Bluejay Mining (LON: JAY) has kicked off a short follow-up drill program at the Enonkoski nickel project in Finland, which is exploring in partnership with Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO).
The decision comes as the London-based mineral exploration and development company unveiled on Monday results from the first exploration program of 2023 at Enonkoski, which it qualified as “encouraging”.
Chief executive officer Bo Moller Stensgaard said one of the two drill holes had returned “significant” intervals of sulphide-droplets, representing “the highest sulphide content of any hole we have drilled in the Laukunlampi intrusion to date.”
The main objective of the brief follow-up exploration announced on Tuesday is to test the geological model, which indicates that pyroxenitic units continue towards the northwest, the company said.
Rio Tinto has a joint-venture and earn-in agreement with Bluejay that could see the world’s second-largest miner progressively earn up to a 75% interest in the Finnish project.
The past-producing Enonkoski mine churned out 6.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.8% nickel between 1984 and 1994 and it sits within its namesake belt, which also hosts the Enonkoski project.
Bluejay also has projects in Greenland, which has seen increased interest from miners as thawing sea ice attributed to climate change opens up shipping routes and exposes mineral riches. The phenomenon, however, has the country’s population divided, with some worried about the loss of tradition, while others embrace development.