Minto Metals Corp (TSX-V:MNTO) said it conducted 9,400 metres (m) of drilling in 22 holes last year on the Minto Mine property in the Yukon.
In reporting the results from its drilling program in 2021, the company said the drilling targeted extensions at depth or along strike of current or historically producing orebodies - particularly Minto North, Minto Main, and Minto East. To-date, Minto has received results from 14 holes.
"The Minto Mine has had no real exploration done on the property for almost a decade now,” said Minto CEO Chris Stewart in a statement.
READ: Minto Metals receives exploration permit for Minto Mine property in Yukon; gets set for 30,000 metre drill program
“These drill results from 2021 demonstrate that there is still a lot of potential to find high grade lenses on this property near our existing resources where over 500 million lbs of copper have been produced since mining started in 2007. In 2022, we will also be drilling into some completely new, high potential targets stepping out from our known resource," Stewart added.
The company noted that it has embarked on its 30,000-metre exploration drilling campaign and program for 2022 authorized under a Class 4 Quartz Mining Land Use Permit. Results from the remainder of the 2021 and 2022 drilling will be released as they become available.
Highlights from the 2021 drilling include:
- Hole 21EXP003 -- Minto North: 1.58% copper (Cu) over 28m including 3.50% Cu over 9m;
- Hole 21EXP012 -- Minto North: 1.76% Cu over 5m;
- Hole 21SDME-001 -- Minto East: 1.83% Cu over 20m including 3.07% Cu over 5m;
- Hole 21SDME-002 -- Minto East: 1.53% Cu over 22m including 2.20% Cu over 12m;
"These results are extremely encouraging in that they confirm the high-grade nature and prospectivity to increase the resource that exists within the current Mining operations infrastructure,” said David Benson, Minto’s vice president of exploration.
“Multiple copper and precious metal mineralized lenses within the "migmatite" host-rock were intersected in each hole confirming the sub-horizontal, stacked and en echelon nature of the orebodies and geological model. They serve as a great kick-off point to an aggressive exploration program planned for 2022 that includes 30,000 metres of exploration drilling, borehole and surface geophysics."
Assay results are pending for the remaining eight holes and the company expects to report these in the second quarter. All drill holes intersected multiple intervals of copper mineralization hosted within migmatite to partially melted or assimilated granodiorite to quartz diorite.
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