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Coast Copper (TSXV: COCO) has reported results of 10 core holes (1,483 metres) drilled this spring on the Empire mine property in B.C., which covers three past-producing open pits and two historic underground mines for magnetite, copper-gold, and silver. The project is being optioned from Mirva Properties.
The spring 2022 program included five holes in the Raven Bluff area, two in the Raven pit area, two in the Marten zone, and one in the West Pipe dike area. Highlighted intercepts from Raven Bluff, a gold-copper-cobalt-magnetite zone, include 3.0 metres of 1.9 g/t gold and 0.03% copper, and 1.3 metres of 4.23 g/t gold and 0.18% copper. The Raven Bluff zone has now been extended to a strike length of 150 metres with a vertical depth of 250 metres below surface. It continues to be open in all directions.
At the Marten showing, one drill hole returned 0.69 g/t gold and 0.17% copper over 8.93 metres, including 9.05 g/t gold and 1.75% copper over 0.41 metre. The drill hole at West Pipe dike returned an 18-metre interval grading 0.24 g/t gold and 0.28% copper. West Pipe is a large magnetite dominant feature located at surface just east of the entrance to the Merry Widow pit that was overlooked during previous exploration programs.
In addition to the latest drilling, Coast Copper has also completed an underground survey at the Kingfisher magnetite mine that was in operation from 1961 to 1967. The purpose of the survey was to test the viability of the mine being restarted. The survey noted that ground conditions and airflow were generally quite good especially for workings that are greater than 50 years old.
During this survey, Coast Copper personnel were also able to make geological observations and complete some chip sampling. Underground samples from the company’s work in the main trend between the Kingfisher and Merry Widow pits returned individual samples up to 3.37 g/t gold, 0.97% copper and greater than 1% cobalt.
“The 2022 drilling and underground survey have extended the known strike length of the north-northwest trending Raven Bluff zone to over 150 metres and have made a new discovery in the Lower Marten area,” Adam Travis, Coast Copper’s CEO, commented.
“More importantly, a recent independent property review by Dr. James Oliver, based on field and drill hole observations, has identified a previously unknown regional thrust fault that may have acted as a conduit for mineralizing fluids over 1.0 km of strike length between the Marten zone and the Raven Bluff area. Observations of regional geological mapping also indicate that this trusted contact may occur for greater than 2.5 km strike across the property, outlining the potential for further significant mineralization targets. The recognition of the major controls to mineralization is a very important milestone in understanding the exploration potential at Empire.”
The independent review of the mineral occurrences across the Empire property focused on several areas of interest, including the Merry Widow mine area, Battle Mountain and Benson Lake mine. The historic Merry Widow pit contains measured and indicated resources of 960,000 tonnes averaging 2.03 g/t gold, 5.64 g/t silver, 0.34% copper, 0.013% cobalt, and 16.1% iron.
