The Letain Nickel occurrence is located on an east-west–trending ridge, northwest of Letain Creek and approximately 4 kilometres southwest of Wolverine Lake.
The area is underlain by ultramafic rocks consisting of peridotite, minor dunite, serpentinite, antigorite, accessory diopside, actinolite, picrolite and lizardite of the Upper Mississippian to Permian Cache Creek Complex and chert, siliceous argillite, siliclastics and carbonate rocks of the Mississippian to Triassic Kedahda Formation (Cache Creek Complex). To the north and south, gabbroic to dioritic intrusive rocks of the Upper Mississippian to Permian Nakina Formation (Cache Creek Complex) are exposed.
Locally, awaruite (native nickel-iron alloy) mineralization occurs as disseminations hosted in peridotite and minor dunite associated with magnetite and chromite. Secondary minerals include peridotite hosted chromite, nephrite and cobaltite. Magnesite is also reported to be hosted in carbonates of the Kedahda Formation.
Work History
In 2010 and 2011, First Point Minerals completed a program of prospecting and geochemical (rock and silt) sampling on the area. Total nickel values in rock samples, taken over a 1100-metre-long trend, ranged from 0.170 to 0.380 per cent nickel, whereas nickel in alloy values ranged from 0.056 to 0.196 per cent nickel and averaged 0.125 per cent nickel (Shearer, J.T. [2021-03-15]: Technical Report on Letain Nickel Project, Tenures 1058958, 1058959, 1058961, Letain Lake, Dease Lake Area, BC, Liard Mining Division).
In 2018, a program of reconnaissance mapping and sampling was completed on the area as the Letain Nickel property. Sampling was reported to have yielded values ranging from 0.200 to 0.300 per cent nickel, 0.100 to 0.300 per cent chromium and 0.010 to 0.015 per cent cobalt (Shearer, J.T. [2021-03-15]: Technical Report on Letain Nickel Project, Tenures 1058958, 1058959, 1058961, Letain Lake, Dease Lake Area, BC, Liard Mining Division).