NorthWest Copper Corp (TSX-V:NWST) has announced results from its eight-hole 2022 East Niv project drilling campaign, highlighting strong gold results of over 7 grams per tonne gold (g/t AuEq) over a short interval.
The company said there were also longer intervals at lower grades and that the stronger gold mineralization surrounds the copper dominant mineralization encountered during the 2021 campaign.
“East Niv is a new project with the first holes drilled in 2021. The 2021 program identified strong copper and gold mineralization in one part of the property and the 2022 program expanded this system, with gold-dominant results from this campaign. We have also identified a very large copper at surface anomalous zone as described in 2022,” Northwest Copper president and CEO Peter Bell said in a statement.
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“In just 24 months we have taken East Niv from an exciting exploration concept to a project with two identified zones of mineralization, several exciting drilling intercepts and multiple exploration targets,” he added.
The results along with the large surface copper anomaly reported in 2022 and the copper-gold mineralization encountered in 2021, outline a large mineralized system within a large property of 43,297 hectares.
Highlights from the current release include:
- ENV-22-013: 100.80 metres at 0.44 g/t AuEq - 0.24 g/t Au, 0.10% copper (Cu) and 0.40 g/t silver (Ag) from 637.00 metres.
- ENV-22-018: 124.86 metres at 0.38 g/t AuEq - 0.22 g/t Au, 0.07% Cu and 0.70 g/t Ag) from 457.05 metres:
- ENV-22-016: 0.50 metres at 7.88 g/t AuEq -7.35 g/t Au, 0.13% Cu and 21.9 g/t Ag) from 303.00 metres.
- ENV-22-017: 2.00 metres at 2.48 g/t AuEq - 2.33 g/t Au, 0.07% Cu and 0.80 g/t Ag) from 416.00 metres.
The 2022 program at East Niv has expanded the size of the copper-gold system identified in 2021 and added new surface targets, the company said, noting that new holes drilled in and around the porphyry copper-gold-silver±molybdenum system encountered gold dominant mineralization in a zone overprinted by strong illite-pyrite and chlorite-pyrite alteration.
Reconnaissance drilling also encountered strongly altered volcanic and intrusive rocks that contain strongly anomalous copper, gold, zinc, and other metals typical of settings peripheral to porphyry deposits.
The company said the results suggest that it is drilling the upper and/or peripheral parts of a large, preserved porphyry system.
“The gold dominant intervals intersected in some holes are interpreted to be a peripheral signature, particularly where they are accompanied by a polymetallic signature. The alteration, polymetallic signatures and geophysical patterns all show a strong northwest–southeast control on the hydrothermal system which is open along strike, at depth, and to the southwest,” it noted.
“This provides a sound geological model and exploration search space for future drill targeting. The exploration potential is strengthened by the large land position, the potential for the known porphyry system to grow in size, and by widespread alteration and mineralization in reconnaissance drilling and surface sampling. Future exploration will focus on developing a robust geological model vectoring to the core of the known porphyry system using advanced geochemistry, geology, and geophysical modelling," the company added.
NorthWest Copper is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com