Mawson Gold Ltd (TSX:MAW) has the right to earn up to 85% of the project and enter into a joint venture through phased spending and work commitments. Further details on the Skellefteå North Project and Mawson’s Option Agreement can be found in Mawson’s news release dated January 17, 2022.
Orogenic shear-hosted gold mineralisation hosted within an arsenopyrite-bearing, sheeted-quartz-vein system largely confined to within the limits of the steep south-westerly dipping mafic-dyke system.
The Skellefteå North Gold Project is located in the well-renowned Skellefte Belt in northern Sweden, some 40km north-northwest of the city of Skellefteå.
Virgin discovery of high-grade gold mineralisation in outcrop in 2019 at the Dalbacka Prospect, where five grab samples cross-spanning the outcrop averaged 5.1g/t Au (range 0.8 to 10.0g/t Au). Diamond drilling at Dalbacka in June 2022 has returned1.8m @ 28.4 g/t Au, including 0.4m @ 132 g/t Au from 82.8m.
The Skellefteå North Gold Project is located in the well-renowned Skellefte Belt in northern Sweden, some 40km north-northwest of the city of Skellefteå.
The Skellefteå North Gold Project comprises four granted exploration permits owned 100% by Elemental Exploration Scandinavia AB for a total of approx. 2,500ha of contiguous tenure.
The Skellefteå North Project is located within the Bothnia-Skellefteå lithotectonic unit which forms the largest segment of the 2.0-1.8Ga Svecokarelian orogen in Sweden and comprises two main paleotectonic entities; the Bothnian basin and the Skellefteå-Arvidsjaur magmatic province. The Bothnia–Skellefteå lithotectonic unit is dominated by metamorphosed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, typically deposited as turbiditic wacke and argillite in the submarine Bothnian basin during the time span 1.96 (or older)–1.86 Ga, and interleaved with subordinate amphibolite and metavolcanic rocks. These rocks (the Bothnian Supergroup and Härnö group) are intruded by various plutonic suites emplaced at 1.95–1.93, 1.90–1.88,1.87–1.85 and 1.81–1.76 Ga. The siliciclastic metasedimentary rocks host orogenic gold deposits in the northwestern part of the lithotectonic unit where the metasedimentary rocks are characterised by an intense magnetic banding defining an overall N-S to NNE–SSW structural grain related to intercalations of graphite- and pyrrhotite-rich argillitic horizons.
The project is located to the east of the regional, north-south-trending, Vidsel–Röjnoret shear system (VRSS) which defines the lithological boundary between the Skellefte–Arvidsjaur magmatic province to the west and the northern continuation of the siliciclastic metasedimentary rocks belonging to the Bothnian Supergroup to the east (Skyttä, et al, 2020).
The Skellefte Belt comprises poly-deformed, Paleoproterozoic-aged volcano-sedimentary rocks containing several large gold deposits that have produced in excess of 7Moz of gold (most notably from the Boliden, Björkdal and Kankberg gold mines. Swedish mining giant Boliden has dominated production in the district for nearly a century and has established processing facilities at the site of the historical Boliden gold mine (historical production of 4Moz at 15.1g/t Au) located ~22 km to the southwest of the Skellefteå North Project and smelting facilities in Skelleftå. Mandalay Resources Corporation operates the Björkdal gold mine located 8km to the southwest of the Skellefteå North Project, having historically produced over 1.3Moz Au with a further 1Moz Au remaining in M&I Resources. The Skelleftea North Project is also flanked by the Åkerberg open-pit mine located some 2km to the northwest, which historically produced 150Koz Au (at 3.1g/t Au) in the early 2000’s.
In addition, there are 85 known polymetallic sulfide deposits within the Skellefte Mining District, the largest being the currently-operating Renström and Kristineberg mines having produced over 14Mt and 32Mt of polymetallic sulfide ore respectively.
The Skellefteå North Project area contains outcropping gold mineralisation in at least three known prospect areas, namely Dalbacka, Dalbacka West, and at Storberget.
Dalbacka West
The Dalbacka West Prospect was first identified by state geologist Alvar Högbom in 1935 where he reported gold mineralisation in arsenopyrite-bearing quartz veins. Grab sampling of outcrop by Elemental in 2019 returned 5.99g/t Au approximately 1.8km west, and broadly along trend, from the Dalbacka Prospect.
Storberget
The Storberget Prospect is located in the northern part of the Skellefteå North Project and is located at the site of some small, historic copper workings. Grab sampling of similar arsenopyrite-bearing quartz veins by Elemental in 2019 returned 15.1g/t Au.
Dalbacka
The most advanced prospect at the Skellefteå North Project is the Dalbacka Prospect, where in 2019, Elemental discovered an approximately 180m-long outcropping mafic dyke that intrudes a deformed pyrrhotite-bearing graphitic black shale with gold hosted within a structurally controlled quartz-vein system containing arsenopyrite gangue. Veins occur as localised ‘vein-swarms’ within the late sub-vertical mafic dyke which likely intruded into a pre-existing structural feature. Weak deformation fabrics observed within the host dyke suggest the gold mineralisation has a late post–deformational emplacement age and therefore is interpreted as a late-orogenic, epigenetic deposit style.
Five grab samples collected by Elemental in 2019 cross-spanning the ~180m-long mineralised outcrop averaged 5.1g/t Au (range 0.8 to 10g/t Au). Channel sampling in late 2021 confirmed the original grab samples where better results included 3.8m at 4.5 g/t Au (true width approx. 80%) and 1.6m at 5.4 g/t Au (true width).
Regional airborne magnetic imagery and LIDAR data indicate that the mineralised structural feature extends to the east and west under glacial cover for approximately 1.5km. In early 2022, a small ground magnetic survey was completed over the outcropping area at Dalbacka which has revealed several second-order structural features of interest and a possible regional-scale fold hinge all of which require follow-up.
Historic (1991) till geochemical sampling completed by the state identified several gold anomalies in the glacial cover sequence including 33.2ppb, 52.8ppb and 99ppb.
The maiden diamond drilling programme at Dalbacka commenced in May 2022 where approximately 600m were planned to be drilled testing the depth extension of the mineralised outcrop. Drillholes DB2201 & DB2202, collared on the same section approximately 45m apart, were designed to test the down-dip continuity of the eastern portion of the mineralised-dyke. These holes successfully intercepted the mineralised host, returning results of 4.4 m @ 4.8 g/t Au, and 1.8 m @ 28.4 g/t Au (inc. 0.4m @ 132g/t Au) respectively. Visual observation of the mineralised intercepts confirms gold is intimately related to the arsenopyrite-bearing, sheeted-quartz-vein system hosted within the dyke. Visible gold occurs within individual quartz veins and also within the wall-rock, which similarly shows elevated arsenopyrite with quartz. Drill holes DB2203, DB2204 & DB2205 were designed to target the down-dip extensions of the central and eastern portions of the mineralized outcrop. An additional drill hole DB2206 was added during the program ~180 m further north-west of the mineralised outcrop to explore for both down-dip, and along-strike continuation of the gold-bearing dyke system.
Results are pending for the balance of drillholes at Dalbacka (DB22003-BD22006) as at June 16, 2022.
