The Thunder Bay-based company is conducting an exploration program targeting nickel, copper, and platinum group metals (PGMs) in the James Bay lowlands, north of Hearst.
Three holes, testing three separate geophysical anomalies, have been completed thus far.
In January, 2010, Zenyatta and Cliffs Natural Resources signed an option agreement on the project.
Cliffs, well-known for its rich chromite deposits in the Ring of Fire, holds approximately 11.8 per cent of the outstanding common shares of Zenyatta.
Zenyatta also has the right to earn a total of 80 per cent interest in the Albany Project from Cliffs.
“I've had relationships with a lot of people over there by consulting for them,” said Aubrey J. Eveleigh, president and CEO of Zenyatta Ventures. “We decided to form an exploration company because there are many areas in Ontario that need exploration. This was one of those areas.”
Zenyatta discovered the area when the exploration company looked at regional magnetics and determined that it was right for copper, nickel and platinum type deposits.
It also looked good in terms of intrusions, which were very similar to others discovered in Ontario.
The area has been largely ignored in the past due to extensive overburden and overlying Canadian Shield rocks.
But recent advances in airborne geophysical electromagnetic technology have allowed deeper penetration through the cover rocks to target geological and structural settings within the underlying Shield rocks.
“This area has not received a lot of exploration, mostly because it's swamp-covered and there is a thin limestone cover over the prospective rocks,” said Eveleigh. “There hasn't really been technology to actually penetrate the limestone cover to get to the rocks.”
Zenyatta solved the issue when they used an airborne survey to identify and penetrate several magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical targets.
“It's always a logistical challenge when everything is swamp-covered,” said Eveleigh. “You don't have the ability to see the rocks from the surface, so you're somewhat drilling blindly into geophysical targets. You don't have the luxury of looking at geology at the surface, so it's riskier and a little more challenging.”
The Albany project is considered to host deep seated proterozoic structures that may be related to the 1.1 billion-year-old Mid-Continent Rift. The rift is a structural environment that hosts a number of significant mineral deposits around Lake Superior.
“That was the theory we used to get here,” said Eveleigh. “When you get a rifting environment, that allows these intrusives to come from the interior of the earth and come to the surface, which under the right conditions, brings copper, nickel and platinum.”
The Albany geological and geophysical setting is large enough to host and hide world class deposits.
Over the life of the project more than 1,600 samples were collected and sent out for analysis.
“We are about halfway through,” said Eveleigh. “After that, we access what we have and then go back with another plan and another budget or not, depending on the results.”
Zenyatta was also engaged in mediation with Constance Lake First Nation (CLFN) earlier this year. Both sides signed an exploration agreement and pre-feasibility activities began on the project in July.
The First Nation is a community of 1,470 members of Ojibway and Cree ancestry located in the District of Cochrane, 32 kilometres west of Hearst.
“They felt that we were coming into their traditional territory and felt that we didn't have the right to, even though the Ontario government said we did,” said Eveleigh. “It's a challenge for every mining exploration company coming in to Ontario dealing with First Nation territory.”
Constance Lake will participate in an implementation committee and receive, along with other First Nation communities, preferential opportunities for employment ad contracting.
Zenyatta will also contribute to a social fund for the benefit of CLFN children, youth and elders.
