Categories: General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

Mawson (TSX: MAW) thinks big in Finland

VANCOUVER — Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW) has expanded the gold-mineralization footprint at its Rajapalot project in northern Finland, according to the company’s latest results from its ongoing 10,000-metre drill program.

The results have pushed the western, southern and eastern margins of a hydrothermal gold-bearing system to 1.2 km along strike and 400 metres deep, as highlighted by intercepts of 12 metres grading 1.2 grams gold per tonne and 6 metres of 2 grams gold.

Another hole, positioned 75 metres southwest of a 56-metre intercept grading 0.53 gram gold, hit 5 metres of 1.2 grams gold, and is the southernmost hole at Rajapalot to date.

“We’re not just sticking around a small, known area,” Mawson president and CEO Michael Hudson tells The Northern Miner during a phone interview. “We’re really stepping out to define if we have a system of scale.”

The mineralization, which the company says was driven by granitoid intrusions, is similar to what’s seen at the project’s Palokas target, 1.8 km north, where a 2013 discovery drill hole cut 9.5 metres at 7.4 grams gold from 1.3 metres deep.

Magnetite and pyrrhotite — both iron-bearing sulphide minerals — are often found with the gold, Hudson says, which means the company can use magnetic geophysical surveys to target more zone extensions.

For years, Hudson has raved about the exploration potential of Finland and Sweden’s Fennoscandian shield — a package of Archean- to Proterozoic-aged rocks that are almost identical to those found in the gold-prolific regions of Ontario and Quebec.

The discovery of nuggety, high-grade gold and uraninite veins over a 6 km trend at Rompas, 8 km west of Rajapalot, led to the company’s maiden drill program in 2010, which outlined 6 metres of 617 grams gold near surface.

Although the results are encouraging, Hudson says getting the permits to advance Rompas has proven challenging. The mineralization falls within a Natura 2000 biodiversity site that covers  a breeding and resting area for rare and threatened species. Over 14% of Finland is covered in Natura 2000 biodiversity sites, whereas in the north, the protected land packages cover 30%.

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