Kodiak Copper Corp. (TSX-V:KDK) has reported a new high-grade gold-silver discovery on surface from trenching at the 'Beyer Zone' at its 100% owned MPD copper-gold porphyry project in British Columbia.
The company said trenching at the Beyer Zone was part of a broader, regional exploration program to evaluate untested copper-gold targets across the MPD property. The work was conducted in parallel with its fully-funded 25,000 metre (m) drill program on several copper-gold porphyry targets, from which further results will continue to be reported, it added.
"The Beyer gold-silver discovery is an exciting new development as it sits within a multi-kilometre, completely untested new gold-in-soil trend,” Kodiak president and CEO Claudia Tornquist said in a statement. “It is remarkable because this is the first time sizeable intervals of high-grade gold-silver mineralization have been trenched at the MPD project.”
READ: Kodiak Copper unveils more impressive drill results from Gate Zone at MPD project
Highlights from the trenching include:
- A 2022 surface sample taken prior to trenching the Beyer Zone assayed 14.15 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 9.40 g/t silver;
- Trench sampling expanded this new surface gold-silver discovery to 3.02 g/t gold and 24.18 g/t silver over 12m, including 5.29 g/t gold and 27.70 g/t silver over 2m in north-south Trench 22-015;
- Trench sampling east-west also assayed 9.11 g/t gold and 24.00 g/t silver over 2m, with a parallel zone 8m west assaying 2.60 g/t gold and 10.10 g/t silver over 2m in Trench 22-016;
- Approximately 14m of hydrothermally altered and mineralized rock has been exposed in the two trenches excavated to date, which remains open to extension.
Kodiak said the Beyer Zone discovery was made within a 2.2 kilometre (km) long, 750m wide gold-in-soil corridor discovered during 2019 and 2021 soil sampling.
Trenching followed up gold-in-soil anomalies and a chip sample previously reported that assayed 11.75 g/t and 42.5 g/t silver over 2.3m.
The company noted that the Beyer alteration zone hosting gold and silver mineralization contains elevated pathfinder elements such as arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and tellurium, which can be used for geochemical vectoring and new target generation across the MPD property.
Extensive drilling at the nearby Gate and Man zones have demonstrated a close association between shallow bedrock mineralization and soil geochemistry. As such, the 2.2 km by 750m gold-in-soil trend hosting the Beyer Zone is not expected to be primarily caused by glacial transport, it added.
Kodiak said the Beyer Zone is slated for additional trenching and drilling as part of the 2023 program.
"Mineralization and alteration are open along strike, making extension of these trenches an obvious follow-up for 2023,” Tornquist concluded. “The Beyer discovery is a testament to the outstanding prospectivity of the MPD project and adds new upside and value creation potential for our shareholders.”
Kodiak is focused on its 100% owned copper porphyry projects in Canada and the US. The company's most advanced asset is the MPD copper-gold porphyry project in the prolific Quesnel Trough in south-central British Columbia, Canada.
MPD is a large, 147 square kilometre land package located near several operating mines in the southern Quesnel Terrane, British Columbia's primary copper-gold producing belt. It is situated between the towns of Merritt and Princeton, with year-round accessibility and excellent infrastructure nearby.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com