The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - July 5, 2024
Known as the Payback South Boulder, this massive chalcocite sample was collected from Epworth by the founder of Emerald Geological Services during the 1990s and averages 61% copper and 5,600 g/t silver.
Located in the Kitikmeot Region of eastern Nunavut, Epworth lies about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of tidewater and 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. June 27 reported that it is gearing up for an exploration program focused on defining drill targets at Epworth, a western Nunavut property that covers a roughly 46-mile- (74 kilometers) trend of high-grade copper mineralization reminiscent of the deposits in the Central African Copper Belt.
Located in the Kitikmeot Region of eastern Nunavut, Epworth lies about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of tidewater and 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
The sediment-hosted copper mineralization at this project about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of Kugluktuk, a Nunavut village formerly called Coppermine, also shares similar traits to Storm Copper, a high-grade sediment-hosted copper project in northern Nunavut that Aston Bay optioned to American West Metals Ltd.
Copper mineralization was discovered at Epworth by a bush pilot flying over the project during the 1940s. Noranda Mining and Exploration carried out exploration, including around 2,000 meters of drilling, at the project during the 1990s. The best intercepts from the very shallow holes drilled at Epworth at that time returned 10.4% copper over 0.9 meters, 0.3% copper over eight meters, and 18.4% copper and 302 grams per metric ton silver over 0.3 meters.
Surface exploration during the 1990s discovered a chalcocite boulder lying on the surface that assayed at 61.2% copper.
Recent prospecting rock grab samples have returned grades as high as 37.8% copper, 24.7% zinc, 1,100 g/t silver, 3 g/t gold, and 0.17% (1,700 parts per million) cobalt.
"The classic tale of exploration starts with high grade mineralization found at surface, then chased up with geological mapping and geophysical surveys that point to the drill targets leading to significant discovery at depth. That is how the major copper deposits of Central Africa were discovered, and that is our playbook for Epworth," said Aston Bay CEO Thomas Ullrich. "We have impressive copper, silver, zinc and cobalt grades at the surface and are excited to begin the geophysical surveys and surface work to develop drill targets this season."
In preparation for discovery drilling, this year's program will include a 5,000 line-kilometer helicopter-borne time-domain electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic geophysical survey slated to get underway this month.
EM surveys have shown a strong correlation with the sediment-hosted copper mineralization at Storm and have proven to be an effective drill targeting tool at that Nunavut project that shares many similarities with Epworth.
Aston Bay says the high-resolution magnetic and EM datasets acquired through careful survey design and flight parameters will enhance structural understanding and refine exploration targets identified through sampling and mapping.
While geophysics are being flown overhead, newly appointed technical advisor Elizabeth Turner will be leading a property-wide mapping and sampling program. Turner has extensive experience and expertise with sediment-hosted copper deposits in Africa and Canada.
Emerald Geological Services, which provided Aston Bay with an option to earn up to an 80% interest in Epworth by investing C$3 million in exploration within four years, is managing the 2024 exploration.
"Emerald Geological Services is excited to implement the 2024 field program in pursuing critical and precious metal discoveries, 30 years following the discovery of the chalcocite boulder (61.2% copper, 5,600 parts per million silver) by EGS' founder," said EGS CEO Bruce MacLachlan.
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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