Vopnafjordur covers an area of 598.5 km2 and was last subject to exploration in 1997. Exploration to date has been limited to low-density stream sediment and rock chip sampling and this was extended in 2016 by a mapping and grab sampling exercise over the key areas of interest identified in the earlier surveys. All work was essentially non-destructive in nature and will not involve machine-assisted removal of rock or vegetation. Field work and subsequent analysis will be carried out in compliance with NI 43-101 with the aim of identifying areas for future exploration.
This 598,5 km2 area is located to the NE of Iceland at Vopnafjördur accessible by highway. The range to the east of the area has a peak of 1251m. The topography of the area varies between low level and flat to steep, occasionally mountainous slopes. The area can be reached by road and gravel path. Areas that cannot be reached by road will be traversed by foot.
The licence area can be reached by road and gravel path. Areas that cannot be reached by road will be traversed by foot, with geologists working in teams of between two and four people. The mapping team will be based at a campsite at Vopnafjordur.
Exploration in Vopnafjordur was carried out by Malmis between 1991 and 1993 in the form of BLEG surveys and vein sampling The BLEG surveys returned somewhat inconsistent results, with the 1992 survey returning more promising results than the 1991 and 1993 surveys. Despite this samples taken mostly within a possible Caldera filling of a tertiary central volcano at Hellisheiði, showed abundant sulphides. Vein sampling carried out at the same time showed significantly more promise, with a number of veins showing significant Au enrichment. Follow up of the central volcano at the vein mineralisation found at Haugsá, produced samples with a high of 447ppb Au and 90% of samples returning Au values above 10ppb. The mineralised veins in the area therefore clearly show widespread Au enrichment which warrants further investigation.
Follow-up work was carried out by Melmi in 1997, who carried out stream sediment and helicopter-assisted rock chip sampling in the Flateyjardalur, Bleiksmyrardalur, and Vopnafjordur areas. The rock chip sampling programme focused on areas of strong alteration, known quartz-carbonate-pyrite veining, and in selected structural settings. As with the earlier BLEG surveys, stream sediment samples returned largely low values; however, rock chip sampling identified anomalous antimony, selenium, and tellurium values in a rhyolitic centre in the north of the area.
The historic data has been insufficient exploration to define a current resource and the Company cautions that there is a risk further exploration will not result in the delineation of a current mineral resource.
Geological Mapping
NAMA has carried out an exploration program, that began with a historical data review and initial targeting of volcanic/intrusive centres and structures of interest. This was followed-up by traverse mapping of targets and their surrounding areas.
Grab Sampling
In addition to mapping, grab samples of mineralized rock, vein material and altered material it was sampled by hand and assayed by multi-element ICP-MS and fire assay to ascertain key major, trace and precious metal contents. In addition, representative grab samples of country rock were also assayed by the same process to provide background levels for gold and any identified pathfinder elements.
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