Implats restarts drilling at Sunday Lake following NAP deal

Impala Platinum (Implats) has resumed drilling at the Sunday Lake platinum-palladium (PGM) property in Ontario following the completion of its acquisition of North American Palladium (NAP) last month.

Implats currently holds a 75% interest in the Sunday Lake project. Canada’s Transition Metals (TSXV: XTM) serves as the property generator and holds a 25% free-carried interest through to the completion of a feasibility study.

According to Transition Metals, Implats plans to drill 5,400 metres in four holes to test for high-grade platinum group metal mineralization associated with the ‘Big Red’ anomaly identified from geophysical surveys completed in 2018. Last year, drilling of this anomaly returned “significant” mineralization, including 41.20 metres at 5.51 g/t platinum, palladium and gold.

“The Sunday Lake property is a key project for Transition Metals with results thus far outlining significant continuous and thick intervals of platinum and palladium mineralization across an area which is now 1,500 metres by 900 metres in size,” Transition Metals CEO and president Scott McLean stated in a press release.

The Sunday Lake property is located 30 kilometres north of Thunder Bay and represents one in a series of mafic-ultramafic intrusions interpreted to be Proterozoic in age and related to the emerging Mid-Continental Rift nickel-copper-PGM camp. Recent discoveries in the district include Panoramic Resources’ Thunder Bay North project in Ontario, Lundin Mining’s Eagle mine in Michigan and Rio Tinto’s Tamarack deposit in Minnesota.

To date, a total of 29,343 metres have been completed on the property targeting sulphide mineralization associated with the basal Marginal zone.