US Copper Corp Prepares FOR Upcoming Drilling Campaign
US COPPER CORP PREPARES FOR UPCOMING DRILLING CAMPAIGN
TORONTO, CANADA, March 10, 2022 – US Copper Corp (“ US Copper” or the “ Company”)
(TSX Venture: USCU) (OTCQB: USCU F) (Frankfurt: C73) is pleased to announce it has signed
a drilling contract with Timberline Drilling Inc. to drill a mi nimum of 10,000 feet (“ ft”) at the
Engels deposit, part of US C opper’s Moonlight-Superior Copper P roject in Plumas County,
California.
This drill program will target an 800 ft by 400 ft by 700 ft en velope of open-pit grade copper
mineralization surrounding the hi storic underground Engels Mine . This mineralization was
initially recognized in underground drill holes during the 1915 -1930 mining operation but was
considered too low-grade for exploitation in an underground mine. More recent historical surface
drilling, which was primarily foc used on defining shallow coppe r oxide mineralization,
encountered substantial thicknesses of good open pit grade copper sulfide mineralization:
DH# From
(ft)
To
(ft)
Interval
(ft)
Cu % Comments
07E07 0 65 65 0.67 2007, Sheffield, oxide
and 269 374 105 0.45 sulfide
and 564 728 164 0.87 sulfide
07E18 125 257 132 1.20 2007, Sheffield, sulfide
08E37 282 394 112 0.59 2008, Sheffield, sulfide
“This mineralization is not closed off in any direction and has th e potential to be a stand-alone,
open pit copper mine on its own.” commented St ephen Dunn, US Copper’s President and CEO.
“In conjunction with the Moonlight deposit and the Superior deposit, which was enhanced by last
year’s drill program, the combined 3-pit resource has the potentia l to be a long-lived profitable
mining operation. Drilling is scheduled to start in the spring based on drill rig availability.”
The Engels copper deposit is located about 6,000 ft (1,830 metr es (“m”)) east of our Moonlight
deposit and 11,000 ft (335 m) north of the Superior deposit. En gels was mined in the 1915-1930
period, yielding approximately 2.7 million tons at a grade of 2 .2 % copper. Mine workings are
extensive and include many tens of thousands of feet of drifts, crosscuts, and stopes on ten levels
accessed by adits and six levels accessed from a winze sunk from the No. 10 level.
Geologically, the Engels deposit lies outside the eastern margi n of the Lights Creek quartz
monzonite stock in an area of g abbroic intrusives and metavolca nic roof pendants. Engels is
structurally-controlled in a shear zone striking northeast and dipping steeply. Mined and processed
ore occurs in an 800 ft by 60 ft (240 m by 20 m) pipe like zone and is associated with breccias that
exhibit features characteristic of both intrusion and hydrothermal breccia. Narrow high-grade ore
shoots were mined to depths of up to 2,000 ft (600 m), and hist orical drilling indicates that good
grade mineralization extends at least another 300 ft (91 m) down ~2,300 ft (670 m) below surface
(16th level). The principal sulfide ore minerals are bornite and ch alcopyrite, and copper grades
exceeding 15% Cu have been encountered in several 6.5 ft (2 m) core intercepts. Remaining known
significant copper mineralization from historical workings and drill holes varies from 0.2% Cu to
well over 1.0%.
Copper mineralization at Engels is strongly oxidized to depths >230 ft (70 m) over an area of at
least~1,000 ft by >300 ft. Assay an alysis for sulfuric acid sol uble copper in a portion of samples
from the post-2004 drilling indi cate copper oxides represent 90 % of total copper within these
depths. Copper oxide minerals consist primarily as malachite with lesser chryscolla and azurite.
US Copper had a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“ PEA”) prepared on its Moonlight deposit
in 2018 that showed positive economics at $3.15 copper. It was determined that providing higher
grade ore from our Superior and/ or Engels deposits into the Moo nlight mine plan would
substantially enhance the Proj ect’s economics by increasing cas h f l o w s i n t h e i n i t i a l y e a r s o f
production. The recently completed drill program at Superior wa s designed specif ically for that
purpose, and this Engels drill program will outline a second st arter pit for the Moonlight plant.
Ultimately, the updated Engels and Superior resources will be i ncorporated into a revised
Moonlight PEA.
The Company also announces that incentive stock options to purc hase up to 400,000 common
shares have been granted to various consultants of the Company pursuant to the Company’s stock
option plan and are subject to any regulatory approval. Each s tock option vests immediately and
is exercisable at $0.10 for a period of three years from the grant date.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by
George Cole, M.Sc., Director of US Copper who is a "Qualified P erson" as defined in National
Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. George Cole is a Registered
Professional Geologist through AIPG (CPG-11687).
About US Copper Corp
US Copper controls approximately 13 square miles of patented an d unpatented federal mining
claims in the Light’s Creek Copper District in Plumas County, NE California; essentially, the entire
District. The District contains substantial copper (silver) su lfide and copper oxide resources in
three deposits – Moonlight, Superior and Engels, as well as sev eral partially tested and untested
exploration targets.
The Superior and Engels Mines operated from about 1915-1930 pro ducing over 161 million
pounds of copper from over 4 million tons of rock containing 2. 2% copper with silver and gold
credits.
The Moonlight Deposit was discovered and drilled by Placer Amex during the 1960’s. Details of
the resources on US Copper’s property and the parameters used to calculate them can be found in
the "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for t he Moonlight Deposit,
Moonlight-Superior Copper Project, California, USA" dated April 12, 2018, on both the
company’s website at www.uscoppercorp.com or on www.sedar.com under the US Copper Corp
profile.
For Further Information Contact:
Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, US Copper Corp ( 416) 361-2827 or email
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 press release.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities
laws and regulations, including statements regarding th e future activities of the Company. Forward-looking
statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including
“will”, “hopes”, “anticipates”, “expected to”, “plans”, “p lanned”, “intends” and other similar words. Actual
results may differ significantly. The achievement of the resu lts expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to
a number of risks, including those described in the Company’s management discussion and analysis as filed with the
Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are availabl e at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to
place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.