Maiden resource covering seven zones expected soon at Kodiak Copper’s MPD copper-gold project – Richard Mills

2025-03-06

“Today’s results from our regional exploration work once again highlight the prospectivity of our MPD project by adding two new targets and upgrading existing targets across the property”: Kodiak Copper’s CEO Claudia Tornquist on results from the final six holes of the 25-hole 2024 drill program.

Kodiak Copper’s (TSXV:KDK, OTCQB:KDKCF, Frankfurt:5DD1) management team, and the Discovery Group, have a successful, envious track record of shareholder returns.

Kodiak was established by chairman Chris Taylor of Great Bear fame. The founder and CEO of Great Bear Resources presided over its acquisition by Kinross Gold in 2022 for $1.8 billion.

The Discovery Group company is led by Claudia Tornquist, previously a general manager at Rio Tinto working with Rio’s copper operations. She was also the former director of Kennady Diamonds, leading the $176M sale of the company to Mountain Province Diamonds.

Copper market fundamentals are currently strong, with analysts predicting increasing demand facing the headwinds of structural supply deficits.

The company plans to release a resource estimate on MPD. Resource estimates often serve as significant catalysts for junior resource company stock prices.

Kodiak announced on Jan. 16 that it has started work on a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate that will include seven mineralized zones: Gate/Prime, Man, Dillard, Ketchan, West, Adit, and South/Mid.

Kodiak Begins National Instrument 43-101 Compliant Resource Estimation at MPD Copper-Gold Project

Results will be delivered throughout the year, with initial results anticipated in the first half of 2025.

Kodiak Copper’s MPD project has all the hallmarks of a major copper/gold porphyry system with the potential, in my opinion, to become a world-class mine. 

The project is a 344-square-kilometer land package near several operating mines in the southern Quesnel Terrane, British Columbia’s primary copper-gold producing belt. MPD is between the towns of Merritt and Princeton, with year-round accessibility and excellent infrastructure nearby.

A key focus of Kodiak’s 2024 drill program was to identify additional near-surface and high-grade mineralization. Drill results from the Adit Zone to date have clearly achieved this.

Kodiak Extends High-Grade Adit Zone, Intersects 0.45% CuEq Over 139m Near Surface – Richard Mills

Kodiak Regional Exploration Results Highlight Further Targets at MPD Copper-Gold Project

The holes significantly extend the copper envelope at Adit and when combined with historical drilling, Kodiak’s new results have outlined a sizeable near-surface, high-grade area of mineralization.

On Feb. 6 Kodiak reported results from soil geochemical, geophysical, prospecting and drilling from the 2024 exploration program. These results were from the northern and southern parts of the MPD property.

Last year’s exploration program confirmed that the Dillard East and Star target areas have significant copper-gold porphyry mineralization potential with new corroborating results from rock, soil and 3D Induced Polarization (3D-IP) surveys. These target areas have not yet been drill-tested by Kodiak.

3D-IP responses at Dillard East and Star are adjacent to, and on the flanks of significant kilometer-scale copper-in-soil anomalies, which also host prospecting results with porphyry-related copper and gold mineralization. 

Prospecting in 2024 discovered copper-gold-silver mineralized outcrops in two new areas at MPD (Dry Creek, Northstar), further highlighting the discovery potential across the entire MPD property. 

The best grab sample from last year’s prospecting program assayed 1.07% Cu, 0.05 g/t Au and 7.0 g/t Ag.

Kodiak’s 2024 regional exploration program included the collection of 2,020 soil samples, 65 rock samples, a 3D-IP survey over 7 square kilometers, geological and geotechnical studies.

Kodiak completed 9,252 meters of drilling in 25 holes in seven target areas. Results from the final six holes of the 2024 drill program were reported in the Feb. 6 news release.

The company is incorporating all 2024 exploration results into VRIFY’s predictive AI modeling, thereby updating targets and identifying new ones for follow-up in 2025.

“Today’s results from our regional exploration work once again highlight the prospectivity of our MPD project by adding two new targets and upgrading existing targets across the property,” said Kodiak’s President and CEO Claudia Tornquist. “While the definition of a maiden resource estimate for MPD is an important focus for Kodiak in 2025, we also plan to drill further targets this year with the aim to make the next discovery. We are particularly excited about the exploration potential on the new Aspen Grove claims that we acquired in September and will be able to share an update regarding that portion of our property soon.”

The Aspen Grove claims were the subject of the next news release on Feb. 12. Renamed the MPD Northwest claims, the claims host the high-grade, near-surface Ketchan Zone which will form a meaningful part of the upcoming MPD mineral resource estimate, and multiple other known mineral occurrences, providing considerable exploration upside. Historical data has also been analyzed, leading to the acquisition of new claims.

Kodiak Confirms Potential of MPD Northwest Claims and Adds Further Strategic Claims; New Focus Area for 2025

As highlighted by Kodiak Copper, MPD Northwest is a large, 118-square-kilometer claim package recently added to MPD. It hosts 18 known mineral occurrences, including six with significant porphyry-related copper-gold. 

The large-scale Ketchan Zone adds significant drill-proven, near-surface, high-grade copper-gold inventory to MPD. It has been drilled over 1,800 by 500 meters — roughly three times the area of Kodiak’s Gate Zone discovery —  and remains open in most directions. 

Bedrock grab samples collected in 2024 confirm high-grade mineralization at Ketchan. The best two samples assayed 0.55 % Cu, 0.32 g/t Au and 0.5 g/t Ag, and 0.38 % Cu, 0.78 g/t Au and 1.7 g/t Ag, respectively. 

Data review, select core re-logging, sampling and geological modeling has confirmed that Ketchan will be a material part of the upcoming MPD mineral resource estimate.

The Ketchan Zone is located only 4.5 kilometers from the high-grade Gate Zone. This proximity and potential synergies with Gate, plus multiple nearby targets, prioritizes this area.

Modeling with VRIFY’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) software has identified new prospective areas at MPD Northwest, including potential extensions to the Ketchan Zone. 

Regional exploration has confirmed substantial mineralization through early-stage prospecting, mapping and soil geochemistry at select sites along the northerly trend of mineral showings central to MPD Northwest.

An additional three claims have been added to the MPD Northwest claim block. These secure strategic tenure in the Ketchan area interpreted to potentially host extensions to that zone (the Delorme claims) and high-grade showings in the north (the Tom claim).

“We are delighted with the results from our initial exploration work and the historic data review at the MPD Northwest claims, which very much validate our decision to acquire these claims last autumn,” said Tornquist. “The drilling done by previous operators at the Ketchan Zone has outlined a mineralized zone of significant scale and with good grades. Not only are we confident that the Ketchan Zone will become a material part of our resource estimate, we also believe there is ample room to expand it in multiple directions. We are equally excited about the targets and prospectivity of the wider MPD Northwest claim package, which hosts drill-proven copper and gold mineralization as well as untested targets with the potential for new discoveries. As we are plan our 2025 exploration program, MPD Northwest is certainly a priority.”

In an interview with Crux Investor, Chris Taylor highlighted the potential for a market re-rating based on the upcoming resource estimate, stating:

“That’ll give you an idea of what the project economics could be based on those comparables and then you build on it with the continuing exploration program as well. That’s what we could deliver to shareholders this year — a re-rating based on the amount of copper we see in the ground right now, and an appreciation for the fact that there are additional zones that we’re going to be drilling and there’s significant extensions on the zones that we will have resources on initially.”

Another important aspect of the MPD story is its potential upside.

While the company has identified multiple zones, it remains committing to continued exploration to further grow the project, both through zone expansion and the testing of new targets. Says Taylor:

“We have all these additional targets on the project that we continue to test while we’re doing the resource work. It’s one of those things that makes our industry very interesting — I’ve lived through it many times — is we still have that discovery potential as well. We’ve done it in the past and it may happen again in the future.”

Conclusion

With bullish fundamentals, now is as good a time as ever to be a company exploring for copper, especially in a safe, stable jurisdiction with low-cost power like British Columbia.

But investing in junior mining companies isn’t for the faint of heart, nor the “get rich quick” crowd. It takes time, skill and perseverance to identify a company, do your due diligence, and then have the faith and patience to stay with it through the often-bumpy ride from discovery to buy-out.

The kicker is that the juniors have no revenue stream to finance their exploration activities; they typically rely on outside sources for funding. Kodiak Copper is in in the process of checking that box.

Kodiak has just gone to the market to fully fund its 2025 exploration program, announcing a $5 million non-brokered private placement on Feb. 25. The offering at $0.70 per Charity Flow-through Unit is expected to close on or about March 18.

Discovery Group Chairman Chris Taylor says Kodiak Copper “could deliver to shareholders a re-rating based on the amount of copper we see in the ground right now, and an appreciation for the fact that there are additional zones that we’re going to be drilling and there’s significant extensions on the zones that we will have resources on initially.”

While the company has identified multiple zones, it remains committed to continued exploration to further grow the project, both through zone expansion and the testing of new targets. Says Taylor:

“We have all these additional targets on the project that we continue to test while we’re doing the resource work. It’s one of those things that makes our industry very interesting — I’ve lived through it many times — is we still have that discovery potential as well. We’ve done it in the past and it may happen again in the future.”

Kodiak Copper
TSXV:KDK, OTCQB:KDKCF, Frankfurt:5DD1
Cdn$0.43 2025.03.04
Shares Outstanding 75.9m
Market cap Cdn$33.0m
KDK website

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com

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