(TheNewswire)
Vancouver, BC - TheNewswire - September 28, 2023 - VR Resources Ltd. (TSX.V:VRR ) ( FSE:5VR ) ( OTC:VRRCF ) , the" Company ", or“ VR ”, has received complete results from caustic fusion and mineralogyfor all three drill holes completed into the kimberlite breccia pipecomplex on its Northway property in Northern Ontario.
Figure 1 . Photos ofmicrodiamonds 63m and 220m below the top of the kimberlite pipe inNW23-003.
Microdiamonds were recovered in 2 separate intervals within drill holeNW23-003, the last of the three first-pass drill holes into the 1.2 kmmagnetic anomaly at Northway. The intersection spanned 354 metres ofkimberlite, for 723 kg of sawn NQ (47.6mm diameter) sample material.There were no microdiamonds in 173 kg from NW23-002. Attributes for all four of the microdiamonds recovered in Hole003 are the same as the microdiamond in Hole 001:
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transparent, colourless;
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clear, free of inclusions, and;
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fragment of a larger diamond.
A +106 micron microdiamond was recovered at 335 m, with 3 additional+75 micron diamonds found from 488 – 510 m ( Table 1 ). They are hosted inpyroclastic kimberlitic breccia, KPK rock, characterized by:
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Concentrated chrome-diopside xenocrysts (core photographs in Figure 2 );
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Xenoliths of dunite, pyroxenite, and glimmerite (core photographs in Figure 3 ), and;
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Autoliths of KPK rock (core photographs in Figure 4 ).
Importantly, phlogopite xenocrysts and mineral grains within xenolithsplot within the kimberlite field on the Ti-Al plot ( Figure 5 ), and in thekimberlite-orangeite field on the Al-Fe plot, consistent with hole001. Further, titanium-potassium richterite in magmaclasts indicate an upper mantle source forthe kimberlite.
Holes 002 and 003 were collared at the same site located approximately450 m to the northwest of Hole 001 located near the eastern margin ofthe breccia pipe complex where a microdiamond was recovered in thecrater facies of kimberlite mudstone at the top of the pipe (see NR23-18 ; Sept. 12, 2023). As such:
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Microdiamonds are present across 600 m of the breccia pipe complex(map in Figure 6 ), and;
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Microdiamonds are present over 220 vertical metres, starting at thetop (profile in Figure 7 ).
The boundary conditions for the 1.2 magnetic anomaly at Northway areconsistent amongst an array of different plan maps and 3D inversionblock models. That said, the new drilling shows that Northway may beeither: a complex of separate, adjacent breccia pipes as implied inFigure 6, or; a single, rooted pipe that fans upwards into complexgeometries at the top as implied in the profile in Figure 7. Regardless:
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Hole 001 transected only 30m of the top of the breccia pipe complexbefore the drill hole caved and was abandoned; the KPK rock below themaar-facies with microdiamonds is untested , and;
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A longer intersection of pyroclastic kimberlite breccia was achievedin hole NW23-003 located some 450 m to the northwest, but the breadthof the magnetic center remains untested .
From VR’s CEO, Dr. Michael Gunning, “ It’s really quite something; Northwayhas produced microdiamonds in two of the first three reconnaissance drill holes ever put into thelarge breccia pipe complex,and more, both holes are arguably yet incomplete in terms of theirvertical and lateral transect of the kimberlite.
Scale is important. Fragments ofclear, transparent and inclusion-free diamonds occur across some 600mof the breccia pipe complex, and over 220 metres vertically startingfrom the crater facies at the top.
Composition is equally important.Like in Hole 001, the composition of the pyroclastic kimberlitediatreme breccia (KPK) in Hole 003 falls within thekimberlite– orangeite compositionalrange, with Ti-K richterite grainsindicative of an upper mantle origin for the pipe.
The results from the first threereconnaissance holes underscores the diamond potential at Northway inrelation to the sheer volume of the breccia pipe complex itself, andin relation the number of targets around it, never previously exploredor drilled and potentially representing a new field of Devonian-aged,diamondiferous kimberlite pipes in the northern Superior craton innorthern Ontario, and located along the Ontario Northern railroad.
Table 1 :M i crodiamond results by drill hole atNorthway.
Compositional studies for Hole 003 .
Initial results from two out of 13 samples of pelletal,accretionary diatreme breccia from drill hole NW23-003 were obtainedby petrology and analysis by an electronmicroprobe (EMPA) equipped with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer(EDS) by Renaud Geological Consulting Ltd. (RGC) based in London,Ontario, with extensive experience in kimberlite exploration, geologyand mineralogy.
Preliminary observations include:
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Ti-K richterite , a mantle sourced amphibole, in aglimmerite magmaclast nodule;
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Fine grained diopside , a clinopyroxene, containing 0.15 wt%chrome;
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Deep crustal glimmerite xenoliths composed of massivephlogopite are common;
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Phlogopite xenocrysts and mineral grains in xenolithsplot within kimberlitefields on Ti-Al plots (Figure 5), and inkimberlite-orangeite field on Al-Fe plots;
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Accretionary lapilli are mainlybiotite-phlogopite (now illite), surrounded by illite,dolomite-ankerite, F-apatite, and perovskite , and;
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Pelletal lapilli are hosted in a groundmass of carbonate,Ti-Ba-biotite-phlogopite including glimmerite nodules, F-apatite, Al-spinel, clinopyroxene,Nb-ilmenite, monazite and perovskite .
Technical Information
Summary technical and geological information for theCompany’s various exploration properties is available at theCompany’s website at www.vrr.ca .
VR submits sawn drill core to the Saskatchewan ResearchCouncil through Geoanalytical Laboratories Diamond Services located inSaskatoon Saskatchewan (the “SRC”) in roughly 8 kg aliquot samplesfor sodium hydroxide dissolution and fusion. Residue and microdiamondsare sieved down to 75 microns, weighed, andassessed for colour, clarity and shape. Analytical results are subject to industry-standard and NI 43-101compliant QAQC sample procedures, including the systematic insertionof tracer diamonds into each sample ahead of caustic fusion at thelaboratory by the SRC. The SRC is an independent mineral processingfacility which is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard by theStandards Council of Canada as a testing laboratory for specifictests.
Technical information for this news release has beenprepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements setout in National Instrument 43-101. Justin Daley, P.Geo., VPExploration and a non-independent Qualified Person oversees and/orparticipates in all aspects of the Company’s mineral explorationprojects, and the content of this news release has been reviewed onbehalf of the Company by the CEO, Dr. Michael Gunning, P.Geo., anon-independent Qualified Person.
About the Northway Property andProject
The Northway property is located in northern Ontario.It is approximately 12 km northeast of the Company’s REE criticalmetal discovery at its Hecla-Kilmer project.
Exploration is based out of a camp at the hydroelectricfacility at Otter Rapids located about 50 km to the southeast ofNorthway. Provincial Highway 634 provides road access to Otter Rapidsfrom Smooth Rock Falls, located at the junction of HWY 634 with theTrans-Canada Highway. The property itself is just 15 km west of theOntario Northern railway (ONR) which provides service to thecommunities on James Bay.
The nearest town is Moosonee, located on tidewater at James Bay some125 km to the north. Kapuskasing is about the same distance to thesouthwest, located on the Trans-Canada Highway (Provincial HWY 11).
The Northway property consists of64 contiguous claims in a single, 4 x 7 km block 1,315 ha in size. It was expanded to a district-scale project by staking directly 284new claims in 19 additional properties covering magnetic anomaliesnear Northway and proximal to the ONR line, within an area of 50 x 70km overall.
The properties are owned 100% by VR. There are nounderlying payments or interests on the property and no royaltyinterests because the property was staked by VR directly.
Northway is located on crown land in northern Ontario,with mineral rights administered by the Ontario Ministry of NorthernDevelopment, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (“MNDM”). Thereare no annual payments, but the MNDM requires certain annualexploration expenditures and reporting. The property falls within thetraditional territories of the Moose Cree and Taykwa Tagamou FirstNations.
About VR Resources
VR is an established junior exploration company basedin Vancouver (TSX.V: VRR; Frankfurt: 5VR; OTCQB: VRRCF). VR evaluates,explores and advances opportunities in copper, gold and criticalmetals in Nevada, USA, and Ontario, Canada, and most recently, akimberlite breccia pipe discovery in northern Ontario. VR appliesmodern exploration technologies and leverages in-house experience andexpertise in greenfields exploration to large-footprint mineralsystems in underexplored areas/districts. The foundation of VR is theproven track record of its Board in early-stage exploration, discoveryand M&A. The Company is well-financed for its mineral explorationand corporate obligations. VR owns its properties outright andevaluates new opportunities on an ongoing basis, whether by staking oracquisition.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS :
“Michael H. Gunning”
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Dr. Michael H. Gunning, PhD, PGeo
President & CEO
For general information please use the following:
Website: www.vrr.ca
Email: info@vrr.ca
Phone: 778-731-9292
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words suchas: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate andsimilar expressions or those which, by their nature, refer to futureevents. Forward looking statements in this release include thoserelated to the companies upcoming plans, such as “ The complete results from the first three reconnaissance holesunderscores the diamond potential at Northway in relation to the sheervolume of the breccia pipe complex ”, and “VR evaluates new opportunities on anong oing basis, whether by staking oracquisition.”
This news release may contain statements and/orinformation with respect to mineral properties and/or deposits whichare adjacent to and/or potentially similar to the Company’s mineralproperties, but which the Company has no interest in nor rights toexplore. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on similarproperties are not necessarily indicative of mineral deposits on theCompany’s properties.
Although the Company believes that the use of such statements isreasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will proveto be accurate, and actual results and future events could differmaterially from those anticipated in such statements. The Companycautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Companyare not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results maydiffer materially from those in forward-looking statements. Tradingin the securities of the Company should be considered highlyspeculative. All of the Company’s public disclosure filings may beaccessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review thesematerials.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange norits Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in Policiesof the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacyor accuracy of this release.
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Figure 1 . Photomicrographs ofthe microdiamonds recovered during first pass drilling at Northway,from the very top of the kimberlite pipe at 243m depth in holeNW22-001, and from 335m and 488 - 511m in hole NW23-003. All appearto be fragments of larger diamonds. They are described as clear,colourless and transparent, and free of inclusions. Note themicrodiamond at from 499m at lower left is counted as 1 microdiamond,having broken during processing.
Figure 2 . Drill corephotograph of pyroclastic kimberlitic breccia, KPK rock, in holeNW23-003, with bright green 2-5mm xenocrysts of chrome-bearingdiopside seen in abundance around the larger microdiamond recovered at335m depth (see photograph in Figure 1). Very fine chrome-bearingdiopside grains are also present in petrographic samples from thiszone.
Figure 3 . Drill corephotographs at 335.09 and 487.64 m in hole NW23-003, of pyroclastickimberlitic breccia, KPK rock, with xenoliths of large dunitefragments. Field of view for both photos is the width of NQ core(47.6mm).
Figure 4 . Drill corephotographs at 335.28 and 486.12 m in hole NW23-003 of pyroclastickimberlitic breccia, KPK rock, with autoliths of early KPK phases.Field of view for both photos is the width of NQ core (47.6mm).
Figure 5 . Mineral chemistrydata from electron microprobe analyses. Upper: cross-polarized photomicrograph showingmagma-clast-rich kimberlite breccia with a fragment of aphlogopite-rich glimmerite-richterite nodule (upper area of image). Lower : Aluminum-Titanium data for two samples ofTi-Ba-biotite-phlogopite in Hole 003 showing geochemical trends withinthe kimberlite field for solid solution micas from magmaclasts,xenocrysts and lapilli groundmass. Red data pointsare from sample F462657 believed to represent a pyroxenite nodule,whereas blue points (Sample F462658) are micas from within theglimmerite-richterite nodule hosted within a magma-clast richkimberlite breccia. These compositional trends in the mica mayreflect changing metasomatic fluid chemistry in the uppermantle.
Figure 6 . Occurrences ofmicrodiamonds shown on drill traces and drill collars for the firstthree reconnaissance drill holes completed at Northway, plotted on amagnetic remanence plan map derived from the high resolution dronemagnetic survey completed in March, 2022. Drill trace in blue denotescover; Hole 001 is vertical.
Figure 7 . Yellow stars showoccurrences of microdiamonds in Holes 001 and 003, spanning some 220vertical metres starting from the top of the breccia pipe complex atNorthway, and 600 m across it. The external boundary conditions forthe 1.2 km magnetic anomaly and breccia pipe complex are consistent onvarious magnetic products, shown here in dashed white lines on boththe horizontal derivative plan map from the original drone magneticsurvey flown in 2022 (upper), and on the new, 3D inversion modelderived from magnetic amplitude data (lower).
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