Surge Copper Commences PEA on Berg Project
PO Box 10351 888-700 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V7Y 1G5
www.surgecopper.com
TSX-V Trading Symbol: SURG
OTCQX: SRGXF
Frankfurt Trading Symbol: G6D2
Telephone: +1 (604) 781-5454
Email: [email protected]
November 16, 2022
NEWS RELEASE
Surge Copper Commences PEA on Berg Project
November 16, 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia – Surge Copper Corp. (TSXV: SURG)
(OTCQX: SRGXF) (Frankfurt: G6D2) (“Surge” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that
it has commenced a Preliminary Economic Assessment (the “PEA”) on the Berg Project located
in central British Columbia. The Company has engaged Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc.
(“Ausenco”) to lead the PEA which will utilize an updated mineral resource estimate to be
completed by Tetra Tech Canada Inc. The PEA is anticipated to be completed during the second
calendar quarter of 2023.
To view an interactive tour of the Berg site use the following link or visit Surge’s website:
https://vrify.com/decks/12371-press-release-commencement-of-berg-pea
Highlights
Project concept to outline development opportunity of a simple, stand-alone open pit mine
and concentrator facility located in an easily accessible region of British Columbia which
has significant existing and ongoing industrial development including multiple mines, a
smelter, forest products operations, a major pipeline, and a hydroelectricity station
Project anticipated to have a low strip ratio, and benefit from near-surface, higher-grade
supergene enrichment zone material in early years
Project design will tie into existing infrastructure including the low-to-no-carbon-emissions
BC Hydro grid, and existing road networks which provide access to the Berg Project
PEA will leverage trade-off studies completed in 2022 that identified multiple suitable
tailings siting options
Updated resource modeling plus new sample data anticipated to improve precious metals
credits
Design approach will focus on and prioritize opportunities for energy efficiency and
electrification of energy-intensive activities, including use of conveyor systems, in order to
reduce carbon emissions footprint
Surge Copper Corp. 2
Leif Nilsson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “ The Berg Project represents a potentially
globally unique opportunity to develop a long-life project with high outputs of metals critical for the
energy transition including copper, which is critical in nearly all electrification applications,
molybdenum, which is critical in large-scale geared wind turbines and gas pipelines, and silver,
which is a key component in solar photovoltaic cells, located in a region with zero-carbon-
emissions grid hydroelectricity, and negligible water supply issues. Significant effort has gone into
conceptualizing Berg as an emerging Canadian critical metals project, and we are excited to be
commencing this project study with our engineering consulting partners at Ausenco.”
As a precursor to, and basis for the PEA, the Company engaged Ausenco in early 2022 to
complete a broad set of trade-off studies focused on infrastructure opportunities and alternatives
present in the Berg-Huckleberry-Ootsa district, spanning material movement technologies and
logistics, electricity supply options, and tailings facility siting options. In addition to these trade-off
studies, the PEA will be anchored by extensive metallurgical testwork completed on material from
the Berg deposit by G&T Metallurgical Services Ltd. (now ALS Metallurgy). These testwork
programs focused on developing a flow sheet to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates
from both supergene and hypogene composite samp les and demonstrated that conventional
flotation processes can be used to produce marketable copper and molybdenum concentrates.
In early 2021, the Company announced an updated miner al resource estimate (“MRE”) for the
Berg deposit based on 51,662 metres of drill core across 201 diamond drill holes completed prior
to 2012 (see March 17, 2021 press release). During the 2021 exploration program, the Company
re-established road access to the Berg deposit, built an exploration camp, and completed 2,855
metres of drilling across 9 diamond drill holes (see March 8, 17, and 21, 2022 press releases).
Historical drilling in the database from prior to 1990, representing approximately 26% of the total
assay data used in the MRE, does not contain silver assay data and the MRE applies a value of
zero to these missing values. After a detailed a nalysis of current drilling and silver assays it is
estimated that this estimation approach results in a potential underestimation of actual silver
grades in the deposit. The Company is worki ng on an improved geological model to better
constrain silver domains within the deposit to rectif y this issue. In addition, historical drilling at
Berg was only sporadically assayed for gold, and the current MRE does not contain any estimates
for gold content in the deposit. To rectify this issue, the Company completed a systematic
resampling program during the 2022 field season across approximately 5,200 historical drill core
samples and 3,000 pulp samples in storage to bolster this portion of the database, and anticipates
including this new data, in addition to the 2021 drilling, in the updated resource estimate to
accompany the PEA.
About Ausenco
Ausenco is recognized for developing credible and financeable studies and has significant design
and execution experience for copper projects globally and significant recent experience on
several projects in British Columbia including Skeena Resources’ Eskay Creek Project (PEA, PFS,
& FS), Copper Mountain’s Life of Mine 65ktpd Expansion Study, Canagold Resources’ New
Polaris Project (FS, in progress), Artemis Gold’s Blackwater Project (FS), and Taseko’s Gibraltar
Mine In Pit Crusher Relocation (EPCM, in progress) and GDP3 Expansion (EPCM).
Upcoming Catalysts
The Company anticipates updating the market on results from the following activities:
Surge Copper Corp. 3
Exploration drill results from Phase One regional program on the Ootsa Property including
Seel Breccia Zone East, Blackjack, Blackjack East, and Placer North
Exploration drill results from Phase Two regi onal program on the Berg Property including
Bergette, Sibola, and Sylvia
Exploration target updates from regional surface reconnaissance program
Berg PEA updates
Participation in Upcoming Conference
The Company will be participating in the upcoming joint Mines and Money and Resourcing
Tomorrow conferences in London, UK from November 29 to December 1. Additional information
can be found at minesandmoney.com/london.
Qualified Persons
Dr. Shane Ebert P.Geo., President and VP Exploration at the Company is the Qualified Person
for the Ootsa and Berg projects as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the
technical disclosure contained in this news release.
Mark Wheeler, P.Eng., VP of Projects at the Company as well as a Qualified Person as defined
by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the technical information in this
news release.
Additional Disclosure Related to Berg NI43-101 Resource (previously released on March
17, 2021)
Table 1. Mineral Resource Estimate for the Berg Deposit at 0.2% CuEq Cut-off with Effective Date of
March 9, 2021.
Grade
Contained Metal
Material Type Resource
Category
Tonnes Cu Mo Ag CuEq
Cu Mo Ag CuEq
(Mt) (%) (%) (g/t) (%)
(Mlbs) (Mlbs) (Moz) (Mlbs)
Supergene Measured 86.9 0.41 0.03 2.46 0.50
789 52 6.9 960
Indicated 88.5 0.29 0.02 2.67 0.37
572 43 7.6 724
Measured &
Indicated
175.4 0.35 0.02 2.57 0.44
1,362 95 14.5 1,685
Inferred 7.2 0.23 0.01 4.26 0.29
37 2 1.0 47
Hypogene Measured 120.3 0.28 0.04 3.42 0.41
752 97 13.2 1,098
Indicated 314.1 0.22 0.03 3.10 0.34
1,537 226 31.3 2,343
Measured &
Indicated
434.3 0.24 0.03 3.19 0.36
2,289 323 44.6 3,441
Inferred 20.8 0.22 0.02 3.57 0.30
101 8 2.4 138
Leachate Measured 0.0 0.04 0.09 5.62 0.21
0 0 0.0 0
Indicated 0.2 0.14 0.12 2.37 0.25
1 1 0.0 1
Surge Copper Corp. 4
Measured &
Indicated
0.2 0.13 0.12 2.41 0.25
1 1 0.0 1
Inferred 0.1 0.11 0.09 6.13 0.21
0 0 0.0 0
Total Measured 207.2 0.34 0.03 3.0 0.45
1,541 149 20.1 2,058
Indicated 402.8 0.24 0.03 3.0 0.35
2,110 270 39.0 3,069
Measured &
Indicated
610.0 0.27 0.03 3.0 0.38
3,651 419 59.1 5,126
Inferred 28.1 0.22 0.02 3.8 0.30
138 11 3.4 185
Notes:
1) Copper Equivalent (CuEq) calculated using metal prices of $3 .10/lb Cu, $10.00/lb Mo, and $20/oz Ag. Recoveries were applied to
correspond with estimated individual metal recoveries based on limited metallurgical testwork for production of a copper and molybdenum
concentrate: supergene zone (Cu = 73%, Mo = 61%, and Ag = 52%), hypogene zone (Cu = 81%, Mo = 71%, and Ag = 67%), leachate zone
(Cu = 0%, Mo = 61%, and Ag = 52%). Smelter loss was not applied.
2) A cut-off value of 0.2% CuEq was used as the base case fo r reporting mineral resources that are subject to open pit potential. The resource
block model has been constrained by a conceptual open pit shell, however, economic viability can only be assessed through the completion
of engineering studies defining reserves including PFS and FS. The CIM Definition Standards (May 10, 2014) were followed for classification
of Mineral Resources. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of Inferred Mineral Resources will be upgraded to Indicated or Measured as
a result of continued exploration.
3) Dry bulk density has been estimated based on 2,996 in situ specific gravity measurements collected between 2007 and 2011. Values were
applied by geology model domain (n = 18) representing the weathering profiles and major lithological units; values ranged from 2.38 t/m3 to
2.74 t/m3.
4) There are no known legal, political, unnatural environmental, or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of the
mineral resources.
5) All numbe rs are rounded. Overall numbers may not be exact due to rounding.
The Berg mineral resource estimate has been completed by Tetra Tech in accordance with
National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The mineral resource
estimate has been prepared by Cameron Norton, P.Geo., Independent Qualified Person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101, and has an effective date of March 9, 2021.
About Surge Copper Corp.
Surge Copper Corp. is a Canadian company that is advancing an emerging critical metals district
in a well-developed region of British Columbia, Canada. The Company controls a large,
contiguous mineral claim package that hosts multiple advanced porphyry deposits with pit-
constrained NI 43-101 compliant resources of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver – metals
which are critical inputs to the low-carbon energy transition and associated electrification
technologies.
The Company owns a 100% interest in the Ootsa Property, an advanced-stage exploration project
containing the Seel and Ox porphyry deposits located adjacent to the open pit Huckleberry
Copper Mine, owned by Imperial Metals. The Ootsa Property contains pit-constrained NI 43-101
compliant resources of copper, gold, molybdenum, and silver in the Measured, Indicated, and
Inferred categories.
The Company is also earning a 70% interest in the Berg Property from Centerra Gold. Berg is a
large, advanced-stage exploration project located 28 km northwest of the Ootsa deposits. Berg
contains pit-constrained 43-101 compliant resources of copper, molybdenum, and silver in the
Measured, Indicated, and Inferred categories. Combined, the adjacent Ootsa and Berg properties
give Surge a dominant land position in the Ootsa-Huckleberry-Berg district and control over three
advanced porphyry deposits and multiple copper, gold, and silver exploration targets.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
“Leif Nilsson”
Surge Copper Corp. 5
Chief Executive Officer
For further information, please contact:
Riley Trimble, Corporate Communications & Development
Telephone: +1 604 416 2978
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @SurgeCopper
LinkedIn: Surge Copper Corp
https://www.surgecopper.com
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.
This News Release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events. In some
cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "will", "may", "should",
"expects", "plans", or "anticipates" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.
All statements included herein, other than statem ents of historical fact, are forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to the Company’s plans regarding the Berg Property and the
Ootsa Property. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, level of activity,
performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity,
performance, or achievements expressed or impli ed by these forward-looking statements. Such
uncertainties and risks may include, among others, actual results of the Company's exploration
activities being different than those expected by management, delays in obtaining or failure to
obtain required government or other regulatory approvals, the ability to obtain adequate financing
to conduct its planned exploration programs, inability to procure labour, equipment, and supplies
in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, equipment breakdown, impacts of the current
coronavirus pandemic, and bad weather. While these forward-looking statements, and any
assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect the Company's
current judgment regarding the direction of its business, actual results will almost always vary,
sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions, or other future
performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not
intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.