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

Alaska Energy Metals Corp. Dec. 5 reported additional long intercepts of nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group metals mineralization in resource expansion drill holes in the Eureka Zone of the company's Nikolai project in Alaska.

In November, Alaska Energy announced an inaugural resource for the Eureka Zone. According to this calculation, two pits along the 10-mile- (16 kilometers) long Eureka Zone host 319.6 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.22% (1.55 billion lb) nickel, 0.02% (115 million lb) cobalt, 0.05% (372 million lb) copper, and 0.13 grams per metric ton (1.34 million ounces) palladium-platinum-gold.

This calculation was based entirely on historical drilling and is open to depth, the roughly 1,500-meter span between the resource pits and along the strike of the Eureka Zone trend.

During the 2023 season, Alaska Energy drilled eight holes in and around the southeastern pit. In October, the company released assays from four of the holes; highlights include:

• 341.6 meters averaging 0.23% nickel, 0.08% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.107 g/t palladium, 0.051 g/t platinum, and 0.011 g/t gold in hole EZ-23-001.

• 296.6 meters averaging 0.23% nickel, 0.09% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.115 g/t palladium, 0.052 g/t platinum, and 0.013 g/t gold in hole EZ-23-002.

• 324.6 meters averaging 0.23% nickel, 0.08% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.119 g/t palladium, 0.053 g/t platinum, and 0.011 g/t gold in hole EZ-23-003.

• 356.2 meters averaging 0.22% nickel, 0.08% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.122 g/t palladium, 0.057 g/t platinum, and 0.014 g/t gold in hole EZ-23-005.

The latest results are from two holes drilled on the northwest and southeast sides of the southeasternmost pit. These holes cut:

• 317.2 meters averaging 0.23% nickel, 0.08% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.109 g/t palladium, 0.049 g/t platinum, and 0.012 g/t gold in EZ-23-004 (southeast end).

• 192.5 meters averaging 0.21% nickel, 0.05% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.078 g/t palladium, 0.039 g/t platinum, and 0.012 g/t gold in EZ-23-006 (northwest end).

Both holes had elevated chromium and iron values.

Alaska Energy Metals Corp.

Click on image for larger 2023 Eureka Zone drill map.

"These two holes further increase the drilled strike extent of the Eureka Zone to 860 meters," said Alaska Energy Metals President and CEO Gregory Beischer. "Drilling results are consistent with historical drill holes, which intermittently trace out a strike extent of more than 10 kilometers for the mineralized zone. The nickel-copper sulfide mineralization is remarkably homogeneous."

Assays remain pending from two holes drilled between the resource pits.

"With results from the remaining two drill holes anticipated soon, we can begin calculating an updated inferred resource and complete metallurgical studies," Beischer added.

CORRECTION: This article was updated on Dec. 19, 2023 to correctly state that the second reported hole was EZ-23-006 at the northwest end of the southeasternmost pit.

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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