The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - August 30, 2024
The Aurora Borealis put on a spectacular show above a drill testing the Palmer copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit in Alaska.
A Tamarack Geological Services technician logs core from 2024 drilling at the Palmer VMS deposit.
American Pacific Mining Corp. Aug. 29 announced the completion of the drilling portion of a $12.8 million (C$17.5 million) exploration and development program budgeted for the Palmer copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Southeast Alaska.
"We are delighted to have completed another successful exploration program with zero incidents or injuries throughout the summer," said American Pacific Mining Senior Vice President of Advanced Projects Peter Mercer.
Located at the north end of the Southeast Alaska Panhandle, Palmer hosts 4.68 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 5.23% (539 million lb) zinc, 1.49% (154 million lb) copper, 30.8 grams per metric ton (4.6 million oz) silver, and 0.3 g/t (451,000 oz) gold; plus 9.59 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.95% (1.05 billion lb) zinc, 0.59% (124 million lb) copper, 69.3 g/t (21.4 million oz) silver, and 0.39 g/t (120,600 oz) gold.
All the indicated resources and just over half of the inferred resources are located in the main Palmer deposit, which is comprised of the RW and South Wall zones, with the balance of the inferred resource hosted in the nearby AG Zone.
This year's program, carried out under a joint venture between American Pacific (32%) and Dowa Metals & Mining Company Ltd. (68%), focused on building upon the success of the 2023 drilling, which cut four of the most significant copper intercepts ever encountered at Palmer.
A Tamarack Geological Services technician logs core from 2024 drilling at the Palmer VMS deposit.
Highlights from the 2023 drill program include:
• 30.7 meters averaging 2.59% copper, 11.21% zinc, 0.3 g/t gold, and 28.5 g/t silver in hole CMR23-162B.
• 37.1 meters averaging 4.57% copper, 8.44% zinc, 0.5 g/t gold, and 29.3 g/t silver in hole CMR23-167.
• 33.2 meters averaging 5.48% copper, 7.22% zinc, 0.64 g/t gold, and 36.8 g/t silver in hole CMR23-169.
• 23.9 meters averaging 9.03% copper, 3.49% zinc, 0.83 g/t gold, and 41.8 g/t silver in hole CMR23-171.
• 43.8 meters averaging 6.54% copper, 3.15% zinc, 0.42 g/t gold, and 28 g/t silver in hole CMR23-172.
American Pacific and Dowa originally planned to drill 14 holes, primarily targeting the expansion of the high-grade copper mineralization of the South Wall Zone 1 and Zone 2. Based on positive visual observations and real-time modeling updates, however, the partners expanded the program to 19 holes.
In addition to 13 holes, plus three that were recollared, at South Wall, the 2024 drill program included three exploration holes at North Wall, a potential fault offset extension of South Wall.
"We have seen significant improvements in diamond drilling productivity year over year, which will have a significant impact on the planning and implementation of future programs," said Mercer.
Assays are pending from all of the holes drilled this year at Palmer.
"We look forward to publishing results in the coming weeks and months," the American Pacific VP added.
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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