The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Prep for large 2024 drill program on BC copper-gold project North of 60 Mining News – October 27, 2023
Amarc and Freeport have identified multiple porphyry copper-gold targets hidden under thin glacial cover at the Joy project in Northern British Columbia's Toodoggone mining district.
Amarc Resources Ltd. Oct. 26 announced the completion of a 2023 geophysical and sampling program at Joy in preparation for an extensive Freeport-McMoRan-funded 2024 drill program on this large copper-gold project in the Toodoggone mining district of Northern British Columbia.
Lying between Thesis Gold Inc.'s Lawyers gold-silver project to the northwest and Centerra Gold's Kemess copper-gold project to the southeast, the 482-square-kilometer (186 square miles) Joy property covers a 15.5-kilometer (9.6 miles) trend of porphyry copper-gold deposits and targets.
The most advanced target is Pine, a 2,500-meter-long porphyry body that remains open.
Highlights from historical drilling at Pine include:
• 37.4 meters averaging 0.22% copper, 1.35 grams per metric ton gold, and 1.14 g/t silver in hole 80-07.
• 30.1 meters averaging 0.21% copper, 1.12 g/t gold, and 0.7 g/t silver in hole 92-38.
• 35.2 meters averaging 0.21% copper, 1.51 g/t gold, and 1.3 g/t silver in hole 92-40.
Historical drilling at the MEX target about 3,000 meters east of Pine has encountered similar mineralization. This includes 32 meters averaging 0.17% copper, 0.41 g/t gold, 2.7 g/t silver, and 0.004% molybdenum in hole M05-01.
Exploration by Amarc has identified seven large high-potential porphyry copper-gold exploration areas at Joy, most of which host multiple targets.
In 2021, Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. entered into an agreement to earn up to 60% interest in Joy by investing C$35 million (US$25.3 million) in exploration at Joy over five years, with the option to earn an additional 10% by funding another C$75 million over the following five years.
In 2021 and 2022, Freeport invested C$19.9 million (US$14.4 million) into comprehensive drilling and surface exploration programs that expanded Pine and made a new porphyry copper-gold discovery about 4,000 meters to the southwest called Canyon.
Highlights from 2022 drilling at Pine include:
• 204 meters averaging 0.18% copper, 0.41 g/t gold, and 2.3 g/t silver in hole JP22010.
• 105 meters averaging 0.13% copper, 0.47 g/t gold, and 2.3 g/t silver in hole JP22013.
• 179 meters averaging 0.11% copper, 0.36 g/t gold, and 1.2 g/t silver in hole JP22017.
One 2022 hole drilled into the Canyon discovery cut 296 meters averaging 0.3% copper, 0.14 g/t gold, and 1.7 g/t silver.
The 2023 program at Joy involved extensive airborne geophysical survey and surface exploration focused on refining multiple porphyry copper-gold deposit targets clustered along mineralized trends across the district-scale Joy property.
The surveys carried out this year included:
• 638 line-kilometers of airborne magnetotelluric (MT) geophysics.
• 30 square kilometers of ground-based MT geophysics.
• 72.5 line-kilometers of induced polarization ground geophysics.
• 465 kilometers of geological survey traverses.
• Collection of 769 systematic rock chip samples.
• 1,788 soil samples collected from grids.
The results from this work will help refine targets for a 2024 drill campaign at Joy. To provide surface access for future drilling, Amarc worked with Chu Cho Industries LP, a Tsay Keh Dene First Nation business, to rehabilitate exploration trails and bridges to the Pine deposit.
"The Amarc team continues to capitalize on our collaborative relationship with Freeport, and pool our expertise with the goal of efficiently unlocking value across the extensive 482 km2 JOY District," said Amarc Resources President and CEO Diane Nicolson. "As the company looks forward to a significant drill exploration program in 2024, we believe there is a real opportunity to make multiple, significant copper-gold deposit discoveries delivering an active and exciting year for our shareholders, contractors and local communities."
The 2024 program, which will be funded by Freeport and operated by Amarc, is slated to get underway in early June.
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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