Results of the Initial Drill Program at ArcWest's Teeta Creek Porphyry Copper- Molybdenum-Gold-Silver Project
Results of the Initial Drill Program at
ArcWest's Teeta Creek Porphyry Copper-
Molybdenum-Gold-Silver Project
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 20, 2021) - ArcWest Exploration Inc. (TSXV:
AWX) ("ArcWest") is pleased to announce assay results for the initial drill test of the Teeta Creek
porphyry copper-molybdenum-gold-silver ("Cu-Mo-Au-Ag") project, from a program completed by Teck
Resources Limited ("Teck").
Following the release of final reports on the program, Teck has relinquished
its options to earn an interest in the Teeta Creek and NVI projects, northern Vancouver Island, B.C.
(
Figure 1
). ArcWest is now considering new funding partners in order to advance the Teeta Creek and
NVI projects. ArcWest's recommended targets for porphyry Cu-Mo-Au and epithermal Au-Ag on the
Teeta Creek project remain to be drill tested.
These include but are not limited to the following:
Historic drillholes in the Teeta Creek valley floor intersected significant porphyry Cu mineralization
but were not assayed for Au.
These include drill holes 75-1 and 68-3 (
Figure 2
), which intercepted
0.35% Cu over 67 m and 0.23% Cu over 87 m, respectively.
A 400 m wide corridor between these
two drillholes remains virtually unexplored and remains a priority target for follow up drilling.
The
most well-developed porphyry style stockwork on the property is present in outcrops in the vicinity
of these drill holes as are outcrops of Cu mineralized, intensely QSP/clay-pyrite altered dacite
porphyry which contain evidence for relict potassic alteration.
The presence of anomalous Cu
mineralization within zones of grade destructive alteration suggests potential to vector into better
Cu mineralization with depth as the system transitions to potassic dominant alteration.
The most significant Cu and Au assays in grab samples collected from Teeta Creek by ArcWest
geologists occur within variably altered porphyritic intrusive rocks along logging road outcrops at
high elevations on the property.
These include zones of strongly chalcopyrite mineralized
porphyritic dykes from which grab samples returned assays up to 0.47% Cu.
Proximal to this area,
stibnite bearing epithermal Au-Ag mineralization occurs within a zone of intense argillic alteration
that overprints the Teeta Creek porphyry system. Grab samples from this newly recognized
epithermal Au-Ag system returned assays up to 21.1 g/t Au and 1 g/t Ag.
Tyler Ruks, President and CEO of ArcWest, commented, "ArcWest thanks our partner Teck for
advancing our Teeta Creek and NVI projects.
Further drilling at Teeta Creek is required to test the core
of the system, including a virtually unexplored 400 m wide corridor situated between the two best
historical drill intercepts on the property. At NVI, fieldwork confirmed previously identified multiphase
brecciation and veining associated with the Ecila magnetic anomaly, as well as discovering a new
porphyry prospect at Keogh that is highly deserving of follow up exploration. ArcWest continues to be
fully committed to unlocking the emerging value of its 100% owned Teeta Creek and NVI porphyry
projects and is now considering new funding partners."
The 2021 Teeta Creek drill program included two drill holes for a total of 1,116 metres of drilling from two
platforms (Table 1). The 2021 drill holes tested the northwestern extent of the known mineralization at
Teeta Creek in an area where logging roads exposed mineralized diorite and feldspar porphyry dykes
and breccias across widths of over 450 metres.
The two drill platforms are situated 200 to 350 metres
elevation above and 600 m north of historical drill holes which intersected significant copper
mineralization over a broad area, including drill hole 75-1 (0.35% Cu over 67.1 metres). Both 2021 drill
holes intercepted broad intervals of copper and molybdenum mineralization (Table 2).
Individual core
assays ranged up to 1.27 grams per tonne (g/t) Au over 2.4 m, 47.2 g/t Ag over 3.35 m, 1.047% Cu over
1.09 m, and 0.104% Mo over 2.09 m.
ArcWest believes that the presence of widespread intense QSP at
the lowest elevations tested during the drill program suggests potential to vector into better copper
mineralization with depth as the system transitions to potassic dominant alteration.
Table 1: Location and orientation data, 2021 Teeta Creek drill program
Drill hole
UTMNAD83E
UTMNAD83N
Azimuth
Inclination
Depth (m)
TTK-2021-001
604996
5583295
298
50
486
TTK-2021-002
604681
5583258
140
60
630
Table 2: Significant assay intervals, 2021 Teeta Creek drill program
Drill hole
From
m
To
m
Width
m
CuEq
%
Au
g/t
Ag
g/t
Cu
ppm
Mo
ppm
TTK-2021-001
16.30
235.40
219.10
0.07
0.020
0.2
447
30
TTK-2021-001
163.00
235.40
72.40
0.10
0.046
0.3
542
36
TTK-2021-001
179.00
219.50
40.50
0.12
0.080
0.4
622
22
TTK-2021-001
204.25
219.50
15.25
0.20
0.206
0.7
536
11
TTK-2021-002
71.20
381.84
310.64
0.10
0.014
1.0
721
43
TTK-2021-002
71.20
220.10
148.90
0.14
0.020
1.9
937
51
TTK-2021-002
71.20
145.59
74.39
0.18
0.038
3.0
1141
71
TTK-2021-002
71.20
112.50
41.30
0.25
0.062
4.9
1436
100
TTK-2021-002
71.20
91.00
19.80
0.39
0.110
9.4
1969
175
1
.
Width refers to drill hole intercepts; true widths have not been determined. EOH = End of hole.
2
.
CuEq (copper equivalent) has been used to express the combined value of copper (Cu), gold
(Au), molybdenum (Mo), and silver (Ag) as a percentage of copper, and is provided for
comparative purposes only. No allowances have been made for recovery losses that may occur
should mining eventually occur. Calculations use metal prices of US$4.00/lb copper,
US$1,800/oz gold, US$10/lb molybdenum, and US$22/oz silver, using the general formula
CuEq % = Cu% + (Au g/t * (Au $ per oz/ 31.1034768) / (Cu $ per lb* 22.04623)) + (Ag g/t * (Ag $
per oz/ 31.1034768) / (Cu $ per lb* 22.04623)) + (Mo % * (Mo $ per lb / Cu $ per lb)).
Teeta Creek is part of a recently recognized late Neogene porphyry Cu-Mo metallotect, containing
mineralized feldspar-(quartz-biotite-hornblende) phyric porphyritic intrusive rocks dated at 6.3 Ma (U-Pb,
zircon; Nixon et al., 2020), making Teeta Creek one of the youngest porphyry copper systems in North
America (
Figure 1
). The porphyry intrudes an older dioritic intrusion which is also altered and
mineralized, but which may be a passive host rock to the younger porphyry system. The porphyry
intrudes along an important northeast trending regional fault system, the Brooks Peninsula Fault Zone,
which appears to offset the older diorite (Figure 1).
TTK-2021-001
Drill hole 2021-001 was collared outside the historical induced polarization anomaly (chargeability high)
outlined by Cities Service Minerals Corp. in 1974 and directed toward the periphery of the historical Cu-
Mo soil anomaly (
Figure 2
; Noel 1979). TTK-2021-001 primarily intersected the older diorite intrusion
(79% of the core), with only minor porphyry (17%). The dominant alteration includes sodic-calcic (39%)
and chlorite-magnetite (26%). The lack of strongly altered porphyry in this drill hole suggests that it only
tested the margins of the porphyry system. A zone of late gold-arsenic-antimony mineralization is
associated with quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration, quartz-carbonate veins and porphyry dykes between
204.25 and 219.5 metres.
TTK-2021-002
Drill hole TTK-2021-002 was collared about 320 metres west of TTK-2021-001 within the historical
chargeability high and directed towards the western lobe of the historical Cu-Mo soil anomaly. Although
collared in diorite, significant intervals of feldspar porphyry, including a late phase, were encountered
below 220 metres downhole. Porphyry intrusions comprise 36% of the total length of the hole, including
almost all of the interval 460 to 630 metres (EOH).
A number of small breccia zones with angular and
cuspate clasts were intersected below 305 m.
The dominant alteration in 2021-002 is quartz-sericite-pyrite (34% of total core length), with lesser
potassic (28%) and sericite-chlorite (17%).
The sodic-calcic alteration of hole 2021-001 is largely
absent. Late phase porphyry dykes are dilutive with respect to Cu and Mo mineralization but can be
strongly QSP altered and locally contain late epithermal Au-As-Sb (e.g. 1.0 g/t Au over 4.6 m, 469.6 -
474.2 m).
Although both drill holes intersected broad intervals of low-grade Cu-Mo mineralization, ArcWest
believes that the central target area of the porphyry system was not tested by the initial phase of drilling
(Figure 2). This central target of strongly altered and mineralized porphyry extends from the upper
switchback of the main logging road, where well mineralized porphyry returned Cu assays up to 0.47%,
south-southeast through a zone of intensely QSP altered and stockworked porphyry north of the Brooks
Peninsula Fault between drill holes 75-1 and 68-2. This target area follows the long axis of the historical
Cu-Mo soil anomaly, and is east of (or internal to) the 1974 chargeability high. Strike length of this
untested porphyry target is about 1000 metres from the upper switchback to the southern lobe of the
chargeability high, with a width of 200 to 400 metres.
NVI Project
Teck also completed a program of reconnaissance mapping and rock sampling on ArcWest's 8529
hectare NVI project, also located in the late Neogene porphyry Cu-Mo belt of northern Vancouver Island.
The most notable result was the discovery of a series of northwest-striking quartz-feldspar porphyry
dykes cutting Karmustsen Formation mafic volcanics at the Keogh showing about 2 km north of Keogh
Lake. The porphyry dykes are 2 - 10 metres wide and contain disseminated and vein-hosted pyrite-
pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite
+
bornite mineralization. A composite chip sample across 8 m returned 0.347%
Cu. The copper-mineralized porphyry is located near the southwest margin of a 300 by 600 m long
chargeability high which is open to the southeast.
At the Ecila showing, located 3.6 km east of Alice Lake, multiphase magnetite, quartz-magnetite and
quartz-chalcopyrite veining cutting patchy to pervasively magnetite altered Karmutsen basalt and
microdiorite intrusions were identified, including a fine grained diorite body cut by magnetite-cemented
breccia which is crosscut by quartz-calcite-magnetite-pyrite-chalcopyrite veins. This showing is located
within a strong 1.8 km wide circular magnetic high. Limited rock sampling of the Ecila area by Teck
returned Cu values up to 0.253%. The Ecila copper occurrence has yet to undergo ground geophysical
surveys, soil geochemical surveys or drill testing.
Multiple targets at NVI remain to be ground-truthed.
These include geophysical targets (magnetic highs)
delineated in a recent Geoscience BC geophysical survey of the area that have potential for Ecila-like
discoveries.
Multiple historical mineral occurrences at NVI have yet to be relocated and sampled.
These
include the Walt showing (MINFILE, 2021) at the northeastern side of the property, for which a historical
report references a malachite stained diorite that has yet to be relocated.
ArcWest's corporate presentation is available for download
here
. ArcWest's technical presentation is
available for download
here
.
Quality Control
The 2021 Teeta Creek drill program was funded and operated by Teck. All drill core was logged,
photographed, and cut in half with a diamond saw at a core logging facility in Port Alice, B.C. Half of the
core was sampled and sent to the Bureau Veritas assay laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia for
analysis. Samples were prepared using prep. code: PRP70-1KG to produce a pulp. The pulps were
analyzed by three analytical methods: the multi-element MA250 4-acid lithogeochemistry analysis,
AQ250 aqua regia ultra-trace analysis and fire assay for Au. There was also an additional request for
over limit analysis to be carried out by the MA370 ore grade 4-acid method on any sample reporting Cu
values greater than 1%. Lithogeochemical assays for a full multi-element suite (59 elements) were
obtained using the MA250 method. A total of 649 core samples were submitted and returned
geochemical data not including 134 QA-QC samples. Duplicate samples were collected every 1 in 20
core samples and half core was cut in half again and separated into two samples for a single sample
interval. QA/QC standards included a pulp blank (OREAS 22F) inserted every 1 in 40 core samples, a
coarse blank inserted every 1 in 20 core samples, a medium grade (OREAS 501C) or high grade
(OREAS 503D) Cu standard inserted in every 1 in 20 core samples. QAQC data has been compiled
and furnished to ArcWest.
References
MINFILE, 2021.
MINFILE BC mineral deposits database:
BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, Mines and
Petroleum Resources.
Nixon, G.T., Friedman, R.M., and Creaser, R.A., 2020. A new metallotect: late Neogene porphyry Cu-Mo
mineralization in British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum
Resources, British Columbia Geological Survey GeoFile 2020-03.
Noel, G.A., 1979. Report on the Teeta Creek property, Neroutsos Inlet, Nanaimo M.D., B.C. B.C.
Property File ID 64905.
About ArcWest Exploration Inc.
ArcWest Exploration is a project generator focused on porphyry copper-gold exploration opportunities
throughout western North America. The company is in possession of eight 100% owned copper-gold
projects throughout BC's premier porphyry copper-gold districts; at least four of these projects are
scheduled to undergo partner funded drill testing in 2021. By conducting partner funded exploration on
multiple exploration projects simultaneously, ArcWest's chances of discovery are enhanced while
exposing shareholders to minimal dilution. The company is managed by an experienced technical team
with a track record of discovery and a reputation for attracting well-funded senior partners, including
Freeport McMoRan, Robert Friedland group companies, ITOCHU, Antofagasta and Teck.
Qualified Person
ArcWest's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and
approved by John Bradford, PGeo, Technical Advisor, who serves as a Qualified Person under the
definition of National Instrument 43-101.
For further information please contact: Tyler Ruks, President and CEO at +1 (604) 638 3695.
Investors are cautioned that ArcWest Exploration Inc. has not verified the data from the Island Copper
deposit. Further, the presence and style of mineralization on this property is not necessarily indicative
of similar mineralization on the ArcWest Exploration Inc. property. Historical assays from drill
programs on its properties have not been verified by ArcWest but have been cited from sources
believed to be reliable. This news release contains statements about ArcWest's expectations and are
forward-looking in nature. As a result, they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although
ArcWest believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable,
undue reliance should not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-
looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the
date hereof, and ArcWest undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking
statements or information, except as required by law.
This news release contains statements about ArcWest's expectations and are forward-looking in
nature. As a result, they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although ArcWest believes that
the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should
not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements.
The
forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and
ArcWest undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or
information, except as required by law.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96993