NorthWest Copper (TSX-V:NWST) has said that drillhole K-21-217 at its Kwanika deposit in British Columbia (BC) has returned the highest-grade copper-gold (Cu-Au) interval ever intersected at the deposit.
The company said the interval consists of massive to semi-massive copper and gold mineralization at moderate depth in the western half of the deposit, expanding the high-grade portion of the deposit, introducing a new style of mineralization, the company said.
"This drill hole is a game-changer for our Kwanika Deposit and for the region,” Peter Bell, President & CEO of NorthWest Copper (TSX-V:NWST) said in a statement. “The very high grade within a larger porphyry system is very unusual and establishes a brand new and incredibly exciting target type. We drilled one of the highest-grade drill holes reported globally in 2018, when DDH18-SD-421 intersected 100 meters of 5.30% CuEq, at our adjacent Stardust deposit."
"This new Kwanika drill hole is even higher-grade than drill hole 421 and occurs just 7 kilometers away. The presence of such extraordinary grades in multiple deposits is both surprising and rare and opens up multiple, very high-grade exploration targets over a substantial area,” added Bell.
The drill intercept at drillhole K-21-217 returned the following mineralized intervals:
- 235.45 meters 1 of 2.92% copper equivalent (CuEq) 2 comprising 2.00% copper, 1.21 g/t gold and 5.3 g/t silver containing;
- 153.25 meters of 4.13% CuEQ comprising 2.84% copper, 1.69 g/t gold and 7.5 g/t silver, further containing;
- 9.40 meters of 33.60% CuEQ comprising 29.85% copper, 4.34 g/t gold and 70.5 g/t silver.
Kwanika is located in the prolific Quesnel Terrane, which hosts numerous porphyry copper-gold deposits such as Mount Milligan, New Afton, and Highland Valley. It is easily accessible by road from the town of Fort St. James, BC. NorthWest has focused on the high-grade portion of Kwanika and adjacent high-grade Stardust deposits since the company was created in March. NorthWest’s goals at Kwanika in 2021 included expanding the high-grade zone and improving the grade within it by drilling angled holes across mineralized structural zones with closer-spaced drilling.
NorthWest Copper (TSX-V:NWST) said the copper-gold mineralization in the intervals is hosted by diorite and monzonite intrusions and occurs disseminated through strong potassic alteration and in quartz-sulphide veins. Two late-mineral dykes cut the mineralization below 418.10 meters. while the extremely high-grade interval from 326.65-336.05 meters consists of semi-massive to massive chalcocite/digenite, bornite, and covellite that form the matrix to a breccia.
The company noted that Breccia textures are locally preserved in this interval and the mechanism of its formation has not been determined. Within the middle of the high grade 9.40 meters interval, there was 1.20 meters of core that was ground and thus lost during the drilling process; for the purpose of the grade calculation this core was included within the calculation as zero grade over the 1.20 meter length.
Drilling at Kwanika in 2021 was supervised on-site and samples, sealed on-site, were shipped to Bureau Veritas (BV) in Vancouver BC for analysis.