Kenorland Minerals (TSXV: KLD) announced on Tuesday it was approved for a C$300,000 grant from the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund (MMDF) to support exploration activities at the South Thompson project.
The project, whose name is derived from its location, being 200 km south of the town of Thompson, covers more than 3,077 sq. km. of land. The licensed areas form the southern extension of Manitoba’s Thompson nickel belt, one of the world’s leading nickel-producing regions.
The prospective belt rocks are covered by Phanerozoic carbonate cover rocks at the project. According to Kenorland, the regular periodicity and spacing of major nickel sulphide deposits throughout the exposed portions of the belt to the north highlight the potential for discovery.
For over two decades, South Thompson has seen no meaningful project-scale exploration, and historically, only three exploration campaigns have ever been carried out on the property.
The most significant campaign was by Falconbridge, which completed geophysical and drilling exploration between 1991-2002. Amax and Cominco conducted the other major geophysical and drill programs between the 1960s and early 1970s.
A total of 337 drill holes have been historically completed at South Thompson. The combination of large gaps in drilling and lack of modern geophysical techniques over the project area represent significant opportunity for a nickel sulphide discovery.
The historical work already resulted in discovery of the adjacent Minago deposit, held by Flying Nickel (TSXV: FLYN), which has 722 million lb. of measured and indicated nickel resource plus 319 million lb. of inferred nickel.
The new funding from the government of Manitoba will be used to support a large-scale aerial electromagnetic (VTEM) survey to identify potential drill targets beneath the extensive cover rocks at South Thompson. The VTEM survey is currently underway, the company said.
