Berkut encouraged by early Skuterud results

Norwegian cobalt explorer Berkut Minerals Limited (ASX: BMT) has received encouraging early results from its maiden diamond drill program at its 100% owned Skuterud Cobalt Project.

The final hole of a six hole programme at the historic Middagshville Prospect in the southern licence is currently underway and will be followed by a single hole at the Dovikolled.

This first phase drill program has targeted depth and strike extensions of known historical cobalt workings and prospective, previously untested , geological units that had been identified through recent field mapping and ground magnetic surveys , focussing on the Middagshville Prospect.

Berkut’s Managing Director, Neil Inwood said drilling at the historical Middagshville Cobalt Mine in the southern portion of Berkut’s licences has encountered localised disseminated sulphide mineralisation (up to 15m runs) in several holes hosted in quartzite and quartz-mica schist.

He said the visually identified sulphide minerals (typically as 1 – 7 % disseminations) include chalcopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and occurrences of cobalt sulphides (cobaltite and skutterudite).

“We are encouraged by the field observation of cobalt sulphides and the presence of disseminated sulphide mineralisation,” Mr Inwood commented.

The results from assaying the intervals of sulphide mineralisation will feed in to the geological understanding of both the potential cobalt and base – metal endowment of the project.”

Mr Inwood said the current drilling program is a milestone event at Skuterud and is the culmination of an intensive program of exploration undertaken at the project since it was acquired in May 2017.

“This is the first known drilling to test the highly prospective 5 kilometre strik e trend north of the historic Skuterud Cobalt Mine.

“Results from this first phase of drilling will help determine subsequent phases of exploration in Q1/Q2 2018 with follow up geophysics and drilling envisaged.