NorthWest Copper Corp (TSX-V:NWST) has announced multiple high-grade copper samples over a large area as part of a program that included 206 surface rock samples collected during the 2022 East Niv exploration program.
The company said the results show a very large footprint of high-grade copper at surface.
“East Niv is our newest project, with the first drilling completed in 2021 including our discovery hole,” said NorthWest Copper president and CEO Peter Bell in a statement. “We are now outlining a very large, mineralized zone over the southern half of the property with these rock chip samples, including some spectacular high-grade over a northwest-oriented trend that is at least 13 km long."
READ: NorthWest Copper reports first batch of Stardust drilling results from 2022 program
"There is a lot of prospective ground on our 43,000-hectare land package and we have been mapping, sampling, conducting geophysics and drilling. We completed 8 holes in 2022, in addition to the 10 holes in 2021, and anticipate updating the market in the near term with the drill results," he added.
Highlights from 2022 rock sampling include:
- 206 Surface Rock samples sent for analysis
- 48 returned values greater than 0.10% copper (Cu)
- 36 returned values greater than 0.25% Cu
- 11 returned values of greater than 1.00 % Cu
- 11 high-grade samples range from 1.08 % Cu to 6.55 % Cu
The samples also contain very strongly elevated silver (Ag) concentrations between 3.7 grams per ton (g/t) Ag and 262.0 g/t Ag.
NorthWest’s exploration program in 2022 was designed to follow up on the very successful discovery of copper-gold porphyry mineralization at East Niv in 2021, including hole ENV21-0041 (81.60 metres of 0.41% Cu, 0.20 g/t gold (Au) and 0.90 g/t Ag).
The 2022 program targeted expansion of the footprint of mineralization around the previously drilled area and covered a much larger area with surface work to further expand the prospective area.
Exploration completed in 2022 included eight diamond drill holes (results pending), 31.1 line-kilometres (km) of ground-based induced polarization geophysics, 1,260 line-km of airborne magnetics, 206 surface rock samples, 745 soil samples, and geological and structural mapping. The rock chip results from this work outline a very large area of copper at surface with no historical drilling and limited exploration work, which will help inform targets for future drilling.
The historical and new rock sample results, along with the porphyry copper-gold mineralization discovered by drilling in 2021, show that strong hydrothermal activity, polymetallic metal anomalies, and high-grade rock samples are distributed over a very large and highly prospective area.
The 2022 samples were collected on geological and structural mapping traverses that extend well beyond historical work areas and this mapping will provide critical geological context to focus exploration and to identify and prioritize drill targets. Importantly, rock sampling has mostly been along ridges to allow more ground to be covered and an important focus of future exploration will be the extensive areas of outcrop that have not yet been mapped, prospected, or sampled. Indeed, much of this newly prospective area in the south half of the property has received no physical exploration other than the sampling reported here.
An exciting outcome of the 2022 and historical sampling programs is that a variety of mineralized vein types are widespread and commonly contain high-grade copper and silver mineralization, along with other anomalous metals including gold. Several veins rich in bornite have returned high-grade copper-silver results. Other vein types also return excellent grades but more commonly contain chalcopyrite, and some veins have a component of supergene copper sulphides and/or carbonates. Veins of all types most commonly dip steeply and strike northwest, parallel to the regional structural grain of the property. Veins range from narrow, individual structures, to sheeted arrays up to several metres in width, and some veins are brecciated. Veins have not been traced along strike due to the objectives of the traverses where they were discovered.
The company's 2021 porphyry copper-gold discovery can be directly related to the Late Triassic Takla Group by uranium-lead and rhenium-osmium isotopic dates of approximately 224 million years on intrusions and mineralization. The newly recognized copper-silver veins, in contrast, are hosted by younger rock types interpreted to be either Early Jurassic Hazelton Group or slightly older rocks transitional to the underlying Takla Group, and additional isotopic dating is underway to confirm this. The geochemical results and its current interpretation indicate that the southern half of the property hosts a widespread and distinct style of commonly high-grade, copper-silver-gold mineralization that forms a completely new exploration target at East Niv.
NorthWest Copper is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia. With a robust portfolio in a tier-one jurisdiction, NorthWest Copper is well positioned to participate fully in a strengthening global copper market.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com