Pacific Empire Minerals Corp (CVE:PEMC) (OTCQB:PEMSF) has started reverse circulation (RC) drilling at its Weedon property in central British Columbia, where it hopes it may make a 'blind' discovery.
The company, which has its own drill rig, will test the T1 target and targets nearby, which were the focus of previous exploration by Cominco in 1991, Geoinformatics in 2007 and Teck Resources in 2010 and 2011.
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The prospect generator says it wants to be the first explorer in this area to successfully reach bedrock.
"As we gear up to drill the Jean Marie property in the coming weeks, we are excited to test the highly compelling T1 target at Weedon," Pacific Empire's CEO Brad Peters told investors in a statement.
"We expect to receive drill permits for Jean Marie in the coming weeks, and although Jean Marie will be our focus in 2020, Weedon remains untested with drilling, despite previous exploration programs by sophisticated groups. The Weedon property demonstrates the potential to make a blind discovery in an easily-accessible area with robust existing infrastructure."
Exploration highlights already identified at the T1 target are a 500 metre diameter geochemical anomaly and a 1.3 x 1 kilometre (km) magnetic high.
The Weedon property lies 85 km southeast of Centerra Gold Inc's Mount Milligan copper-gold mine.
Pacific Empire also said phase 1 drilling at the Worldstock project in south-central British Columbia was now complete and assays are expected in coming weeks.
At the property, 10 RC holes for 1,049 metres were sunk and eight encountered abundant sulphides, the firm said.
In multiple cases, the copper anomalism increased with depth, supporting the case that Worldstock may represent the upper reaches of a porphyry copper-gold system.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com