Meråker Exploration and Mining History

The Meråker property has a long history of mining, with small scale production dating back to the mid-1700’s. Mining of several of the numerous massive sulphide occurrences scattered throughout the property occurred throughout the period from 1750 – 1920, though much of the production came from the Lillefjell showing with 120,000 tonnes of ore containing 6.5% Cu extracted . A significant amount of ore (for the time period) is recorded to have been produced from the Mannfjell showing. Mining during this period was focussed on copper-rich ore; it is likely that this was not due to a paucity of zinc and other metals typically associated with VMS deposits but to the fact that copper was the only metal of economic interest at the time.  As such there is no record of any zinc production from the Lillefjell or other showings, though these zones could reasonably be expected to contain significant zinc as well as copper. Note that this estimate of tonnage and grade is not compliant with NI 43-101 standards, has not been verified by the author and is of unknown reliability; it has been provided for historical context only.

Following closure of the Lillefjell mine, there is no record of any exploration until the period ranging from 1965 – 1971, when a series of geophysical surveys, silt/soil sampling, trenching and 10 diamond drill holes were conducted on the area surrounding the Anna, Duddu and Ebba showings by ELKEM Skorovatn.

Regional mapping and targeted ground-based geophysics (VLF) surveying was conducted by Orkla Industrier A/S during the 1984 field season. The majority of significant historical showings on the property were visited, examined and rock samples were taken. Several key prospects also had small VLF-EM surveys conducted over them. Analytical results of the rock sampling confirm the presence of base metal mineralization at many of the sampled showings.

The next recorded work on the Meråker property was conducted in 1985 on behalf of BP Minerals and Norsk Hydro; reports that airborne DIGHEM covering the southern portion of the property and subsequent ground-based magnetics and resistivity geophysical surveys  were conducted in the area of the Mannfjell showing. This work was accompanied by a small soil sampling program. No additional work was reported in the area by these operators.

The area received a renewed surge of interest in 1991 and 1992 when the NGU conducted a series of geophysical and geochemical surveys on an area which encompasses the full extent of the current Meråker property. C Horizon soil sampling was conducted in 1991 on a 500 m x 1000 m grid with 1554 samples analysed for a multi-element analytical suite including all base metals and many trace/pathfinder elements. This work was done concurrently with an airborne geophysical (Magnetics + EM + Radiometrics) survey covering the same area. As a follow up on these large-scale surveys, the NGU returned in 1992 for a set of small-scale ground-based geophysical surveys targeting areas identified by the previous year’s work.

Following these surveys by the NGU, mineral rights to the areas surrounding the Mannfjell and Fonnfjell showings were acquired by Blue Emerald Resources, who conducted a small exploration program in 1996. This sampling was accompanied by limited geological mapping. No additional work is recorded from Blue Emerald Resources, though follow up was recommended.

By the 1998 field season, the ground had been acquired by Mindex ASA, which conducted a regionally extensive exploration program in the Meråker area, visiting and sampling previously known showings to determine which zones deserved additional follow up work. In December of 1999, Mindex ASA merged with Crew Development Corporation, and all subsequent work by this group was conducted under the ownership of Crew. During the 2000 and 2001 field seasons, Crew conducted a series of rock, stream sediment, B-horizon soil and deep overburden sampling programs over target areas deemed to be prospective based on both NGU work and their own reconnaissance. These targets areas included the majority of the areas of historic production and clusters of showings present in the NGU. A detailed series of recommendations for each individual target was presented by Røsholt and Wilberg, but no record exists of any of this recommended work being conducted.

No additional work is recorded in the area, and the tenures were allowed to lapse at some point prior to EMX registering mineral rights to the tenures which comprise the Meråker property in 2018.

Meråker, hosts the Lillefjell and Mannfjell deposits which were the sites of limited small-scale mining completed intermittedly between the years 1760-1918. Site visits conducted by Norra revealed massive, high grade sphalerite-chalcopyrite dumps on zones outside of the main developed area. There has been no recent exploration and none of the targets on the property have been drill tested to depth

Reference: 2021 Technical Report on the Meråker Project by David Swanton, M.Sc., P.Geo. dated January 26, 2021