The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - August 20, 2024
Northern lights illuminate stacks of drill core at ZincX Resources' Akie camp in Northern British Columbia.
ZincX, Teck, and Korea Zinc are exploring more than a 90-mile stretch of the zinc-enriched Kechika Trough in Northern British Columbia.
ZincX Resources Corp. Aug. 19 reported that Teck Resources Ltd. is carrying out advanced metallurgical testing of material from the Cardiac Creek zinc-lead-silver deposit on its Akie project in Northern British Columbia.
The Cardiac Creek sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) deposit hosts 22.7 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 8.32% (4.16 billion pounds) zinc, 1.61% (804 million lb) lead, and 14.1 grams per metric ton (10.3 million ounces) silver; plus 7.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 7.04% (1.17 billion lb) zinc, 1.24% (205 million lb) lead, and 12 g/t (2.9 million oz) silver.
A 2018 preliminary economic assessment for the Cardiac Creek deposit at Akie envisions a 4,000-metric-ton underground mine providing ore for a 3,000-metric-ton-per-day mill that is expected to produce 3.27 billion lb of zinc and 362 million lb of lead over an initial 18 years of mining.
ZincX, Teck, and Korea Zinc are exploring more than a 90-mile stretch of the zinc-enriched Kechika Trough in Northern British Columbia.
Akie is one of 11 zinc exploration properties held by ZincX that cover a 140-kilometer- (87 miles) long stretch of the Kechika Trough in northcentral B.C.
Under a 50-50 joint venture with Korea Zinc, Teck is advancing the Cirque zinc-lead-silver project about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) northwest of the Akie camp at Cardiac Creek.
While Teck has not published a modern resource estimate, according to a 1990s calculation, the Cirque Main deposit hosts 24.7 million metric tons of historical reserves averaging 8.5% zinc, 2.3% lead, and 50.8 g/t silver.
The Teck-Korea Zinc JV has also optioned three of ZincX's Kechika Trough properties – Cirque East, Pie, and Yuen. Combined with Cirque, these properties extend nearly 17 miles northwest of Akie. The JV also holds the Elf property on the southeast border of Akie.
"The world-class SEDEX zinc-lead-silver endowment of the Cardiac Creek deposit and the Cirque project carry significant potential for resource development in the Kechika Trough region," said ZincX Resources President and CEO Peeyush Varshney.
Earlier this year, Teck cut a deal to rent ZincX's camp at Akie to support mineral exploration in Northern B.C.
Now, Teck has sent a metallurgical team to the Akie camp to examine and select Cardiac Creek drill core for testing.
The selected samples will be sent to Teck's research facility in Trail, British Columbia or a third-party lab for metallurgical testing.
This work, which is expected to be completed by the end of November, will increase Teck's understanding of Cardiac Creek metallurgy and recoveries.
"We are pleased with Teck's continued and growing interest in ZincX's Cardiac Creek deposit," said Varshney. "I'm confident the metallurgical test work conducted by Teck will further advance the merits of the project."
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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