North of 60 Mining News - May 10, 2024
Cascadia Minerals Ltd. May 9 announced the first phase of its 2024 exploration program will include 1,200 meters of drilling and comprehensive property-wide prospecting, mapping, and soil sampling on the company's flagship Catch copper-gold project in Yukon, Canada, as well as inaugural exploration at others.
Located in an underexplored part of southcentral Yukon, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Carmacks, Catch is a 117-square-kilometer (45 square miles) property prospective for significant porphyry copper-gold mineralization.
Kicking off its first full year as a reborn copper explorer, Cascadia Minerals (formerly ATAC Resources Ltd.) has launched into a strategic year aimed at truly tapping into the prospective targets that host the orange metal vital to the clean energy future.
"We're very excited to embark on our Yukon exploration program for the 2024 season," said Cascadia President and CEO Graham Downs. "Last year we successfully made a significant new copper-gold porphyry discovery at Catch in our inaugural diamond drilling program, and we look forward to drilling meaningful step-out holes this season."
Last year, Cascadia conducted the inaugural diamond drilling program at Catch, a property the company optioned at the onset of 2022. This program immediately confirmed a significant new copper-gold porphyry discovery at the Spark Zone (formerly Diorite Zone).
Two holes were completed at this target, both of which encountered mineralization – hole CA-23-002 cut 116.6 meters averaging 0.31% copper and 0.3 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 356 meters, and CA-23-001 cut 45.83 meters averaging 0.3% copper and 0.15 g/t gold from surface.
"The closest historical diamond drilling to Catch is 50 kilometers away, confirming this is a brand-new discovery in an area that has been previously overlooked," said Downs. "We have also applied the Catch discovery model to other areas within Yukon's Stikine Terrane and have already staked two new projects as a result."
Called Mack's and Milner, these properties are the newest additions to Cascadia's growing portfolio.
Located 44 kilometers (27 miles) south of Carmacks, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Klondike Highway and grid power, Mack's is a 75-square-kilometer (29 square miles) copper project that maintains a historic road to the site and is located within a similar geological setting as Catch.
Work in 2023 included the collection of 118 rock samples, 38 soil samples, and 38 silt samples, as well as the compilation and digitization of historical work within the property's boundary.
One of the highlights from this work included the collection of rock samples that returned 3.31% copper, 1.23 g/t gold, 90.6 g/t silver, and 0.9% lead from quartz veins within a basalt outcrop on the western portion of the property.
Further, an outcrop on the northeastern portion of the property returned 0.68% copper, 0.31 g/t gold, and 6.9 g/t silver in an area with no known documented historical exploration.
Crews also sampled 0.18% copper, 0.37 g/t gold, 40 g/t silver, and 12.7 parts per million molybdenum from subcrop in the southeastern part of the property within a historical copper-in-soil anomaly with historical rock samples returning up to 3% copper, 1.28 g/t gold, and 59.2 g/t silver.
These results, combined with the synthesis of historical work and regional geophysics, have identified multiple promising targets for copper-gold porphyry mineralization across the property, which will see follow-up mapping, prospecting, and soil sampling in 2024.
Located 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Whitehorse, adjacent to the Livingstone placer gold camp, Milner is a 44-square-kilometer (17 square miles) prospect that is accessible by a large preexisting gravel airstrip on claims and a network of winter roads that extend from Whitehorse.
Work in 2023 included the collection of 76 rock samples, 80 soil samples, and three silt samples. Rock samples from a large undocumented gossan on the eastern portion of the property yielded numerous anomalous results, with a highlight sample returning 0.45% copper, 0.24 g/t gold, 6 g/t silver, and 34 ppm molybdenum.
A sample from the central part of the property returned 0.38% copper and 0.22 g/t gold from a quartz vein float sample.
The 2024 exploration program will include broad property-wide grid soil sampling, as well as focused prospecting in areas of anomalous 2023 soil and prospecting results or regional geophysical features.
While inaugural exploration programs are slated for Mack's and Milner, Cascadia is also aiming for grassroots exploration at Sands of Time, a property adjacent to Western Copper and Gold's Casino project that hosts two large molybdenum-copper soil anomalies.
This year's exploration at Sands of Time will focus on two areas – the NE target – adjacent to Casino – and the Amoco target, where historical drilling returned grades similar to the leached cap at Casino.
So, while primary drilling will be undertaken at Catch, Cascadia has booked a comprehensive and widespread year. The company says that drilling is scheduled to commence on May 15.
"We look forward to advancing these properties to the drill discovery stage as well, utilizing the same systematic and rapid exploration methodology conducted at Catch," finished Downs.
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