Grant: Alliance Grants

This project will focus on the variably mineralized zones of the Marathon Palladium deposit of the Midcontinent Rift-related Coldwell Complex, specifically the high PGE-low sulfur W Horizon, the low PGE-high sulfur Footwall Zone, and the compositionally intermediate Main Zone. Two BSc students and one PDF will integrate novel core-scanning technology, including high resolution chemical and mineral mapping, with more traditional bulk-rock and mineral chemical data, transmitted- and reflected-light microscopy observations, geologic mapping, and core logging. The aims of this integration are to identify relationships between the style of mineralization (e.g., high PGE-low sulfur vs. low PGE-high sulfur) and regional- and deposit-scale structures, rock textures, mineralogy, as well as mineral textures and chemistry. The ultimate goals of this study are two-fold i) development of accessible, economic, and scalable exploration strategies that can be used to identify and vector towards high-grade PGE mineralization in the Coldwell Complex and ii) further refinement of an internally consistent mineral deposit model for the Marathon Palladium deposit. The vectors developed through this study, along with a refined mineral deposit model, will aid Generation Mining in identifying additional Cu-PGE resources at Marathon and elsewhere in the Coldwell Complex. Since these vectors are scalable and grounded in the fundamental mechanisms that generated the mineralization, they can be applied at various stages of exploration (e.g., early-stage regional-scale exploration vs. late-stage deposit-scale exploration) by Canadian resource companies to identify Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization throughout Canada. Additionally, scanning large volumes of drill core from a well-characterized ultramafic-mafic Ni-Cu-PGE mineralized system with support from experts on the deposit will provide Enersoft the opportunity to test and enhance their artificial intelligence algorithms in an environment in which these technologies are not typically applied. Ultimately, this will enhance the applicability of core scanning and the associated technologies to a new set of mineral deposits and petrologic environments.