Nordic Iron has completed its most extensive drilling program to date at Blötberget. The program comprises a total of 39 drill holes and approximately 21,000 meters of core drilling, including what preliminarily could be the best drill intersection in the history of Blötberget. The results strengthen the view of Blötberget’s potential and indicate an increase in mineral resources of approximately 20 million tonnes to a total of approximately 87 million tonnes, with the continued potential to exceed 100 million tonnes once all drill results have been included in a mineral resources estimate.
The drill program, which commenced at the end of 2024, was initially planned to comprise of 5–10 drill holes and approximately 5,500 metres of core drilling. Following several promising intersections, primarily at depth, the program was in several steps expanded in stages in order to achieve the stated objective of increasing the mineral resources by 35 million tonnes from the previous mineral resources estimate of approximately 67 million tonnes.
The drill program was based on earlier geophysical investigations conducted together with Smart Exploration Research Centre, where advanced reflection seismic surveys identified structures with potential for additional mineralisation at depth and along the strike extent of the deposit.
Deep drilling confirmed significant hematite mineralisation at depth compared with previously known ore lenses and provided a strong incentive to expand exploration activities in the area in order to determine how the deeper mineralised zones relate to the shallower mineralisation, as they differ in character.
After more than a year of largely continuous drilling at depth and across the extent of the deposit, a total of 39 drill holes and approximately 21,000 metres of core drilling have been completed. The program constitutes a central part of the development of the Blötberget project and has also resulted in what is preliminarily considered one of the best drill intersections ever recorded at Blötberget, comprising in total approximately 45 metres of massive and high-grade magnetite mineralisation at around 1,000 metres depth.
As is typical in exploration programs, some drill holes did not intersect economically significant mineralisation, particularly near surface and along the lateral extent of the deposit. The overall drilling results will now be verified through continued geological investigations, logging, sampling and laboratory chemical analysis.
Results incorporated to date indicate that mineral resources have increased by approximately 20 million tonnes to around 87 million tonnes compared with the previous estimate of approximately 67 million tonnes. All results from the autumn and winter drilling will now be included in the estimates. Nordic Iron aims to achieve a total increase of 35 million tonnes, which would imply mineral resources at Blötberget exceeding 100 million tonnes.
The continued sampling and analysis of drill cores will provide important insights for the ongoing assessment of the deposit’s size and potential.
The completion of the drill program marks an important milestone and strengthens the foundation for Nordic Iron’s continued efforts to develop Blötberget into a future producer of ultra-high-grade iron ore concentrate.