The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - September 24, 2024
The 2024 field program at Schaft Creek included six geotechnical holes drilled to fill gaps ahead in preparation for finalizing a prefeasibility study for a mine at the large porphyry copper project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
Tahltan Nation Development Corp. and Solvest installed this solar array at Schaft Creek in 2023.
Copper Fox Metals Inc. Sept. 24 reported that Teck Resources Ltd. has completed the 2024 field program at the Schaft Creek copper-gold-silver-molybdenum project in Northern British Columbia.
Being advanced under a joint venture between Teck (75%) and Copper Fox (25%), Schaft Creek hosts a large porphyry deposit containing 1.35 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.26% (7.76 billion pounds) copper, 0.17 grams per metric ton (7 million ounces) gold, 1.25 g/t (54.3 million oz) silver, and 0.017% (510.6 million lb) molybdenum.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) prepared for Copper Fox in 2021 outlined plans for a 133,000-metric-ton-per-day mill and open pit mine at Schaft Creek that is forecast to produce roughly 5 billion lb of copper, 3.7 million oz of gold, 226 million lb of molybdenum, and 16.4 million oz of silver over 21 years of mining.
This year's C$18.7 million (US$13.8 million) program, which is being funded and operated by Teck, is focused on collecting the data needed to finalize a prefeasibility study (PFS) for this project about 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Newmont's Red Chris copper-gold mine.
The field portion of this program included 2,472 meters of geotechnical drilling to confirm key aspects of the open pit design, as well as continuing environmental baseline studies in alignment with Tahltan Nation's cultural and social traditions.
"The field portion of the 2024 program for the Schaft Creek project was completed mid-September," said Copper Fox Metals CEO Elmer Stewart. "The program provided additional information in the areas where geotechnical data gaps existed and extended the mineralization in the Schaft Creek deposit to the north."
To fill in the gaps, Teck drilled six geotechnical holes in various places across the deposit. Three of these holes cut significant intervals of porphyry-style mineralization, including one hole that extended a portion of the deposit about 250 meters to the north.
With the fieldwork complete, the JV partners are awaiting results from an ongoing metallurgical testing that is expected to optimize the operation outlined in the 2021 PEA when it comes to the mill design, capital expenditures, and throughput.
Tahltan Nation Development Corp. and Solvest installed this solar array at Schaft Creek in 2023.
"The results of the metallurgical testwork program are critically important to surfacing additional value in the project and could also have potential positive implications on the project's mill design," said Stewart. "Preliminary indications from the testwork to date are encouraging, however completion of the entire planned metallurgical testwork program is necessary to better understand the metallurgical performance of the mineralization and optimize the processing flow sheet design."
In addition to the technical work to advance Schaft Creek to the PFS stage, the 2024 program includes camp upgrades to support future programs of up to 85 people, including the commissioning of solar panels and a battery system to deliver quiet and clean power to the expanded camp.
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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