FireFly Metals Ltd (ASX:FFM) has outlined eight prospective areas with high potential for economic copper-gold mineralisation at the Green Bay Project in Canada, centred on historically operating mines and fresh untested volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) systems.
Green Bay hosts three historical mines, all part of the same geological VMS system that spawned the Ming mine and all remaining open for further exploration.
With a combination of rock chip sampling, historical drilling and geophysical records, FFM has identified exploration targets at the Rambler Main Mine, Rambler East Mine, L5 Target, Lever-Tauch, South Brook, Lucky Strike, Twin Pond and the Little Deer Mine.
“Exceptional” VMS system
“The outstanding drilling results we have been generating show clearly that we are in the midst of an exceptional VMS mineralised system,” FireFly managing director Steve Parsons said.
“And now we have identified a host of compelling targets, some of which we already know are strongly mineralised, nearby.
“These are high-quality prospects and any new discoveries would have potential to drive substantial increases in the Green Bay resource at a similar high grade, creating further significant shareholder value in the process.”
FFM recently strengthened its in-country management team with the appointment of vice president of exploration Crispin Pike, who will lead the first modern geophysical campaign at Green Bay as the company seeks to follow up on these new targets.
Downhole electromagnetic (EM) and regional gravity surveys are already underway on the project, with a versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) survey and surface drilling to follow.
Four drilling rigs are also operating at the Ming mine, focused on resource growth with infill drilling and new discovery drilling targeted with geophysical data.
The company is conducting an underground down-hole electromagnetic (DHEM) geophysical survey at Ming, designed to identify new and parallel high-grade massive sulphide copper-gold lodes.
Green Bay copper-gold targets
The Rambler Mine targets sit within 2.4 and 2.5 kilometres of the Ming mine respectively, offering a convenient value add to the existing mine as both remain open for further exploration.
The Main Rambler mine’s historical drilling results include:
- 25 metres at 4.7 g/t gold and 0.24% copper;
- 6.9 metres at 14.2 g/t gold and 0.36% copper; and
- 10.1 metres at 7.6 g/t gold and 0.6% copper.
East Rambler produced an intersection of 13 metres at 1.5% copper and 21 metres at 1.2% copper.
The L5 Target is an early-stage but large-scale copper target with open mineralisation, which produced a 9.3-metre at 1.3% copper drilling sample.
At Lever-Tauch, South Brook, Twin Pond and Lucky Strike, Firefly used geophysical data and rock chip samples to delineate the targets:
- Lever-Tauch - surface rock chips of 27% copper and 2.97% copper.
- South Brook - a till sample (soil sample) graded up to 23.3 g/t gold over a 2-kilometre by 2-kilometre gold anomaly.
- Lucky Strike - a high-grade untested VMS system, with rock chips of 19.7% copper, 21.2 g/t silver and 0.3 g/t gold, and 15.8% copper, 70.1 g/t silver and 0.3 g/t gold.
- Twin Pond - Largely unexplored with no drilling or geophysics complete, rock chip samples of 33.4 g/t gold and 227 g/t silver.
Finally, the Little Deer Mine holds an untapped resource of 9.1 million tonnes at 1.91% copper equivalent, with mineralisation also remaining open for further exploration.
The mine is within short trucking distance of Ming, offering an attractive opportunity FireFly will pursue with resource definition and exploration drilling in early 2025.
Ming mine development
FireFly is operating on a dual strategy of advancing exploration targets to add value to the Green Bay Project, while also forging ahead with the development of the Ming mine.
The mine presently holds a resource of 30.2 million tonnes at 1.83% copper and 0.4 g/t gold.
The company is targeting an initial resource upgrade for some time in September or October and a second in March or April 2025, with engineering study works to follow.
At present, FireFly has completed the first 750 metres of first-phase drill drive development at Ming and initiated the second phase.
FFM will now complete 1,200 metres of development drilling alongside the construction of new drill pads for further resource growth and exploration a depth within the mine’s shafts.
The company expects strong news flow in the near future, with resource extension drilling results from the mine expected within weeks and data from upcoming geophysical surveys to follow.