Northern Shield Announces New Discovery at Fortune and Completion of Geophysics at Root & Cellar, Newfoundland
Northern Shield Resources Inc. (ticker NRN) has announced a new epithermal-type mineralization discovery at the Jasper Brook area of its Fortune Property in Newfoundland. The discovery is characterized by complex quartz veining, silicification, and multiple sulphide mineral phases, marking the first concrete indication of a mineral system in the Jasper Brook area.
The geological features identified in outcrop and sub-crop include Jasperoid hosting grey quartz veins with fine-grained pyrite, lesser chalcopyrite, and bornite, which are cross-cut by crustiform-colloform banded quartz veins carrying fine-grained sulphides. Additional observations include granular to breccia-textured quartz veins with significant coarse disseminated pyrite, some containing abundant bright green mica interpreted as phengite or roscoelite. Other features include banded pyrite-silica along vein walls, with tension gashes infilled by quartz-pyrite-chlorite, locally cut by quartz-adularia(?)-pyrite veins. The area also contains grey, vuggy silica breccia containing pyrite and occasional fluorite grains, quartz-vein breccias, and larger quartz veins hosting minor chalcopyrite, bornite, trace covellite(?), and fine-grained molybdenite.
All mineral identifications are preliminary based on field and hand-specimen examination, with samples submitted for laboratory analysis and results pending. The interpretation suggests a telescoped system combining deep, porphyry-proximal levels and shallower epithermal levels, highlighting the prospectivity of the Burin Peninsula for porphyry copper and epithermal gold.
In addition to the discovery at Fortune, the company completed a 3D-IP geophysical survey at the Creston target on its Root & Cellar Property. The survey, conducted by Abitibi Geophysics of Val-d'Or, Quebec, identified a large copper footprint and a central diatreme breccia pipe complex suggestive of an underlying magmatic-hydrothermal system. Results from the survey are pending.
The Creston target is defined by a 2-km-diameter copper soil and rock-sample anomaly, representing one of the largest copper footprints on the Burin Peninsula. The center of the target is occupied by a diatreme breccia pipe complex measuring approximately 1,600 × 800 metres. Three distinct phases of copper mineralization have been noted within the diatreme breccia, alongside lead and zinc mineralization interpreted to have precipitated from a vapor phase.
Ian Bliss, President and CEO of Northern Shield Resources Inc., commented on the findings. "We are very excited about the rocks now emerging from Jasper Brook. The range of quartz textures and minerals points to a wide span of deposit styles and temperatures of formation — most likely a telescoped system in which deep, porphyry-proximal levels and shallower epithermal levels have been brought close together. At this early stage it is hard to know exactly what we are dealing with, but having an abundance of mineralization is a good problem to have. We will be back in the Jasper Brook area in the coming days to expand the footprint of these discoveries and establish better context. These finds continue to emphasize the prospectivity and untapped potential of the Burin Peninsula for porphyry copper and epithermal gold."
Next steps include continued prospecting follow-up in the Jasper Brook area to expand the mineralized footprint. Further trenching and "surgical" prospecting are scheduled to commence next week at the Conquest and Windfall Zones at Root & Cellar.
Technical information for this release was reviewed and approved by Mike Muggridge, P. Geo., an independent consultant and "Qualified Person" per National Instrument 43-101.