VR Resources Ltd. provided an update on exploration activities for its Empire project in northwestern Ontario. Upon the recent discovery of a polyphase and PGE-fertile mafic-ultramafic intrusion at the Westwood property, the Empire project and group of properties has been expanded to district-scale, in order to explore additional targets for Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization in previously unrecognized mafic intrusions. The Mack property has just been staked to cover a large, kilometer-scale magnetic high associated with anomalous palladium and copper in lake sediment samples from the Ontario Geological Survey, an association that is similar to the five targets and properties already staked and acquired by the Company in 2024.
At the Westwood property itself, preparations are now underway for a follow-up drill program:A borehole EM survey is now underway on Hole 2. The survey is designed to target both strong and weak conductors within the mineralized mafic intrusion discovered in Phase 1 drilling last December: Strong Conductor: Magmatic sulfides in a ?reef-style? setting, or a semi-massive melt segregation zone,Weak Conductor: late-stage chlorite schist on structure, similar to the Roby ore zone at Lac des Iles Mine.An amendment to our existing permit to include ice drilling has been submitted to the Ministry of Mines and Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, with turn around expected by mid-February, or earlier. In preparation, an ice-thickening program is underway at Westwood, to facilitate simpler logistics on top of and across the southern end of the small lake that covers our priority target within the mafic intrusion based on our drilling to date.
The district-scale Empire property group shown on a regional magnetic map, with the new Mack target shown on the right, covering a large magnetic high with associated geochemical anomalies in palladium, copper and gold in lake sediment samples from the Ontario Geological Survey. Follow-up drilling at the Westwood property is planned for February, based on the discovery of a mineralized, polyphase mafic-ultramafic intrusion during the maiden drill program last month. The new claim group, totaling 100 cells and 2,080 hectares, is 36 kilometers east of Westwood and 15 kilometers north of the town of Upsala on year-round forest service roads.
It sits adjacent to Mack Station on the old Grand Trunk Railway, running from Lake Superior to Fort William, which has been decommissioned to a road bed. The staked area covers some of the highest palladium and copper in lake sediment values in the area, reaching 64 ppm Cu and 16 ppm Pd, and is associated with a 5 kilometer long north-northwest trending regional magnetic high. The magnetic data covering most of the trend is coarse resolution, from a historic Geological Survey of Canada survey in the 1960s flown at half mile flight line spacing.
There is no historic drilling and little to no outcrop exposure in the area, precluding historic exploration efforts. Magnetic plan map (upper) and section (lower) for the downhole EM borehole survey currently underway at the Westwood property, utilizing drill holes 001 and 002 from the maiden drill program completed last month, in December, 2024. View west at the south end of Sisson Lake on the Westwood property, covering a large, mineralized, polyphase mafic-ultramafic intrusion discovered in the maiden drill program in December.
Ice making has been ongoing since late December over the area of our priority target for Cu-Ni-PGE-Au mineralization, with the goal of drilling from the ice next month (February).
