Corazon’s lessons learned could make 2021 a watershed year

Special Report: From Canada to New South Wales, Corazon Mining has made significant strides in 2020 and poised itself for a huge year of exploration in 2021.

The explorer has learned lessons on both sides of the globe, particularly in Canada, where it has garnered a new level of understanding over its now wholly owned Lynn Lake nickel sulphide project.

It was November when Corazon Mining (ASX:CZN) revealed initial success identifying massive sulphide targets while using the innovative MobileMT geophysical surveying technique over Lynn Lake – a project of immense potential and historical significance in the Manitoba province.

That survey is believed to have overcome the challenges faced by previous electromagnetic surveys in the region, which had been impacted by surficial conductive lake deposits and barren sulphidic sediments which masked the geophysical signature of potential conductors.

Once it worked out the targets were there, Corazon moved quickly to secure the target tenure.

It was a breakthrough which has set the scene for a big exploration effort next year, in parallel with drilling at the Fraser Lake Complex where disseminated sulphides have already been intersected but no massive sulphides encountered – yet.

“Right beside where we’re currently drilling there’s the exciting conductors which have been generated by this new surveying method,” Corazon managing director Brett Smith told Stockhead.

“We’re keen to test these, and there’s a lot of anomalies to test – we’ve got four or five priority one individual targets.

“It will be a busy start to 2021.”

The progress made recently at Lynn Lake is the latest in a 10-year involvement by Corazon in the district, which the company first entered in 2010. Corazon was able to acquire the entire nickel mining centre and the region this year.

If there’s a chart which best summarises the fortuitous timing of Corazon’s involvement in Lynn Lake against the price of nickel, it’s this one:

Trading Economics’ nickel price chart showing CZN’s ownership progress over a 10-year period. Pic: supplied.

As the nickel market hots up, CZN is sitting on some significant targets in a well-regarded nickel district. It plans to drill them early in the new year, pending Canadian COVID restrictions.

Factor in that Lynn Lake already has an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 16.3 million tonnes at 0.72% nickel, 0.33% copper and 0.033% cobalt to a 0.5% nickel cutoff for total contained metal of 116,800 tonnes of nickel, 54,300t of copper and 5300t of cobalt, and there’s plenty to be excited about.

“We are an exploration play, but there are already big resources there which could be a development opportunity in their own right,” Smith said.

“We’ll continue to assess those.”

A vote of confidence in its progress, the company also added WA mining stalwart Terry Streeter – a man who built his name on successful nickel discoveries with Jubilee Mines and Western Areas – as chairman last year.

Corazon’s Canadian play is clearly a space to watch into the new year.

MobileMT surveying shows outlines of interpreted ultramafic intrusive bodies, as well as previous drill holes, at Lynn Lake. Pic: Supplied.

A multi-pronged explorer

It wasn’t just in Canada where Corazon made gains in realising the potential beneath its feet, there were also significant strides made at the Mt Gilmore copper-gold project in NSW.

A mineralised porphyry discovered at Mt Gilmore in October which had never previously been drilled quickly became a priority target.

“We’ve generated these large, surface geochemical anomalies with lots of high-grade rock chips, but really didn’t understand the source of this mineralisation,” Smith said.“To identify the porphyry in the middle of one of our main geochemical anomalies was a big step. These anomalies are big – the core of our anomaly area is 8km long. That’s sizeable.

“To generate a mineralised porphyry which supports the intrusive related copper-gold story for Mt Gilmore, that’s a huge win for us.”

With a NSW government co-funded grant under its belt, Corazon has planned for two holes into the copper anomaly area and has an aim to get a drill rig there in the first half of the new year.

This article was developed in collaboration with Corazon Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.