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Copper Ace Project,
Central British Columbia
Copper Ace Property, Gibraltar Mine Area, Central British Columbia
Summary |
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Figures
Target:
- Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Deposit.
The road accessible, 100% owned Copper Ace Project includes four claim blocks surrounding the Gibraltar Mine property on the east, north and west (see Figure 1 for location). The Gibraltar Mine has produced some 1.8 billion pounds of copper from 325 million tons of ore during a 27-year mine life, starting in 1972. Taseko Mines Limited has re-opened the mine and began concentrate shipments in October, 2004, with recent announcements of increased throughput and new mineral discoveries. Copper Ridge drilled 3 holes for a total of 801 m late in 2006 plus an additional 3219 m in 13 holes in 2007 at Copper Ace south and 1000 m in 5 holes in early 2008 at the Sheridan target.
The Copper Ace project comprises 20 new grid (MTO) units for a total of 12,610 hectares and is readily accessible through a network of logging roads (see Figure 2). With the exception of the Bysouth Showing in the Copper Ace North block, there has been very little historical exploration within the project area, due largely to overburden cover.
Copper Ace South: This property is located a mere one km from the Gibraltar Mine and hosts significant surface mineralization; up to 1.5% copper and 1.1% zinc reported from historical sampling of the Rick showing. This showing occurs in foliated chlorite-sericite schist and foliated, chlorite altered quartz diorite. A single drill hole just east of the claim group encountered "Mine Series" foliated chlorite-sericite-epidote altered quartz diorite with traces of disseminated pyrite.
A 1998 exploration program included a soil geochemical survey, an IP survey and a ground magnetometer survey. The soil survey, covering only a portion of the claim group, defined several copper anomalies. The largest measures 1,300 m by 850 m and is open to the west. The second largest, 500 m to the east, measures 450 m by 300 m. A large, irregular zinc anomaly occurs in the southwestern portion of the claim block. The IP survey defined a chargeability anomaly 500 meters in length and open to the northwest and southeast that coincides with the surface mineralization and with a copper soil anomaly. A second IP anomaly is coincident with a potion of the zinc soil anomaly (See Figure 3). The soil and IP grids were expanded in 2005. The main copper soil anomaly and coincident IP chargeability anomaly are along trend from Taseko's Gibraltar North deposit, which has been drilled to within about 200 metres of the Copper Ridge claim boundary. Figure 4 shows how the "Mine Series" diorite trends from the Gibraltar property on to Copper Ace South. It also shows the Copper Ace South drill target area to be along trend from the known Gibraltar ore deposits.
In November and December, 2006, a three hole, 801 m drill program was completed. All holes encountered "Mine Series" tonalite, the main host rock for copper mineralization at the Gibraltar Mine, from top to bottom. Mineralization included disseminated pyrite, variable amounts of disseminated chalcopyrite, minor sphalerite and traces of molybdenite. Observed mineralization was hosted in sericitically altered and sheared intrusive rocks with quartz veins and veinlets. Alteration around the mineralization consists of weak to moderate development of chlorite, epidote and carbonate in the host tonalite. The high grade interval in hole 2 was also enriched in zinc, with one sample grading +1% zinc.
Drill Hole |
From(M) |
To(m) |
Width(m) |
Cu(%) |
Au(g/t) |
06-02 |
63.4 |
135.8 |
72.4 |
0.09 |
- |
includes |
64.7 |
66.3 |
1.6 |
3.43 |
0.425 |
06-03 |
281 |
296.4 |
15.4 |
0.11 |
- |
In May and June, 2007, 3219 m of drilling was completed in 13 diamond drill holes. The program was designed to test coincident IP chargeability and copper soil geochemical anomalies that occur within favourable "Mine Series" intrusive rocks adjacent to the 2006 drill holes. All of the holes that intersected the Mine Series Tonalite had varying degrees of quartz - sericite alteration and disseminated sulphide mineralization, including trace to one percent copper mineralization as chalcopyrite and occasionally bornite, with local occurrences of molybdenite. Higher concentrations of copper mineralization generally correlate with stronger foliation, sericite alteration and quartz veining. Significant intersections include 1.10 m of 0.38% copper, 1.8 g/t gold and > 1 % zinc (assays pending) in CA07 - 10; 9.0 m of 0.24 % zinc also in hole CA07 - 10 and 5.1 m of 0.02 % molybdenum in hole CA-07-15.
The Company is encouraged that 11 of the 13 holes drilled in the 2007 program intersected sericitically altered Mine Series Tonalite with locally anomalous structurally controlled intersections of copper, molybdenum, zinc and gold mineralization. These results suggest that the holes may have been drilled on the fringes of a larger body of possibly economic mineralization.
Copper Ace North: This property, located 10 kilometers north of the Gibraltar Mine, hosts a northwest trending quartz breccia zone more than 1 km long and up to 125 meters wide. Reports indicate up to 7.2% copper in historical surface sampling. An induced polarization ("IP") geophysical survey carried out in 1998 suggests that the mineralization extends to depth. Drilling by Bell Resources in 2004 (1496 m in 9 holes) encountered anomalous copper and molybdenum mineralization below the showing. The drilling focused on a small area surrounding the Bysouth showing. Geophysics suggests the zone continues to the northwest. Just to the east of this showing, Gibraltar drilled a hole that encountered 30.5 m of 0.05% Mo, including 3.5 m of 0.243% Mo (now within the Copper Ace North block). A soil sampling survey in 1998 delineated a weak to moderate copper anomaly in the western part of the claim group in an area of thick overburden cover. This anomaly has never been followed up.
Copper King: This claim group has seen very little exploration. The Tuff Cu Showing includes up to 10% finely disseminated pyrite with associated copper mineralization. A grab sample of this material assayed 0.28% copper. The mineralization occurs in an altered limestone-tuff horizon and an associated sericite schist that is in part coincident with a 1400 m long zinc soil anomaly. Soil sampling by Copper Ridge has identified a number of multi-element geochemical anomalies.
Sheridan: The Sheridan claims, to the southeast of the Gibraltar open pits, were staked to cover a large copper in soil anomaly, up to 1.6 km in diameter, in an area with minimal bedrock exposure. In late 2007, the Company completed an ip and magnetometer survey and defined a strong chargeability anomaly that is coincident with the soil anomaly. A 5 hole, 1,000 m drill program was completed early in 2008 with negative results. The chargeability anomaly appears to have been caused by pyritic and graphitic sediments and the geochemical anomaly has not yet been explained.
Proposed Exploration: The Company is evaluating the results of the 2007 and 2008 drill programs in the context of all of the previous data on the property in order to plan the next stage of exploration.
| January 11, 2008 |
New Porphyry Target To Be Drilled At Copper Ace Project |
| August 24, 2007 |
Copper Ace Final Results |
| August 08, 2007 |
Copper Ace Results |
| May 24, 2007 |
Drilling is Underway at the Copper Ace South Project |
| January 19, 2007 |
Copper-Gold Intersection at Copper Ace Project |
| November 21, 2006 |
Drilling Underway At Copper Ace Project |
| August 18, 2006 |
Copper Ridge Field Program Update |
| July 13, 2006 |
Copper Ridge Expands Copper Ace Project |
| January 21, 2005 |
Bell Resources Corporation Updates Copper Ace Project |
| November 16, 2004 |
Bell Resources Corporation Announces the Commencement of Drilling at Copper Ace |
| August 09, 2004 |
Assay Results On Copper Ace Properties Drilling Program Planned |
| August 04, 2004 |
Copper Ridge Farms Out Copper Ace Properties |
| May 05, 2004 |
Copper Ridge Acquires Copper Ace Properties |
| June 02, 1999 |
Kinross Signs Agreement with Copper Ridge |
| March 09, 1999 |
Agreement with KGE Management Ltd. |
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