Photograph 1. High density copper sulfide and REE mineralization in drill hole HK20-002 completed in 2020 by VR and shown in Figure 2. Upper Photo: wholesale replacement of host rock at 334 m hole depth by hematite, carbonate, apatite, chalcopyrite and pyrite. This type of alteration exemplifies IOCG-affinity fluids. It cross-cuts the intensely potassic-altered carbonate-fluorite dykes in the bottom two rows of core. The top row has 0.12% copper and a density of 3.46 g/cm3, compared to a background of 2.9 g/cm3 in the hole. Lower Photo: intense potassic alteration overprint of hydrothermal breccia and sovite and phonolite dykes, with numerous fluorite-carbonate veins. Critical metal and REE mineralization over 20 m starting at 574m depth contains: up to 0.56 % combined La2O3, Ce2O3, Y2O3; elevated thorium up to 0.15 % ThO2; elevated niobium up to 0.13 % Nb2O5; up to 33.7 ppm terbium, a heavy REE, contained minerals including monazite, bastnaesite, fluorapatite and pyrochlore.
Photograph 1. High density copper sulfide and REE mineralization in drill hole HK20-002 completed in 2020 by VR and shown in Figure 2. Upper Photo: wholesale replacement of host rock at 334 m hole depth by hematite, carbonate, apatite, chalcopyrite and pyrite. This type of alteration exemplifies IOCG-affinity fluids. It cross-cuts the intensely potassic-altered carbonate-fluorite dykes in the bottom two rows of core. The top row has 0.12% copper and a density of 3.46 g/cm3, compared to a background of 2.9 g/cm3 in the hole. Lower Photo: intense potassic alteration overprint of hydrothermal breccia and sovite and phonolite dykes, with numerous fluorite-carbonate veins. Critical metal and REE mineralization over 20 m starting at 574m depth contains: up to 0.56 % combined La2O3, Ce2O3, Y2O3; elevated thorium up to 0.15 % ThO2; elevated niobium up to 0.13 % Nb2O5; up to 33.7 ppm terbium, a heavy REE, contained minerals including monazite, bastnaesite, fluorapatite and pyrochlore.