Lion Copper and Gold Corp (TSX-V:LEO, OTCQB:LCGMF) said assay results from its 2023 exploration program in the Yerington District of Nevada have expanded the Bear porphyry copper mineralization zone.
The exploration program was funded by a US$2.5 million early advance of Stage 3 funding per the company’s agreement with Nuton, a Rio Tinto venture centred on a portfolio of proprietary copper leach-related technologies.
The company said drilling at the Bear Deposit encountered 926 feet of 0.31% total copper, including 233 feet of 0.47% total copper, in drill hole B-053A.
Drill hole B-054 encountered 1,048 feet of 0.26% total copper, including 131 feet of 0.50% total copper, collared 925 feet northwest from B-053A.
The information gained from this drilling expands the Bear Deposit 1,850 feet to the northwest direction and also points to additional, untested targets, Lion Copper and Gold said.
"The thick intervals of copper mineralization encountered in our latest drilling continue to showcase the immense size and potential of the Bear deposit,” Lion Coppe rand Gold CEO Travis Naugle said in a statement.
“With mineralized intercepts expanding over 1,800 feet from previously known mineralization, we have only begun to touch on the boundaries of this expansive porphyry system that covers more than three square miles.”
He noted that despite historic drilling by major miners, the deposit remains “woefully underexplored” for a legacy asset.
“These exceptional results validate our belief that systematic exploration can unlock substantial new zones of high-grade copper mineralization and significantly expand the known footprint of the deposit,” Naugle said.
Exploration outside the Bear Deposit also evaluated the MacArthur expansion to the northeast and southeast, the Mason Pass Prospect, the Reno Prospect, and the Singatse Target.
At the MacArther expansion, one drill hole at the MacArthur Wedge identified 5 to 10 feet zones of oxide and sulphide mineralization with grades up to 0.25% total copper and drill holes at MacArthur East identified 10 to 20 feet zones of chalcocite enrichment with grades up to 0.25% total copper.
At the Mason Pass Prospect, four drill holes tested for mineralization below and adjacent to trenches excavated in 2022 that discovered oxide copper grades up to 0.70% over 20 feet.
At the Reno Prospect, four drill holes tested for a potential eastward extension of plus 0.2% total copper oxide and sulphide intercepts seen in 1960s and 1970s legacy drilling.
Of these, two were cased for future core drilling to test at depth IP geophysical anomalies and one of these cased drill holes intersected an interval of 5 feet of 1.01% total copper.
A single drill hole at the Singatse Target tested for a faulted northwest extension of the mineralization from the Yerington pit.
Lion Copper and Gold is a Canadian-based company advancing its flagship copper assets at Yerington, Nevada through an Option to Earn-in Agreement with Rio Tinto.
Contact the author at emily.jarvie@proactiveinvestors.com
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