The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Partners approve largest program in history of Alaska project North of 60 Mining News – April 15, 2022
Perched on the steep mountainside, this drill expands the VMS mineralization in the South Wall zone of the Palmer deposit.
This year's exploration at Palmer will test potential fault offset extensions of South Wall zone and other nearby targets.
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. April 13 announced that US$17.98 million (C$22.7 million) has been budgeted for the 2022 work at Palmer, a zinc-copper-silver-gold-barite project in Southeast Alaska.
"This is the single largest Palmer program and budget, and it will set the stage to initiate underground exploration to provide essential technical information to be included in a future feasibility study," said Constantine Metals Resources President and CEO Garfield MacVeigh.
Located near the town of Haines, Palmer hosts 4.68 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.23% (539 million pounds) zinc, 1.49% (154 million lb) copper, 30.8 grams per metric ton (4.6 million ounces) silver, 0.3 g/t (451,000 oz) gold, and 23.9% (1.12 million metric tons) barite; plus 9.59 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.95% (1.05 billion lb) zinc, 0.59% (124 million lb) copper, 69.3 g/t (120.6 million oz) silver, 0.39 g/t (21.4 million oz) gold, and 27.7% (2.65 million metric tons) barite.
A 2019 preliminary economic assessment that was updated earlier this year outlines plans for a 3,500-metric-ton-per-day mill at Palmer that would produce 1.07 billion lb of zinc, 196 million lb of copper, 18 million oz of silver, 91,000 oz of gold, and 2.89 million metric tons of barite over an initial 11-year mine life.
"It is our intention that the conceptual aspects of the current preliminary economic assessment, with its guidelines for further work, will be replaced with much more detailed on-site and off-sight studies and cost estimates in a feasibility study," said MacVeigh.
Because of the steep mountainous terrain and orientation of the volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits at Palmer, an underground exploration ramp is needed to position drills to efficiently expand and upgrade the current resource in preparation for this feasibility study and potential mine development.
Constantine Mining LLC – a joint venture between Constantine and Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd. – has approved a roughly C$18 million 2022 program that is expected to include surface exploration drilling, continued baseline environmental work, and preparation for the development of the underground ramp for future exploration and definition drilling.
To prepare for the underground development, which is expected to get underway next year, the robust 2022 program at Palmer will include:
• Completing the construction of the final kilometer (0.6 miles) of road to access the site of the portal for the exploration ramp.
• Construction of facilities for an updated wastewater discharge system related to the underground development.
• Construction of a 50- to 60-person camp to support the underground exploration activities planned for 2023.
In addition, the Palmer project partners plan to carry out a surface exploration drill program to test for the offset of South Wall, the deposit that hosts the bulk of the resources at Palmer, as well as test exploration targets such as Terminus and Jasper Mountain, which host potential thick zones of VMS mineralization that can be tested from surface but are also readily accessible from the planned underground exploration ramp.
Dowa has committed to funding the entire 2022 program, but Constantine has the option to pay its share of 2022 expenses, in whole or part, before the end of the year to minimize project dilution.
Currently, Dowa holds a roughly 54% interest in the Palmer VMS JV, with Constantine holding the balance.
Any dilution resulting from the 2022 program would be pro-rated according to each party's contributions to project expenditures and will be determined at the end of the year.
Constantine is the operator of the Palmer project and will manage the 2022 program.
CORRECTION: This article has been revised on April 18 to correctly report the 2022 budget for the Palmer project at US$17.98 million (C$22.7 million). The previous article incorrectly reported the budget at C$17.98 million (US$14.18 million).
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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