TORONTO, Feb. 10, 2025 /CNW/ - First Nordic Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "FNM") (TSXV: FNM) (OTCQB: FNMCF) (FRA: HEG0) is pleased to announce the start of diamond drilling at its high-priority Aida target ("Aida") on the Company's 100%-owned Paubäcken project ("Paubäcken" or the "Project"), located in Västerbotten County, northern Sweden. The Project is about 40 kilometers ("km") south of the Company's resource-stage Barsele project (in joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited), and Aida specifically is about 4 km north of the Svartliden operating mill that is currently processing ore from Sweden's newest gold mine, Fäbodtjärn (see About the PäubäckenProject section below).
For Q1, the Company plans to complete an initial 5,150 metres ("m") of diamond drilling at the Aida target using up to two diamond drill rigs; currently one drill rig is turning, operated by Finland-based Comadev Oy. A total of 24 diamond drill holes are designed to test over 3 km of identified structural corridor coincident with base-of-till ("BoT") / top-of-bedrock ("ToB") gold and pathfinder anomalism and stepping out on the discovery hole at Aida (PAU21003), with a near-surface intercept of 22.5 m of 2.4 g/t gold ("Au") (see Dec. 27, 2021 news release). Based on the success of the Q1 drill program FNM expects to complete a further 5,000 to 10,000 m of drilling on Aida throughout 2025 and remains fully funded to do so.
FNM CEO Taj Singh comments:"It's an exciting time on the Gold Line belt. Several top-of-bedrock rigs have been turning, and diamond drills are now getting going as well. Starting at Aida, we are beginning the most comprehensive diamond drill program ever carried out on the Gold Line belt outside of our Barsele project.A vast majority of the Gold Line belt structural / geochemical trend, where we are by far the largest claimholders, with 100%-ownership of +80km of strike, has not been previously drill tested due to the lack of surface exposure and previous exploration in the area. FNM is now in a position to drill test multiple multi-kilometric targets on the Gold Line belt."
Q1 2025 Aida Diamond Drill Program The Q1 2025 Aida drill program has been designed to step out on known mineralization and test over 3 km of strike along the 4 km Aida target to understand size, geometry, and structural controls of mineralization within the shear corridor. Two previous drilling campaigns completed in 2021 and 2022 tested approximately 1 km of the structure and successfully intercepted gold mineralization, including 22.5 m of 2.4 g/t Au in PAU21003. In 2023, follow up BoT/ToB drilling successfully expanded the mineralized footprint to the north and south along the structure to 1.5 km, including the highest ToB result to date on the Project of 5.01 g/t Au. A total of only 1,492 m of diamond drilling has historically been done by FNM at Aida.
Ten drill holes are designed to test 2 km of structural corridor extending south from previous drill holes. Drilling here will test the southern extension of PAU21003 as well as the 5.01 g/t Au result from the 2023 ToB drilling. Wider spaced drill holes are designed to test the remainder of the southern extension of the target structure. Along the northern extension, ten drill holes are planned to step out on previous drilling and test anomalous 2023 ToB results, including up to 2 g/t Au along the structural corridor. Four additional drill holes are designed to test targets on parallel structures to the east with anomalous ToB results.
Figure 1 (see Appendix section below) shows the Aida plan for the first 5,150 m of drilling, in 24 holes. Planning for additional meters will occur as drilling progresses and results are received.
About the Aida Target The Aida target is a +4 km trend within the Gold Line structural corridor, close to the junction between the Svartliden shear zone to the southwest (historic high-grade gold mine) and the gold line main shear corridor. Located under ~3-20 m of glacial till cover, the structural corridor was first identified in a regional top of bedrock drilling program in 2021. Litho-structural modeling of magnetic geophysics data interpreted the structural corridor as a second order splay structure off the regional first order Gold Line belt structure.
Mineralization along the Aida structural corridor is hosted within highly sheared and hydrothermally altered mafic volcanics and greywacke, surrounded by black shale metasedimentary units and appears to be controlled by rheological contrast between lithologies and flexures and intersections within the structural corridor.
About the Paubäcken Project The Paubäcken Project consists of four licenses covering 19,737 hectares that cover the central part of an emerging district in north central Sweden known as the "Gold Line belt". The Gold Line belt is host to several significant gold deposits, including the Company's nearby Barsele project, as well as the Svartliden gold mine and mill complex and Fäboliden development project (both operated by Dragon Mining Ltd, http://www.dragonmining.com/svartliden). The Svartliden mill is currently processing gold ores from the Fäbodtjärn gold mine, which started mining operations in 2024 (https://www.botniaexploration.com/projekt/fabodtjarn).
The Paubäcken project is strategically positioned between Barsele and Fäboliden, and 5 km northeast of the Svartliden mine, within the Gold Line belt in northern Sweden. The Project contains 22 km of the regionally significant "Gold Line" structure which can be traced for over 200 km in regional geophysics data. The Gold Line was first recognized in the late 1970s as a large arsenic-in-soil anomaly formed by a regional fault. All mineralization discovered to date shows a spatial relationship to this structural corridor, occurring either in the main shear corridor or on perpendicular structures within a few km of the main structures. The geology of the Paubäcken project consists of a sequence of inverted basin sediments and mafic volcanic rocks intruded by small syn-kinematic granitic intrusions within a broad, anastomosing high strain structural corridor. The rocks are regionally metamorphosed to amphibolite facies and gold mineralization is associated with intense biotite, and calc-silicate alteration assemblages and sulphide minerals pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and minor other sulphides. These lithological sequences are highly prospective for orogenic gold deposits.
About First Nordic Metals First Nordic Metals Corp. (FNM) is a Canadian-based gold exploration company, consolidating assets in Sweden and Finland, with a vision to create Europe's next gold camp. The Company's flagship asset is the Barsele gold project in northern Sweden, a joint venture project with senior gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. Immediately surrounding the Barsele project, FNM is 100%-owner of a district-scale license position comprised of three additional projects (Paubäcken, Storjuktan, Klippen), which combined with the Barsele project, total 104,000 hectares on the Gold Line belt. Additionally, in northern Finland, FNM is the 100%-owner of a district-scale position covering the entire underexplored Oijärvi greenstone belt, including the Kylmäkangas deposit, the largest known gold occurrence on this belt.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Taj Singh, M.Eng, P.Eng, CPA CEO & Director
Qualified Person Benjamin Gelber, P. Geo., Exploration Head of FNM, is the Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, and takes responsibility for the technical disclosure contained within this news release.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This News Release contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements, except as required by law.
Figure 1 – Approximate location of planned Q1 2025 diamond drilling at the Aida target. (CNW Group/First Nordic Metals Corp.)
First Nordic Metals Corp. (CNW Group/First Nordic Metals Corp.)
