Pebble South
Pebble South
(60% Pebble Limited Partnership / 40% Full Metal)
Target
The Pebble South property is situated east, south and west of North America’s largest gold deposit, Northern Dynasty’s massive Pebble Copper Deposit. Full Metal’s land package is comprised of 420 sq. km, in two contiguous blocks.
The Pebble deposits host a measured and indicated resource of 66.9 million ounces of gold and 55 billion pounds of copper. Inferred resources add another 40.4 million ounces of gold and 25.6 billion pounds of copper.
These deposits occur within a 73 square mile (189 square kilometer) northeast trending mineralized system that appears open to the southwest.
Location and Access
The South Pebble property lies 470 km southwest of Anchorage and 44 km west of the town of Iliamna, which has a paved commercial airport, general store and hotel facilities. There are several float-plane carriers in the area that may be used for exploration fly camp support.
Ownership
Pebble Limited Partnership (“PLP”), pursuant to an option agreement, is earning a 60% interest in Full Metal’s Pebble South Property. PLP is a 50:50 partnership between a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anglo American plc and a wholly-owned affiliate of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.
Key Prospects
Northern Dynasty discovered the 4308 zone, which is situated just 3 km north of Full Metal’s property. This sulphide system appears to trend onto Full Metal’s ground.
Full Metal has identified 11 significant geophysical targets. The top two priority targets were dubbed the BOO and TYP prospects.
The BOO Prospect
This target represents two 1.2 km-long geophysical anomalies (high chargeability coupled with moderate to low resisitivity). These anomalies were identified beneath up to 100 meters of glacial cover.
The Boo prospect lies along the southwest extension of a large geophysical anomaly identified by Northern Dynasty. This anomaly encompasses mineralization associated with Northern Dynasty’s #37 Skarn and the #38 and #52 Porphyry deposits. By geologic inference, the BOO prospect area is likely underlain by favorable Cretaceous-aged rocks.
The TYP Prospect
The TYP prospect is situated 13 km north of BOO, and is outlined by a 0.6 km-long geophysical anomaly that is coincident with anomalous gold, copper and molybdenum soil geochemical anomalies on the western margin of the Kaskanak Batholith intrusion.
Exposures of rhyolite and mineralized granodiorite rocks occur within the geochemical soil anomaly, which measures 1.7 km long by 0.7 km wide. Geologic mapping of rubblecrop southwest of the TYP prospect identified similar alteration and rock types that host the Pebble copper-gold deposit, 15 km the east on the eastern margin of the Kaskanak Batholith. That portion of the Pebble deposit is also defined by a 0.6 km-long IP anomaly close to the porphyry.
Geology
The Pebble South claims were staked at the conjunction of two regional trends, the Lake Clark Graben and the multi-phased intrusive corridor holding the Pebble Copper deposit. Portions of the Pebble South claim group in the low-lying areas near Iliamna Lake are covered by recent glacial till or drift. The claims largely cover areas of low to moderate elevation where the mineralized system is likely to be close to the surface and amenable to open pit mining methods. The northwestern claim group covers the western margin of the Kaskanak Batholith, in a similar geologic setting to the main Pebble trend on the east margin of the Batholith.
Full Metal Exploration Summary
A total of 1,471 samples (944 soil, 316 stream and 211 rock) were collected and 50 line-kilometers of 2D-IP (Induced Polarization) and about 32 line-kilometers of ground magnetics were completed on the property.
Tertiary-aged volcanic rocks cover a good portion of the exploration area. These rocks as well as glacial morain and alluvium hide the favorable intrusive rocks that host copper and gold mineralization. As a result, mineralized areas along the Pebble Copper trend are often found in valley lowlands veneered by glacial cover.
Due to the overburden cover, IP geophysics was selected as the best method for identifying mineralized zones in covered areas. During this work, at least eleven significant IP chargeability anomalies were identified. The two most significant included the BOO and TYP prospects.
