Core Asset drills 48.5m of 1.03% CuEq within 95m of 0.54% CuEq from surface at the Laverdiere skarn-porphyry project, and intersects 1.5m of 4.49 g/t Au in the Lewellyn Fault Zone

2022.08.10

The first two holes of the 2022 drill campaign at the Laverdiere Skarn-Porphyry Project, part of Core Assets’ Blue property within the Atlin mining district of northwestern British Columbia, successfully confirmed massive to semi-massive iron-copper-gold skarn and porphyry-style copper mineralization that remains open at depth. (Tables 1, 2 and Figure 1)

1,806 meters of diamond drilling was completed at the French Adit part of Laverdiere in June. 

Hole LAV22-001 was drilled to the east for 268 meters and intersected 48.5m of 1.03% copper equivalent (CuEq) (0.90% Cu, 5.80g/t Ag, 0.11g/t Au) within 95.05m of 0.54% CuEq (0.47% Cu, 3.24g/t Ag, 0.06g/t Au) from surface, confirming the presence of a significant high-grade copper and associated gold skarn. 

The hole also cut 1.5m of 4.59g/t gold (Au) and 0.38 g/t silver (Ag) in sheared mafic volcanic from 163.49m depth, confirming the presence of high-grade gold hosted within the prolific Llewellyn Fault Zone (Figure 3).

LAV22-002, the deepest drill hole completed on the property to date, was collared from the same location as LAV22-001 and oriented southwest. It intersected 225.50m of alternating marble, iron-copper-gold skarn, and mineralized endoskarn. Potassically altered and locally copper-bearing granodiorite persisted from 225.50m to the end of the hole at 402.30m depth. 

The drill hole returned 210.50m of 0.19 % CuEq (0.05g/t Au, 1.76g/t Ag, 0.11% Cu) from 15.00m depth, including 0.57m of 3.33% CuEq (0.20g/t Au, 52.80g/t Ag, 2.74% Cu) from 20.35m depth, and 2.00m of 3.39% CuEq (0.30g/t Au, 18.80g/t Ag, 3.01% Cu) from 104.00m depth.

Assays are pending for holes LAV22-003 to LAV22-006, all of which intersected similar high-temperature skarn and porphyry-style mineralization, veining and alteration spanning an 850m strike length.

Core management says diamond drilling continues at the Sulphide City target at the Silver Lime CRD Project, with plans to increase meterage this year to >5,000m.

“The goal of drilling in the French Adit area was to determine the depth extent of historic copper and gold skarn mineralization from surface and to test the porphyry Cu-Mo potential of the Laverdiere intrusion,” said Core Assets’ President & CEO Nick Rodway, in the Aug. 8 news release.

“These results have confirmed and over exceeded our expectations — especially when considering the shear-hosted gold hit within the LFZ. High-grade copper skarn and endoskarn occurrences extending from surface to over 200 metres depth reside in contact with a locally intensely potassic altered and mineralized causative intrusion at Laverdiere, that boasts a large resistive geophysical signature and remains open for exploration. Drilling completed to-date has only begun to scratch the surface and indicates the presence of a potentially large porphyry system. We look forward to receiving the remaining assay results at Laverdiere and planning a more aggressive diamond drilling program for 2023.”

2022 exploration

Crews were mobilized at the start of June for Core’s inaugural 5,000-meter drill program, targeting high-grade mineralization at Laverdiere, and the Silver Lime Carbonate Replacement-Porphyry Project (Silver Lime). Both are located on Core Assets’ Blue property.

Notably, this is the first-ever diamond drilling in the area.

The priority is Laverdiere, where just over 1,800m were completed.

According to the company, High-grade Fe-Cu-Au skarn mineralization delineated from prospecting and historic drilling between the South and North Adits at Laverdiere is traceable for 800m along surface, to 300m at depth, and remains open in all directions.

Core says the project boasts an average surface grade of 4.9% Zn, 2% Pb, 0.33% Cu, and 92 g/t Ag, within the extensive 6.6 x 1.8-km mineralized corridor, making it the largest known, untested exposure of carbonate replacement mineralization globally.

Blue property

Core Assets’ Blue property commands 1,116 km² in British Columbia’s prolific Atlin mining district. It is located 48 km southwest of Atlin, on the eastern shore of Atlin Lake, providing cost-effective exploration mobilization and potential low-cost ore transportation.

The project geologically is in the Stikine Terrane, host to some of the province’s most significant projects such as Teck Resources’ Schaft Creek and Galore Creek, and Newmont’s Tatogga (see map below).

Carbonate replacement deposits (CRD) feature prominently in this region, including Core Assets’ Blue property.

These deposits are polymetallic, meaning they have various metals in them such as copper, gold, silver, lead, manganese and zinc. The mineralogy depends on the distance from the intrusive rock.

CRDs are also epigenetic, meaning they are produced on or near surface, usually through a “replacement process”, hence the name. They are characterized by high grades (up to 1,500 g/t Ag, 25% Pb and Zn, and 5% Cu), bulk tonnage (up to 150 million tonnes), low mining costs and minimal environmental footprint.

The Blue project is considered to be the most northerly, district-scale CRD-porphyry asset in the province. In fact the only two CRD deposits in BC more established than Blue, are Coeur Mining’s Silvertip, one of the highest-grade silver-lead-zinc operations in the world; and NorthWest Copper’s Stardust project, which has a National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource.

It is characterized by a major structural feature known as the Llewellyn Fault Zone (LFZ), which is approximately 140 km long and runs from the Tally-Ho shear zone in the Yukon, south through the property to the Alaskan Panhandle Juneau Ice Sheet in the United States.

Often with CRDs, the surface expressions are few and far between, and maybe a cm or two thick. This one appears to be different. Blue has one manto, the Grizzly, that is 500 meters of massive sulfide outcropping in an area extending 6.6 km from the potential porphyry hub (the spokes are seen below as dotted black lines to the red dots). This area is almost two kilometers (1.8 km) wide. Extraordinary.

The main point of this whole project and the reason for the dotted lines and the massive sulfide occurrences, is that unlike vein-hosted deposits, CRDs typically manifest as continuous sulfide bodies over multi-kilometer scales that broaden with depth and demonstrate continuity back to the source. All dots should be connected in the sub-surface and that is what Core Assets has been testing this summer.

According to the company, the newly defined, high-grade district-scale (6.6 km x 1.8 km) CRD Ag-Pb-Zn-Au alternation assemblages, indicate the potential for a nearby Cu-Mo porphyry discovery using a proven exploration deposit model.

Within this area, the surface channel assays from a maiden sampling campaign at Silver Lime, have confirmed high-grade carbonate replacement mineralization (CRM).

Rock sampling results (February 2022) from several carbonate replacement and skarn, massive to semi-massive sulfide occurrences at the Sulphide City and Grizzly targets contained values up to 406 g/t Ag, 11.8% Cu, >20% Pb and 15.45% Zn.

Results from 2021 backpack drilling further strengthened the company’s belief that these occurrences exhibit grade consistency and continuity over shallow depths as well as along surface.

More good news came in April, when CC discovered a new copper occurrence exposed at surface, observed during a property accessibility assessment carried out in late March at the Laverdiere project. Located on the eastern end of the Blue property, the historical copper-iron skarn-porphyry target is about a 45-minute snowmobile ride from Atlin.

Core Assets confirmed the existence of outcropping copper-iron mineralization between historical adits (entrances to old mines) during a visit to the Laverdiere project in late March.

Multiple unsampled exposures of magnetic, copper-stained lithologies were identified along a 3.9-kilometer mineralized corridor coinciding with the Llewellyn Fault. 

Core Assets also received results from a geophysical survey carried out last year on the property, that identified numerous large-scale anomalies, all located along the Llewellyn Fault.

Conclusion

Results from two holes in hand, Core Assets has successfully confirmed that high-grade copper extends from surface to over 200 meters depth, within an intrusive at Laverdiere that boasts a large geophysical signature and remains open for exploration. As CEO Nick Rodway says, “Drilling completed to-date has only begun to scratch the surface and indicates the presence of a potentially large porphyry system.”

I’m eager to see the rest of the assays (four holes) from Laverdiere and what Core delivers at the next drill target, Silver Lime, home to the 2021 Discovery Zone (Grizzly Manto, Jackie, and Sulphide City targets). 

Core is one of only a few juniors that is putting money into the ground this summer, during difficult overall market conditions.

Shareholders are being rewarded for their patience. Over the past year, CC is a 10-timer, rocketing from $0.08/sh last August to 83 cents in April. The share price hit 82 cents coinciding with the news this week, showing that the market is paying close attention.

Core Assets Corp.
(CSE:CC) (FSE:5RJ) (OTC.QB:CCOOF)
Cdn.$0.63, 2022.08.09
Shares Outstanding 73.86m
Market cap Cdn$46.6m
CC website

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com
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