Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc (TSX-V:CCW, OTCQB:CCWOF) told investors that it has commenced a new, first-stage stripping plan at its Castle East property in northern Ontario to follow up on shallow gold and silver mineralization.
As it gears up for field season, the company said it has received permits for both drilling and outcrop stripping allowing for further exploration at Castle East, adding that a field crew will be mobilized this week, starting May 8, with mechanical stripping and power washing to start mid-week.
“Stripping and trenching have historically been very important in the Cobalt Mining camp,” president and chief operating officer Matthew Halliday said in a statement.
“We are getting back to the basics to see what is under the overburden at Castle East, to follow up on distinct, shallow gold and silver intercepts in the planned stripping zone. We are motivated to see if there is a surface expression. We are also excited to follow up on the previously identified gold zone on the property.”
The company said the program aims to explore and identify any surface expressions on each of the distinct shallow silver and gold mineralization. The two primary, near-surface intercepts that will be followed up are 4,710 grams per tonne (g/t) silver over 0.53 metres (m) from 64.99m to 65.52m in hole CS-22-115, and 24.95 g/t gold over 0.30m from 49.70m to 50.00m in hole CS-20-31.
It noted that additional stripping over the projected gold zone to the south of Castle East identified in 2014 stripping and 2018 drilling will help identify any extensions as well as potential continuity or relationship to the near-surface intercepts mentioned above.
Channel sampling from the 2014 trenching returned values of 3.77 g/t gold over 1.27m, 1.16 g/t gold over 0.83m and a further 1.25 g/t gold over 0.83m.
Further trenching, sampling and drilling will then target any structures identified at surface to produce a bulk sample, the company added.
“The bulk of the over 500 million ounces of silver recovered in the Cobalt camp has been from surface vein discoveries found by stripping which developed into over 100 high-grade silver mines with cobalt and nickel credits,” the company’s CEO Frank Base added.
“With our recent success in drilling grades of up to 80,000 grams per tonne silver in our completed 60,000-meter drill program, a good follow-up would be to see if the mineralized structures come to surface which has been the norm.”
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com