NorthWest Copper Corp (TSX-V:NWST) has further highlighted the potential of its Stardust deposit in British Columbia (BC), releasing results from a hole sunk into the 421 zone at the orebody, which showed high grades and a continuity of mineralisation.
These results were not included in the recently released positive economic assessment (PEA), which looked at a potential mine combining the Kwanika and Stardust deposits.
The latest drill highlights from hole DH22-SD-484 include an intercept of 41.20 metres (m) at 3.20% copper-equivalent, starting from 722m depth, which included 4.80m at 12.82% copper-equivalent from 734.4m.
The company also hit 0.7m in the hole at a grade of 6.34 grams per ton (g/t) gold, 0.2% copper and 1.3 g/t silver, starting from 564.30m.
READ: NorthWest Copper welcomes PEA looking at combining Kwanika and Stardust deposits, which shows robust project with manageable initial costs
"This hole serves as a reminder that Stardust is not only one of the highest-grade copper deposits in British Columbia but retains a lot of exploration potential," NorthWest's CEO Peter Bell told investors in a statement.
"The grades in the main intercept are very high, consistent with what we have seen before in the 421 zone and gives us further confidence in the geometry, grade, continuity of this part of the deposit.
"We are also highly encouraged by the gold dominant intercepts found away from 421 zone, which provide additional targets within Stardust. Stardust forms a key part of the Kwanika-Stardust project as outlined in our recent PEA, and remains underexplored," he added.
Stardust is a high-grade carbonate replacement deposit (CRD), which sits around 7 kilometres (km) from the firm's Kwanika deposit. It remains open down plunge and along strike.
NorthWest has now reported all of the 2022 drill results from Stardust, and 20 of 30 holes from last year's drilling at Kwanika. These results have not been incorporated into the updated Stardust and Kwanika resource estimates or the recent PEA, the company said.
That PEA announced on January 5 this year, showed a "robust" project - Kwanika combined with Stardust - with manageable initial costs and "multiple opportunities" for growth.
The study envisaged both open pit and underground mining and sees peak copper equivalent production of 152.1 million pounds of copper per year and a life-of-mine average copper-equivalent output of 90.6 million pounds per year over 11.9 years.
The initial capital required was pegged at C$567.9 million (US$438.5 million) with construction taking two years. There would be a potential 22,000 tonnes per day (tpd) process plant, producing high-quality copper concentrate with significant gold and silver by-product credits.
NorthWest Copper is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia. The company said it is "well positioned" to participate fully in a strengthening global copper market.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com