The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Joins Dowa in advancing Palmer VMS mine project in SE Alaska North of 60 Mining News – November 4, 2022
A drill targets VMS mineralization in the South Wall zone on the Palmer zinc-copper-silver-gold-barite project in Alaska.
Looking up the valley toward the deposits that make up the current resource at the Palmer project.
American Pacific Mining Corp. Oct. 31 finalized the acquisition of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., providing the well-funded exploration and development company a roughly 45% interest in Palmer, a volcanogenic massive sulfide zinc-copper-silver-gold-barite mine project being advanced under a joint venture with Dowa Metals & Mining Alaska Ltd.
"This is a transformational step for American Pacific as the Palmer Project gives us an established PEA-stage asset with a tremendous amount of exploration upside," American Pacific Mining CEO Warwick Smith said earlier this year.
Located near the community of Haines at the north end of the Southeast Alaska Panhandle, Palmer hosts two adjacent volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits with a combined 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 (21.4 million oz) silver, 0.39 g/t (120,600 oz) gold, and 27.7% (2.65 million metric tons) barite.
All the indicated resource and about half the inferred resource is in the Lookout and RW zones of the main Palmer deposit, and the balance of the inferred resource is in the nearby AG Zone deposit.
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.
American Pacific joins the Palmer project in the midst of a roughly C$18 million 2022 program that includes a 6,000-meter surface drill program, continued baseline environmental work, and preparation for the development of an exploration ramp.
The underground development will provide a platform for resource upgrades and expansion drilling ahead of prefeasibility studies currently slated for 2025.
"We are very impressed with the quality of technical work completed by Constantine and Dowa to-date and look forward to collaborating with our new partners and stakeholders to expand resources and realize the full potential of this high-grade VMS system while continuing to deliver exposure to progress and new discoveries across our existing portfolio of highly prospective past-producing exploration projects," said Warwick.
This portfolio includes Madison, which hosts a past-producing high-grade copper-gold skarn and porphyry system in Montana. Kennecott Exploration Company, the exploration arm of Rio Tinto, is currently investing US$30 million to earn a 70% joint venture interest in this project.
The Broadway Mine on the Madison property produced 144,000 oz of gold from 1880 to 1950. More recently, the Madison Mine produced 7,570 oz of gold and 3 million lb of copper from 19,803 tons of bulk sample material averaging 0.52 oz/ton gold and 25% copper extracted between 2005 and 2011.
In 2021, Kennecott Exploration completed an initial US$2.7 million program, which included 3,598 meters of drilling that identified new zones of skarn-hosted massive sulfides, highlighting the potential for bonanza-style gold mineralization.
In addition to Madison, American Pacific is exploring the high-grade Gooseberry gold-silver, Tuscarora gold, and South Lida copper-gold projects in Nevada.
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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