The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - June 7, 2024
Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. June 6 provided details of its plans for the 2024 exploration program across its portfolio of copper-gold projects in northcentral British Columbia, including its first-ever drilling at Chuchi.
The company's portfolio includes five porphyry copper-gold properties – Chuchi, Kliyul, Redton, RDP, and Onjo – that lie between Centerra Gold's Kemess copper-gold mine project to the northwest and the Mount Milligan mine to the southeast.
This year, the company plans to carry out 2,500 meters of drilling to test significant porphyry copper-gold potential below the depth of shallow holes historically drilled at the project, as well as geophysical surveys to help refine future drill targets at Kiyul and Redton.
Lying about 35 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of Centerra Gold's Mount Milligan Mine, Chuchi hosts several compelling exploration targets along a six-kilometer- (3.7 miles) long porphyry trend. This year's drilling at Chuchi will test the BP Zone, a target along this zone that shows the potential to host significant porphyry copper-gold mineralization below shallow historical holes that ended in mineralization.
Highlights from historical holes drilled at Chuchi include:
• 194 meters averaging 0.21% copper and 0.21 grams per metric ton gold from a depth of 32 meters in hole CH-90-27.
• 250.5 meters averaging 0.21% copper and 0.12 g/t gold from a depth of 54 meters in hole CH-90-33.
• 207.8 meters averaging 0.22% copper and 0.12 g/t gold from a depth of 54.3 meters in hole CH-90-37.
• 319.5 meters averaging 0.16% copper and 0.14 g/t gold from a depth of 91.5 meters in hole CH-19-003.
Holes CH-90-33, CH-90-37, and CH-19-003 all ended in mineralization. This year's drilling, which is slated to get underway in August, will test for a yet-to-be-discovered porphyry center below the depth of historical drilling.
"I'm very excited about the upcoming drill program because I believe, based on our exploration results, that we can extend copper-gold mineralization at Chuchi to depth," said Pacific Ridge President and CEO Blaine Monaghan.
Between now and the start of drilling at Chuchi, Pacific Ridge is going to have geophysical surveys carried out at Kiyul and Redton.
Kliyul, which lies about 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of the Kemess copper-gold mine, has been the primary focus of Pacific Ridge's exploration since 2020, including roughly 17,500 meters of drilling focused on the expansion of the Kliyul Main Zone.
Highlights from this drilling include:
• 316.7 meters averaging 0.3% copper, 0.7 g/t gold, and 2.17 g/t silver in hole KLI-21-037.
• 328 meters averaging 0.25% copper, 0.57 g/t gold, and 1.25 g/t silver in hole KLI-22-050.
• 305.5 meters averaging 0.23% copper, 0.51 g/t gold, and 1.22 g/t silver in hole KLI-23-054.
The last hole drilled last year (KLI-23-069) cut 45 meters averaging 0.38% copper, 0.28 g/t gold, and 2.2 g/t silver from a depth of 584 meters. This is the deepest mineralized interval ever encountered at Kliyul, and Pacific Ridge believes that it provides a vector for a higher-grade porphyry center at the Kliyul Main Zone (KMZ).
Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic (ZTEM) and magnetotelluric (MT) geophysical surveys scheduled to begin in July will help identify higher-grade mineralization and porphyry centers to test with future drilling.
"I'm very optimistic that the ZTEM and MT surveys will aid in the discovery of higher-grade copper-gold mineralization and a porphyry center at KMZ, and other porphyry centers within the six-kilometer-long mineralized trend at Kliyul," said Monaghan.
The company also plans to carry out an induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey to refine future drill targets at Redton, which lies about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Chuchi and adjacent to the eastern boundary of NorthWest Copper Corp.'s Kwanika copper-gold deposit.
Pacific Ridge's northcentral B.C. portfolio also includes the Onjo skarn and porphyry copper-gold project about 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Chuchi and the more advance-staged RDP copper-gold project about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Kliyul.
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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