Drills expand Palmer South Wall, AG zones

Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. Aug. 21 reported results from four holes from this year's 10,000-meter drill program that continue to expand the South Wall and AG zones at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska.

South Wall-RW, the primary volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit outlined so far at Palmer, contains 8.1 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 5.25 percent (940.4 million pounds) zinc, 1.41 percent (252.6 million lb) copper, 0.32 g/t (83,600 ounces) gold and 31.7 g/t (8.3 million oz) silver, according to a resource calculated in 2015.

Most of this resource is located within South Wall, which consists of three mineralized zones that run nearly vertically through Mount Morlan; the balance is found in RW, a fault separated section of this same mineralization lying at the top of the mountain.

Over the three years since a resource was last calculated for the deposit, drilling has tapped new areas of copper- and zinc-rich mineralization at South Wall. The 2017 program, especially, found expansion areas that are expected to substantially increase the width and grade of mineralization along the western edge of South Wall.

Hole CMR17-97, drilled in this western expansion area last year, cut 14.5 meters grading 7.5 percent zinc, 1.9 percent copper, 66 g/t silver and 0.4 g/t gold

This year's drilling continues to expand South Wall.

Hole CMR18-108 cut 15.5 meters grading 1.6 percent copper and 4.8 percent zinc approximately 50 meters west and 50 meters down-dip of CMR17-97.

Drilling has also added 450 meters to the strike length of the AG zone, nearly doubling this silver-, zinc- and barite-rich target about 3,000 meters southwest of the South Wall-RW zone.

The discovery hole at AG cut 9.2 meters of massive barite-sulfide averaging 312 g/t silver and 0.9 g/t gold.

Further drilling at AG identified stacked strata-bound zones, including a high-grade silver-gold upper zone and a zinc-rich lower zone.

CMR18-114, the most recent hole reported from AG, cut 21.3 meters grading 0.5 g/t gold, 92 g/t silver, 1 percent zinc, 0.4 percent lead and 55 percent barite (BaSO4).

This is a 90-meter step-out from two holes reported earlier this year – CMR18-109, which cut 12.5 meters at 1.8 g/t gold, 217 g/t silver and 5.2 percent zinc; and CMR18-110, which cut 28.8 meters grading 0.5 g/t gold, 141 g/t silver, 9 percent zinc and 3.5 percent lead.

Constantine said AG remains open to further expansion along strike and to depth.

"AG Zone was discovered in 2017 and is rapidly revealing itself to be a significant new precious-metal rich massive barite-sulfide deposit with excellent size potential," said Constantine Metals President Garfield MacVeigh. "Drilling in 2018 has now doubled the AG strike-length, with ongoing exploration focused on further expansion."

This is the first batch of drill results from Palmer that includes Barite as a reportable commodity.

Earlier this month, Constantine reported that metallurgical testing demonstrates a premium-quality barite concentrate can be produced as a co-product to the copper, zinc, gold and silver this Southeast Alaska project is known for.

This work demonstrates that 91.1 percent of the barite at Palmer can be recovered in a clean high-grade concentrate with a specific gravity of 4.44.

It is estimated that the Palmer resource contains 13 to 15 percent barium by volume, which equates to roughly 22 to 25 percent barite by weight.

"These results confirm that a premium-quality barite concentrate can be produced from the copper-zinc ores at Palmer, and that it can be achieved by the addition of simple steps to mineral processing," MacVeigh said of the metallurgical results published on Aug. 13. "This may have very positive implications with the potential to both enrich gross metal value per tonne (metric ton) and provide significant environmental and operational benefits by reducing waste."

The Palmer project is being advanced by a joint venture between Constantine Metal Resources (51 percent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. (49 percent).

–SHANE LASLEY