Erdene Resource Development Corporation press release
Arctic Star reports on developing nickel play on its Credit Lake and New Bigg Properties, Northwest Territories
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TSX Venture: ADD
VANCOUVER, April 9 /CNW/ - Arctic Star Diamond Corp. (the "Company" or "Arctic") (TSX-V: ADD) is pleased to provide an update on its developing nickel play in the Providence Lake area, west of Lac De Gras, Northwest Territories. The Providence Lake Greenstone (PLG) belt was recognized to have nickel potential in mapping completed by both the Geological Survey of Canada ("GSC") and GGL Diamonds Inc. ("GGL"). Arctic has two properties which it is exploring for nickel; the Credit Lake Property and the New Bigg Property. Both properties contain portions of the PLG belt. The PLG belt includes large volumes of mafic and ultramafic rocks, dated as being 2.7 billion years old and includes tholeiitic basalts, komatiites, serpentinized peridotite, and gabbro intrusions. The PLG belt features deep-penetrating faults, sulphur-bearing sediments in the form of black shales and massive sulphides. The various rock units within the belt are strongly deformed and have similarities to lithologic sequences that are known to host world-class nickel deposits such as the Thompson fold belt in Manitoba, the Raglan deposits in Quebec and the Kambalda deposits in Western Australia.
The model for nickel mineralization requires that the ultramafic rock becomes contaminated in crustal sulphur as it is emplaced. The ultramafic yields its already elevated nickel to the influx of sulphur to form nickel sulphides that pool at the base of the ultramafic body. The sulphide orebodies produced tend to be linear and pod like. Generally a number of pods of sulphide are exploited to make an economic mine.
Credit Lake contains 21 kilometers of the PLG belt where GSC mapping and our work in the summer of 2007 has located several ultramafic sills, intrusives and flows. The ultramafics are adjacent to and have intruded a linear belt of sulphide facies banded iron formation and sulphide bearing shales which could have served as a sulphur source. An AeroTEM survey flown in 2002 for diamond exploration highlights the iron formation and some other conductors of interest. Wide spaced orientation soil sampling undertaken in 2007 has revealed two zones of anomalous nickel and copper along the belt (Ni 106ppm Cu 120ppm Max, in a background of Ni 10ppm and Cu 12 ppm). Now that we know this technique is viable, a close space grid of soil samples will be applied to the whole belt this summer. Rock float samples of gossan, sulphide and ultramafics taken in the area returned a maximum of 0.4% nickel and 2.2% Cu (in separate samples).
On the New Bigg Property similar sills and intrusives of ultramafics were located in outcrop. This property contains about 15km of the PGL belt. Orientation soil sampling highlighted one area of anomalous nickel and copper, (Ni 340ppm Cu 540ppm) associated with a linear magnetic feature. Volcanic Massive Sulphide (VMS) style mineralization was also noted in outcrop.
Arctic has commissioned a VTEM airborne time domain survey, over the PLG belt in the Credit Lake and New Bigg Properties and will drill orientation/stratigraphic holes along the belt within the Credit Lake Property during the current drilling program. If warranted, further mapping, sampling and drilling will take place in summer 2008.
The Company's main focus is still diamonds but the prospect of finding nickel mineralization on our properties is considered great enough to divert a $500,000 budget towards this work.
Buddy Doyle is the qualified persons as per the description laid out in the NI43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ARCTIC STAR DIAMOND CORP.
Per:
"Buddy Doyle"
BUDDY DOYLE
Director and VP Exploration
This News Release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results
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