Coast Copper's Benson Lake Mine CSAMT Geophysical Survey Generates 3 Anomalies on Trend
Coast Copper's Benson Lake Mine CSAMT
Geophysical Survey Generates 3 Anomalies on
Trend
TSXV: COCO
VANCOUVER, BC
,
Jan. 23, 2024
/CNW/ -
Coast Copper Corp. ("Coast Copper" or the
"Company";
(TSXV: COCO) is pleased to announce that the Controlled Source Audio-frequency
Magnetotellurics ("
CSAMT
") ground geophysical survey completed on its optioned, past-producing
Empire Mine property ("
Empire Mine
" or the "
Property
") located on Northern Vancouver Island,
B.C. has generated three high-priority drill targets.
NR24-001 Figure 1 (CNW Group/Coast Copper Corp.)
In
December 2023
, Coast Copper engaged
Peter E. Wallcott
and Associates to complete a 5-line
(totaling 5 line kilometers ("
km
")) CSAMT survey over portions of the Property near the historical
Benson Lake Mine representing one of numerous targets on the Property (see Figure 1). The
CSAMT survey shows that known mineralization and underground workings at the past-producing
Benson Lake Mine are associated with a resistivity low exhibited by two CSAMT lines over a 300-
meter ("
m
") x
500 m
area (see Figure 2). From 1968-1972, approximately 1.2 million tonnes were
mined from the Benson Lake Mine with recovered grades of 1.47% copper ("
Cu
"), 1.1 grams per
tonne ("
g/t
") gold ("
Au
"), 4.7 g/t silver ("
Ag
") and 29% magnetite ¹ ². Based on the CSAMT features
over the known mineralization, three high priority targets that exhibit similar characteristics are noted
below:
Northwest of Benson Lake Mine - High Priority Target Area (
300 m
x
500 m
) Section A- A'
Two CSAMT lines were located to the northwest of the historical
Benson Lake
underground mine
with the first line located just outside of the mine workings and downdip of an area historically called
the "QB" Zone and the second line a further
200 m
to the northwest and downdip of an area
historically called the "QC" Zone. The
300 m
wide resistivity low noted on both these lines also
occurs in the hanging wall of the Sproule Fault as does the mined-out portions of Benson Lake mine
to the southeast. Two drillholes were completed in this area in 2007 (MW07-48 & 49) by Grande
Portage Resources Inc., with drillhole MW07-48 intercepting
7.5 m
of a massive magnetite layer
assaying 0.27 g/t Au, 0.45% Cu and 24.1% Iron ("
Fe
") and MW07-049 intercepting
6.7 m
of a semi-
massive sulphide and dike breccia assaying 0.25 g/t Au, 0.64% Cu and 8.1% Fe ³. The combination
of the Sproule Fault, resistivity low and magnetic high feature from a 2006 regional airborne
geophysical survey plus the encouraging 2007 drill intercepts help identify the potential for a
mineralized corridor. It is also important to note that this resistivity anomaly is open to the northwest
for over
500 m
until it reaches the Raven Fault.
Keystone - High Priority Target Area (
100 m
x
1000 m
) Section B-B'
The upper or western ends of three CSAMT lines also identified an approximate
100 m
thick sill-like,
gently west-dipping low resistivity feature that appears to be associated with mapped Keystone
volcanic sills that are associated with mineralization at the historical Merry Widow mine open pit.
Limited exploration work and no drilling has occurred in this area recently identified by Coast Copper
as the "Middle Trends" (see news release dated
November 21, 2023
) where copper and gold
anomalies were returned from initial rock and soil sampling.
South of Benson Lake Mine- High Priority Target Area (
200 m
x
300 m
) Section C-C'
One CSAMT line was completed to the south of the past-producing Benson Lake Mine, across a
known fault and the Merry Widow creek. The resistivity low appears to be offset by approximately
200 m
to the west, indicating that the southerly potential of mineralization may continue to the west.
This resistivity low anomaly also appears to correlate with a historical "remaining mineable resource
block" identified by Cominco Ltd. in
December 1972
just prior to the mine being closed. One drillhole
was completed in this area in 2007 (MW07-51) that encountered skarn bands between 207-328
metres down the drillhole and a
2 m
massive magnetite band even though it was drilled in a southerly
direction and away from the target.
It is important to note that a magnetic anomaly identified by the 2006 airborne geophysical survey
continues for a further 2 km to the south. In the first kilometer, very widely spaced and sometimes
abandoned and technically misdirected drilling was completed in 2006 and 2007 (drillholes MW06-
25,26 & 27 and MW 07-52,53 & 54) and although assay results were not as high-grade as most of
the drilling at the Merry Widow Deposit, with the value of hindsight and a better understanding of the
Old Sport Mineralized Horizon, they are very technically significant with some of the results
highlighted below:
MW06-25 returned an epidote skarn with pyrrhotite from 261-
275 m
with a one-meter interval of
1.46 g/t Au and 0.44% Cu,
MW06-27 returning a 20 cm semi-massive pyrrhotite interval of 0.14% Cu, 484 parts per million
Cobalt and 37.5% Fe which is even more significant considering the previous
5 m
interval had
no recovery,
MW07-52 returning a 1.62 m intercept of massive magnetite of 0.54 g/t Au, 0.52% Cu and
29.6% Fe, MW07-053 returning a
4.52 m
intercept of massive magnetite of 34.12% Fe and
MW07-54 returning a 14.24 m intercept of 0.12 g/t Au and 0.29 % Cu ³.
When these drillholes were completed to depth they also identified the transition to underlying
Karmutsen volcanics and proved that the Old Sport Horizon continues for up to a kilometer south of
the Benson Lake Mine. Now, having a better understanding of the geophysical and geological
signatures, Coast Copper will use this data to help vector into areas of higher grade copper and
gold associated with the magnetite bodies and the Old Sport Horizon.
Exploration Implications of CSAMT Survey and Regional Airborne Magnetics and Similarities
to IOCG Deposits
Comparisons of geophysical and regional airborne magnetics with known mineralization and fault
zones shows a close spatial relationship, suggesting that some of these fault zones may have been
feeder zones for the magnetite mineralization which was later overprinted by copper-gold-silver-
cobalt mineralization, similar in nature to iron-oxide copper gold deposits ("
IOCG
") like those in
Chile
and those associated with subduction zones along the west coast of
North America
⁵.
Based on the success of the CSAMT geophysical survey, further lines are proposed to generate
new drill targets on the Property.
Association for Mineral Exploration Roundup,
January 22-25, 2024
Coast Copper is currently at the AME Roundup Conference (booth #500) in
Vancouver
till
January
25, 2024
, at the
Vancouver
Convention Center East and will be pleased to provide further
information and updates on the Company and its projects. In addition,
Wyatt Bains
, from the B.C
Geological Survey, will be presenting a poster display on "Ore and Alteration Textures from Co-
Bearing Iron Skarns: Examples from
Vancouver
and Texada Islands" which will also highlight some
of his preliminary findings on work at our Empire Project.
Qualified Persons
The technical information contained in this news release has been prepared, reviewed, and
approved by
Wade Barnes
, P.Geo. (BC), Coast Copper's geological consultant and a Qualified
Person ("
QP
") within the context of the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument
("NI") 43-101; Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Coast Copper Corp.
Coast Copper's exploration focus is the optioned Empire Mine property, located on northern
Vancouver Island, BC, which covers three historical open pit mines and two past-producing
underground mines that yielded iron, copper, gold, and silver. Coast Copper's other properties
include its 100% owned Knob Hill NW property located on northern Vancouver Island, its Home Brew
property in central BC, and its
Scottie West
property located in the "Golden Triangle" of northern
BC. Coast Copper's management team continues to review precious base metals opportunities in
western
North America
.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors:
"Adam Travis"
Adam Travis
, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Cautionary Notes on Release and/or Figures
1
.
Historical information, maps or figures contained in this release regarding Coast Copper's
Empire Mine Property or adjacent properties cannot be relied upon as the Company's QP, as
defined under NI-43-101 has not prepared nor verified the historical information.
2
.
Cominco Resources, Drill Section Maps "Plan of Cominco's Benson Lake Operations on Empire
Claims Showing Ore Reserves & Proposed Exploration Program", 1970, Private Files. While
Coast Copper notes that Cominco's historical results are not NI 43-101 compliant and have not
been verified by the Company's QP, these combined historical resources total nearly 3.154
million tonnes and will help guide Coast Copper's exploration programs. Benson Lake Mine
historical reserves recorded by Cominco Resources (1972) report a non NI 43-101 resource of
454,000 tonnes grading 0.59 g/t Au and 1.3% Cu and an Inferred resource of 2.7 million tonnes
of 1.7% Cu with no Au grade calculated.
3
.
The 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by Sue Bird, P.Eng., an independent
Qualified Person. The effective date of the mineral resource estimate is
April 26, 2023
. Mineral
Resources are reported using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards and were estimated in
accordance with the CIM 2019 Best Practices Guidelines, as required by NI43-101. Mineral
Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is
no certainty that any Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. These Mineral
Resource estimates include Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative
geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be
categorized as Mineral Reserves. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral
Resources could be upgraded to Measured or Indicated Mineral Resource with continued
exploration. The Mineral Resource Estimate has been confined by a "reasonable prospects of
eventual economic extraction" pit using the following assumptions, Prices are based on 3 year
trailing averages, recoveries are based on preliminary metallurgical studies, and smelter terms
and costs are based on comparables.
1
.
Au price of
USD$1,800
/oz and Cu price of
US$ 3.50
/lb at an exchange rate of
0.75
US$
per CAD$;
2
.
77% Cu metallurgical recovery, 29% Cu concentrate grade, 100$USD/tonne
concentrate transport, 100 $USD/tonne concentrate treatment, 1% unit concentrate
grade deduction, and 0.1 $USD/lb Cu refining cost
3
.
60% Au metallurgical recovery, 99% payable Au, and
8 USD$
/oz Au refining cost.
4
.
Mining costs of
CAD$15
/tonne;
5
.
Processing + G/A costs of
CAD$25
/tonne;
6
.
Pit slopes of 50 degrees;
The resulting NSR equation is: NSR (CDN$) = (Cu%/100) x 3.96 x 2204.6 x 0.77 + Au
x 76.05 x 0.6. The bulk density of the deposit is interpolated from sample data. The
average value specific gravity used for the Mineral Resource Estimate is 3.45 at the
base case cutoff.
4
.
Grande Portage Resources Inc. 2006 and 2007 Drilling. BC Assessment Report 28863
"Assessment Report on
Diamond Drilling
on the Merry Widow Property by G.
Nicholson
and W.
Robb" and, BC Assessment Report 30002 "
Diamond Drilling
, Geochemical and Geophysical
Assessment Report for the 2007 Program at the Merry Widow Project, W. Ravel, M. Nelson".
5
.
Barra, Fernando, Reich, Martin, Selby, David, Rojas, Paula, Simon, Adam, Salazar, Eduardo,
Palma, Gisella, Unraveling the origin of the Andean IOCG clan: A Re-Os isotope approach,
Ore
Geology Reviews
(2016)
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is
defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release, including any
information regarding the proposed Transaction, private placement, board, and management
changes, as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance,
constitutes "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact,
are to be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily
based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Coast
Copper, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, geological, and competitive
uncertainties, and contingencies. Although Coast Copper believes the expectations expressed in
such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not
guarantees of future performance. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not
limited to fluctuations in market prices, exploration and exploitation successes, continued
availability of capital and financing, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation,
controls, regulations, expropriation, or nationalization of property and general political, economic,
market or business conditions. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual
results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any
forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-
looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, readers are advised
to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. All of the forward-looking statements made in
this press release, or incorporated by reference, are qualified by these cautionary statements. We
do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
NR24-001 Figure 2 (CNW Group/Coast Copper Corp.)
SOURCE
Coast Copper Corp.
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For further information:
please contact: Adam Travis, CEO, Coast Copper Corp, 409 Granville
Street, Suite 904, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1T2, Canada, P: 877-578-9563, E:
[email protected], NR24-01
CO: Coast Copper Corp.
CNW 08:05e 23-JAN-24