Resources completed the acquisition of 100% interest in the Ferguson Lake project. During the past nine years,the Company has conducted diamond drilling for resource expansion, carried out regional reconnaissance prospecting, examined surface mineralization zones, and collected and assayed drill core, rock chip and till samples, carried out ground geophysical survey programs and expanded the metallurgical tests, updated mineral resource estimate and completed NI43–101 Technical Reports.
