お知らせ • Feb 18
Viridian Metals Inc. Confirms Basin-Scale Plumbing Systems and Copper-Bearing Chemical Traps At the Sedna Project
Viridian Metals Inc. demonstrates extensive sediment-hosted copper mineralization within the Seal Basin is driven by a deeply rooted, crustal-scale plumbing network beneath the Sedna Project in Labrador, Canada. By integrating newly acquired magnetotelluric (“MT”) data with detailed surface mapping, Viridian has defined the geological architecture underpinning this district-scale mineralizing system, comparable to that of major sediment-hosted copper districts globally. This framework outlines the deep-seated structural foundation of a basin long recognized for copper mineralization, linking fluid sources at depth to favourable horizons at surface and confirming the structural basis of an emerging copper district. MT data has imaged deeply rooted, north-south oriented breaks interpreted as deep-rooted structural breaks. These structures likely served as primary "highways" for transporting copper-rich fluids from depth, while surface mapping and satellite imagery define laterally extensive east-west structural corridors traceable for over 100 km. Viridian has delineated copper-bearing reduced horizons extending over tens of kilometres at favourable stratigraphic levels. These horizons represent laterally extensive reductant traps capable of trapping copper from fluids. Fine-grained, disseminated chalcopyrite (copper), not visible in hand specimen, explains why this style of mineralization was overlooked by historical exploration and is characteristic of large sediment-hosted copper systems. Sedna covers >2,600 km² and secures the majority of the basin, placing it among the largest contiguous exploration projects in Canada and enabling systematic basin-wide targeting. The MT survey imaged deeply rooted, lithosphere-penetrating structures extending for tens of kilometres vertically beneath the basin, confirming the presence of crustal-scale fluid pathways and validating a key component of Viridian’s copper exploration thesis. These results culminate a year-long, basin-scale exploration program focused on evaluating the fundamental controls on fluid flow, metal transport, and deposition across the project area. The lateral extent of fluid pathways within the basin is independently constrained by regional structural mapping and satellite imagery analysis, which identify laterally extensive east–west–oriented structural corridors traceable for more than 100 kilometres at surface across the Sedna Project and broader basin. These shallow structures occur largely at a high angle to the deeply rooted north–south–oriented features imaged by MT, defining a vertically layered and geometrically complex plumbing system that provides multiple opportunities for fluid focusing and fluid–rock interaction. Over the past year, Viridian has advanced the Sedna Project through a systematic exploration program integrating regional structural analysis, stratigraphic interpretation, basin-wide lithogeochemistry, remote sensing, and deep-penetrating geophysics. The MT survey represents a critical step in this workflow, confirming that the basin is underlain by deeply rooted plumbing systems capable of sourcing and transporting copper-bearing fluids from basement into receptive basin stratigraphy. Newly identified copper occurrences confirm the fertility of these reduced units. Ongoing work is directed toward delineating their intersections with deep structural corridors, representing high-priority targets within the evolving district-scale mineralizing framework. The presence of disseminated chalcopyrite within horizons extending beyond structural zones demonstrates that the system is fertile throughout the basin and that mineralization is not restricted to discrete or localized targets. The scale of the Sedna Project, encompassing more than 2,600 km² and securing dominant control over the Seal Basin, allows Viridian to assess the basin as a coherent mineral system. This approach has led to the recognition of both the vertically extensive plumbing architecture required to transport mineralizing fluids through the crust and the presence of laterally extensive chemical traps capable of precipitating copper once those fluids enter the basin. Together, these results confirm that the fundamental ingredients for a major sediment-hosted copper district are present and spatially associated within the project area. Viridian has initiated the permitting process to establish access infrastructure within the Sedna Project, including construction of a trail and a central staging area to support follow-up exploration. Initial access is intended to focus on the Kendall target area, where structural mapping has identified a copper-bearing structure traced over approximately 600 metres of strike length. In parallel, the Company is defining the technical parameters for a basin-scale airborne geophysical survey aimed at tracing reduced stratigraphic horizons across the basin and identifying where they intersect major plumbing structures considered high-priority targets for focused follow-up exploration. MT data over the Sedna Project were collected and processed by Moombarriga Canada Inc., who were engaged by the Company to acquire, process, and complete two-dimensional and three-dimensional inversions of the dataset. The survey was completed in fall 2025 using Phoenix instrumentation over a frequency range of 10,000 to 0.001 Hz. A total of 71 MT stations were acquired across the Seal Basin. Data were edited to remove low-quality points and interpolated prior to inversion to ensure consistent frequency coverage. Three-dimensional inversions were performed using the Viridien (formerly CGG) RLM3D inversion algorithm (Mackie & Madden, 1993) within the Geotools software suite. A two-step inversion approach was applied to refine conductivity contrasts and enhance structural resolution at depth. Multiple model domains were evaluated to test structural continuity and robustness. The preferred Sedna 3D inversion model achieved a normalized root-mean-square (nRMS) misfit value of approximately 1.6, indicating a strong correlation between observed and modeled responses and supporting the overall quality and reliability of the dataset. Moombarriga concluded that the preferred inversion results provide reliable resolution of both deep crustal structures and near-surface conductivity variations within areas of survey coverage.