Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The E&L deposit in the Nickel Mountain Gabbro Complex is the second largest known zone of magmatic nickel-copper sulfide mineralization in British Columbia and the first to be discovered within the Eskay Rift. The proposed research will examine a zone of unusually high-grade massive sulfide Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization, largely hosted by metasedimentary rocks adjacent to the E&L Intrusion. The mineralization, known as the Discovery Zone, was discovered in 2016 by Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GRC), but the origin of the mineralization remains poorly understood. The massive sulfide sheet shows systematic changes in the concentrations of Ni, Cu, Co, and precious metals from base to top. This offers a unique and new opportunity to understand the mechanisms responsible for the differentiation of sulfide melts. The objectives of this project are to identify the geological controls of the mineralization within the Discovery Zone and to understand how the compositional diversity within the sheet originated, and how this mineralization relates to the disseminated and massive sulfides hosted by the variable-textured olivine gabbro of the E&L Intrusion. The study will utilize primary field and drill core observations, whole-rock sulfide geochemistry, and mineral textural and compositional data to evaluate the relative roles of primary magmatic versus late magmatic and post-magmatic controls on the composition of the mineralization. These data will be used to produce a genetic model for the Discover Zone mineralization, which will be used to assess and improve GRC's exploration strategy in the search for additional sulfide mineralization within the Nickel Mountain Gabbro Complex.