Drills test Palmer mine plan extensions

Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. June 27 said a drill program aimed at expanding and upgrading the zinc-copper-gold-silver-barite resources at the Palmer project in Southeast Alaska is now underway.

In early June, the company released a preliminary economic assessment for developing a mine at Palmer that is both economically robust and environmentally conscientious.

The PEA looks at a 3,500-metric-ton-per-day operation at Palmer that would produce 1.07 billion pounds of zinc, 196 million lb of copper, 18 million ounces of silver, 91,000 ounces of gold and 2.89 million metric tons of barite over an initial 11-year mine life.

This operation is based on 4.68 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.23 percent zinc, 1.49 percent copper, 30.8 grams per metric ton silver, 0.3 percent gold and 23.9 percent barite; and 9.59 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.95 percent zinc, 0.59 percent copper, 69.3 g/t silver, 0.39 g/t gold and 27.7 percent barite.

Underground mining would begin at the Palmer (Southwall-RW) deposit, which currently hosts all the indicated resource and about 56 percent of the inferred resources. During the third year of operation, AG Zone, a newly discovered deposit about 3,000 meters to the southwest, would be mined in conjunction with Palmer.

Details of the economically robust and environmentally conscientious PEA for Palmer can be read at PEA offers first look at Palmer Mine plan in the June 7 edition of North of 60 Mining News.

Looking to expand the life of the mine beyond the 11 years considered in the PEA, the 2019 program is expected to include up to 8,000 meters of drilling aimed at expanding the Palmer and AG deposits as well as testing other prospects within 2,000 meters of the mines detailed in the economic assessment.

"We are excited to build upon the very strong results of the recently completed PEA, with a focus on continuing our excellent record of discovery and resource growth at Palmer," said Constantine Metal Resources President and CEO Garfield MacVeigh. "We are particularly excited about the chance to test new regional prospects."

VMS deposits such as those found at Palmer are formed as hydrothermal fluids associated with volcanic activity leave metal and sulfide deposits on the ocean floor. When emplaced, this area is typically fairly linear and along a horizon that matches the ocean floor at the time.

Due to structural folding from subsequent tectonic activity, more than six miles (10 kilometers), the key VMS horizon stratigraphy at Palmer has been folded, resulting in a relatively compact area such that multiple deposits can potentially be accessed by a single, centrally located portal.

Outcrops of the VMS horizon, coupled with geophysics and geological observations, is assisting in identifying new prospects close to the current resources. The most promising are HG, CAP and Waterfall, situated along steep folds between the Palmer and AG deposits.

Drills will also target expansion of RW Zone, part of the Palmer deposit, and the AG deposit.

Now that the PEA is complete and encourages further advancement at Palmer, one of the next steps will be to establish the underground development that will provide a platform that will allow for drilling the deposits with the spacing needed to advance pre-feasibility and feasibility level studies.

Part of this summer's work will include the construction of surface infrastructure in support of this proposed underground development ramp and exploration drift.

Work will include portal site preparation, access road completion, and installation of waste rock and water management facilities.

Permit applications for the underground program were submitted earlier this year and are currently under review by Alaska regulatory agencies.

Continued environmental baseline and engineering work to support future economic studies is also ongoing at Palmer.

–SHANE LASLEY