Rock sampling at White Cliff Nickel’s (ASX: WCN) 45% owned Chanach Copper-Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic has identified several new zones of gold and copper mineralisation over widespread areas.
Best trench results for gold include 1 metre at 15.5 grams per tonne (g/t) and 1 metre at 27.3g/t, while a best interval of 5 metres at 1.13g/t was also returned.
Meanwhile, new zones of copper identified include a main porphyry zone of 34 metres at 0.84% copper, a second porphyry zone of 88 metres at 0.58% copper and a skarn contact zone of 33 metres at 0.66% copper, as well as best trench results of 1 metre at 4.38% copper.
The highlight interval of 5 metres at 1.13g/t gold was identified on the western ridge of Chanach in a shear zone within the granodiorite. The results are 250 metres downhill and along strike from a shear containing 2 metres at 3.2g/t gold.
Sampling along trenches and bulldozer cutting on South Porphyry Ridge identified new zones of copper mineralisation. The best overall results were obtained from the top and side of the South Porphyry Ridge.
Other promising copper results occur at the crest of Porphyry Ridge just below the contact with an overlying limestone unit.
The Chanach project, which covers 83 square kilometres, is located in the western part of the Tien Shan Belt, a highly mineralised zone that extends for more than 2500 kilometres from western Uzbekistan, through Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic and southern Kazakhstan to western China.
Major deposits located within 100 kilometres of Chanach contain up to 93 million ounces of gold and 25 million tonnes of copper.
Initial work indicates that the project may host porphyry and skarn style gold and copper mineralisation. Sampling from 2007 to 2009 has identified several areas containing gold values of up to 40g/t and copper values of up to 5%.