000 Metre Drill Program on Rateria - West Valley P ro perty , s upported b y New Geological Targeting Information
Happy Creek
Minerals Ltd.
t
o
b
egin 3
,
000 Metre Drill Program on
Rateria
-
West Valley
P
ro
perty
,
s
upported
b
y New Geological Targeting Information
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 13, 2020
–
Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX
-
V: HPY) (
“Happy
Creek” or
the “Company”)
is
pleased to
announce that a 3
,
000 metre drill program has
been
approved
by the Board of Directors
on
the Company’s
100% owned, 244 square km Rateria
-
West
Valley property
(the “Property”)
,
which borders
the south side of Te
ck
Resources L
imited
’s
Highland Valley Copper
mine.
The Company’s fi
nal selection of drill sites
and contractors
is under
way and the drill
program
is expe
cted to begin in early
August
on several new and existing targets.
The Company is also pleased to report
exciting new
results
from
the
2020 Phase 1 exploration
program
which comprised
the application of new techniques of
hyperspectral
mineral and
alteration studies.
These studies wil
l help guide the upcoming drilling
program and provide
greater
potential
for
the discovery of
new deposits that
will
have
a
positive
impact
for
the Company’s
shareholders
.
The
Phase 1 hyperspectral and geochemical
study
was led by Mr. John Ryan, Chief Geos
cientist
of
HEG
and Associates
Exploration Services
Ltd
.
(
“
HEG
”
)
.
The
HEG
team
utilized a portable
X
-
ray fluorescence spectrometer
(
“
XRF
”
) and a TerraSpec Halo mineral analyzer
(
spectral)
to
measure
changes in
the white mica
composition
,
ALOH
wavelengths
and geochemistry
at several
deposits and
prospects on Happy Creek’s
P
roperty
.
The hyperspectral signature of porphyry deposits in the
Highland Vall
e
y mining district
has
b
een
well documented in recent studies (Alva
-
Jimenez, 2011, Alva
-
Jimenez
et al., 2020, Lesage,
2020). Changes in the composition of white mica and chlorite have been linked to the alteration
zonation of both the Valley
-
Bethsaida
-
Alwin and
slightly
older
Bethlehem mineral systems.
Th
e
information collected
at Rateria
-
West Valley
can be compared
to
this
published
data
and
will
assist
the Company
in
provid
ing
vectors to
wards
the
potential
location of the
highest
-
grade portion
of
a
porphyry copper centre.
Mr.
David Blann,
President and
Chief Executive Officer
of
the Company stated
“There is
tremendous value
in
using
Mr.
Ryan
’s
experience
in applying these new cutting
-
edge tools
including
deposits of the
adjacent
Highland Valley Copper
M
ine
.
The upcoming drill program will
test the proof of concept of this technology
and
,
if successful, would provide a
significant t
ool for
exploring
the Company’s
large, prospective
p
roperty.
”
Highlight
s
of
P
reliminary
Hypers
pectral, XRF
S
tud
ies
and
F
ield
W
ork
Zone 1
The
Zone 1
copper deposit at Rateria
is defined by
33
drill holes
for over one kilometre in a
northerly trend
and to a depth of
400
m,
where it is open.
Drill holes have returned 95m of 0.67%
copper and 250m of 0.25% copper.
A
dditional
shallow
drill holes
containing p
ositive copper values
and or alteration
, suggest
s
that the system continues
for over one km to the west
and northeast
.
HEG studied
core from
ten
drill holes from
the target and reported:
“
Mineralization is associated
with white mica
-
clay alteration. Shifts
in the white mica AlOH and Crystallinity suggest
s
two
populations: a “Sericitic” alteration event overprinting a potentially K
-
feldspar
-
stable “Potassic”
white mica
alteration
. White mica results from the bottom of
hole
R11
-
24 indicates an environment
sim
ilar to the Bethsaida zone
on the
edge of the Valley
pit
.
West of Zone 1, the South Yubet trend
displays a similar spectral response while trace element anomalies are also prospective for a
porphyry system. These indicate that further exploration and poten
tial
ly
deeper drilling is
warranted.
”
Zone 2
The
Zone 2
deposit at Rateria
is
open to depth and several other directions and is
different
from
Zone 1, containing
copper,
gold
and high rhenium enrichment in molybdenite
.
Drilling
in 2017
returned intervals including 1
05.5
metres of 0.3
7
% copper,
0.14 g/t gold and 0.63 g/t rhenium.
In
2020, t
wo rock grab samples
were collected
from historical
trenches
about
one km northeast of
Z
one
2
. The two samples are approximately 100 metres apart and
returned
0.60% copper, 0.03
g/t gold, 3.52 g/t silver, and 0.41% copper, 0.023 g/t gold, 2.17 g/t silver.
Mr.
Ryan
studied
six
drill
holes from Zone 2 and reports:”
White mica in Zone 2 is domin
antly of the “Sericitic” variety while
Fe
-
rich chlorite mica is associated with much of the mineralization. Both chlorite and white mica
is most prospective in hole R11
-
36 and indicate a similar setting to the
Bethlehem
mine
mineral
system
.
”
If Zone 2 is
o
f Bethlehem age
(older than Valley type systems)
, it
would
indicate
a
robust,
long
-
lived
focus of
hydrothermal
fluids
occurred
on the Rateria property
and
elevates the potential
for
large
porphyry deposits
to occur.
New
P
rospects
PIM
The PIM
prospect at West Valley has never been drilled but is located in a large clearcut with
many logging roads. It
is located 5.5 km southwest of the Lornex
pit
and
is hosted in
the favorable
Bethsaida
and Skeena
intrusive
phase
s
and
cut by
aplite dikes.
As ann
ounced
in the Company’s
news releases dated
October 7, 2019 and December 20,
2019
the
PIM
prospect
has returned
encouraging results from rock sampling, mapping, and
induced polarization
(IP
) and magnetic
geophysical surveys.
In
20
20
, a
soil survey
in this area confirmed and expanded historical results.
S
everal anomalous trends
occur
in this area
, the best being a two
km
north
-
northwest trend
50
m
etres
up to 400 metres in width
,
with
values
up to 984 ppm copper
. The widest portion
cover
s
greater than
400 metres by 400 metres
and
occurs
in an area
where
grab samples collected in
2019 along a logging road cut returned
5m of 0.41% copper and 10m of 0.29% copper
.
HEG partially
mapped
and performed
the first
hyperspectral
study
on the PIM
and
report
s
:
“
Veining roughly fits in the K
-
Feldspar, Muscovite, Sodic
-
Calcic and Propylitic assemblages.
The
presence of sodic
-
calcic alteration is a positive indication and has been shown to be spatially
related to porphyry systems within the
Batholith.
Quartz
-
sulphide (bornite
-
chalcocite)
-
specularite
veins associated with white mica may indicate alteration
related to the fluids derived from the final
cooling of a mineralizing intrusion. These sericitic fluids would presumably have continued above
the porphyry environment. The spectral signature of the white mica suggest
s
these to be of the
“Potassic” white m
ica similar to Zone 1 indicating relatively hot, acid formation conditions and
could represent a distal focus of mineralization or the high
er
level expression of a yet to be
identified porphyry. The abundance of malachite (copper mineral) suggests that muc
h of the
sulphide has weathered out and may be preserved at depth.”
A
high
er
level
expression
of a porphyry
fits with
Happy Creek’s 2019
IP geophysical
survey
where
a
large scale and
increasingly
positive
chargeability
respons
e
occurs
at depth
s of
250m to
500m
(open)
,
beneath the
positive
copper in soil
and rock values that are
associated with veining and
alteration at surface.
In addition, a
“low within a low” magnetic signature
over this target
is
consistent with magnetite destructive alteration in the ro
cks
which is often associated with copper
deposits in the district. The
2019
geophysics work
suggests this low magnetic response extends
to
well beyond
3 km in depth.
The PIM is thought to represent a
brand new, high
-
quality
large
-
scale
copper
exploration target
and
is a priority for drill testing
.
Sho
On the Rateria property,
t
he Sho
prospect is located approximately 5 km southeast of Zone 1
.
H
istorical
trenches,
drill holes
and outcrops
contain positive copper
at this showing and
for a
further
1.5
km
to the
southeast
.
The Sho prospect occurs in proximity with a
pronounced
northwest trending structure.
HEG prospected and studied the Sho prospect and found
“
it has
coarse muscovite in historical trenches that display white mica of a similar nature
to the Alwin
(mine)
portion of the Valley
-
Bethsaida
-
Alwin system. Significantly, veining in the area is strongly
controlled by west northwest structures
,
the same orientation reported in recent
publications for
porphyry systems of the batholith
.
”
Addition
al hyperspectal and geology studies are planned here.
Ric
k
R
esearch of historical
exploration
in the district indicated that in 1970, a
copper
showing
was
located
i
n the far western portion of the West Valley property
, however no rock samples or other
info
rmation
was
known.
In June, two field assistants
located this showing
and collected eight
rock
grab
samples
from subcrop
and outcrop in an area approximately 100 X 50 metres. Three
samples
returned
from
0.39 up to
0.64% copper, 3.18 g/t silver
,
and three others contained
weakly
anomalous copper ranging from
328
to
446 ppm. P
yrite
-
chalcopyrite
occurs in fractures and
selecti
vely replac
es
mafic minerals
within biotite, quartz
,
epidote and sericite altered intrusive rock
which
appears
similar to the Fir prospect several km to the east. Small pieces of mineralized rock
scattered in
the
glacial till were observed in an area appro
ximately 400m by 200m.
Additional
geological work is planned here during the upcoming program.
About the Rateria and West Valley
P
roperty
The Rateria
-
West Valley mineral
Property
is
244 square km in size and is
predominantly
underlain
by the Guichon bathol
ith
. The batholith
also
hosts
H
ighland Valley Copper
M
ine
, Canada’s largest
copper mine
wit
h continuous production for
over
fifty
years
from numerous pits
.
Happy Creek has
discovered
the Zone 1 and Zone 2 deposits, which have been
partially
outlined
with
28,000 metres of
drillin
g. These deposits
contain
drill grades consistent with currently mined
deposits in the district
.
These are
thought to have near
-
term potential
for resource
definition
and
are located approximately 6.5
km southeast of t
he Highmont
open pits
.
Zone 1 and Zone 2 contain drill intercepts including
up to
95 metres of 0.67% copper and 152.5
m
etres
of 0.35% copper, respectively. At
Z
one 1, positive copper values
within porphyry style
alteration
occur in
widely spaced
drill holes in an area of approximately 1 sq km.
In addition to
copper,
Zone 2 also
contains notable rhenium in molybdenite and positive gold including 46
metres of 0.64% copper, 0.30 g/t gold, 1.16 g/t rhenium. Rhenium is a rare metal used in high
-
streng
th, high
-
temperature steel.
In addition, the Company has
recently
identified several other areas of the
P
roperty
with
potential
for new copper discoveries
that are untested by drilling
.
T
he Company considers the Rateria
-
West Valley
Property
to be
a qualit
y
, under
-
explored
copper exploration asset within a
world class,
highly productive
copper
district.
More information on the Rateria and West Valley copper
properties can be found
on the
Company’s website
at
www.happycreekminerals.com
.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
“David E Blann”
David E
.
Blann, P.Eng.
President
and Chief Executive Officer
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION,
PLEASE CONTACT:
David Blann, President
and
C
hief Executive Officer
Office:Phone:
(604)
662
-
8310
Email:
Walter Segsworth, Executive Chair
Email:
Renmark Financial Communications Inc.
Melanie Barbeau:
Tel: (416) 644
-
2020 or (212) 812
-
7680
www.renmarkfinancial.com
Ne
ither 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.
David Blann, P.Eng.
, Director,
is a Qualified Per
son as defined by National Instrument 43
-
101 and is responsible for
the preparation and approval of the technical information disclosed in the news release.
Results or information from an
adjoining property does not infer that similar results or informatio
n will or does occur on the subject
Property
.
Historical
information from the subject or adjacent property cannot not be relied upon as the Company’s QP, a term which was
created and defined under NI
-
43
-
101 has not prepared nor verified th
at
information.
R
ock and soil geochemical samples were prepared and analyzed at ALS Chemex Laboratories in North Vancouver,
B.C. Samples
underwent a 4 acid digestion and ICP
-
MS analyses for 49 elements (ME
-
MS
-
61). Gold values in rock
samples were provided by a 30 gm fire a
ssay with AA finish (Au
-
AA23
and reported as PPM (g/t
).
Values reported in
% are ppm/10,000.
Th
is press release contains "forward
-
looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including
statements that address capital costs, recove
ry, grade, and timing of work or plans at the Company’s mineral projects.
Forward
-
looking information may be, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate",
“foresee”,
"plan", "planned", "continue", "expect", “thought to”, "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends",
"believe", “opportunity”, “further” and others, or which describes a goal or action, event or result such as "may", "should",
"could", "would"
, "might" or "will" be undertaken, occur or achieved. Statements also include those that address future
mineral production, reserve potential, potential size or scale of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of
mineralization, potential type(s) of mining
, potential grades as well as to
Happy Creek
’s ability to fund ongoing
expenditure, or assumptions about future metal or mineral prices, currency exchange rates, metallurgical recoveries
and grades, favourable operating conditions, access, political stabil
ity, obtaining or renewal of existing or required
mineral titles, licenses and permits, labour stability, market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral
resources, anticipated costs and expenditures. Assumptions may be based on facto
rs and events that are not within
the control of
Happy Creek
and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such forward
-
looking information
involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual results to materially differ, and/or any fut
ure results
expressed or implied by such forward
-
looking information. Additional information on risks and uncertainties can be
found within Financial Statements, Prospectus and other materials found on the Company’s SEDAR profile at
www.sedar.com
. Although
Happy Creek
has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions,
events or results to differ materially from those described in forward
-
looking information, there can be no assurance
that such i
nformation will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements.
Happy Creek
withholds any obligation to update or revise any forward
-
looking
information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.