Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1189730
42 Mineral Exploration | amebc.ca Precious metal projects New Gold Inc. continued environmental assessment work, on-site drilling, and other mine development activities on its Blackwater Gold project. Proven and Probable reserves are 344.4 Mt at 0.74 g/t Au and 5.50 g/t Ag. As proposed, Blackwater would be a 60,000 tpd operation with a 17-year mine life. Benchmark Metals Inc. planned 3,000 m of drilling on its Lawyers gold and silver epithermal project, looking to extend mineralized zones including the Cliff Creek, Duke's Ridge, Phoenix, AGB and Marmot. With the exception of Marmot, all zones are considered part of the same system. Results from the Cliff Creek zone included 11.73 g/t Au and 476 g/t Ag across 4.4 m, within 2.18 g/t Au and 85.36 g/t Ag across 26.75 m. The lower-grade envelope around the high-grade vein sets may indicate potential for a bulk tonnage resource. Exodus Mineral Exploration Ltd. followed up on its 2018 discovery of the AK orogenic gold prospect, about 10 km north of Prince George, with a program of trenching and sampling. Cu-Mo, Cu-Au-Ag, and Mo (porphyry) projects Although Centerra Gold Inc. received Mines Act approval for developing its Kemess Underground (KUG) mine earlier in 2018, the company announced a delay in November 2018 to concentrate resources on developing a project in the Kyrgyz Republic. KUG contains an estimated 246.6 Mt Indicated mineral resource at an average grade of 0.42 g/t Au, 0.22 per cent Cu and 1.75 g/t Ag, with an additional 21.6 Mt Inferred mineral resource at an average grade of 0.40 g/t Au, 0.22 per cent Cu and 1.70 g/t Ag. In 2019 Centerra completed 6,448 m of exploration drilling in a total of four holes in the Kemess area. One hole was on KUG, and three were on the Nugget prospect about 2 km to the west and thought to be a fault offset of the KUG deposit. In addition, more than 12,000 m of historic core (19 holes) were re-logged, with an additional 3,400 m planned for the fall of 2019. About 1 km east of KUG is a second underground project, Kemess East (KE), which Centerra is considering for integrated development with KUG. KE has an Indicated resource of 113 Mt containing 954 Mlbs Cu, 1.7 Moz Au, and 7.1 Moz Ag. About 1 km east of the Kemess East (KE) area, Serengeti Resources Inc. completed a six-hole, 2,300 m drill program on its Atty project, thought to include a possible fault offset of the KE deposit. NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL REGIONS Centerra explored extensively at its Mt. Milligan mine to expand reserves and investigate nearby prospects, and worked to resolve water supply problems. The company completed about 52 boreholes totalling about 20,000 m by way of infill and pit-expansion drilling, with another 8,000 m planned before the end of 2019. Brownfield and greenfield exploration programs comprised 9,900 m in 23 boreholes, of which 1,228 m in four boreholes were greenfield outside the mine lease area. An additional 6,000 m of brownfield drilling were planned for the fall of 2019. In addition, Centerra completed a 640 line km low-altitude aeromagnetic survey and planned to complete a 32 line km brownfield IP survey by the end of the year. On its Max property, west of Mt. Milligan, Centerra drilled 20 reverse circulation holes to bedrock totalling 536 m and planned a 50 line km IP survey. The company also completed drilling in four holes totalling 1,755 m on its Chuchi project north-northwest of Mt. Milligan, and a 713 line km low-altitude aeromagnetic survey. Orestone Mining Corp. began drilling a total of 1,250 m in five holes on its Captain project south of the Mt. Milligan mine, focusing on the Admiral target, an Au- Cu- bearing potassic-sericite altered intrusive rock that had been intersected in previous drilling. Stardust project, hole 430D, at about 541 m. Mushketovite (variety of magnetite) with chalcopyrite in garnet-rich skarn.