The Mandible prospect is hosted in an Alaskan-type ultramafic intrusive complex called the Turnagain ultramafic complex. This zoned complex consists of a dunite core and surrounding peripheral peridotites, pyroxene-rich peridotite, wehrlite, and olivine pyroxenite with maximum dimensions of 3 by 8.2 kilometres.

Drilling on the Mandible zone, located near the northwestern extent of the Turnagain ultramafic complex, revealed a complex geology which include dunite with metasedimentary inclusions, magnetite clinopyroxenite, talc-altered quartz diorite, hornfelsed metasediments, serpentinite and serpentine and talc altered dunite. The Turnagain ultramafic complex hosts half a dozen known occurrences of magmatic pyrrhotite-pentlandite-chalcopyrite mineralization. In drill core these sulphides generally occur as disseminated zones of intercumulus to blebby sulphides that locally coalesce to form net-textured zones of sulphides enclosing silicate grains. Short intervals of vein or massive pyrrhotite, usually with varying amounts of veinlet-stringer chalcopyrite, massive graphite and blebby to massive magnetite, are spatially related to faults and zones of intense serpentine-tremolite alteration.

Drill hole 06-143 yielded visible sulphide ranging from 0 to 15 per cent. Analyses yielded total nickel values of 0.24 per cent from 150 to 187 metres as well as platinum-palladium values of 0.689 gram per tonne from 154 to 162 metres and 0.361 gram per tonne from 169 to 173 metres (Assessment Report 28840).

WORK HISTORY

In 2006, drill holes 06-141 to 06-143 were drilled by Hard Creek Nickel Corporation on the prospective Mandible zone near the northwestern extent of the Turnagain ultramafic complex. These holes were drilled to intersect several geophysical anomalies, mainly AeroTEM conductor, and to determine the nature of the ultramafic contact. Only drill hole 06-143 yielded promising values in nickel and platinum group elements (PGE).

In 2007, Hard Creek Nickel reported that holes 07-230 and 07-231 were drilled in the Mandible area in order to test targets indicated by outcrop samples, soil geochemical anomalies and total magnetic anomalies. Although hole 07-234, in the Central area, intersected a short interval of encouraging nickel grades near surface, Hard Creek Nickel declared the 2007 exploration campaign as being disappointing. It should be noted that these two holes were located within 500 hundred metres northwest of an older Davis 2 showing (104I 117) and about 1 kilometre northeast of the Mandible prospect as defined by their 2006 work. The limits of the Mandible zone defined by Hard Creek Nickel are unknown. The company also vaguely defined the "Central area", east of the "Mandible area", which may include the Highland (104I 127) and Agnes (104I 038) occurrences and possibly the DJ prospect (104I 126) to the south.

See Turnagain Nickel (104I 119) for further geological and work history details.