TIDMJAY
RNS Number : 9785M
Bluejay Mining PLC
27 January 2021
Bluejay Mining plc / EPIC: JAY / Market: AIM / Sector:
Mining
27 January 2021
Bluejay Mining plc ('Bluejay' or the 'Company')
Link to view the announcement in full including all figures:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9785M_1-2021-1-26.pdf
Geochemical Results Support the Gold and Base Metal Potential of
the Thunderstone Project, South Greenland
Bluejay Mining plc, the AIM, FSE listed and OTCQB traded
exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and
Finland, is pleased to announce the geochemical results of its
maiden fieldwork programme (the 'Field Programme') targeting
precious and base metals at the Thunderstone Project
('Thunderstone' or the 'Project'), a historically underexplored
area of South Greenland.
The geochemical results from the Field Programme support a
southern extension to the Nanortalik Gold Belt. The Belt which runs
over 175 kilometres ('km') long and over 50 km wide, demonstrates
geological similarities that support a correlation with
well-established gold belts in northern Sweden, where many
producing mines, of similar geological ages to mineralisation in
South Greenland, have been discovered over the last century.
With the geochemical results and field observations identifying
several prospective areas for gold and base metals, the Company can
now reduce the size of its exploration licences, in order to
streamline future early-stage, low-cost, exploration activities in
the areas of interest.
Whilst the Company's focus for the year will centre around
reaching significant milestones at its nearer term value creation
projects, Thunderstone has proven itself to be a significant asset
in Bluejay's portfolio as we look to advance our findings and move
it up the value curve.
Summary
Gold
-- New regional sediment geochemistry for gold and associated
pathfinder-elements, e.g., As, W, Sb (refer to Figure 2), confirms
a southern extension to the Nanortalik Gold Belt
-- Strong gold anomalies, up to 172 ppb gold, identified in both
scree and stream sediments at Stordalen's Havn (refer to Figures 3
to 5)
o Validates Nunaoil's historic heavy mineral concentrate ('HMC')
gold anomalies
o Expands the area anomalous in gold at this locality to
>3.25 square kilometres ('sq km'), remaining open in several
directions
o 41% of the rock samples collected at Stordalen's Havn returned
anomalous gold values (>10 ppb gold).
-- Reconnaissance of remote sensing targets and historic stream
sediment gold anomalies surrounding the Qinnguadalen valley led to
the discovery of a significant package of amphibolite-facies
basaltic metavolcanics, associated with elevated gold in sediments,
that had not previously been mapped (refer to Figure 6)
o The metavolcanic package is similar in size, lithology and
alteration to the klippe that hosts orogenic gold mineralisation at
AEX Gold Inc.'s Nalunaq gold mine (refer to Figures 1 & 2)
produced over 350,000 ounces of gold at a grade of ca. 15 grammes
per tonne ('g/t') gold, with a remaining inferred resource of
251,000 ounces at a grade of 18.5 g/t gold, located only 25 km to
the west
o Due to limited time, several neighbouring remote sensing
targets with similar mafic signatures were not visited in 2020 and
remain untested
-- A cluster of gold-silver anomalies in scree sediments
discovered at Qinngeq Kujalleq covering an area of ca. 1.5 sq km,
upstream of an historical HMC gold anomaly (refer to Figure 8)
o The anomalous zone remains open in several directions
Base Metals
-- A gossan (highly ferruginous rock largely consisting of
oxides, which is usually the product of intense oxidation by
weathering and leaching of sulphide mineralisation) identified in
the Qinnguadalen valley from Bluejay's remote sensing study, led to
the discovery of a new occurrence of semi-massive to massive
sulphides, some of which are graphitic, that yielded up to 0.33 %
copper in rock sampling and is associated with an extensive
multi-element (Cu-Au-Ag-Mo-Zn) anomaly in scree sediments (refer to
Figure 7)
-- A second gossan located 4 km north in the Qinnguadalen
valley, also identified from remote sensing, shares the same
anomalous multi-element (Cu-Au-Ag-Mo-Zn) signature in scree
sediments and yielded the highest sediment copper values (up to 559
ppm copper) identified during the Field Programme
-- Multiple clusters of Cu-Ni-Cr-Co +/- Pt, Pd sediment
anomalies, e.g., on Eggers Ø, underpin the potential for
mineralised mafic-ultramafic intrusions, which are known to occur
elsewhere in the Ketilidian Orogenic Belt
Next steps for the Project
-- Bluejay has now identified key areas of interest for focussed future field programmes
-- As the Company focusses its exploration efforts at
Thunderstone, Bluejay will now begin reducing the size of the
exploration licences (MEL 2020/03 and MEL-S 2020/22) by the end of
2021, in line with the Company's strategy for the Project
o The Company will update the market of these licence
adjustments in due course
-- Bluejay welcomes the Government of Greenland's supportive
measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby expenditure
obligations will once again be set to zero for 2021
o Therefore, all exploration expenditure on Thunderstone during
2020 and 2021 will be transferred as credit into 2022
o The official Year 1 for the licence will not begin until
2022
o With the planned reductions to the licence areas, the accrued
credit secures the Project financially for several years whilst
Bluejay progresses its high-priority base metal projects at
Disko-Nuussuaq and Kangerluarsuk
The 2020 Field Programme focussed on early greenfield
exploration phase activities in the form of in-fill stream sediment
sampling and rock sampling to supplement Bluejay's existing
geochemical database. Bluejay was able to systematically evaluate
pre-existing gold and base metal anomalies as well as remote
sensing targets (refer to previous announcements dated 10 August
2020 and 22 September 2020). A total of 347 samples were collected
during the Field Programme, comprising of 88 rock samples, 238
sediment samples, two water samples and 19 QA/QC samples. The
samples were shipped to ALS Loughrea, Ireland for geochemical
analysis. Results from the laboratory were received on 6 January
2021 and have now been interpreted and integrated into the
Company's geochemical database for the Project.
Commenting on the results of the Field Programme, Bluejay
Greenland Exploration Manager, Joshua Hughes commented :
"We are encouraged by the results of our regional-scale
geochemical sampling at Thunderstone, which have increased our
geological understanding of the Project area considerably. Despite
being in arguably one of the most easily accessible areas of
Greenland, Thunderstone remains a true greenfield region that has
largely evaded exploration until now. The Field Programme, which
was supported by our recently commissioned remote sensing study,
has demonstrated many inconsistencies and erroneously mapped units
in the existing regional geological mapping. One example that
enhances the gold potential of Bluejay's licences was the discovery
of a large package of previously unmapped basaltic metavolcanics,
which are known to host economic gold mineralisation elsewhere in
South Greenland. We still have several similar remote sensing
targets left to ground truth.
"Despite its proximity to a past-producing gold mine,
Thunderstone was overlooked for its gold potential by previous
explorers, largely due to the high metamorphic grade that
characterises much of the licence area. However, based upon
detailed petrology and geochronology of other orogenic gold
deposits in the region, we know that gold was introduced on the
retrograde metamorphic path of those deposits. With that in mind,
we went into the field confident that that the Nanortalik Gold Belt
extends further south than has previously been recognised. We have
now confirmed this based upon these new geochemical data and our
field observations that both support the presence of orogenic gold
mineralisation at Thunderstone. Particularly encouraging are the
strong gold anomalies identified at Stordalen's Havn, where the
highest gold concentrations identified in scree sediments are
comparable to the historic HMC samples [that typically have much
higher anomalism thresholds due to their concentrated nature] taken
in the same valley. We consider this a priority area for follow-up
work.
"The Government's zeroing of the exploration expenditures for
2020 and 2021 in response to the pandemic, has effectively provided
us with two free years in which to review the Project. We now hold
the necessary data required to begin reducing our licences and
geographically focus our continued exploration efforts at
Thunderstone."
Commenting on the results of the Field Programme, Consultant
Geologist, Dr Denis Schlatter EurGeol., who participated in the
Field Programme, said :
"The fieldwork in 2020 successfully tested several exploration
models for gold and base metals. By far the most promising finding
of the regional Field Programme was confirming that the Nanortalik
Gold Belt extends southwards into Bluejay's Thunderstone licences,
supported by the new geochemistry presented in this announcement.
In several recent scientific publications, myself and Josh
(Bluejay's Greenland Exploration Manager) have advocated a
geological correlation between the Skellefte Mining District and
the so-called 'Gold Line' in northern Sweden, with the Nanortalik
Gold Belt of South Greenland, which are all of comparable
geological age and share many compelling similarities.
"As our geological understanding of this highly underexplored
gold belt develops, the confirmation of anomalous gold values in
the Qinnguadalen, Qinngeq Kujalleq and Stordalen's Havn areas
provides Bluejay with completely new and totally untested targets
within the gold belt that justify follow-up campaigns. At
Qinnguadalen, the strong epidote-carbonate and calc-silicate
alteration assemblages we observed in the new basaltic
metavolcanics sequences appear to be analogous to those associated
with Nalunaq gold mine, where I was involved in the early
exploration and have since published geochemical and petrological
studies on the deposit. The broader tectonostratigraphic sequence
of this new occurrence also shares many similarities with that of
Nalunaq. I am also encouraged by the base metal potential, notably
for copper where we have located new massive sulphide occurrences
and new areas of copper anomalism in sediments."
Technical Notes
Samples were submitted to ALS Loughrea in Ireland for
preparation and geochemical analysis. For sediment samples, after
drying and sieving to -180 micron, a 250 gram split of the sieved
fraction was pulverised to -75 micron and a 50 gram fine pulp split
of this material was analysed for gold, platinum and palladium
using fire assay and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry
(ICP-MS) finish (ALS method PGM-MS24(TM)). A second fine pulp split
was prepared for multi-element analysis by ICP-MS after four acid
digestion (ALS methods ME-MS61L(TM) and ME-MS61L-REE(TM)). Both the
precious metal and multi-element analytical methods have ultralow
detection limits appropriate for the sample medium.
For the rock samples, after drying, crushing, and pulverising to
-75 micron, a 50 gram fine pulp split of this material was analysed
for gold, platinum and palladium using fire assay and Inductively
Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish (ALS
method PGM-ICP24(TM)). A second fine pulp split was prepared for
multi-element analysis by ICP-MS after four acid digestion (ALS
method ME-MS61r(TM)).
Bluejay's Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocol
included insertion of certified reference materials and blank
samples, as well as field duplicates at a total insertion rate of
5.8%, which is deemed appropriate for this stage of
exploration.
Qualified Person
The technical information presented in this announcement has
been approved by Dr Denis Schlatter EurGeol., Managing Director of
Helvetica Exploration Services GmbH and a Chartered Geologist with
the European Federation of Geologists since 2011 (title No. 930).
Dr Schlatter has sufficient experience, relevant to the styles of
mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the
activity that he is undertaking, to qualify as a "competent person"
as defined by the AIM rules. Dr Schlatter participated in the 2020
Field Programme at Thunderstone and oversaw the implementation of
Bluejay's QA/QC protocols described above. Dr Schlatter has
reviewed the geochemical results and information presented in this
announcement.
Figure 1: Geological map of the 2,555 sq km Thunderstone Project
in South Greenland showing historic sample coverage (includes
Bluejay's re-assayed historical stream sediment data, HMC samples
collected by Nunaoil A/S and sediment samples collected by the
Kujalleq Municipality) as well as samples collected by Bluejay
during the 2020 Field Programme. Note that Bluejay's re-assayed
stream sediment data covers the area south of 61(O) N but has been
cropped to a 1 km buffer surrounding the Company's licences for the
purposes of this announcement. Proximity of the Thunderstone
Project area to several towns and settlements, as well as two
former mines (gold, graphite) are also indicated.
Figure 2: Geological map of western Thunderstone licence (MEL
2020/03) showing (A) the 2020 Field Programme results for gold
(ppb) in stream and scree sediments; and (B) historical HMC samples
collected by Nunaoil A/S in 1989, and historical sediment samples
collected by the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU; now the
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, GEUS) and the Kujalleq
Municipality. Collectively these data support a southern extension
of the Nanortalik Gold Belt.
Figure 3: 2020 Field Programme and historic results for gold
(ppb) in stream and scree sediments at the Stordalen's Havn target.
The anomalous gold zone has a footprint over 3.25 sq km (that
remains open in several directions). Stordalen's Havn is dominated
by high metamorphic grade (amphibolite to granulite facies)
metasediments, which represents a new and untested target for
orogenic gold in the Nanortalik Gold Belt.
Figure 4: Field photograph of prominent rust zones within
high-metamorphic grade metasediments at Stordalen's Havn. Scree
sediment sampling beneath the rust zone in the lower left of the
photography yielded 172 ppb gold. Vertical extent of the rock face
is approximately 900 metres.
Figure 5: Field photograph of prominent rust zones within
high-metamorphic grade metasediments at Stordalen's Havn, 1.2 km
south of the outcrops in Figure 4. Scree sediment sampling beneath
these rust zones yielded up to 97 ppb gold, associated with highly
anomalous tungsten, copper and arsenic values. Vertical extent of
the rock face in the field of view is approximately 300 metres.
Figure 6: Annotated field photograph of a significant package of
previously unmapped basaltic metavolcanics, up to 1330 metre
elevation, that was discovered in the Tasermiut area and traced
over several kilometres. The metavolcanics share many lithological
and alteration characteristics with the metavolcanic klippe that
hosts Nalunaq gold mine, located 25 km to the West. Bluejay's field
teams identified several alteration assemblages within the scree
material beneath the basaltic amphibolite cliff face including
strong epidote-carbonate alteration and skarn like alteration
comprising diopside -feldspar. Immediately above the thrust contact
between the metavolcanics and underlying granites (marked by the
dashed yellow line) is a rusty zone of silicified and sulphide-rich
metavolcanics, analogous to the that observed in the lowermost
tectonostratigraphic sequence at Nalunaq gold mine. Locally the new
metavolcanic package is associated with elevated gold and
associated pathfinder elements (e.g., W, Sb) in stream and scree
sediments.
Figure 7: Field photograph of one of several gossans discovered
during reconnaissance of remote sensing targets in the Qinnguadalen
valley. Rock samples of semi-massive to massive sulphides (some of
which are graphitic) from the gossanous scree in the photograph
returned up to 0.33 % copper. At this locality, scree sediments
over a 1 km strike (open in all directions) define a multi-element
(Cu-Au-Ag-As-Mo-Zn) anomaly over the gossanous zone.
Figure 8: Field photograph of a cluster of scree sediment
gold-silver anomalies at Qinngeq Kujalleq. Sample sites shown by
red circles. Distance between the two sample locations on the far
side of the glacier is approximately 500 metres. An historical HMC
sample with 498 ppb gold was collected in a glacial stream beneath
the mouth of the hanging glacier in the bottom right hand-side of
the photograph.
For further information please visit
http://www.bluejaymining.com or contact:
+44 (0) 20 7907
Roderick McIllree Bluejay Mining plc 9326
+44 (0) 20 7907
Kevin Sheil Bluejay Mining plc 9326
------------------------------ ----------------
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLP +44 (0) 20 3470
Ewan Leggat (Nominated Adviser) 0470
------------------------------ ----------------
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLP +44 (0) 20 3470
Adam Cowl (Nominated Adviser) 0470
------------------------------ ----------------
Hannam & Partners (Advisory) +44 (0) 20 7907
Andrew Chubb LLP 8500
------------------------------ ----------------
+44 (0) 20 7138
Tim Blythe Blytheweigh 3205
------------------------------ ----------------
+44 (0) 20 7138
Megan Ray Blytheweigh 3205
------------------------------ ----------------
Notes
Bluejay is listed on the London AIM market and Frankfurt Stock
Exchange and its shares also trade on the OTCQB Market in the US.
With projects in Greenland and Finland, its most advanced project
is the Dundas Ilmenite Project in Greenland, which is being
developed towards production in the near term.
The Company's strategy is focused on securing financing ahead of
commencing commercial production at Dundas in order to create a
company capable of self-funding exploration on its current projects
and future acquisitions.
Bluejay holds three additional projects in Greenland - the 2,897
sq km Disko-Nuussuaq ('Disko') Magmatic Massive Sulphide
nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group element-gold project
('Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Au'), which has shown its potential to host
mineralisation similar to the world's largest nickel-copper mining
district at Noril'sk-Talnakh, northern Russia; the 692sq km
Kangerluarsuk zinc-lead- silver project ('Kangerluarsuk'), and the
2,555 sq km Thunderstone project which has the potential to host
large-scale base metal and gold deposits. In Finland, Bluejay has
agreed a joint-venture agreement with Rio Tinto Mining and
Exploration Ltd at its Enonkoski Project.
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