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North American Palladium Expands PGM Mineralization at Sunday Lake
Mar 27 2018


TORONTO, March 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North American Palladium Ltd. ("NAP" or the "Company") TSX:PDL OTC PINK:PALDF is pleased to announce results from its winter exploration program on the Sunday Lake Project (the “Project”) located 25 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Project is focused on a recently discovered platinum-group metal (“PGM”) deposit hosted within the Sunday Lake mafic-ultramafic intrusion. The Company entered into an Definitive Option Agreement (the “Option Agreement”) in June 2017 with Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (“Impala”) and Transition Metals Corp (“Transition”) (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, HTX Minerals Corporation). The Option Agreement gives the Company the exclusive right to earn Impala’s 75% interest in the Sunday Lake property, with Transition maintaining a 25% free carried interest through to the completion of a Feasibility Study.

Highlights

Hole SL-17-18B intersected 18.65m of 4.05 g/t combined Pt + Pd + Au (“3E”) including 4.9m of 6.1 g/t 3E and 0.64% Cu that appears to represent a fault-related southwesterly extension to the previously intersected PGM mineralization in the eastern part of the SLI.
Hole SL-18-21 intersected 35.8m of 3.9 g/t 3E including 6.5m of 8.3 g/t 3E with 1.08% Cu and 0.36% Ni, establishing local-scale continuity in the vicinity of the previously reported thickest and highest-grade mineralization on the property.
Hole SL-18-22 intersected 33.2m of 2.8 g/t 3E including 5.9m of 6.8 g/t 3E and 0.67% Cu with 1.0 m of 17.5 g/t 3E and 1.48% Cu, representing the first discovery of PGM mineralization in the central part of the Sunday Lake intrusion.
Holes SL-18-21 and SL-18-22 collectively intersected the highest individual sample 3E, Cu and Ni values obtained to date from the Project.

“We are very encouraged by the new drilling results at Sunday Lake, which provide clear targets for follow-up programs, including newly defined structural targets, untested geophysical anomalies, and additional drilling on newly discovered PGM mineralization in the centre of the SLI. This project is the most advanced exploration-stage opportunity within our attractive regional property portfolio,” said Jim Gallagher, President and CEO of North American Palladium.

“The discovery of PGM mineralization in the central part of the property, with extensions to the eastern area of mineralization, are very positive developments that open up a much larger area for exploration. We have a better understanding of the controls on PGM mineralization, which suggest that the thicker and higher-grade areas were developed along two major structural trends and are detectable using geophysical data. These new insights are generating additional targets for future drilling programs,” said Dr. Dave Peck, Vice-President, Exploration at North American Palladium.

Program Objectives and Target Selection

Following completion of a three-month review of technical information last fall, the Company initiated its first drilling program with three principal objectives:

Determine the lateral extent and continuity of the eastern area of PGM mineralization;

Test the northeastern part of the intrusion for near-surface PGM mineralization; and

Test other geophysical and structural targets on the property.

Geophysical surveys provided critical guidance in the selection of drill targets in the current program, particularly because the Sunday Lake Intrusion (“SLI” or the “intrusion”) is covered by Quetico Subprovince metasedimentary host rocks. The current program included numerous borehole electromagnetic surveys, a new surface magnetic and electromagnetic survey over the northeastern extension target, and the first audio magnetotelluric (“AMT”) survey on the property, over the central part of the intrusion ( Figure 1). Results from these surveys were integrated with previous gravity and magnetic survey data to help guide the selection of the new drill holes. The AMT results were particularly informative and prompted the drilling of hole SL-18-22 in the untested central part of the intrusion.

Diamond Drilling

A total of ten holes and approximately 8,500 metres of drilling were completed during the current program. At this time, assay results for the final two holes testing the northeast extension target are still pending. Drill hole collar locations are shown in Figure 1. Results from the first eight holes completed during the current program are discussed below with reference to the primary objectives of the current program. The analyses reported in this news release were performed by ALS Global in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company’s rigorous internal quality control and quality assurance protocols are described in detail in the current Technical Report for its Lac des Iles mine ( June 2017 – available on SEDAR).

AMT Anomaly: A New Discovery

Drill hole SL-18-22 was drilled in the untested, central part of the SLI and targeted the aforementioned AMT anomaly ( Figure 3). This hole intersected 33.2m of 2.8 g/t 3E including 5.9m of 6.8 g/t 3E and 0.67% Cu. A one metre interval from the bottom of this intersection returned 17.5 g/t 3E and 1.48% Cu. The new intersection is located 300m west of the eastern area of mineralization and is associated with a discrete, coincident magnetic-gravity-resistivity anomaly that remains open in all directions.

Positive Results from the Eastern Part of the SLI

Drill hole SL-18-21 intersected 35.8m of 3.9 g/t 3E including 23.3m of 5.4 g/t 3E and 6.5m of 8.3 g/t 3E with 1.08% Cu ( Figure 2). This result indicates good grade-thickness continuity over the ~30 metres of horizontal distance between this intersection and the previous best intersection in hole SL-15-13, which returned 42.9m of 3.4 g/t 3E.

Two drill holes, SL-17-18B and SL-18-19 were completed to test for a possible southwestern extension to the PGM mineralization in the eastern part of the SLI. Hole SL-17-18B intersected 35.4m of 2.8 g/t 3E including 18.6m of 4.01 g/t 3E (see table) and 4.9m of 5.32 g/t 3E with 0.63% Cu ( Figure 3). Hole SL-18-19 intersected 11.9 metres of 1.37 g/t 3E including 5.0m of 2.29 g/t 3E. Collectively, these results have extended the eastern area of mineralization by 50-100m to the southwest and toward the centre of the intrusion. Combined with new geophysical survey results, they also highlight an untested strike length of approximately 500m between these two holes. The latter target area follows one of several interpreted northwest-trending structures that appear to be associated with thicker and higher grade PGM mineralization on the property.

Summary

The PGM mineralization in the SLI is interpreted to represent structurally-controlled accumulations of magmatic sulfides having high PGM concentrations. The current program has significantly expanded the search area for future drilling campaigns with the delineation of a southwesterly extension to the previously defined limits of the eastern area of mineralization and the discovery of a new area of mineralization in the centre of the intrusion. Recent results provide clear targets for follow up programs, including newly defined structural targets, untested geophysical anomalies, and additional drilling on newly discovered PGM mineralization in the centre of the SLI and in the northern and eastern parts of the intrusion.

Pd, Pt, Au, Cu and Ni assay results for the October 2017 to March 2018 Sunday Lake exploration drilling program. True widths are estimated as being between 80% and 95% of the reported interval lengths.

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