Kiruna Project

This Project Summary was last updated 2009-10-21 07:30:21.

KIRUNA PROJECT

Introduction

An extensive ground position has been established by Scandinavian Resources Ltd southwest of the famous iron mining centre of Kiruna in northern Sweden. The exploration package covers in excess of 300km2 in area at an elevation of 727m ASL. The climate in the Kiruna area is harsh, with long cold winters, and a short warm summer from June through to September. Being north of the Arctic Circle, the sun sets at Kiruna in early December and does not rise again until late February. Mineral exploration activities are best carried out during the long winter when the ground is frozen and access can be gained across the numerous lakes and swamps. Main land use in the Arctic tundra, apart from reindeer herding by the Sami people (the traditional land holders), is large scale iron ore mining and beneficiation by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB, with rail transportation of the upgraded ore west to Narvik in Norway and east to Luleå in the Gulf of Bothnia; and tourism directed activities such as fishing and skiing, especially during the winter months.

The town of Kiruna was built on the hanging wall side of the mammoth Kiirunavaara and Luossavaara orebodies, and due to the planned expansion of the mine beyond the 1000m depth to the 1300m depth, the town and the rail infrastructure will have to be moved to a new location.

Location & Access

The Kiruna Project is located approximately 30km southwest of the town of Kiruna and within the municipality of Gällivare. The project is located between two major east-west trending lake systems making access from Kiruna rather limited. At Nikkaluokta, the main highway from Kiruna crosses the lake allowing vehicle access to the Kiruna Project. There are multiple minor roads and tracks that criss-cross the permits, however vehicle access (helicopters are generally used) during the summer is not possible due to the boggy nature of the ground, thus field work is carried out during winter when the ground is frozen.

Permits

A major ground position has been assembled by Scandinavian Resources Ltd in the Skuokimjokk-Riekko-Luppovare district located 30km southwest of Kiruna in the Norrbotten region of northern Sweden. The permits cover some 304km² of rolling tundra country with no permanent habitation and the main land use in the tenement area is reindeer herding by Sami people. The company is the largest landholder in the Norrbotten region.
The permits are held in the name of Hannans Scandinavia AB; a wholly owned subsidiary of Scandinavian Resources Ltd.

Regional Geology     

The Kiruna Project is located in the northern part of the Fennoscandian Shield. The Archaean basement (>2.68Ga) is overlain by Proterozoic rocks of Karelian (~2.4-1.96Ga) and Svecofennian (~1.96-1.75Ga) ages. The Karelian rocks have been formed in a rift-related tectonic setting and are overlain by Svecofennian supracrustal metavolcanic and epiclastic rocks. The Svecofennian supracrustal rocks are made up of the older Porphyrite Group of rocks comprised of metamorphosed low-Ti andesite, basalt and intercalations of felsic tuffaceous rock. The younger Porphyry/Kiirunavaara Group of rocks are comprised of metamorphosed high-Ti basalt, minor trachyandesite and rhyolite. The Haparanda and Perthite calc-alkaline and alkali-calcic monzonite granite suites intrude rocks of the Porphyry/Kiirunavaara Group and are associated with deformation and metamorphism of the supracrustal sequence, with conditions peaking at upper greenschist or lower amphibolites facies during the Svecofennian Orogeny from 1.9 to 1.8Ga (Skiöld, 1987).

The Norbotten province is characterised by regionally developed scapolitisation, albitisation, which is most intense in areas of major crustal deformation, and mineral deposits dominated by iron and copper. Ore deposits within the area are also spatially related to zones of deformation suggesting a possible genetic relationship between the formation of the deposits and a tectonic event. The Kiruna Project is located on two limbs of a major shear zone.

The Norbotten district in Sweden is an important mining district hosting some of the world’s largest apatite-iron ores, Kiirunavaara and Malmberget, and the Aitik Cu-Au deposit. Whilst the area has been classified as an IOCG-district by many, a definitive genetic link between spatially related iron-oxide and copper deposits of Norbotten is yet to be established. The Kiirunavaara apatite-iron ore deposit is the type locality for Kiruna sub-type IOCG deposits.

Local Geology and Mineralisation

The geology of the Kiruna Project area consists largely of Palaeoproterozoic supracrustal rocks belonging to the Porphyry/Kiirunavaara Group including trachyandesitic lavas (formally named syenite porphyry), pyroclastic rhyodacite (formally named quartz-bearing porphyry), minor andesitic-basaltic mafics, and the south western portion of the Kiruna project is dominated by greenstones of the older Porphyrite Group. At the Skuokimjokk Prospect insitu apatite-poor hematite mineralisation is present; the hematite is largely specular or micaceous in habit, it is massive but becomes veined and interstitial to the felsic volcanic at the contacts. The hematite dips steeply (75°-85°) to the southwest. Whilst the Skuokimjokk Prospect has been described as a hematite occurrence the samples can vary between non-magnetic to strongly magnetic over several centimetres indicating that there is a mineralogical continuum between magnetite-martite-hematite which is common for Kiruna-type iron ores. Similar mineralisation and stratigraphy is present at the Luppovare Prospect although the ore observed during the 2009 field trip had noticeably less micaceous hematite and at an outcrop scale contained more magnetite.

At the Riekko and Kuosatjvare Prospects mafic volcanics are dominant; pillow basalts, mafic intrusives and conglomerates have been mapped. In diamond drilling by Anglo American and Rio Tinto, variably sheared and brecciated metavolcanics were dominant with biotite, scapolite, epidote, actinolite, albite and iron alteration. The iron mineralisation observed at Kuosatjvare, during the 2009 field trip, was notably different to mineralisation observed at Skuokimjokk and Luppovare with hematite forming the matrix to a conglomerate.  Large areas of the Kiruna Project are covered by glacial moraine which can be up to 30m thick in places.

Previous Exploration & Mining History

During 1963-1972 the Swedish government commissioned a regional investigation into the iron ore resources of Norbotten County which became known as the Iron Ore Inventory Programme (IOIP). The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) undertook the investigation which lasted 10 years and cost in excess 40 million Swedish kronor (SEK). The investigation involved regional and detailed mapping, geophysical ground measurements (magnetic, gravimetric, Slingram and Self-potential) and over 100,000m of diamond drilling covering 23 map sheets (1:50,000). The company’s entire Kiruna Project was covered by the IOIP and as a result there are multiple iron ore occurrences located within the Project including Skuokimjokk, Piedjasjtåkka, Luppovare, and Kuosatjvare. The iron ore deposits of Pattok, Tjårrojåkka and Ekströmsberg are all located less than 3km from the Kiruna Project boundary.

Reconnaissance drilling has been completed on the southern most permit near the prospects of Riekko (Cu) and Kuosatjvare (Fe) where holes were drilled by Anglo American Exploration B.V, Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Ltd and the SGU. The diamond drill core from the reconnaissance drilling is archived in the Mineral Information Office in Malå but has yet to be reviewed.

Several academic studies have been completed over the project; a 2005-2006 study (Journal of Applied Geophysics Vol. 61) by Sandrin, Berggren and Elming from the University of Luleå was focused on using geophysics to target IOCG deposits in the current project area. The outcomes of the study will assist in further exploration targeting at the Kiruna Project.

On a district scale, the world class Kiirunavaara magnetite iron mine was discovered in 1696 and developed into large-scale production in 1890. The invention in the 1870’s of the Thomas process; a method of producing steel from high phosphorus ores; and the construction of the railways to Narvik and Luleå enabled the development of this vast ore field in the tundra of northern Sweden. The giant Kiirunavaara orebody of Palaeoproterozoic age (1.89-1.88Ga) is classified as an apatite-iron ore deposit. The orebody is over 4000m in strike length, averages 80m in width, and extends to a depth of over 1500m; in excess of 2Bt of ore has been mined to date. The main underground access is on the 1,045m level (depth below the Kiirunavaara peak prior to mining), and detailed planning is in place for a new underground access development at the 1,365m level. The total reserve-resource tonnage at Kiruna is greater than 1.028Bt (Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB, 2007).

The historic Ekströmsberg iron deposit is located approximately 1km from the company’s northern permit boundary. It is a magnetite-martite-hematite (± apatite) deposit hosted by pyroclastic rhyodacite which is locally sericite-altered. The orebody also contains intercalations of trachyandesitic lava which are parallel with the direction of the orebodies. The Ekströmsberg deposit contains approximately 165Mt of ore at 32% Fe (historic calculations) and is currently owned by Swedish company Grängesberg Iron AB.

The Tjårrojåkka apatite-iron ore and copper (± gold) deposits are located to the south of the company’s Luppovare Prospect. The apatite-iron ore at Tjårrojåkka consists of a massive core (60-70% Fe and 0.5-1.3%P) surrounded by an ore breccia (25-60% Fe and 0.4-3%P) with low grade copper (± Mo, Au & Ag) mineralisation, whereas the copper (± gold)  deposit forms an elongated body of disseminated copper sulphides with magnetite-apatite veining in the footwall.  The spatial relationship between the Tjårrojåkka apatite-iron ore and copper (± gold) deposits has seen it placed within the complex and diverse IOCG spectrum.

Exploration Completed

In 2008 the company completed a brief field reconnaissance trip to the Skuokimjokk Prospect collecting six rock chip samples (KS08121-123 & JS003-005); JS005 returned a peak iron assay of 35.4% from a hematitic boulder located within Skuokimjokk Creek. Rock chip samples KS08121-123 returned an average iron assay of 24.4% Fe. Rock chip samples JS003-004 returned no significant iron assays. In August 2009, a second field reconnaissance trip was completed where insitu hematite mineralisation (300m south of Skuokimjokk Creek) was located and sampled; rock chip samples SKU09001-004 returned an average iron assay of 44.7% Fe. Rock chip sample SKU09001 also returned a gold value of 0.56ppm Au. The outcropping mineralisation was traced over 100m and dipped steeply to the west. At Piedjasjtåkka, north of Skuokimjokk Creek, a historic hematite occurrence was not able to be located from the helicopter landing zone, however rock chip sample SKU09012 containing secondary copper mineralisation was collected and returned an assay of 0.37% Cu.

At the Luppovare Prospect, located in the west of the Kiruna Project, a historic magnetite-hematite occurrence was located within felsic volcanic host stratigraphy. The magnetite-hematite mineralisation (2-3m wide) was traced over 100m with SKU09006 returning an iron result of 68.2% Fe.

At the Riekko Prospect, located in the south of the Kiruna Project, the Kuosatjvare iron occurrence was located and sampled. The samples came from an insitu, iron (magnetite and hematite) rich conglomerate located at the bottom of an old costean. The peak iron value from this location was 64.1% Fe. At the Riekko copper prospect, several of the historic drill collars were located, however very little outcrop was observed with large areas of the prospect under swampy cover. Rock chip sample SKU09010 was collected from the banks of a river where insitu mafic rocks have been exposed; the sample returned anomalous geochemistry including 0.63% Cu, 0.18ppm Au, 3.2ppm Ag and 523ppm Mo.

Proposed Exploration Strategy and Budget

Exploration in Year One at the Kiruna Project is anticipated to involve a modern ground based gravity survey which is scheduled to commence in March 2010. Interpretation of the gravity and available magnetics is to follow the survey and drill testing of gravity generated targets is also proposed. Outcrop mapping and insitu and boulder sampling is planned to continue within the Kiruna Project area. Historic drill data obtained from the SGU will be evaluated and is to include investigating the core which is archived in Malå. Prior and on-going with the above program it is planned to have co-operative meetings with the traditional Sami land holders.

 

NEWS FLOW...

July 26, 2010

High Grade Copper Results at Daningen Project, Sweden

Multiple high-grade copper assays from in-situ (i.e. not boulder) rock chip sampling at the Daningen Project include:

• 4.95% copper
• 6.55% copper
• 4.99% copper
• 2.26% copper
• 7.13% copper

Mineralised samples are co-incident with an historic EM anomaly identified in 1950

Scandinavian Resources to complete modern EM survey this Quarter to better refine bedrock targets for future diamond drill testing

June 28, 2010

An Emerging Iron Story

Scandinavian focussed minerals company Scandinavian Resources Ltd (ASX:SCR) (“the Company”) has increased its iron exposure at the Kiruna Project, in northern Sweden to 98 million tonnes through a joint venture and identification of historical foreign estimates.

• Scandinavian Resources Ltd (ASX:SCR) increases exposure at Kiruna Project to 98Mt of iron within 6 prospects
• Furthermore, an 8 – 10 million tonne iron exploration target ranging in grades from 25% Fe – 69% Fe established within additional 3 prospects
• Prospects all located within 20km of major mining centre and modern infrastructure, Kiruna District, Northern Sweden
• Strategy is to aggregate sufficient resources to assess feasibility of iron mining scenarios – refer attached presentation “An Emerging Iron Story, Kiruna Project, Northern Sweden”
• Metallurgical testwork and head assay confirmation of historical diamond drilling has commenced
• Joint venture with Tasman Metals Ltd (TSXV:TAS)

April 27, 2010

Kiruna Project Gravity Survey

• Ground based gravity survey in progress at the Kiruna Project
• Profiles will cover prospects within the Piedjastjåkko nr 1 & 4 and Luppovare nr 1 & 2 permits
• New gravity data will be modelled with historic detailed ground based magnetic data

April 21, 2010

Successful Completion of $6.7M IPO and Admission to ASX

• Scandinavian Resources Ltd (ASX:SCR) lists on ASX after completing $6.7m IPO.
• SCR strategy is to ‘incubate’ a highly prospective portfolio of iron, manganese, gold, PGE and base metals projects in Scandinavia (primarily Sweden & Norway).
• SCR cornerstone investor is S&P/ASX Top 200 company, OM Holdings Ltd (ASX:OMH).
• Technical Director Mr Olof Forslund was previously Regional Manager of the Geological Survey of Sweden’s Mineral Resources Information Office in Mala, Sweden.
• SCR is the 11th largest landholder (by area) of minerals exploration projects in Sweden & one of the largest landholders in the world class Kiruna IOCG District.
• SCR exploration projects are the Kiruna iron project (Kiruna District, Sweden), Lake Embrace copper-lead-zinc-silver project (Nordland District, Norway) and Swampy Mountain iron-copper-gold plus PGE project (Skellefte District, Sweden).
• SCR’s flagship Kiruna iron exploration project is 30km from the 2Bt Kiruna iron mine (owned by LKAB) – the world’s largest and most modern underground iron mine.
• SCR’s ‘pipeline’ of projects cover manganese, gold, copper-gold and lead-zinc prospects in Sweden & Norway.