Page 66 - pd294-June21-mag-web_Neat

ReGIonAL RoUnD-UP

Swedish switch has

Alicanto buzzing

e had been looking for a high-grade, Falun into the area we now control,” George
Wlarge historical copper producer with explained. “Our chief geologist said it looked
exploration upside; well, I suppose every like Garpenberg [operated by Boliden] so
company is looking for that, but I think we’ve we started tracking the limestone unit and
found it.” returned high-grade samples at surface. As
It may seem a bold statement, but early we did more work and expanded the IP sur- Along with Sala 100km south-west, Greater
indications suggest Alicanto Minerals Ltd vey we began to recognise it as a copper- Falun is one of the largest historical
managing director Peter George may be gold skarn.” producers in the prolific Bergslagen region
able to back up his claims with genuine evi- Four drill holes into the Swamp Thing of Sweden
dence in coming months. prospect intersected a mineralised zone with
Alicanto has begun life on its Greater copper-gold skarn in the contact between followed up. Further drilling at the parallel
Falun copper-gold project in Sweden with the limestone and an intruding feldspar por- Prince lode 300m south-west of Sala pro-
immediate success. In April, the company phyry. duced hits including 15.9m @ 157 g/t silver,
released first assays from drilling on the “We believe it is a polymetallic skarn held and 4.2% zinc and 37.2m @ 50 g/t silver and
project and while narrow (less than 1m), tight because of the limestone unit [acting as 6.1% zinc.
the high-grade nature (up to 2.76% copper, a chemical trap],” George said. “Boliden drilled it, but it remains open and
2.36 g/t gold and 37 g/t silver) of the results While narrow, the intersections confirmed depth and down-plunge,” George said. “It is
suggest the target could be very different to that Alicanto was onto something substan- looking very similar to Greater Falun. The
what had first been assumed. tial. previous thought was it was two parallel
The project is in the Bergslagen region of “It is only 2-3 holes but we hit high-grade lodes now we believe that the Prince lode
Sweden, host to several world-class mines, massive sulphides,” George said. “Even undercuts Sala.”
including the Falun mine itself where mining though it is narrow we are still excited be- The breakthrough at Greater Falun has
dates back more than 1,000 years. In mod- cause it means we are close, we just need provided Alicanto with further justification
ern times, Falun produced 28mt @ 4% cop- to vector into the thicker zones.” for its move on the project. The company
per, 4 g/t gold, 5% zinc, 2% lead and 35 g/t The recognition of a new style of minerali- had previously been fixed on gold explora-
silver up until 1992. sation for the district has opened up a wealth tion in Guyana but the switch to base metals
Alicanto had assumed Greater Falun to of prospects for Alicanto. in Scandinavia could prove timely as com-
be a VMS system in the mould of Falun but “Where we initially focused was close modity prices move upwards and political
George told Paydirt early drilling and subse- to Falun but opportunities are popping up attitudes to extractives change.
quent litho-geochemistry suggested miner- which are amazing. The benefit we have “It’s ironic that Europe spent 40 years try-
alisation was related to a skarn system. now is that we understand the geology and ing to shut all mining down but now is asking
“We went back over the data and did some we have cracked the code,” George said. where they are going to get ethically mined
field work and saw the trend went away from “Massive sulphides in these environments minerals from,” George said. “There is quite
can be squeezed like toothpaste, creating a a push from countries like Sweden where
thickening of the massive sulphides.” there has been an underinvestment from
George said careful assessment of drill in- government and local investors in explora-
tersections was required to orientate around tion and mining.”
the structural complexity of the prospects at Alicanto has restructured its shareholder
Swamp Thing, Wolf Mountain and Heden. base to reflect the change in focus. The
To aid the hunt, Alicanto plans to follow- company raised $6 million in the December
up with down-hole EM and ground magnetic quarter through investors more in tune with
surveys to map the skarn intrusion. its new approach.
“That will provide more granularity on “We have gone from a shareholder base
where the intrusion is,” George said. interested in gold in Guyana and promoted
As well as defining new targets at Greater on copper-gold and silver particularly,”
Falun, Alicanto has begun drilling on the his- George said. “There is an understanding of
torical Sala silver project 100km south-west. what we are trying to achieve.”
Sala – which was mined from the 15th With a market cap of $40 million, Alicanto
century until 1908 – will receive some of remains definably “junior” but George be-
the 20,000m drilling programme Alicanto lieves early success could prove a spring-
launched last month. board to a wider set of investors.
“Now we are rolling into Sala, where we “European investors don’t understand
are probably looking at a polymetallic skarn sub-$100 million market cap companies
as well,” George said. like the ASX and TSX investors do,” he said.
Alicanto believes rather than being a VMS Historical diamond holes drilled by Bo- “Once we hit $100 million, the Scandinavian
system, its Greater Falun project could host liden hit 0.67m @ 844 g/t silver and 16.3% and European investors will jump in.”
skarn deposits
lead outside the existing pit, without being – Dominic Piper

Page 66 JUNe 2021 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT