Niblack breaks ground on Southeast Alaska underground program

Niblack Mining Corp. Sept. 20 announced the start of portal construction and tunneling at its copper-zinc-gold-silver Niblack Project in southeast Alaska.

Niblack Mining, a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior exploration company, is pursuing an advanced underground exploration project at Niblack, which is located off Moira Sound on southeastern Prince of Wales Island about 30 miles southwest of Ketchikan

The underground program, which will cover 6,000 feet of tunnel development, is designed to provide drill access to areas beneath gold-rich base metal mineralization in the project's Lookout Zone. The underground work also will provide a platform to explore the Mammoth Zone, and new zones of massive sulphide mineralization covering more than a mile of prospects. Drilling at the Mammoth Zone, located near the portal entrance, is scheduled to begin before year's end, and will be followed by drilling at the Lookout Zone in the spring.

"The commencement of the underground (construction) program is a key part of our short-term strategy for the expansion of the Lookout Zone," said Niblack President Paddy Nicol. "Over the next 18 to 24 months, it is our objective to define a mineable ore deposit at Niblack."

The project is expected to require two years of development work, including a marine access and camp barge facility on adjacent state-owned tide and submerged lands. An access road, portal, and waste rock storage and disposal areas are also envisioned for the project, but will be confined to private property, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Land, Mining & Water.