Nov 25 2015
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. ("Constantine" or the "Company") is pleased to report results for the recently completed exploration program at the Palmer copper-zinc-silver-gold Project ("Palmer" or "Project") in Southeast Alaska. The work is part of a US$5 million budget for 2015. Planning is currently underway with partner Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. ("Dowa") on work plans and budgets for 2016. Expenditures to date on the project by Dowa total in excess of US$15 million.
Key Highlights:
- Massive sulphide discovered on newly acquired Haines Block lands
- Step-out drilling intersects Palmer deposit extensions
- Engineering and permitting depth added to project team
Garfield MacVeigh, President and CEO states, "We are pleased with the many advancements made with the project this year. The comprehensive work program included exploration and geotechnical drilling, regional prospecting and targeting, surface and borehole geophysical surveys, geotechnical and environmental programs, engineering, and permitting work."
Regional Exploration
New VMS-style massive sulphide mineralization was discovered during our regional exploration work on a portion of the 100% Constantine-controlled Haines Block lands that surround the core of the Palmer Property (Figure 1). Significant results include:
- Delineation of a 2 km trend of massive sulphide boulders associated with altered and mineralized volcanics at the Tsirku prospect, located 9 km south of the Palmer deposit area. Highlight assays of 4.99% copper, 6.32% zinc, 68 g/t silver, 1.97 g/t gold have been received for chip and grab samples of boulders that range from 0.2 to 1.5 m in size (see Table 1 for full assay details). Mineralization style at this new prospect resembles that of the Palmer deposit, and supports management's strong belief in the potential to discover other VMS deposits on the Property.
- Grab samples grading 8.12% copper and 15.4% zinc have been obtained from outcrop at the Waterfall prospect, located 3 km southwest of the Palmer deposit area. The Waterfall prospect occurs adjacent to the silver-rich Cap (e.g. 23.2 m grading 134 g/t silver in historic drill hole), HG and Nunatak prospects.
- These prospects collectively define a highly prospective and under explored environment close to the current mineral resource and infrastructure.
Exploration Drilling
A total of 7,736 meters of core drilling was completed, consisting of 8 wide spaced exploration drill holes, 1 geotechnical drill hole, and the extension of a 2014 drill hole. The scope of this year's drilling was focused on exploring for extensions of the deposit within a localized target area. Drill holes primarily tested areas around the South Wall EM Zone, including the fault displaced offset of the zone referred to as the Lower Offset target. EM Zone mineralization was intersected in three holes, extending the known extent of the mineralized system approximately 100 meters east (holes CMR15-72 and 73) and 65 meters up dip (hole CMR15-75). Mineralization in these holes is chert-barite dominant with base metal bearing footwall pyrite-pyrrhotite stringer zones. Significant intersections include:
- 4.2 meters grading 0.5% copper, 3.98% zinc, 60.4 g/t silver, 0.65 g/t gold in CMR15-75
- 3.0 meters grading 2.32% copper and 14.9 g/t silver in hole CMR15-75
- 8.0 meters grading 1.33% zinc and 21.6 g/t silver in hole CMR15-73
- 10.5 meters grading 1.56% zinc in hole CMR15-72
Four drill holes targeted the Lower Offset target below the Kudo fault, a structure that displaces the down-dip projection of the EM Zone. One of the four holes, CMR15-69, successfully intersected EM Zone equivalent massive pyrrhotite mineralization and intense hydrothermal alteration approximately 160 meters below the fault, including 7.2 meters grading 0.43% copper and 0.46% zinc. The other three drill holes to test the Lower Offset target area did not intersect EM Zone correlative stratigraphy. This includes CMR14-56 that was re-entered and abandoned after advancing 22 meters due to adverse drilling conditions, and holes CMR15-71 and 77 that were completed to significant depths prior to being abandoned. For a complete list of significant drill intersections see Table 2.
A large portion of the deposit remains open to expansion in the immediate South Wall and RW resource areas. Work is ongoing into understanding and interpreting the geological, geochemical, and geophysical data gained from new drill holes, with the objective of updating the exploration model for future drill planning.
Geophysics
Borehole and surface electromagnetic (EM) geophysical surveys identified several zones of high conductivity. Conductive plate modeling of the borehole data has generated targets of potential mineralization adjacent to the existing mineral resource and at depth below the current extent of surface drilling. Modeling of surface EM data has generated conductive plate models targets in areas along trend of the RW and South Wall resource areas. The new geophysical data will be incorporated into planning and drill hole targeting for 2016.
Advanced Project Team and Work Programs
Constantine continues to build its advanced project team. Key personnel include Ian Cunningham-Dunlop, Senior Advisor Advanced Projects and Engineering; Henry Bogert, Senior Mining Engineer; and Rick Richins, Senior Advisor Permitting. All bring a wealth of experience in their respective fields. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with Alaska Large Mine Permitting Team to gain early input into baseline program design and ensure long lead time data is collected in a manner consistent with the needs of State regulators.
Advanced project work has increased since reporting a near doubling of the size of the mineral resource earlier this year (see news release dated May 11, 2015*). A variety of geotechnical, engineering, and environmental baseline studies were completed during the summer exploration season. These studies focus on evaluation of the new resource, data to inform future plans and engineering design, and data to support the various permits that may be required as the project advances. The work includes geotechnical studies, rock geochemistry, flora and fauna surveys, fish surveys, surface and groundwater hydrology, water quality, and meteorology surveys.
About the Palmer Project
Palmer is a resource expansion stage, high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project, with an Inferred Mineral Resource of 8.1 million tonnes grading 1.41% copper, 5.25% zinc, 0.32 g/t gold and 31.7 g/t silver*. The Project is being advanced in partnership with Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd. who can earn 49% in the project by making aggregate expenditures of US$22 million over four years. The project is located in a very accessible part of coastal Southeast Alaska, with road access to the edge of the property and within 60 kilometers of the year-round deep sea port of Haines. Mineralization at Palmer occurs within the same belt of rocks that is host to the Greens Creek mine, one of the world's richest VMS deposits. There are at least 25 separate base metal and/or barite occurrences and prospects on the Palmer property, indicating the potential for discovery of multiple deposits.
Source: http://www.constantinemetals.com/