Identifying the Targets on the Ground!

Collectively, all of the mineral deposits and occurrences in the KCGB occur in a broad belt of rocks that Taranis has secured Mining Claims and Mineral Reservations. An important part of our exploration efforts is to identify some of the geophysical features associated with known mineral deposits, and to try and use this information to located other prospective mineral deposits.

KCGB Exploration

Kittilä Copper-Gold Exploration

Taranis has assembled a considerable amount of geophysics in the area that not only help understand the geology, but also identify targets. This data includes ground magnetics (shown below) typically collected on 100 m line spacings on the ground, but also includes electromagnetics. This electromagnetic data includes airborne data (SkyTEM) and VLF. Ground surveys include VLF and HLEM "Slingram" surveys.

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The geophysics show that the copper-gold-cobalt-nickel mineralization seen at Naakenavaara continues further to the west, and is folded into a broad "Z-shaped" structure where Nälkäjärvi- and Mavrik occur. Most of the warm colors on the above image are ultramafic rocks that are part of the Sattisvaara Formation.

Gold

Gold is found in ores made up of rock with very small or microscopic particles of gold. This gold ore is often found together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as Fool's Gold, which is a pyrite. Gold's atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher atomic number elements which occur naturally. Like all elements with atomic numbers larger than iron, gold is thought to have been formed from a supernova nucleosynthesis process.

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Silver

Silver has been used for thousands of years for ornaments and utensils, for trade, and as the basis for many monetary systems. Its value as a precious metal was long considered second only to gold. The word "silver" appears in Anglo-Saxon in various spellings such as seolfor and siolfor. During World War II, the short supply of copper led to the substitution of silver in many industrial applications.

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Copper

Copper has been in use at least 10,000 years, but more than 95% of all copper ever mined and smelted has been extracted since 1900. As with many natural resources, the total amount of copper on Earth is vast (around 1014 tons just in the top kilometer of Earth's crust, or about 5 million years worth at the current rate of extraction). However, only a tiny fraction of these reserves is economically viable, given present-day prices and technologies

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Cobalt

Cobalt occurs in copper and nickel minerals and in combination with sulfur and arsenic in the sulfidic cobaltite (CoAsS), safflorite (CoAs2) and skutterudite (CoAs3) minerals. The mineral cattierite is similar to pyrite and occurs together with vaesite in the copper deposits of the Katanga Province. Cobalt is not found as a native metal but is mainly obtained as a by-product of nickel and copper mining activities.

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Lead

Roman lead pipes often bore the insignia of Roman emperors. Lead plumbing in the Latin West may have been continued beyond the age of Theoderic the Great into the medieval period. Many Roman "pigs" (ingots) of lead figure in Derbyshire lead mining history and in the history of the industry in other English centers. The Romans also used lead in molten form to secure iron pins that held together large limestone blocks in buildings.

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Zinc

Various isolated examples of the use of impure zinc in ancient times have been discovered. A possibly prehistoric statuette containing 87.5% zinc was found in a Dacian archaeological site in Transylvania (modern Romania). Ornaments made of alloys that contain 80–90% zinc with lead, iron, antimony, and other metals making up the remainder, have been found that are 2500 years old.

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