The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
CEM:TSX.V
Chairman: Wayne Livingstone
President & CEO: Garfield MacVeigh
VP, Exploration: Darwin Green
A partnership forged with Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. early in 2013 is providing Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. with the funds needed to expand a copper- and zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit at its Palmer project in Southeast Alaska.
In 2013, Dowa and Constantine inked a deal that provides the Tokyo-based smelting and mining company with the opportunity to earn a 49 percent stake in the Palmer project by investing US$22 million in the exploration property over a four-year span.
Under terms of the agreement, Constantine will receive annual cash payments totaling US$1.25 million over the four-year span.
This, along with any other option payments and management fees received, is allowing the company to avoid raising money in the bear market.
Through the end of 2014, Dowa had invested roughly US$10 million into Palmer.
The resulting work primarily targeted expansion of Glacier Creek, a region of the project that consists of five inter-related subzones of massive sulfide mineralization - RW East, RW West, and South Wall zones 1, 2 and 3.
The South Wall zones are parallel layers of nearly vertical VMS mineralization.
At the upper extent of South Wall, a fault cuts and folds the three layers at which point they lay nearly flat.
South Wall Zone 2 and Zone 3 are of the same age strata as two strata drilled at RW, the flat-lying limb of the deposit.
Drilling since 2013 has focused on expanding the South Wall zones.
In May, Constantine published an inferred resource of 8.125 million metric tons averaging 1.41 percent (252.6 million pounds) copper, 5.25 percent (940.4 million lbs.) zinc, 0.32 grams per metric ton (83,600 ounces) gold and 31.7 g/t (8.3 million oz) silver for Palmer.
This is a 97 percent expansion of the deposit since 2010, the last time a resource was calculated for the Glacier Creek deposit.
Dowa invested another US$5 million into the VMS project this year.
This funding supported a 6,000-meter drill program aimed at expanding the deposit by continuing to trace South Wall down the mountain, where the thickest portion of the deposit is located.
Constantine believes the thickening trend of the deposit in this direction, along with mineral zoning and borehole geophysical data, support the potential for a copper-rich core zone within a target located below a fault.
This offset target, and extensions of the thick South Wall electromagnetic plate resource, represents the priority target areas for the 2015 drill program.
Other work planned for the 2015 season includes borehole geophysical surveys, and environmental and geotechnical studies.
Constantine also noted that a significant portion of the deposit is barite, which could offer multiple benefits for the potential development of the project.
First, unlike pyrite, barite is a stable sulfur-bearing mineral that is not prone to acid rock drainage.
Second, the mineral sells for more than US$100 per ton, providing the potential for selling a product that would normally be sent to tailings.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States imports 79 percent of its barite, most of which comes from China.
The resource area at Palmer is estimated to consist of roughly 14 percent barite by volume or about 24 percent by weight, making the Southeast Alaska project a potential domestic source for the mineral.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$1.4 million (July 31, 2015)
Working capital: C$453,965 (July 31, 2015)
Market capitalization: C$12.9 million (Sept. 23, 2015)
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