Garibaldi - The final cuts!!!!

Results!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing special, nothing new, but after 4 months of waiting, Garibaldi have manged to publish the results from the final drill holes at Nickel mountain (link).

We get a smattering of regional exploration holes (all hit nothing), some hole exploring the new (i.e. not found by Silver Standard in the 1960s) and some nice promo-BS holes drilling down the guts of the NE and NW zones, which, I'm guessing weren't as good as expected and would have had no impact on the releasing the results.....

I'm only going to focus on the holes that were drilled in the NW and NE zones. A few holes have been drilled regionally, but they hit nothing, so we can forget about them. However, it would have been nice to have known what the holes were targeting (and maybe which geophysical anomaly), but that isn't the way that GGI operate.

You can find my Leafrog model here and I've also incorporated the surface samples form the Crevasse massive sulfide (link).

Northwest Zone - Explored by holes 36, 37 and 46.

Hole 36 
Drilled to explore for the southern continuation of the NW zone, it intersected a 42 cm zone of massive sulfides just 17m south of the DDH_05 drilled by Silver Standard in the 1960s that intersected 9.5m @ 2% Ni.

Looking small

Hole 37
Vertical hole drilled 22m south of hole EL-17-12 (18m @ 1.15% Ni and 1.09% Cu), that hit a couple of low grade zones.

Thick intercepts of nothing

Hole 46
Unsurprisingly with the poor results from holes 36 and 37, the final hole in the area (and the 2018 program) was a nice BS-hole, designed to drill right through the guts of the mineralization to get as long an intercept as possible.

Should have made the hole a bit steeper

The irony is, the hole did hit a wide zone of <1% Ni disseminated mineralization, but no high-grade and actually returned lower grades compared to adjacent holes (EL-17-05, 17-06,  and DDH_05).

Nice one guys!

NE and Crevasse Zone - explored by 5 holes.

I'm grouping these zones together as they all appear to be part of the same system.



We see that the massive sulfides are found at the contact between the E&L intrusion (purple) and the Hazelton sediments (lime green), and by some amazing fluke (GGI would never have deliberately designed them to be to be BS-promo holes) all 5 holes have been accidentally collared right in top of the of the mapped massive sulfides.

Unsurprisingly, all holes hit mineralization at surface, with each hole hitting a narrow (up to 1.5m core length) massive sulfide zone with minor (up to 18m) disseminated mineralization.

Should have drilled a metric-fuck tonne of 50m holes and got lots of intercepts

With nearly 40 holes drilled into an area that measures 250m by 125m, I am keenly waiting for GGI to commence a resource calculation for Nickel Mountain. I'm sure that they have enough information.


Joking aside, basically we see nothing new, the mineralization is restricted to small zones, there are areas where it can be expanded, but they are limited (and not everywhere as shown on the plan map accompanying the press release), but you need to remember:

Mineralization needs E&L Intrusion + Hazelton Sediments

Missing either = no mineralization

Why is this important - if GGI haven't rocks similar to the E&L Intrusion elsewhere on the property, then potential to discover additional mineralization is essentially zero.

Note - for the pedants

Garibaldi - some results, at last....

Garibaldi, are you ill? The PDAC is weeks away, why did you suddenly decide to release the results from Nickel Mountain (link)?

This release only contained the assays from holes 30 and 33, but the text pf the PR told us that that holes 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 essentially hit nothing.

Remember:

• drilling for stratigraphy/geology/ = we hit nothing 
• Testing the shape of the host rock/intrusion = we're not sure what is going on
• collecting (in)valuable information = we're not sure what is going on

You can get the 3D model from here (link).

Here is a plan map showing where the various holes are located.

Most of the holes are in the NW corner, the area where Ni mineralization was first found by Silver Standard in the 1960s.

It would have been nice to for Garibaldi to share with us the rest of the 2018 drill results, but they are still, errm, studying them.

It's only been 3-4 months, but I'm sure people will be happy to wait a few more weeks.....

So, without further ado, let's go through the holes:

Note: I'm going to ignore holes (25, 26, 28, 29, and 32) drilled outside of the areas of known mineralization, as they essentially hit nothing. I was intrigued by Hole 29, that drilled one of the famous VTEM anomalies  that Garibaldi had been squawking about for the last couple of years, but they hit nothing. The other reason is, we're not given any real info (e.g. maps or sections), probably because Silver Standard didn't do any work in those areas in the 1960s, about each hole, just a short descriptive paragraph.


Hole 27
This was designed to test the continuation of the NW Zone. The hole hit nothing, even though it came within ~20m of the massive sulfides hit in hole EL-17-08

We're told that it was an important hole "to help map out the extent and shape of the Intrusive complex". This is company BS-speak to save face, the hole as designed to hit the NW sulfide zone, but provided invaluable geological information hit nothing

Hole 30
This hole did actually get some mineralization. It hit 3 separate zones of Ni-Cu mineralization.
A zone at surface, which amazingly wasn't seen in hole 33 that was drilled literally centimeters (25 to be exact) from hole 30.
Mineralization, Consistent? Not!

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom. The hole hit a nice massive sulfide zone at 73m depth.

Some nice grade smearing....

Garibaldi nicely smeared the grade, we actually have a core 3.2m massive sulfide zone surrounded by a 6.5m low-grade halo. We can also see that the hole was drilled just 12m from the massive sulfide hit in drill-hole EL-18-23. So, not a massive step-out.

Hole 31
This was drilled to explore for the eastern continuation of the Discovery Zone. The hole was drilled just 40m away from holes EL-17-10 and EL-18-16 that both hit 9-10m of massive sulfides grading >7% Ni, but hole 31 hit nothing, not even a skid-mark. This shows how discrete the mineralization is.

Hole 33
The 'good' hole. This as drilled to explore for the northern continuation of the massive sulfide zone lower discovery zone.

50% of the Nickel in just 10% of the mineralized interval

Again we see massive grade smearing, a small massive sulfide zone in wide disseminated zone, and again we see this hole is only 14m from from previous massive sulfide intercepts.

When we look at the various sections we see that Hazelton group occurs as small, irregular pendants and blocks within the large Nickel Mountain Gabbro complex. Through all of this we have the sub-vertical E&L intrusion emplaced.

We can clearly see that the mineralization occurs at the contact between the E&L Intrusion and the Hazelton group, i.e.

E&L Intrusion + Hazelton Group = Nickel Mineralization
E&L Intrusion w/o Hazelton group = No Nickel Mineralization

I still think this is because the Hazelton group is contains Sulfur in the form of pyrite (hole 29 supports this). The E&L intrusion is Nickel rich, but sulfur poor and therefore can't precipitate Ni in the form of Pentlandite (an Iron Nickel Sulfide - formula ~FeNiS).

So we have, highly irregular contact between two small rock units that have formed a few small, high-grade irregular pods. Not exactly a geological situation that lends itself to forming a large deposit.

Garibaldi - Nickel Mountain, the quest to find Voisey's Bay 2

Now that the black flies, mosquitoes and other nasty biting monsters of the Canadian Arctic have defrosted, some disturbed by the drilling that has been going on for the last 7 weeks at Nickel mountain (link),  but apart from that, we haven't heard anything else.

This would represent a subtle change from last year, when they were rushing out press releases, some just a week after drilling commenced (link and link) telling us about the massive, massive sulfide hits. Why no promo PR's now? 

You told us back at the start of June that drilling had commenced with 2 rigs, and by now, assuming they haven't broken down, you should have drilled 3000-3500m* by now.

(*my assumption is based on the drilling rates for drill-hole EL-17-01, where the hole was drilled to a depth of 332m over 8 days (24 Aug 2017 to 1st Sept 217)).

So no news on massive intercepts, I mean, the initial holes were going to focus on defining the Discovery zone and "systematically step out from EL-17-14, testing for nickel-copper-rich magmatic sulphide mineralization to the south where promising conductive targets have been defined by geophysical surveys".

I'm guessing it must have been the timing of the financing......

Garibaldi - Mighty Massive Sulfides - The Return

We got the results from hole EL-17-14 today (link).

Summary:

• Hole EL-17-14 assays are high-grade, but drilled down the guts of the Discovery Zone
• Drilling still restricted to a 50m wide section, so 3D orientation of massive sulfide zones are hard to determine accurately.
• However, the drilling to date indicates that the massive sulfide bodies are quite small, but most ore open in several directions suggesting potential to add, albeit limited, tonnages.

Pro-trick for Garibaldi - if you are going to put a table in your press release, don't include a sub-interval that is lower grade, it just shows that you are smearing a very high grade zone over the thickest interval possible.



It is also obvious that this intercept is not close to true widths as suggested below the table, but it shows that Garibaldi thought that the Discovery Zone was parallel to the upper sulfide zone intersected by holes EL-17-04 and 09 and dipping approximately to the NW.

this is their own interpretation from all of the data

This means that hole EL-17-14 was orientated to drill down the guts of the Discovery zone to try and get as long an intercept as possible, so here is my very simple interpretation, based on the intercepts in holes EL-17-14 and EL-17-09.

10.63m is almost 16.75 meters?

It looks like the Discovery zone is ~10-11m thick, based on the >2% Ni assays and reported massive sulfide mineralization.. This is significantly less than the 16.75m than Garibaldi are suggesting in the notes beneath the assay table.

I've brought the data from hole EL-17-14 into Leapfrog and created a new model (link), I've also done some officially bad mineralized material calculations (TM) to get an idea of the size and potential at Nickel Mountain, to see how GGI can justify a ~CND320m market cap.

Add caption

Here are my assumptions:

• Search distance = 50 m, 
• Specific Gravity - I've used an increasing value based on grade, using densities from Sudbury as a base (Note - SGs at the Eagle deposit average 4.44 t/m3)
• >0.5% Ni = 3 t/m3
• >1% Ni = 3.5 t/m3
• >2% Ni = 4 t/m3
• There is no specific orientation on mineralization - as all drilling to date is restricted to 50m wide plane.

If we compare Nickel Mountain, with the best-est-ist grades in the wurld, to the Eagle Deposit.

Eagle, Dec 2016 Reserves (Lundin Mining)

Eagle was acquired by Lundin Mining in 2013 for US$325M (link) or CND$416 (at current exchange rates), which is only CND$100m more than Garibaldi's current market cap.

Why? There are only 14 holes drilled at Nickel Mountain, no resources, and the massive sulfides appear to be narrow, and inconsistent. Before you hurl abuse at me, just take a step back and ask yourself - what does GGI have to warrant such a high valuation?

I also can't see the upside potential, and I don't like that GGI have been very poor at releasing quality data for the project (you could think there is a reason for this). We still have no plan maps, no geophysical sections, no presentations etc. This isn't something you would expect from professionals running a professional company.

Simply put - Nickel Mountain, Es Mundus Excrementi!

Boring Geology Bit

I've also included some scenes showing my interpretation of the various sulfide zones and their orientations that I can determine from the limited data available. I've split it into 4 separate zones, as I was intrigued by this statement.

Here are the various massive sulfide zones, I've decided to label them, as Garibaldi can't.

Using the data provided, I've created a series of estimated trends for each zone.

To create these trends I lined up the various massive sulfide/high-grade zones in 3D. It was fortunate that Garibaldi don't label these zones on their cross section or in the drill intercept tables.

I apologize to any non-technical readers, the following section is going to be full of geo-wank. I've included some features on the sections through each zone:

1. Colors - the Zn grade shells on the section line
2. Black line = 25m distance contour from each drill-hole
3. Grey line = 50m distance contour

The distance contours show me where drilling has and hasn't occurred and is useful to identify areas that have and have not been drilled.

Discovery Zone

This is the zone that Garibaldi have been getting erections over, discovered by hole 09, but only recognized 5 holes later.

This zone appears to be almost horizontal, intersected by holes EL-17-02, 04, 09 and 14, but only holes 09 and 14 hit significant sulfides and mineralization.

We can see that hole 09 and 14 are just 20m apart, and the entire zone is only 60m wide, and closed off to the NW by hole EL-17-02 and to the SE by hole EL-17-04. However, it is undrilled to the NE and SW. For me it will be interesting to see if holes 10-13 explore this zone.

Upper Discovery Zone

This zone was defined by holes EL-17-04 and 09. It dips, relatively steeply to the west and is quite narrow (2-5m). 

biggus dickus

Drill-hole EL-17-02 has closed off this zone to the northwest. Hole EL-17-14, 100m to the east, and EL-17-01 ~50m to the west didn't hit anything, again suggesting this zone is quite small, but with expansion potential.

Northwest

This zone has been well drilled, it sits above the Historic Zone and appears to be steeply dipping to the SE.

Note: this section is orientated with north to the right.

So this zone is closed off to the south (left) with the drilling intercepting narrow >1% Ni zones. However, it is open to the North (right), with hole EL-17-08 intersecting ~6m of massive sulfide mineralization, so again, there is potential to expand this zone with additional drilling.

Historic

This is where exploration occurred in the 1960s. It has been well drilled by Garibaldi. To date 6 holes have drilled through this zone, but only 2, EL-17-03 and 07, have returned decent grades. It is closed off to the west by holes EL-17-05 and 06 that were unmineralized. To the north by hole EL-17-08 (unmineralized), and to the west by hole EL-17-01 that cut disseminated mineralization.

However, there is minor potential for this zone to continue to the NE, but the drilling by Garibaldi show that it is very small

So, all I can see is that the sulfides are small, have very variable thicknesses and grades over very short distances, but each zone is open in 1 or more directions. It will be interesting to see where holes 10-13 are located (I'm surprised that they were not able to release the assays from these holes as they were all drilled before hole 14 - could there be a reason - i.e. they are shite), if they are in the same Section, then, for me it just means that even Garibaldi knows that they are small and focusing on this small zone as it is the only area with evidence for massive sulfide mineralization. 

Garibaldi Update

Garibaldi have released more drill-hole data from the Nickel Mountain (link).

I've updated the 3D viewer file, and you can get it from here (link).

Summary

• Very closely spaced drilling has intersected 4 separate massive sulfide lenses
• Massive sulfide mineralization appears to be small and inconsistent.

Here is a plan map:

Ni at top; Cu below

We can see that the drilling has focused on just 2 small areas, and explored mineralization for just 25m along strike:

• Central and Northwest Zones - This is where historic drilling identified massive sulfides and Garibaldi have drilled 6 holes (01, 03, 05, 06, 07 and 08) into this area
• Discovery Zone - explored by 4 holes (02, 04, 09 and 14*).

*assay results pending

The drilling appears to have identified 4 separate, narrow massive sulfide zones, but they appear to be small, and discontinuous.

Northwest and Central Zones

Let us look beyond the assays and at the actual intercept locations.

Yellow > 1% Ni, Red >2% Ni

Drilling in this area has identified 2 separate massive sulfide lenses, the lower NW zone and the upper Central zone. However, even though Garibaldi have drilled 6 holes drilled into this area, only 2 holes hit massive sulfide mineralization for each zone.

• NW Zone - intersected by holes EL-17-06 & 08
• Central Zone - intersected by holes EL-17-03 & 07

This seems to suggest that the massive sulfide mineralization is very inconsistent and poddy.

Discovery Zone

Garibaldi have drilled a lot of holes into a small area and again defined 2 separate massive sulfide zones, the lower Discovery Zone, and an narrow upper zone.

Red >2% Ni; Black = Hole 14 MS zone

We can also see that drill-hole EL-17-02, drilled ~30m down-dip from both zones hit no massive sulfide mineralization, which again suggest that the massive sulfides are small and inconsistent.

Red >2% Ni; Black = Hole 14 MS zone

Some nitpicking

We got told this in the Nov 20th PR (link), hole EL-17-14 discovered a 'new' massive sulfide zone - the Discovery Zone.



However, In the latest PR, we are told:



Surely hole 09 was the discovery hole as it was drilled first.


We were also given a updated section (but no plan map), but what I find strange is that Garibaldi completed drilling at Nickel Mountain in mid/late-November.

Left = Nov 27th PR section; Right = December 06 PR section

As we have the DH data, we know that 10 holes are located on this section (EL-17-01 to 09, and 14), so why didn't Garibaldi include the drill-holes traces and massive sulfide zones on the original section map released to the public (at the request of the BCSC) on the 27th of December?

It just seem strange that Garibaldi would not include useful information, including an additional massive sulfide zone on the original section? All they had to do was include a few labels stating "Massive sulfide zone - assay results pending" and that would have been OK.


Also in the Nov 20th PR, we have this paragraph.



Does this mean:

1. Garibaldi have only drilled 10 holes at Nickel Mountain, and were unable to drill holes 10, 11, 12 and 13 due to poor weather conditions?
2. Garibaldi drilled 14 holes, but in the November 20th PR, they were waiting for the results from the final 10 holes? This means that they were sitting on the assay results from 4 holes.

Silly me, Garibaldi included this paragraph in the Nov 20th PR



So, they were sitting on the assay results from 4 holes, so why didn't they release it?

Garibaldi - mighty massive sulfide mineralization

I might as well jump onto the Garibaldi-bashing wagon. I had stood on the edge muttering to myself, how the feck are were they worth >$400M based on feck all?

Their website is shite, devoid of information and looks like it was created by a child, probably the same one who created the 'fact sheet', but at last we got a section through the Nickel Mountain, the first decent 'image' from the project....ever (link)

It is a shame that it wasn't accompanied by a plan map, which would be useful in showing the 14 Garibaldi holes and the location of the 1960s drilling?

When looking at a map/section - start with the basics

1. Scale - look to see if there is a grid or scale bar.
• Quickly see how far apart the holes are located (50-100m)
• How 'big' the massive sulfides are 
2. Legend - this tells you the colors used for grades and rock types
• check out the dark grey = no assay = Nothing of interest (i.e. no sulfides) in the core
3. How consistent is the mineralization - does it link up between adjacent holes?
• No, we get a few scratchy hits, with a small disseminated halo.

You need to ask yourself, can I, armed with a mighty No. 2 pencil (HB in the normal parts of the world), join the zones together?

here is an easy one for Garibaldi to do

I'm not an expert on Nickel deposits, but I've decided to annotate it, to highlight some interesting features and I've made a few observations.



So, how big are our massive sulfides?

They are soooooooo massive, that each one has just been hit 1 hole. Approximate dimensions:

1. Big Boi - reamed by hole EL17-14 = 29m x 12m
2. Old MoFo - penetrated by hole EL-17-03 = 2m x 91m
3. Skinny Man - pricked by hole EL17-04 = 5m x 50m

So we have 3 small, inconsistent massive sulfide bodies, with minor disseminated sulfide halos.

So, after a disappointing press release, how can you save face, well, we needs to ask the FAG.

Hello FAG* here, I was disappointed that Garibaldi were defeated by unseasonable Northern Canadian weather. Who would have thought that they would have had snow this time of year in the Polar Riviera.

(*Fraudulent Angry Geologist)

I was very disappointed with Garibaldi's program, a true professional would have moved holes EL17-01 approx. 20m to the left, that would have hit >100m of disseminated sulfides, but they redeemed themselves with Hole EL17-14. So, if you are a company like Garibaldi, dedicated to not releasing any useful information, my advice is, have some fun, and really do to town on the drilling. Here is my idea:

Proposed holes in GREEN

Those 4 holes are beauts, multiple sulfide hits and nice and easy. OK, you're drilling the same areas 2-3 times, but we are searching for 'geological continuity' not drilling for resources. Chuck in a few words like, structural complexity, offsets and everyone will be happy and you'll get some decent hits to keep the shareholders happy.

If those dipshit geologists keep bleating, remember that with all that cash you raised, you can keep giving yourself a huge salary for the next 3-4 years, which is a happy thought.

Just a note to Dorian Leslie - your maps are great.