Telkkälä Nickel Belt

The 35km long Telkkälä Nickel Belt in SE Finland, hosts a number of nickel deposits and prospects located within, and on margins, of Mid-Proterozoic mafic norite and differentiated gabbroic bodies of various sizes which intrude a sequence of migmatized, highly metamorphosed, supracrustal sediments and minor volcanics  intercalated with numerous linear bodies of sulfide-bearing, graphitic, siliceous rocks (“black schists”). The Belt is coincident with a >40km long gravity high and follows the northern contact of a large body of late Proterozoic Rapakivi Granite intrusion, which is known to be spatially associated with a variety of mineral deposits to the east (e.g. Pitkäranta). The only metal mining production from the area was from the Telkkälä Mine (1969–70 & 1988-92) which produced a total of 0.61 Mt of ore grading 1.29% Ni & 0.33% Cu from surface to the 210m. Magnus Minerals holds claim applications over 5 nickel deposits, which have been superficially sampled and explored in the past. Sampolanmäki is the most advanced, with the GTK having carried out ground geophysical surveys and drilling of 21 holes totalling 2,315m in the late 1990’s following discovery of high-grade nickel boulders by a local resident. Some encouraging intersections with nickel >1% and Cu > 0.5% were obtained. According to the GTK, a mineralized zone with a thickness of 10 to 20m to depth of 80m and open downward was defined along a strike length of 80m. GTK interpreted this to represent the tip of a deeper zone of mineralization, which broadens at depth. Preliminary 3D modeling of the drill assay data by Magnus confirms this observation and indicates a steeply plunging body broadening downward. Potential exists for the expansion of the mineable resource at Sampolanmaki as well as the delineation and discovery of additional economic quantities of nickel-copper mineralization at the other Magnus deposits, Haikkaanlahti, Ahokkala, Pakkala, and Kirveslahti.