The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Assays confirm continuity of high-grade zones of VMS orebody North of 60 Mining News - January 25, 2023
Drill crews completed 10,738 meters of drilling during the 2022 season at Ambler Metals' Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects.
Click on image for larger Arctic deposit cross-section.
Trilogy Metals Inc. Jan. 25 reported that consistent high-grade intercepts from its 2022 infill drill program at Arctic confirm the continuity of high-grade copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver mineralization within this volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit within the famed Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska.
"As expected, the 2022 infill drill program continues to yield high grades of copper, zinc and precious metals, demonstrating the continuity of the high-grade zones of these metals at Arctic," said Trilogy Metals president and CEO Tony Giardini.
Arctic is the most advanced deposit within the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, a 448,217-acre land package that includes Arctic and more than a dozen similar VMS targets on state lands, plus the world-class Bornite copper-cobalt deposit and similar carbonate-hosted prospects on land owned by the Northwest Alaska Native regional corporation, NANA Corp.
A 2020 feasibility study for developing a mine at Arctic details a financially robust operation that would produce 1.9 billion pounds of copper, 2.3 billion lb of zinc, 388 million lb of lead, 386,000 ounces of gold, and 40.6 million oz of silver over an initial 12-year mine life.
This operation is based on 43 million metric tons of reserves averaging 2.32% copper, 3.24% zinc, 0.57% lead, 0.49 grams per metric ton gold, and 36 g/t silver.
The 10,738-meter drill program at UKMP included 8,376 meters at Arctic, the most ever drilled at this advance staged mine project in a single field season.
In November, Trilogy reported assays from four infill and three geotechnical holes drilled at Arctic in 2022; highlights include:
• 9.63 meters averaging 3.58% copper, 5.89% zinc, 1.07% lead, 0.32 g/t gold, and 53.5 g/t silver in hole AR22-0192.
• 5.55 meters averaging 3.84% copper, 7.4% zinc, 1.37% lead, 0.36 g/t gold, and 63.7 g/t silver in hole AR22-0195.
The latest batch of assays are from eight infill and two geotechnical holes drilled at Arctic; highlights include:
• 6.72 meters averaging 3.4% copper, 3.26% zinc, 0.48% lead, 0.36 g/t gold, and 32.7 g/t silver in hole AR22-0201.
• 5.03 meters averaging 3.57% copper, 4.46% zinc, 0.69% lead, 0.35 g/t gold, and 33.1 g/t silver in hole AR22-0204.
• 4.66 meters averaging 3.22% copper, 3.22% zinc, 0.28% lead, 0.19 g/t gold, and 28.9 g/t silver in hole AR22-0213.
• 8.24 meters averaging 3.19% copper, 10.04% zinc, 2.5% lead, 0.71 g/t gold, and 72.4 g/t silver in hole AR22-0215.
• 3.03 meters averaging 4.7% copper, 5.47% zinc, 1.35% lead, 0.64 g/t gold, and 56.7 g/t silver in hole AR22-0232.
• 10 meters averaging 3.73% copper, 2.54% zinc, 0.42% lead, 0.07 g/t gold, and 48 g/t silver in hole AR22-0237.
"We are pleased with these additional infill drill results where grades and thicknesses continue to compare well with our resource model," said Trilogy Metals Vice President of Exploration Richard Gosse. "It is very encouraging to see the model perform so well, especially as these infill holes are designed to test areas that were identified as having the potential for greater variance."
In addition to Arctic, the 2022 program at UKMP included 2,363 meters in seven holes targeting copper-rich satellite prospects along the VMS belt that hosts Arctic and the Cosmos Hills area of UKMP, which is related to the Bornite copper-cobalt deposit.
Located about 16 miles (26 kilometers) southwest of Arctic, Bornite hosts 41.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.04% (955 million lb) copper; and 144 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.68% (5.33 billion lb) copper.
The deposit also hosts 88 million lb of cobalt in 184.8 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.021% cobalt.
"The assay lab is going full steam ahead as we anticipate an ongoing flow of results in the near future, not only from Arctic but also from the nearby Ambler Belt and Cosmos Hills areas," 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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