BC-focused explorer EnGold Mines (TSXV: EGM) has released copper-dominant resource estimates for the Spout and G1 carbonate replacement deposits (CRDs) at its Lac La Hache property in BC’s Cariboo region.
Spout includes an open-pittable component of 6.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.33% copper, 1.34 g/t silver, 0.05 g/t gold and 11.62% magnetite (0.48% copper-equivalent) and 7.7 million inferred tonnes at 0.27% copper 0.99 g/t silver, 0.04 g/t gold and 9.5% magnetite (0.39% copper-equivalent).
In the underground mining classification, Spout hosts 390,000 inferred tonnes grading 1% copper, 2.58 g/t silver, 0.13 g/t gold and 10.33% magnetite (0.39% copper-equivalent). G1 adds 1.7 million inferred tonnes in the underground category, at 1.25% copper, 6.45 g/t silver, 0.19 g/t gold and 30.94% magnetite (1.65% copper-equivalent).
In the press release, EnGold president and CEO David Brett noted that in addition to CRD-style mineralization at G1 and Spout, Lac La Hache includes “significant” porphyry copper-gold potential.
Rob Shives, VP of exploration, added that EnGold’s exploration model predicted the 2017 discovery of the G1 deposit with “excellent potential for discovery of additional copper CRD deposits…”
Follow-up exploration will focus on existing targets, on extending the northern portion of Spout and G1, and zone in on the 1.8-km gap between the Spout and G1 deposits.
The 257.5-sq.-km Lac La Hache property includes the gold-copper-silver Aurizon breccia deposit, with 1.1 million inferred tonnes grading 2.48 g/t gold, 0.64% copper and 5.98 g/t silver (3.6 g/t gold-equivalent).
A 10-km prospective trend at the site also hosts a copper porphyry system.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)