Inomin consolidates polymetallic VMS project near Vancouver

2020.01.18

Inomin Mines (TSX-V:MINE) has made its Fleetwood VMS project near Vancouver, BC more appealing to a potential acquirer by joining with Turnagain Resources and its neighboring Seneca zinc-copper-silver-gold property. 

The agreement to consolidate the Fleetwood-Seneca properties was first announced in January 2019 and renewed on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. 

Under the terms of the deal, any investment in, joint venture or sale of the project would be divided 50-50 between Inomin and Turnagain.   

Fleetwood-Seneca hosts the Seneca zinc-copper-silver-gold deposit, the partially-delineated Fleetwood, 33 and Vent zones, as well as several priority exploration targets within 6 x 2 kilometres. The project, about 90 km east of Vancouver, is within a northwest trending volcanic belt hosting extensive zinc-copper-silver-gold rich VMS mineralization. 

“This is a really good deal for us, because the Seneca property is much larger [than Fleetwood – about 400 vs 1,000 ha], it’s got the Seneca deposit, two other zones that have been partially delineated, plus a number of targets that have never been explored extensively,” Inomin’s president and CEO, John Gomez, told Ahead of the Herd in a phone call Monday. 

Fleetwood

First discovered by Minnova Inc. (the predecessor of Inmet Mining which was acquired by First Quantum Minerals), the Fleetwood zone was the target of a 41-hole drill program in 1991. The program intersected significant VMS mineralization including 31.2 meters of stockwork-type mineralization at a depth of 153 meters, grading 2.1% zinc, 0.3 copper, 0.1% lead, 8.1 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 0.1 g/t gold.

At the 33 zone, 350 meters southwest of Fleetwood, Minnova’s drilling returned 23.3% zinc, 1.8% copper, 1.7% lead, 133 g/t silver and 2.3 g/t gold over 3.2 meters at a depth of 170m. Field work in 2017 including geochemical sampling and a 1.75 km x 1-km electromagnetic (EM) survey, confirmed the presence of a large zinc-copper anomaly. 

Inomin acquired the Fleetwood property from in April 2018, around the same time as the company optioned its King’s Point gold-copper-zinc project in Newfoundland to Maritime Resources Corp. 

Seneca 

The more advanced Seneca deposit hosts 1.5 million tonnes grading 3.57% zinc, 0.63% copper, 0.15% lead, 41.1 g/t silver and 0.8 g/t gold, according to an historical 1984 noncompliant resource estimate (RE). It is described as a massive sulfide body with a chalcopyrite-pyrite-rich base, overlain by a sphalerite-barite galena-rich zone. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Inomin Mines is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource.

The RE was delineated after 33,000 meters of diamond drilling, and a 260-tonne bulk sample that was custom-milled at the past-producing Brittania mine located 35 km north of Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. The Seneca ore graded 1.55% copper, 8.15% zinc, 154.28 g/t silver and 4.11 g/t gold.

The exploration upside at Seneca includes an 800m x 800m area northeast of the deposit, an EM anomaly between the Seneca and Vent zones that has yet to be drill-tested, and a low-intensity magnetic anomaly northwest of Vent and southeast of the Fleetwood zone. 

Inomin Mines and Turnagain Resources are looking for a partner to advance the exploration of the combined properties and/or a purchase of the project.

Gomez noted that, along with a history of prior production at Seneca, there is good infrastructure, ie. a power line is already built, and the properties are easily accessed via paved roads from Vancouver or Fraser Valley communities. 

“The bottom line is I’d like to have a home for it,” he said, noting the company wants to focus on larger projects such as its flagship Beaver-Lynx nickel/ cobalt property.

In November Inomin announced the expansion of the nickel project by 6,040 hectares, through the purchase of eight claims. That puts the Beaver nickel-cobalt property at 7,258 ha, and Lynx at 12,662 ha, for a combined 20,000 ha. 

“The enlarged properties provide us the most significant nickel exploration targets in the region based on available data,” said Gomez in the Nov. 25 press release. “The larger land position also gives the project greater scale to create a more attractive exploration and development opportunity.”

Asked about this year’s exploration plans, Gomez said Inomin is eyeing some ground prospecting in the spring, possibly drilling – adding to a 2,187-meter drill program at Beaver in 2014. That 19-hole diamond drill program intersected very uniform nickel sulfide and cobalt concentrations. Highlights included 157.3 meters, 106.6m, and 86m, all containing 0.18% nickel and 0.01% cobalt.

From the Nov. 4 news release, 

The ultramafic rock hosting the nickel, delineated by magnetic surveys and drilling, covers a large 4 km by 8 km footprint, indicating the property’s potential for large, bulk tonnage, near-surface nickel deposits with cobalt credits.

The Lynx project is less explored than Beaver but it is almost twice as large – suggesting a tantalizing upside. 

Stay tuned for more news from Inomin, brought to you by AOTH.

Inomin Mines
TSX.V:MINE, Cdn$0.045 2020.01.14
Shares Outstanding 16,584,264m
Market cap Cdn$746,292.00
MINE website

Richard (Rick) Mills
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