Kodiak Copper drills 105 m of 0.76% CuEq at MPD
2021-10-18 06:35 ET – News Release
Ms. Claudia Tornquist reports
KODIAK DRILLS 105 M OF 0.76% CUEQ WITHIN 504 M OF 0.47% CUEQ AT GATE ZONE, BEGINS DRILLING DILLARD COPPER PORPHYRY TARGET
Kodiak Copper Corp. has released drill results at the 100-per-cent-owned MPD copper-gold porphyry project in Southern British Columbia.
Nine new Gate zone drill holes are presented in this release. These holes (1) define additional mineralization toward the centre of the zone and (2) expand the margins of the zone to the south and west. The Gate zone porphyry target remains open to extension in multiple directions.
One of Kodiak’s two drill rigs at MPD has been relocated to the Dillard copper-gold porphyry target, while one rig remains at the Gate zone.
Kodiak’s continuing exploration at MPD includes drilling with two rigs, prospecting mapping, trenching, geophysical, geochemical and environmental surveying. The fully financed 2021 program is progressing well and remains on budget.
Central Gate zone
Three new drill holes completed along approximately 500 metres of strike length underlying the central Gate zone copper-in-soil target once again intersected significant grades and interval lengths of copper-gold mineralization. Results are shown in the associated table.
Highlights include:
- New drill hole MPD-21-016 intersected 105 metres of 0.50 per cent copper, 0.39 gram per tonne gold and 1.57 g/t silver (0.76 per cent copper equivalent) within a broader 504-metre interval of 0.37 per cent Cu, 0.15 g/t Au and 1.11 g/t Ag (0.47 per cent CuEq):
- Hole MPD-21-016 was mineralized from near surface at 21 metres to 720 metres downhole (699 metres) and represents the third best hole drilled by Kodiak to date (Cu per cent grade multiplied by width).
- New drill hole MPD-21-012 intersected 108 metres of 0.45 per cent Cu, 0.09 g/t Au and 0.59 g/t Ag (0.51 per cent CuEq) within a broader 243-metre interval of 0.31 per cent Cu, 0.08 g/t Au and 0.35 g/t Ag (0.36 per cent CuEq).
- New drill hole MPD-21-024 intersected 42 metres of 0.32 per cent Cu, 0.34 g/t Au and 1.56 g/t Ag (0.55 per cent CuEq*) within a broader 447-metre interval of 0.21 per cent Cu, 0.11 g/t Au and 0.72 g/t Ag (0.29 per cent CuEq).
Drilling Gate zone margins
Six new drill holes targeted the pyrite-dominated envelope surrounding higher-grade mineralization to help define the dimensions of the Gate zone porphyry centre. Results are shown in the associated table.
- Two of these new drill holes intersected significant gold mineralization within quartz-carbonate veins and structurally controlled quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration zones on the eastern and western margins of the Gate zone:
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- Drill hole MPD-21-015 intersected 6.0 metres of 2.40 g/t gold.
- Drill hole MPD-21-011 intersected 3.5 metres of 3.58 g/t gold.
- Gold-rich pyrite-dominant mineralization is a common feature of the outer margins of copper-porphyry systems and identifies potential new gold-rich drill targets at the Gate zone.
- Five of the six drill holes intersected anomalous to low-grade copper-gold mineralization with pyrite dominating over chalcopyrite over significant widths. Highlights include:
- Drill hole MPD-21-007 intersected 132 metres of 0.15 per cent Cu, 0.08 g/t gold and 0.43 g/t silver (0.21 per cent CuEq).
- Drill hole MPD-21-013 intersected 318 metres of 0.14 per cent Cu, 0.06 g/t gold and 0.13 g/t silver (0.20 per cent CuEq).
- Continuing systematic drilling at the Gate zone has successfully intersected porphyry-related mineralization and host lithology along 950 metres of strike, having the depth (850 metres) and width (350 metres) typical of other multicentre copper porphyry deposits in British Columbia.
- The results from the pyrite-dominated envelope are of similar interval lengths and grades to historical drill results elsewhere at the MPD project. The Gate zone was discovered by further testing adjacent to and below historic intervals, which are now shown to surround a significantly higher-grade core. These results highlight the prospective nature of other areas such as the Dillard. Man and Axe targets, which generally lack deeper drilling.
Dillard target drilling
The high-priority Dillard target exhibits similar copper-in-soil anomalies, geophysical responses and encouraging historic drilling to the Gate zone. Dillard will be drill tested during the remainder of Q4 as part of the 2021 program. Like at the Gate zone, most historic drilling at Dillard was shallow:
- Historic drilling at Dillard intersected anomalous copper over significant widths. It rarely tested below 350 m depth and mineralized potential remains open in all directions.
- Historic soil surveys at Dillard outlined a 600-by-1,500-metre area with anomalous copper and gold.
- Kodiak’s 2020 ZTEM (Z-tipper axis electromagnetic) airborne survey identified a regional magnetic low (1,000 by 1,000 metres) and large resistivity anomaly at depth, below historic drilling, and copper-in-soil anomalies.
- The Dillard target area is underlaid by dioritic rocks displaying porphyry-style alteration (potassic and calcic), a pyrite halo from mapped geology and copper-gold mineralization associated with altered volcanic and intrusive rocks.
Continuing exploration program:
- Thirty-four holes (18,724 metres) have been drilled as of Oct. 17 and assay results will be reported throughout the remainder of 2021 and onward; delays in lab throughput times continue.
- The company expects to achieve between 20,000 and 25,000 metres of drilling before year-end.
- Additional plans in Q4 include a DC (direct current) resistivity/induced polarization (3-D IP) and magnetotelluric (MT) geophysical survey at the Gate zone conducted by SJ Geophysics Ltd.
- Results from 1,755 soil samples and 176 rock samples from prospecting and trenching will be reported throughout the remainder of 2021 and onward.
- A large exploration program is planned for 2022 and drilling will continue in Q1 2022. The program will include assessing the three-kilometre regional magnetic low between the Gate and Man target areas, follow-up drilling at Dillard, testing analogous targets elsewhere across MPD, and initiating work on the newly acquired Axe property. The Axe property overlies significant geophysical targets with similar signatures to Kodiak’s Gate zone discovery, and historical copper results in drill core, soils and rock samples.
Claudia Tornquist, president and chief executive officer of Kodiak, said: « The Gate zone keeps delivering impressive drill results and I am very pleased with the progress of our work to date. Kudos to our technical team for executing successfully the largest-ever exploration program at MPD, despite unusually challenging weather conditions this year. The Gate zone discovery is only the first step of our exploration strategy. It proves our district-scale approach and provides a road map for other target areas at what we believe is a multicentre porphyry system at MPD. We will now replicate our successful approach at the Dillard zone this year and I am looking forward to testing several further interpreted porphyry centres with a large drill program in 2022. »
WEIGHTED ASSAY INTERVALS FOR HOLES MPD-21-007, MPD-21-008,
MPD-21-010 TO 013, MPD-21-015, MPD-21-016 AND MPD-21-024
Hole ID From To Interval** Cu Au Ag CuEq*
(m) (m) (m) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (%)
Gate zone
central
MPD-21-016 21.0 720.0 699.0 0.29 0.12 0.87 0.37
includes 168.0 672.0 504.0 0.37 0.15 1.11 0.47
includes 201.0 459.0 258.0 0.40 0.09 1.14 0.47
includes 297.8 402.0 104.2 0.48 0.11 1.41 0.56
and includes 567.0 672.0 105.0 0.50 0.39 1.57 0.76
MPD-21-012 254.0 689.0 435.0 0.23 0.06 0.20 0.27
includes 275.0 518.0 243.0 0.31 0.08 0.35 0.36
includes 395.0 503.0 108.0 0.45 0.09 0.59 0.51
includes 413.0 461.0 48.0 0.58 0.10 0.97 0.65
MPD-21-024 302.0 749.0 447.0 0.21 0.11 0.72 0.29
includes 311.0 425.0 114.0 0.25 0.05 0.80 0.29
includes 512.0 554.0 42.0 0.32 0.34 1.56 0.55
and includes 608.0 662.0 54.0 0.30 0.18 1.22 0.43
Gate zone
margins
MPD-21-015 182.0 297.0 115.0 0.09 0.09 0.37 0.14
and 536.0 542.0 6.0 0.15 2.40 6.20 1.68
MPD-21-011 110.0 113.5 3.5 0.08 3.58 0.60 2.30
MPD-21-007 116.0 248.0 132.0 0.15 0.08 0.43 0.21
MPD-21-008 377.0 479.0 102.0 0.15 0.11 1.10 0.22
MPD-21-013 304.7 623.0 318.3 0.14 0.06 0.13 0.18
MPD-21-010 95.0 516.3 421.3 0.07 0.04 0.13 0.10
* Copper equivalent grades (CuEq) are for comparative purposes only. Calculations are uncut and
recovery is assumed to be 100 per cent as no metallurgical data are available. Metal prices of
$4.25 (U.S.)/pound copper, $1,800 (U.S.)/oz gold and $26 (U.S.)/oz silver, using the formula:
Per cent CuEq equals Cu grade plus (Au price times Au grade plus Ag price times Ag grade)
divided by 31.104 divided by (Cu price times 22.046).
** Intervals are downhole drilled core intervals. Drilling data to date are insufficient to
determine true width of mineralization.
Drilling at the Gate zone continues to identify patterns of strongly mineralized porphyry alteration, sulphide zoning and the structural controls for high-grade domains surrounded by lower-grade shells. To investigate the extents of the Gate zone, holes MPD-21-008 through 015 were drilled at various azimuths from a pad located 575 metres south of past year’s drilling (MPD-21-014 was lost before target depth). Holes MPD-21-016 and 024 were drilled to infill and test continuity of the high-grade Gate zone mineralization from new set-ups central to the one-kilometre-long copper-in-soil anomaly. Hole MPD-21-007 was drilled from a 2020 pad at the north end of Gate to test the extension of copper mineralization westward.
MPD is a large, consolidated land package (14,716 hectares) located near several operating mines in the southern Quesnel terrane, British Columbia’s primary copper-gold-producing belt. The project is located midway between the towns of Merritt and Princeton, with year-round accessibility and excellent infrastructure nearby.
Quality assurance/quality control procedures
NQ-size core was split and sampled over approximately three-metre intervals. All core samples were sent to ALS in North Vancouver, B.C., for preparation and analysis. ALS meets all requirements of international standards International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015 for analytical procedures. Samples were analyzed using ALS’s fire assay fusion method (Au-AA24) with an AA (atomic absorption) finish for gold and by a 33-element four-acid digest ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy) analysis (ME-ICP61) with additional analysis for ore-grade elements (ME-OG62) and ore-grade Cu (Cu-OG62). In addition to ALS quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocols, Kodiak implements an internal QA/QC program that includes the insertion of sample blanks, duplicates and standards in the field.
Jeff Ward, PGeo, vice-president, exploration, and the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release. Kodiak believes historic results referenced herein to be from reliable sources using industry standards at the time. However, the company has not independently verified, or cannot guarantee, the accuracy of this historic information.
About Kodiak Copper Corp.
Kodiak is focused on its 100-per-cent-owned copper porphyry projects in Canada and the United States. The company’s most advanced asset is the MPD copper-gold porphyry project in the prolific Quesnel trough in south-central British Columbia, Canada, where the company made a discovery of high-grade mineralization within a wide mineralized envelope in 2020. Kodiak also holds the Mohave copper-molybdenum-silver porphyry project in Arizona near the world-class Bagdad mine. Kodiak’s porphyry projects have both been historically drilled and present known mineral discoveries with the potential to hold large-scale deposits.