North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Palladium One Mining Inc. Nov. 17 announced that one grab sample from the initial exploration of its newly acquired Canalask project in the Yukon contained 0.15% nickel, 6.07% copper, 0.01% cobalt, 28.1 grams per metric ton silver, and 1.55 g/t gold.

Lying alongside the Alaska Highway, this 3,400-hectare (8,402 acres) property is roughly 300 (186 miles) kilometers from Whitehorse and near the Alaska border.

Optioned from Victoria Gold Corp. Palladium One Mining saw potential in this project that has seen various attempts at exploration since the 1950s.

An earlier resource estimate on the Main zone detailed a deposit that hosts 400,000 metric tons of historical resource averaging 1.35% nickel, and early metallurgical floatation test work returned concentrate grades as high as 19.7% nickel.

Although exploration work continued on the project up to the early 2000s, Victoria obtained the Canalask project through the 2009 acquisition of then-property holder StrataGold, a precursor of Victoria Gold that set aside the nickel-copper-PGM at Canalask in favor of advancing its Eagle gold mine to production.

"The Canalask project is compelling because it hosts a footwall of nickel-copper deposit of unknown origin, suggesting that a larger deposit is present at depth within the ultramafic dyke," said Palladium One Mining President and CEO Derrick Weyrauch. "It also boasts easy access off a paved highway and benefits from existing infrastructure."

Utilizing a four-kilometer (2.5 miles) long overgrown gravel-based road to the historic workings, Weyrauch and Palladium One Mining Vice President of Exploration Neil Pettigrew grabbed six samples from the project.

The results are as follows:

• 2.14% nickel, 0.03% copper, 0.05% cobalt, and 5 g/t silver in sample 001.

• 0.01% nickel, 0.28% copper, 0.02% cobalt, and 3.1 g/t silver in 002.

• 0.01% nickel, 1.06% copper, 0.07% cobalt, 2.9 g/t silver, and 0.01 g/t gold in 003.

• 0.26% nickel, 0.68% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 3.1 g/t silver, and 0.01 g/t gold in 004.

• 0.15% nickel, 6.07% copper, 0.01% cobalt, 28.1 g/t silver, and 1.55 g/t gold in 005.

• 0.35% nickel, 0.86% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 3.6 g/t silver, and 0.01 g/t gold in 006.

Sample NP22-CAN-001 was collected from outcrop near an adit, which accesses over 500 meters of historic workings. Samples NP22-CAN-003 to 006 were collected from rubble near a trenched gossan showing approximately 100 meters east of the adit.

"These results support the high grades that were historically reported in footwall style sulphide mineralization," said Weyrauch.

Palladium One Mining Inc.

Situated a few miles east of the Yukon-Alaska border, the Canalask property lies alongside the Alaska Highway, roughly 186 miles northwest of Whitehorse.

In addition to the surface sampling, Palladium One completed a drone-based magnetometer survey over the entire Canalask property. Consisting of 392-line-kilometers at 100-meter spacing, this survey helped refine the location and structure within the prospective ultramafic dyke and will prove invaluable in refining the drill targeting.

Given the promising results from this initial program, Palladium is eager to gain the permits required for permitting.

"The exploration permitting process is well underway," Weyrauch added. "The company has initiated local community and regulatory authority engagement as part of a Class III Exploration Permit application. A Class III permit will allow the pursuit of work required to start systematically drill testing the historical electromagnetic targets within the ultramafic dyke, proximal to the historical Footwall deposit."