Explore the Potential of Finland: PGE, Gold and Diamonds

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1 Explore the Potential of Finland: PGE, Gold and Diamonds Pekka A. Nurmi, Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, FIN Espoo, Finland For further information see: The Fennoscandian Shield which is located in northern Europe is well-known for its prospectivity and very long mining tradition. Finland occupies 330,000 sq-kms in the central part of the shield. The country is about 1100 km long and up to 400 km wide. The northern and eastern parts of Finland are composed of Archean greenstone belts and granite gneisses and the southern part of early Proterozoic arc and granite terranes. Mining in Finland dates back to the 16 th century and includes Proterozoic ophiolite-hosted Cu-Co-Ni deposits (Outokumpu district), Ni-Cu deposits in mafic intrusions, and Zn-Cu-Pb deposits in felsic volcanics. Consequently the traditional focus has been on base metals and very litle exploration has been aimed at other commodities in the past. However, recent exploration activities have proven a large potential for commodities such as platinum group elements, gold and diamonds. I am going to concentrate on these two topics and say a few words on the diamond potential. Time does not allow to go into the base metal or industrial mineral prospects even though there are a number of interesting targets here as well. PGE and layered mafic intrusions in northern Finland Finland is one of the few areas in the world where you have a good potential of finding PGE deposits. In fact some of the largest PGE reserves are associated with the voluminous layered mafic intrusions in northern Finland (see: ) We have eight extensive layered mafic intrusion complexes which all contain PGE deposits or show potential for PGE. Most of the intrusions are 2.45 Ga old sharing the same age with layered mafic intrusions worldwide. In the southwestern part of northern Finland we have the Penikat and Portimo intrusions which contain the most interesting PGE deposits discovered so far. The Koillismaa intrusions in the east contain extensive low grade PGE - base metal mineralizations. Keivitsa in the north is a smaller complex but is associated with a large base metal - PGE mineralization. Akanvaara, Savukoski and Koitelainen show also PGE potential. The Finnish deposits have typically palladium/platinum ratios of about three which make them economically very interesting considering the current PGE price pattern. In addition to the known intrusions new discoveries of layered mafic intrusions have recently being made by the Geological Survey of Finland, and it is quite evident that the potential is high for future discoveries in this poorly exposed terrain.

2 Penikat and Portimo Penikat and Portimo intrusions contain very interesting, extensive and in part high grade PGE deposits which were first studied in the 1980s by Outokumpu company. The deposits are currently under intensive evaluation by Arctic Platinum which is a partnership between Outokumpu of Finland and Gold Fields of South Africa. The Partnership project was initiated just last year. To date 3 million ounce reserves are reported for Portimo but no detailed information is yet available from Penikat which is known to contain high grade reef-type mineralization. Evidently deposits within Penikat and Portimo intrusions will be mined in the near future and Arctic Platinum has plans to be one of the major PGE producers in the coming years. According to present information Portimo contains in the Konttijärvi and Ahmavaara marginal series about 50 Mt reserve grading 1.86 g/t Pd+Pt+Au. In addition to Arctic Platinum, a Vancouver listed company South Atlantic Resources is holding large tenements in the area. There are various types of PGE mineralisation in the Portimo complex. The main deposit is reef type and occurs in the marginal series of two megacyclic units. This type comprises the low grade, large tonnage Ahmavaara and Konttijärvi deposits. In addition to the main type, we have PGE also in massive sulfide deposits, some high grade offset bodies in the footwall gneisses, reefs in the upper unit and some PGE showing in the capping granophyre. Not much information has been released from the PGE deposits in the Penikat intrusion but it appears that they will be economically viable. The intrusion consists of five megacyclic units. It is 23 km long and the thickness is 2.5 km. Three interesting reef-type mineralisations have been identified along the whole length of the intrusion. The Sompujärvi Reef comprises two types of deposits; one is about 1 m thick averaging about 8 g/t PGE + Au, and the other is over 2 m wide grading about 17 g/t. The Paasivaara Reef, marked in blue, is typically 1 m thick and grades less than 10 g/t. Koillismaa complex The Koillismaa complex represents the most extensive mafic magmatism in northern Finland. Stratigraphic thickness is about 3 km and total strike length is about 150 km. PGE-Cu-Ni sulfide mineralization is developed along nearly the entire strike length of the marginal series. This translates into a good opportunity of finding tens of meters wide and 100s of meters or kms long bulk mineable deposits. Currently a Swedish company North Atlantic Natural Resources, which is 38% owned by South Atlantic Resources, is holding most of the ground and doing active exploration on various targets. Another company, CMQ Resources, has also acquired extensive tenements in the area. Keivitsa The Keivitsa intrusion belongs to a distinctly younger group of intrusions at 2.06 Ga and thus shows that there is also PGE potential in this age group of mafic magmatism which is also wide spread in northern Finland. The intrusion is about 5 km in diameter and shows a very complex structure. Large tonnage and low grade PGE-Cu-Ni sulfide deposits were located by the Geological Survey of Finland and further studied by Outokumpu Mining in the 1990s. Disseminated mineralisation was estimated to comprise some 90 Mt grading 0.6 g/t PGE

3 +Au, and 0.4% Cu and 0.25% Ni. However, recent reanalysis by the Geological Survey of Finland shows that there may be higher grade PGE zones grading from 3 to 20 g/t. A Swedish company, Scandinavian Gold Prospecting, is currently holding the exploration licenses of the area. Gold potential in Finland The history of gold exploration and mining in Finland is short. Before 1980 only half a dozen gold occurrences were known in Finland and there was a general preception that the gold potential of the Fennoscandian shield was poor. Systematic gold exploration in Finland did not really get started until the 1980s and since that time some 140 occurrences have been indicated by diamond drilling (see: ). Currently one mine is in operation and a couple of mines have recently been closed. Several deposits are under detailed evaluation and feasibility study. The Suurikuusikko deposit in northern Finland of which I will discuss in greater detail in a minute now appears to be the biggest gold deposit in Europe. At the moment there is also an international call for tenders for three new gold prospects organised by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. This offers a good opportunity for companies to get into the exploration business in Finland and I ll talk about this in a minute. Suurikuusikko deposit The Suurikuusikko gold deposit is located in the middle of the Lapland greenstone belt in northern Finland. This extensive greenstone belt is several hundreds of kms long and tens of kms wide. It is known to host numerous gold deposits but yet it is largely underexplored. The Suurikuusikko deposit was originally discovered by the Geological Survey of Finland in The Survey drilled between 1988 and 1997 some 10 km and delineated a 1.5 Mt resource grading about 6 g/t. In 1998 Riddarhyttan won an international tender process and has since then done very active evaluation of the deposit. Current indicated and inferred resources are 6.0 Mt grading 6 g/t which means 1.2 M ounces of gold (see: ). The Suurikuusikko deposit and several of its satellite occurrences are controlled by a fault zone which can be seen in airborne geophysical maps to be 15 km long. This major structure has very good indications for further discoveries. The Suurikuusikko deposit is composed of various ore types associated with brecciated and strongly altered tholeiitic volcanics. 96% of gold is refractory however, detailed tests have shown that bioleaching of the sulfide concentrate followed by cyanide leaching gives over 88% total recovery. The Suurikuusikko deposit is fairly high grade and suitable for open pit mining. Recent deeper holes indicate that the main zone continues as a high grade ore body at least down to 400 m allowing underground mining in the future. There is good potential for a multimillion ounce reserve in the 15 km long shear and Suurikuusikko is convincing evidence that large, world-class deposits do exist in Finland.

4 Other new prospects Next I will show some slides on two of the deposits which are currently under international tender by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry (see: ). The Oijärvi gold prospects are located in northern Finland in an area of ready access. The gold occurrences are associated with a shear zone within the Late Archean, Oijärvi Greenstone Belt. Low altitude airborne geophysics made public in 1994 indicated for the first time the existence of a poorly exposed greenstone belt with conductive zones and magnetic anomalies. Based on anomalies in a regional till sampling program completed at the same time, the Geological Survey of Finland commenced in 1995 preliminary geological and ore potential investigations within the area. Preliminary drilling of the greenstone belt has revealed several altered shear zones with gold potential and three economically interesting lode gold occurrences. The best intersection is 11 m long averaging 22 g/t Au and 124 g/t Ag. The present prospects are only an example of the highly prospective but little explored Oijärvi greenstone belt. The Kiannanniemi gold prospects are associated with altered shear zones in Archaean intermediate and mafic metavolcanics in the southern part of the Suomussalmi greenstone belt, eastern Finland. The most prominent occurrence, Kuikka, is a 1 km long and m wide zone in basaltic rock altered to quartz biotite schist with free gold and high individual intersections up to 115 g/t over 1 m in deformed quartz veins. Preliminary gold resource assessment of 200 m along the strike in the central part of the Kuikka mineralization yields some t grading 15 g Au/t. The other underexplored prospects in the area have yielded a few g/t Au in drill core. Diamond potential The diamond prospective area in Finland is nearly the same size as the Slave Craton in Canada. The Finnish Archean is demonstrated to have low heat flow and a very deep mantle root. Accordingly a large volume of the lithospheric mantle is within the diamond stability field. Another interesting feature is that almost all of the 25 kimberlite pipes located by Ashton Mining in eastern Finland are diamondiferous. Diamondiferous lamproitic dikes are located at Kostamuksha, just some 10s of kms from the Finnish border. Moreover, world class deposits at Archangelsk are located in the same Karelian-Kuloi craton. Given its size and potential the Karelian Craton is underexplored for diamonds. Business environment Finland s infrastructure is well developed with good port facilities open all year round, extensive high voltage power transmission, and a comprehensive road network even in remote areas. Finland offers a favorable operating environment for exploration and mining. We have been a member of the Europian Union since Finland is ranked as the highest exporter of hitech products, particularly telecommunication products, in the E.U. Our corporate tax rate is only 29% and inflation is around 1%.

5 Geologic data coverage is probably one of the best in the world. For example, low-altitude airborne geophysics with a terrain clearance of 30 m and 200 m flight spacing covers over 80% of the country. As another example regional geochemical mapping using till samples at a scale of 1 sample/4 km 2 has been done for the entire country. Geological Survey of Finland The Geological Survey of Finland is responsible for national mapping and geoscience information related to bedrock and quaternary geology, geophysics, geochemistry and mineral occurrences (see: ). However, the Survey is involved in mineral exploration from regional- to prospect-scale projects. Our aim is to acquire sufficient data on prospects to encourage further evaluation by the private sector and all discoveries are tendered internationally by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Geological Survey of Finland also offers the minerals industry confidential expertize in Fennoscandian economic geology, as well as, customer-tailored exploration services, and modern chemical, mineralogical and GIS laboratory services on a confidential basis both in Finland and worldwide. Our airborne surveys are equipped with a unique 3 in one system. That means simultaneous measurements with magnetic, radiometric and frequency domain EM systems using a fixed wing aircraft. The Geological Survey of Finland has done successfully contracting surveys in several countries in Africa and Europe. For further information see: The Geological Survey of Finland is also actively developing new equipment. The SlimBORIS EM system was recently developed for studying conductive ore bodies around a borehole (see: The system has a magnetic dipole transmitter aligned with the borehole, and a three component receiver with a wide frequency range. The receiver probe has also a module to measure orientation of the probe and trajectory of the hole. This orientation module has a 3D accelerometer and a three component flux-gate magnetometer. The system has two measurement modes: a single hole mode where the transmitter and receiver move together in the same hole with fixed separation and a crosshole mode where transmitter and receiver are in adjacent holes. The system is designed for exploration of mineral conductors at a distance of several tens of meters from a borehole or for the delineation of intersected ore bodies. Maximum radius of detections is 200 m from the borehole. The single hole system has a good spatial resolution especially when measurements are made by using several coil separations. Measured three components are used to interpret the location of the orebody in 3D. A wide frequency range makes it possible to discriminate ore bodies with different conductivities. Transmitter is in the borehole therefore conductors below conductive layers can be studied. Because no large transmitter loop laid on the ground is used, SlimBORIS is an excellent exploration tool also in underground mines. Contract surveys for mining companies in Canada and Finland has proven SlimBORIS to be a successful tool for finding orebodies.

6 GTK has actively developed advanced internet tools for mineral exploration data. These databases, freely available on the internet, include our extensive Fingold database, and active map explorer that allows you to plot various exploration data on different backgrounds at different scales (see: ). The available databases include Land Tenure - extracted from Ministry of Trade and Industry title database, Drilling Sites, Mines and deposits and Igneous Ages. Lastly I would like to invite you to visit our recently released Platinum pages found on our website at