{australien_flagge} It definitely has something of an expedition, indeed it is even permissible to speak of a veritable “Mars mission”. Last week, the crew of the Australian explorer Conico Limited (ASX: CNJ; FRA: BDD) took off with the vessel “Mars” (Figure 1) from the west coast of Iceland to land as planned on the east coast of Greenland after a 30-hour crossing
Ryberg is the name of the destination, more precisely the 4,500 square kilometer Ryberg copper-nickel PGE project, which the chief of the force, British geologist Thomas Abraham-James, has been exploring for twelve years. Drilling began the day before yesterday (July 19) (Figure 2). It is the first ever drilling on the project. You can imagine the excitement, because the target zone on the first drill target ME1, determined by geophysical measurement methods, is said to be just 150 meters below surface. (Figure 3) Three diamond drill rigs are on site. They are to drill 24 hours a day, if possible, and complete at least 5,000, but perhaps 10,000 meters of drilling.
Figure 1: “Mars mission” of a different kind. The 16-member Conico team in front of the bow of the “Mars” before leaving for Greenland.
Drilling on the Ryberg project began on July 19. The first drilling target is characterized by a series of electromagnetic (EM) anomalies identified during surveys in 2017 and 2020. All three drill rigs are located on the Miki prospect, where the EM anomalies indicate magmatic sulfides at depths between 80 and 200 meters from surface. Previous surface sampling in the vicinity returned grades up to 2.2% copper, 0.8% nickel, 0.1% cobalt, 3.3 g/t palladium and 0.2 g/t gold. The objective is to determine if there is a concentration of similar mineralization at depth.
Figure 2: Under bright blue skies, the first diamond drill rig is commissioned on July 19. It will test magmatic sulfide occurrences on the Miki prospect at Ryberg.
Figure 3: Electromagnetic targets on the Miki prospect. Miki is only a fraction of the total Ryberg area, just 4 percent of which has been explored by airborne methods. This year’s exploration campaign will be the first to cover the entire 4,500 square kilometers by geophysical surveys.
Conico Director Guy Le Page said, “This is the moment we have been waiting for. This drilling program is the first to be carried out on the Ryberg project and the potential is truly huge. We have a first mover advantage that has allowed us to accumulate a land package of more than 4,500 square kilometers that has the geological features that are prerequisites for magmatic sulfide discovery. Exploration in recent years has highlighted the Miki prospect as a priority target, particularly several EM surveys that have independently identified conductive anomalies that are now the subject of drilling.”
Drilling is underway on the Miki prospect, targeting an EM anomaly referred to as ME1 (Figure 3). Nine drill holes are planned at this location. Additional drilling is planned to test the ME2 and ME3 anomalies (Figure 3).
In addition to Miki, the Sortekap gold-nickel project (Figure 4) is on the agenda. There, previous exploration has identified mineralization grading up to 2.7 g/t gold and 0.33% nickel at surface. An induced polarization (IP) survey conducted in 2020 identified large chargeability anomalies on the project (Conico ASX Announcement, December 22, 2020; Figure 4).
Figure 4: IP chargeability anomalies at the Sortekap gold-nickel property.
The drill program will include a minimum of 5,000 metres, with a maximum of 10,000 metres allowed under the contract. The Company also has the option to leave all drilling equipment on site in preparation for the resumption of drilling in 2022.
In addition, aeromagnetic geophysical surveying by helicopter has commenced. The helicopter will fly the entire Ryberg project area on lines spaced 200 meters apart. The total survey distance is more than 24,000 line kilometers and will provide significant new knowledge about the project area.
Conclusion: Conico Ltd. is a true pioneer among exploration companies. The Ryberg project on Greenland’s east coast is literally virgin territory for geologists even after twelve years of fact finding. If ore grades similar to those measured at surface on the Miki prospect or even on the second Sortekap project had been found elsewhere in the world, drilling would certainly have been carried out a long time ago. But no one was interested in East Greenland. Only the historic Mestersvig zinc mine, now also owned by Conico, was operated until the 1960s. There seemed to be easier targets than East Greenland, of all places, which has no infrastructure (hence the ship serves as a camp) and is also climatically challenging.
Climate change is causing the ice to retreat and has made targets on Miki and Sortekap, among others, easily accessible. Ryberg has everything geologically that one could wish for in a world class deposit (see Goldinvest profile). Thomas Abraham-James once compared the geology of Miki to that of Norilsk Nickel. That’s very lofty, but Thomas has good arguments for his hypothesis, which is now being tested by drilling as we speak. Conico remains for us – despite the extremely high risk – one of the most fascinating exploration stories ever. Shortly we will know more.
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