American Eagle Gold Corp (TSX-V:AE) has reported promising assay results from the third and fourth holes of its 2022 program on its NAK copper-gold porphyry project.
“This fourth drill hole is our best intercept to date and encountered a new higher-grade copper-rich zone 500 metres from our discovery hole,” Anthony Moreau, American Eagle's CEO said in a statement.
“Hole NAK22- 04 ended within a wide high-grade zone but was unfortunately terminated early for technical reasons; however, holes NAK22-06 and - 07 successfully intersected the continuation of the same zone at depth and hit similar mineralization.
"We anticipate that the pending assays from those two holes will show similar results. Our step-out drilling continues to demonstrate a substantial footprint for this system," he added.
READ: American Eagle Gold completes its 2022 drill program at the NAK Project in west-central British Columbia
Highlights of NAK's 2022 Drill Program:
- NAK22-01 returned 851 metres (m) of 0.37% copper equivalent (CuEq), including 126 metres of 1.05% CuEq from surface
- NAK22-02 returned 956m of 0.37% CuEq, including 301 metres of 0.61% CuEq from surface
- NAK22-03 returned 906m of 0.21% CuEq from surface, including 645 metres of 0.24% CuEq
- NAK22-04 returned 527m of 0.45% CuEq from surface, including 89 metres of 0.98% CuEq
The company said the final 185.0m of drill hole NAK22-04 represents a discovery of an exciting new higher-grade copper-gold bearing zone at moderate depths, of a tenor not previously encountered. The intercept, along with still deeper zones intercepted in our previous holes, suggests that there is excellent potential for additional mineralized zones at NAK that occur at depths below the historically-defined higher grade zones such as the south zone, which was well defined only to depths of approximately 200-300m. There remains considerable room for expansion of this zone to the east, west, and north, as well as at depth. This area will be one focus for follow-up drilling in 2023, it added.
NAK22-03, while lower grade, again demonstrates the size and strength of the NAK porphyry system along strike and at depth, with another nearly 1 kilometre (km) of continuous mineralization. The hole also shows numerous meter-scale intercepts in excess of 1 % Cu where denser bornite mineralization is present.
American Eagle said it expects to receive assay results for NAK22-05 to -07 shortly.
With drilling for 2022 now complete, the company is focused on interpreting and modelling drill results with the aim of designing an aggressive follow-up drill program for the 2023 season. In general, the program will step out from and infill between this year's drill collars and aims to expand and define the zones of higher-grade mineralization intercepted in the 2022 drilling.
The NAK property is 85 km from Smithers in the Babine copper-gold porphyry district of west-central British Columbia. It lies close to nearby Babine district past-producing mines (Bell, Granisle), in proximity to excellent infrastructure
NAK is a classic porphyry copper-gold mineralized target that exhibits many signs of a robust and large-scale system. Historical shallow drilling programs defined a near-surface copper-gold system with a footprint greater than 1.5 km x 1.5 km. It remains open and largely untested at depth.
NAK's highly encouraging initial results make it a prime candidate for further exploration. The company's main objective is to advance this newly revitalized mineralizing system into a major discovery.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com