The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Drilling affirms robust nature, expands potential of deposit North of 60 Mining News – April 22, 2022
Ambler Metals drilled 18 holes to upgrade a portion of the indicated resources at Arctic to the measured category, as well as provide material for metallurgical testing and geotechnical information for this Northwest Alaska mine project.
Click on the image for a larger version of the cross-section from holes AR21-0180, AR21-0183, and AR21-0190 at Arctic.
Trilogy Metals Inc. April 20 reported that high-grade copper and zinc, reinforced with strong gold and silver, was cut in all the final nine holes from the 2021 drill program at the Arctic mine project in Northwest Alaska.
Arctic is the most advanced deposit on the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, a 448,217-acre mineral-rich land package being advanced by Ambler Metals LLC, a joint venture company equally owned by Trilogy Metals and South32 Ltd.
Arctic is a volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit at UKMP that hosts 36 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 3.07% (2.44 billion pounds) copper, 4.23% (3.36 billion lb) zinc, 0.73% (541 million lb) lead, 0.63 grams per metric ton (730,000 oz) gold, and 47.6 g/t (55 million oz) silver.
Last year, Ambler Metals carried out an 18-hole (4,131 meters) diamond drill program designed to upgrade a portion of the indicated resources at Arctic to the higher confidence measured category, as well as provide material for metallurgical testing and geotechnical information.
Trilogy previously reported assays from nine of the infill holes that cut through the stacked layers of high-grade VMS mineralization at Arctic. All nine of the holes included in this latest batch of assays cut the impressive grades Arctic is known for. Highlights include:
• Hole AR21-0178 cut six mineralized intervals, including 4.6 meters averaging 3.53% copper, 1.37% zinc, 0.1% lead, 0.13 g/t gold, and 18.33 g/t silver from a depth of 175.7 meters.
• Hole AR21-0180 cut eight mineralized intervals, including 8.9 meters averaging 2.2% copper, 2.55% zinc, 0.46% lead, 0.39 g/t gold, and 34.61 g/t silver from 145.3 meters; and 7.07 meters averaging 2.38% copper, 1.27% zinc, 0.24% lead, 0.09 g/t gold, and 18.28 g/t silver from 165 meters.
• Hole AR21-0183 cut three mineralized intervals, including 7.1 meters averaging 7.1% copper, 6.51% zinc, 0.38% lead, 0.19 g/t gold, and 54.97 g/t silver from 200.9 meters.
• Hole AR21-0185 cut four mineralized intervals, including 7.47 meters averaging 4.28% copper, 6.71% zinc, 1.26% lead, 0.37 g/t gold, and 58.17 g/t silver from 121.8 meters.
• Hole AR21-0186 cut seven mineralized intervals, including 10.07 meters averaging 3.53% copper, 2.31% zinc, 0.38% lead, 0.59 g/t gold, and 59.4 g/t silver from a depth of 109.4 meters; 21.18 meters averaging 2.74% copper, 3.45% zinc, 0.89% lead, 0.88 g/t gold, and 45.02 g/t silver from a depth of 124.7 meters; and 6.68 meters averaging 3.18% copper, 3.24% zinc, 0.78% lead, 0.65 g/t gold, and 68.99 g/t silver from a depth of 193.6 meters.
• Hole AR21-0187 cut three mineralized intervals, including 6.83 meters averaging 6.57% copper, 9.69% zinc, 1.58% lead, 0.78 g/t gold, and 86.95 g/t silver from a depth of 84 meters.
• Hole AR21-0189 cut two mineralized intervals, including 10.42 meters averaging 6.78% copper, 13.14% zinc, 2.36% lead, 0.42 g/t gold, and 102.65 g/t silver from a depth of 51.6 meters.
• Hole AR21-0190 cut six mineralized intervals, including 2.08 meters averaging 10.18% copper, 9.46% zinc, 1.53% lead, 4.51 g/t gold, and 138.92 g/t silver from a depth of 134.2 meters; 19.5 meters averaging 4.75% copper, 7.83% zinc, 2.04% lead, 1.12 g/t gold, and 87.93 g/t silver from a depth of 141.1 meters; and 13.89 meters averaging 3.46% copper, 2.86% zinc, 0.1% lead, 0.26 g/t gold, and 25.65 g/t silver from a depth of 185.5 meters.
"These latest drilling results serve to reinforce that the Arctic deposit is truly unique given the very high grades and consistency of mineralization within the metalliferous horizons," said Trilogy Metals President and CEO Tony Giardini.
A 2020 feasibility study for developing a mine at Arctic details a financially robust operation that would produce 1.9 billion lb of copper, 2.3 billion lb of zinc, 388 million lb of lead, 386,000 oz of gold, and 40.6 million oz of silver over an initial 12-year mine life.
The 2021 drill program not only bolsters the confidence in the reserves that support the feasibility study but show the stacked layers of high-grade VMS mineralization extend beyond what is currently considered in the mine plan.
"Besides providing important geotechnical data and increasing the certainty of future resource estimates, the 2021 drill program at Arctic found mineralization extending beyond the pit boundary used in the 2020 Arctic Feasibility Study, and from an exploration perspective, shows Zones 3, 4 and 5 are open at shallower depths to the north," said Trilogy Metals Vice President of Exploration Richard Gosse.
Optimization of the Arctic feasibility study and the initiation of permitting for this high-grade copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver project is expected by mid-year.
"The polymetallic nature of the Arctic deposit, and the exploration upside in the surrounding 181,000-hectare land package, truly makes this an exceptional project which, we believe, has the potential to play a significant role in supplying the United States economy with a domestic stable, environmentally safe supply of critical and green metals for many years," said Giardini.
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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