C3 Metals Inc (TSX-V:CCCM, OTC:CUAUF) CEO Dan Symons talked with Proactive about the company’s encouraging results from its first-ever drill hole at the Khaleesi target in southern Peru.
The Khaleesi project lies around eight kilometres west of the company’s existing Montaña de Cobre resource, which hosts 52.0 million tonnes at 0.5% copper and 0.2g/t gold.
Symons explained that this first hole intercepted 269 metres at 0.3% copper with by-product credits of gold, molybdenum, and silver.
The hole also passed through a magnetite skarn zone, increasing the grade by 37% to 0.41% copper over a 60-metre interval.
Proactive: Really exciting results out of the first ever drill hole at Khaleesi. We'll talk about some of the results in just a second, but maybe remind everyone a little bit about Khaleesi and what this drill program is doing.
Dan Symons: Absolutely. Khaleesi is a brand new discovery about eight kilometres west of our existing Montaña de Cobre resource, where we have 52 million tonnes at 0.5% copper and 0.2g/t gold. That equates to 570 million pounds of copper and 326,000 ounces of gold in a pit-constrained resource. We discovered Khaleesi while expanding our land position to the west. We now hold 310km².
We're a junior among the giants on this belt — we're less than 45km from MMG’s Las Bambas and Hudbay’s Constancia mines. Further southeast, there’s Glencore’s Antapaccay and Freeport’s Cerro Verde, their second-largest producer. It’s a world-class, copper-producing belt, and we have one of the largest junior positions.
You had a geological model of what you wanted to look at. What are you most happy about in this particular hole — the identification, the grades, the widths?
If this hole had been drilled at any of the other producing mines on the belt, it would be in the mine plan. These are big tonnage targets — over a billion tonnes in many cases. We intercepted 269m at 0.3% copper, with by-product credits of gold, molybdenum, and silver. Downhole, we hit a magnetite skarn zone, and the grade increased by 37% to 0.41% over 60m. That was deeper, but important.
On the western side, we have a skarn, and on the eastern side a batholith with porphyry-style mineralisation. In the middle, there’s glacial till — it’s blind. We used geophysics to drill under that till, and our first hole extended mineralisation by at least 100m under it. That means it’s wide open and the target and tonnage potential are significantly increased at Khaleesi.
You’re doing 6,000 metres in this program. Are you changing the plan or sticking to a direction?
As you get visual information — and with copper you can often see mineralisation — you make tweaks. For example, this hole passed through a garnet skarn, then barren diorite, then back into garnet skarn, and finally into magnetite skarn, which is a very receptive host. That’s where we saw the highest grades.
Now we know that the magnetite skarn sits under the glacial till, we can drill a shallow hole across it and potentially extend the mineralisation 200m closer to surface. That could reduce strip ratios and capex in future mine planning. So, yes, we adjust as we go.
Lastly, when you’re at this early stage — just one hole — are you thinking about potential already?
Yes. Before we drill a single hole, I always ask the geologists what our tonnage target is. You need to know what grades will make it economic. Tonnage can change quickly with drilling, but if the target holds together, you then ask what grade is needed.
We think about economics from day one. Our target is based on mapping, surface alteration, soil and rock geochemistry, and geophysics. It’s a very large target. We’re pleased with this first hole. We have eight holes completed now, so more news is coming.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style