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Projects Overview
Sudbury Properties
Xstrata Nickel JV
Impala Parkin JV
Lonmin Plc JV
North Range Project
Rogers Creek Property
Duluth Metals
Project Photos   |
The 3D model for the Frost Lake property was updated in 2009 to take into account the new PGE mineralization discovered in 2008 and new structural mapping data collected in 2009. This work demonstrated that exploration for the discovery of new occurrences of low sulphide PGE mineralization should be concentrated in the mafic to intermediate gneissic rocks exposed to the north of the Amy Lake trenches and that structural trends to the north-east and south-west likely were conduits for mineralizing fluids. Drilling is proposed to test this target in 2010. In 2006, the 4X Joint Venture between Wallbridge and Xstrata Nickel, which previously covered three properties (Frost Lake, Wisner, and Parkin) was restructured into four separate agreements, (Wisner, Frost Lake, Parkin, Broken Hammer) in order to allow Wallbridge to pursue a wider range of development options for the Broken Hammer and Parkin resources and to allow Xstrata Nickel flexibility in funding the exploration of the other properties. Under the terms of the new agreements Wallbridge acquired Xstrata Nickel's 36% interest in the Broken Hammer resource on the Wisner Property, as well as the Parkin Offset Property to become sole owner, subject to Xstrata Nickel's royalty interest, on both properties. In return, Xstrata Nickel will increase its interest to 50% in the Frost Lake Property, as well as the remainder of the Wisner Property, excluding the six claims surrounding the Broken Hammer Zone, subject to Xstrata Nickel retroactively funding its 50% of the exploration expenditures incurred on these properties since January 1, 2005. Exploration on both of these properties will continue in Joint Venture with Xstrata Nickel with Wallbridge as Operator. Should Xstrata Nickel elect not to fund the expenditures on either of the Frost Lake or Wisner properties, its interest will be diluted in proportion to the unfunded expenditures. Broken Hammer Resource Property (98.5% Wallbridge, 1.5% Xstrata Nickel royalty interest) As a result of the restructuring on the Xstrata Nickel 4X Joint Venture, Wallbridge Mining acquired Xstrata Nickel's minority interest in the six claims surrounding the Broken Hammer resource. The Broken Hammer resource is a surface zone of vein-and vein stockwork-hosted copper-PGE mineralization located about 1.6 kilometres into the SIC footwall behind the Wisner embayment on the North Range of the SIC. An initial mineral resource estimate was completed by David Rennie, P.Geo.of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. ("RPA") for the Broken Hammer Zone on the Wisner Property in November 2005. The total Inferred Mineral Resource, as estimated by RPA to NI-43-101 standard, is 251,000 tonnes at a grade of 3.80g TPM/t (1.56 g/t Pd, 1.62 g/t Pt, and 0.61 g/t Au), 1.00% copper, and 0.10% nickel. Metallurgical test work carried out at SGS Minerals Services on a 175 kilogram composite of Broken Hammer mineralization showed excellent recoveries of copper (Cu), platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and gold (Au). The work program also confirmed the presence of very coarse grained platinum minerals and demonstrated the amenability of Broken Hammer mineralization to a simple gravity/flotation circuit. Total metal recoveries were predicted at 91.8% of the copper, 89.4% of the platinum, 77.8% of the palladium, and 83.7% of the gold. A very saleable gravity concentrate was produced, with a grade of over 3700 g/t PGE (Pt+Pd+Au), containing 67% of the total platinum. A further 22% of the platinum was recovered in the flotation concentrate, which also contained 21.6% copper and 1.35% nickel. This would be an ideal feed for one of the South African platinum smelters currently treating high chromite UG2 ores, as it is reasonably rich in sulphide and platinum group minerals ("PGM"), but low in chromite. The excellent base metal and platinum group metal recoveries led Wallbridge to commence a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") or Scoping Study on the Broken Hammer deposit in November 2006. The PEA will be prepared under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Wardrop Engineering was retained to lead the study and prepare the mining component whereas DRA Americas and AMEC were retained to prepare the milling and waste management components, respectively, and SGS Mineral Services was retained to conduct confirmatory test work following up on the recently completed gravity and flotation tests. The Scoping Study will include design of the open pit mine, on-site milling facilities, waste rock and tailings management and completion of environmental baseline studies within several proposed potential tailings management sites. Capital and operating cost estimates will be prepared and included in a cash flow analysis and economic evaluation. A sensitivity analysis will be conducted using conservative metal prices as the base case. Frost Lake Property (50% Wallbridge, 50% Xstrata Nickel) The Frost Lake Property is located in the footwall of the East Range of the SIC immediately south of the Wallbridge-Lonmin SCJV Skynner Lake property and north and east of the CVRD Inco-Lonmin Plc's Capre Lake joint venture property. PGE-copper mineralization intersected by drilling and trenching on the Frost Lake property at Amy Lake occurs in the same belt of Sudbury Breccia, which hosts the CVRD Inco-Lonmin Plc high grade Cu-Ni- PGE discovery announced in early 2007. This new discovery is just 600 metres south of the Wallbridge property boundary. The property is underlain by Archean-aged mafic and felsic gneisses, which are cut by several generations of diabase dykes and extensive belts of prospective Sudbury Breccia. These breccia belts extend a total distance of at least 14 kilometres along the East Range from Xstrata Nickel's Nickel Rim South property near the Sudbury Airport to the Whistle Embayment at the site of the mined-out Whistle Mine and FNX's Podolsky Project. The breccias host high grade Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization at CVRD Inco's Victor Deep deposit, Xstrata Nickel's Nickel Rim South Mine and FNX's Podolsky deposit. The scale of breccia development and mineralization is similar to that in footwall rocks behind the prolific Levack Embayment where FNX is mining the PM Zone and is exploring a major mineralized system, which hosts their Levack Footwall and Rob's Footwall discoveries. Low-sulphide, high platinum group element mineralization hosted in Sudbury Breccia continued to be the focus on the Frost Lake property in 2008. Previous exploration defined a roughly 100 m wide by 600 m long zone of low-sulphide copper-PGE mineralization known as the Amy Lake PGE Zone.Historical channel and diamond drill core samples from the zone have returned grades of up to 30 g/t platinum+palladium+gold. In 2008, deep drilling tested the Amy Lake PGE Zone with a 1,412 m drill hole, which demonstrated that favourable host rocks for platinum group element mineralization occurred to depth on the property, up to the western claim boundary with Vale Inco. A single, narrow intercept near surface returned 2.57 g/t Au, 3.17 g/t Pt, 5.05 g/t Pd, 11.95 g/t Ag, 6,380 ppm Cu and 1,690 ppm Ni over 0.09 m within a 5 m wide mineralized envelope containing highly anomalous platinum group element contents. The 2008 mapping and channel sampling programs represented the beginning of a new direction for exploration on the Amy Lake PGE Zone. New channel sampling following a re-evaluation of controls on mineralization tested low-sulphide mineralization hosted primarily in veins and zones of "partial melt" and gneissic-textured mafic rocks, both not previously recognized as having copper-PGE potential. Mapping and prospecting during the summer of 2008 showed this style of mineral occurrence was widespread within the Amy Lake Zone and may be a more important host to mineralization than Sudbury Breccia, the target of previous exploration. On-going studies are determining structural controls on mineralization and will help to focus future drilling programs. North of Amy Lake, massive to semi-massive Ni-sulphide mineralization was intersected in borehole WC-024 following up a VTEM anomaly detected during a regional airborne geophysical survey conducted in late 2005 and early 2006. The host ultramafic rock has been interpreted by surface mapping and its geophysical signature to have a strike-length of at least 1,000 metres. The discovery intersection graded 0.48% Ni and 0.27% Cu over 16.00 metres including three higher grade intersections of 1.62% Ni and 0.29% Cu over 1.10 metres, 0.06% Ni and 2.00% Cu over 0.40 metres and 1.47% Ni and 0.63% Cu over 2.36 metres. Parkin Property (98.5% Wallbridge, 1.5% Xstrata Nickel royalty interest)
The Parkin property covers a 2.5 kilometre strikelength of the Whistle-Parkin Offset Dyke and is located about 3 kilometres north of the Whistle Embayment situated along the North Range of the SIC.The Whistle Embayment and Whistle-Parkin Offset Dyke are highly prospective as they are known to host mineralization at:
An estimate of the mineral resources on the Parkin Offset property to NI 43-101 standards was prepared in 2002 for Wallbridge by Alar Soever, P.Geo., of Watts, Griffis and McOuat, Consulting Geologists and Engineers, and reported Indicated Resources of 264,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.70% Cu, 0.65% Ni, 0.62 g Pt/t, 0.80 g Pd/t and 0.23 g Au/t and Inferred Resources of 87,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.65% Cu, 0.42% Ni, 1.17 g Pt/t, 1.07 g Pd/t and 0.55 g Au/t. Wisner Property (64% Wallbridge, 36% Xstrata Nickel)
Extensive zones of Sudbury Breccia,which are enriched in chlorine and pathfinder elements, have been mapped along two principal trends (150o and 50o) that cross the Wisner property similar to mineralized breccia trends elsewhere on the North Range. Prospecting of these breccia trends in late 2005 led to the discovery of high grade base metal and PGE mineralization at the South and Southwest Zone locations as reported in early 2006 (see accompanying table). Diamond drilling was not able to follow the high grade mineralization to depth, although extensive zones of low grade copper-PGE mineralization were intersected beneath the Southwest Zone. The Wisner property, which was carved out of the Falconbridge 4 Times Joint Venture in the re-organization of the joint venture in 2006, was explored with deep drilling and cross-hole (RIM) geophysical surveys in 2008. Drilling was focused on the western portion of the property in the vicinity of widespread copper, nickel and PGE mineralization found in various rocks of the Southwest Zone. Drilling in 2008 tested a Titan IP anomaly at moderate depth as well as establishing a deep platform hole for borehole geophysical surveys. Drilling in this portion of the property intersected prospective rocks and demonstrated that greater potential for discovery lies within the area of the Southwest Zone to the northeast.les will serve as platform holes for deep penetrating geophysical surveys. Xstrata Nickel Kildream Joint Venture (65% Wallbridge, 35% Xstrata Nickel) The Graham property is the focus of the Kildream Joint Venture.The property ties onto Wallbridge's SCJV Creighton South property and covers about seven kilometres of prospective footwall rocks southwest of CVRD Inco's Creighton Mine. Exploration on the Graham property discovered potentially significant Cu-PGE mineralization within a previously unrecognized mafic sill of uncertain origin. Exploration samples from the sill returned values up to 1.3% Cu and 0.548 g/t platinum+palladium+gold in an area with previously unreported values. The discovery of rocks related to a new type of mineral deposit on the Graham property will focus exploration in 2009 on a portion of the property with a number of untested geophysical anomalies, which will guide prospecting, sampling and drilling of favourable targets. |
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