White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) says it has now uncovered four visible iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) systems during the company’s initial field program at its promising Great Bear Lake project in northern Canada.
One of the four hydrothermal system discoveries has been dubbed the “Cleaver” target and, according to management, it has a gossanous zone so extensive that it is identifiable via satellite.
The satellite imagery and geological reviews were used to define Cleaver at surface, where it stretches some 785m by 460m in area. The major structure was identified just 3km east of White Cliff’s recently-uncovered 1100m-long Glacier IOCG target, which also features broad zones of visible chalcopyrite alterations at surface, making for quite compelling future drill targeting at both prospects.
Management also noted that earthy hematite along the structures at Cleaver returned anomalous counts per second (CPS) up to 4000 on handheld scintillometer, indicating radioactive contents and the potential for uranium mineralisation.
Groundwork at the company’s Spud Bay prospect also unearthed widespread copper mineralisation that was traced for 450m south before disappearing under cover. The new structure is believed to add to the existing 700m native silver occurrence discovered just 530m along strike from the historic Bonanza and El Bonanza silver mines.
MobileMT surveys to test prospects for a conductive response have been completed across the Great Bear Lake property. Given the level of mineralisation found at surface, the company believes the surveys represent a good first-pass exploration technique and it is now also close to launching first-pass surveys at its Nunavut project, some 240km to the north.
Rock chip assay results from the first-pass exploration program are expected shortly, with all samples at the lab and expected to be returned in the coming weeks. The company will now have to prioritise its significant targets in preparation for the drilling at Great Bear that is expected to kick off later this season.
The IOCG potential of this project continues to grow. As we have seen from this latest round of exploration, we continue to discover targets that represent newly-identified, spatially-separate mineralised systems, indicating the opportunity for multiple discoveries.
White Cliff Minerals Managing Director Troy Whittaker
Great Bear Lake sits 240km south-west of White Cliff’s Coppermine project in Canada’s Nunuvut territory and now features some 2900 square kilometres of ground within the IOCG-prospective Great Bear magmatic zone (GBMZ).
White Cliff is understood to be the single-biggest holder of mineral exploration claims in Canada’s Northwest Territories where uranium potential sits alongside IOCG mineralisation. The company describes the GBMZ as an extensively hydrothermally-altered and mineralised Proterozoic continental andesitic stratovolcano-plutonic complex, with the potential to host Canada’s most prospective IOCG and uranium mineralisation.
Great Bear is an established mining region known for a serious amount of multi-commodity production prior to 1982 before mining ceased. The mining activities in the area amounted to 13.7 million pounds of uranium oxide, 34.2 million ounces of refined silver, more than 11.4 million pounds of copper (with gold credits), 104 tonnes of lead, 127 tonnes of nickel and 227 tonnes of cobalt being produced.
Exploration activities, including first pass MobileMT, will begin imminently for White Cliff at its Coppermine copper-silver-gold project in the north of Nunavut. Coppermine is considered prospective for high-grade, volcanic-hosted copper-silver lodes and the company is hopeful the projects contain high-grade, vein-filled and bulk-tonne sedimentary-hosted copper deposits.
Much closer to home, the company recently wrapped up reverse-circulation (RC) drilling at the Pegasus prospect within its 100 per cent-owned Reedy South gold project near Cue in Western Australia. The Reedy South project features an existing shallow resource of 42,400 ounces of gold, with some thick shallow extensional hits including 79m going 1 gram per tonne from 10m, showing the potential for strike extension.
The GBMZ, where Great Bear lies, was assessed by the Northwest Territories Geosciences office as having the greatest potential for substantial-scale IOCG and uranium mineral deposits in Canada. Identifying the IOCG targets close to 1km in width by satellite imagery, confirmed by visual copper at surface, it seems like the geoscientists could well have been on to something.
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