Rio Tinto, Midland extend Santos Ni-Cu Zone, plan to drill-test new targets

Midland Exploration reports new nickel-copper assay results from a drilling campaign completed to follow up on the new Ni-Cu discovery named Santos, announced last April on the Tete Nord property. This property is currently wholly owned by Midland but is subject to an option agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada since December 2021 and is located near the town of La Tuque, Quebec. In July 2023, a shallow drill hole was completed on the Santos zone to investigate the thickness of the Ni-Cu zone discovered last April in drill hole MDLD0015 which had reported 0.45% Ni and 0.18% Cu over 10.37 metres. After having traversed 11.66 metres of overburden, drill hole MDLD0018 intersected a mineralized zone grading 0.33% Ni and 0.12% Cu over 39.73 metres from 11.66 to 51.39 metres downhole depth, approximately 50 metres west of drill hole MDLD0015. The interval exhibits impressive magmatic breccias with decimetre-scale semi-massive sulphide zones, indicative of a dynamic magmatic system at Santos. The two drill holes, MDLD0015 and MDLD0018, began directly in the mineralized zone; the total thickness of this zone has yet to be determined and the zone remains open in all directions. The next drilling campaign, set to begin in November 2023 when permits are received, will consist of four additional drill holes totalling 1,150 metres and will mainly focus on new targets identified at depth following downhole and ground-based electromagnetic surveys completed in the summer of 2023. The discovery hole MDLD0015 was initially designed to test a VTEM anomaly as well as an off-hole anomaly detected in drill hole MDLD0009; it intersected, from 14 metres to 80 metres downhole depth, several layers with Ni-Cu mineralization within altered gabbro horizons. From 20.11 to 22.79 metres, the drill hole intersected 1.10% Ni and 0.71% Cu over 2.68 metres. Further down, from 33.02 to 43.39 metres, a mineralized interval graded 0.45% Ni and 0.18% Cu over 10.37 metres. Regionally, the new Santos Ni-Cu zone is favourably located along a N-S-trending structure, approximately 8 kilometres north of the former Lac Edouard Ni-Cu mine.