Cantex taps more high-grade zinc, silver

Cantex Mine Development Corp. Sept. 5 reported that this year's drilling at its North Rackla project in the Yukon continues to cut massive sulfide zones rich in zinc, lead, manganese and silver.

Prospecting, sampling and trenching carried out by Cantex during the 2014-16 seasons showed the potential of the Discovery zone at North Rackla but the real excitement began with the spectacular mineralization tapped during the 2018 drilling into a new zone known as Extension.

Highlights from the 2018 drilling include:

• 9.19 meters averaging 18.04 percent zinc, 8.09 percent lead, 3.67 percent manganese and 150.6 grams per metric ton silver in hole YKDD18-012, including 3.54 meters of 35.36 percent zinc, 14.01 percent lead, 3.07 percent manganese and 277.8 g/t silver;

• 7.1 meters of 23.12 percent zinc, 6.04 percent lead, 1.58 percent manganese and 158 g/t silver in YKDD18-013, including 3.24 meters of 40.24 percent zinc, 7.43 percent lead, 1.76 percent manganese and 207.5 g/t silver; and

• 9.3 meters of 10.97 percent zinc, 7.33 percent lead, 4.7 percent manganese and 122.6 g/t silver in YKDD18-014.

The focus of a roughly 17,000-meter drill program being carried out this year is focused on extending this mineralization along strike.

So far, Cantex has completed 14,000 meters of drilling in 62 holes along a 760-meter stretch of Massive Sulfide, a 2,400-meter-long zone that encompasses the Discovery and Extension subzones.

The company said its extremely encouraged from the initial results it has received from this drilling.

Highlights from the initial 2019 results include:

• 26.5 meters (16.3 meters true-width) averaging 2.44 percent zinc, 3.1 percent lead, 4.09 percent manganese and 153.57 g/t silver in hole YKDD19-040;

• 28.3 meters (14.2 meters true-width) averaging 12.37 percent zinc, 9.34 percent lead, 3.05 percent manganese and 113.96 g/t silver in hole YKDD19-042, including three meters of 41.43 percent zinc, 10.73 percent lead, 1.41 percent manganese and 213.33 g/t silver; and

• 22.6 meters (8.5 meters true-width) averaging 4.9 percent zinc, 8.2 percent lead, 3.2 percent manganese and 48.2 g/t silver in hole YKDD19-043, including 1.1 meters of 3.72 percent zinc, 49.3 percent lead, 1.99 percent manganese and 235.4 g/t silver.

Cantex Mine Development said massive sulfides were logged in another 10 holes for which assays are pending. This drilling is confirming the continuity of the high-grade massive sulfide mineralization along strike and to depth.

–SHANE LASLEY