Lion Copper and Gold Corp (TSX-V:LEO, OTCQB:LCGMF) (Lion CG) has told investors it is “very encouraged” by assay results from the Mason Pass prospect surface trenching program at its 100%-owned properties at Yerington, Nevada.
The company said it completed the program utilizing financing provided by Rio Tinto as a part of the stage 1 work program.
"We are very encouraged at these results from the Mason Pass oxide prospect surface trenching program, just the first of many compelling copper exploration targets assembled by the Lion CG and Rio Tinto exploration team,” the company's CEO Travis Naugle said in a statement.
“It is exceptional to uncover this kind of ore-grade copper oxide mineralization at surface, in a location which can take advantage of future project infrastructure,” he added.
READ: Lion Copper and Gold completes exploration core drilling program as part of the stage 1 work program with Rio Tinto venture, Nuton
The company noted that the Mason Pass prospect is an at-surface copper oxide target located approximately 1.5 miles south-southwest of the MacArthur pit.
The prospect was first identified by company geologists through eologic mapping of outcropping copper oxide mineralization occurring within the Singatse fault system, a district-wide flat-dipping fault that bounds the eastern edge of the outcropping mineralization.
Lion CG said two trenches totalling 848 linear feet were initially completed, and the program subsequently expanded to five trenches totalling 1,873 linear feet due to the appearance of visible oxide copper in the first two trenches. The trenches range from six to 15 feet in depth and were mapped and channel sampled at 10-foot intervals.
The four trenches that reached bedrock all encountered copper oxide mineralization. The results from the trenching indicate that the copper oxide mineralization occurs from one-inch- to five-foot-wide flat-lying veins, striking in a southwest-to-northeast direction, and extends out from the Singatse fault into the western and southern directions for an as-yet-undetermined distance, it added.
Highlights of the program include:
- At-surface, ore-grade, copper oxide mineralization has been encountered in recently excavated trenches at Mason Pass, with mineralization remaining open and untested in most directions;
- Trench 4 includes 200 feet (ft) of 0.28% total copper (TCu) and 30 ft of 0.22% Titan copper, and averages 0.14% TCu over the full length of the trench (568 ft);
- Trench 1 includes 20 ft of 0.70% TCu and 90 ft of 0.34% TCu, and averages 0.14% TCu over 390 ft (from 50 to 440 ft);
- Trench 2 includes 50 ft of 0.20% TCu and averages 0.08% TCu over 358 ft (from 50 to 408 ft).
The company said it is now considering further exploration to evaluate the extent of this mineralization to the west, south and at depth, as well as testing for potential to the east, beneath the cover of volcanics that postdate the mineralization.
It noted that the character of the mineralization observed in the trench exposures is similar to that exposed in the MacArthur pit where historic benching exposes copper oxide mineralization primarily in the footwall of the low-angle MacArthur fault and ranging from 30 ft to 250 ft in thickness.
Lion CG is a Canadian-based company advancing its Mason Valley, Nevada copper assets with Rio Tinto America Inc in addition to advancing its exploration projects including the Chaco Bear and Ashton properties in highly prospective regions in British Columbia, Canada, and the Blue Copper Prospect in Montana, USA.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com