Vancouver-based Kaizen Discovery (TSXV: KZD) announced that it plans to restart exploration activities at its 100%-owned Aspen Grove project, located in southern British Columbia, western Canada.
In a press release, Kaizen said that the decision was made based on the results of past exploration programs that returned significant intercepts of copper and gold mineralization, including several higher-grade zones.
One of the campaigns took place in 2015 when 6,389 metres were drilled targeting the Ketchan porphyry copper-gold prospect at Aspen Grove. The following year, an additional 4,009-metre diamond drill program was carried out.
According to Kaizen, highlights from these programs include 14 metres grading 1.03% copper and 0.13 g/t gold in drill hole K15-01; 72 metres grading 0.31% copper and 0.20 g/t gold in drill hole K15-03; 26 metres grading 1.05% copper and 0.05 g/t gold in drill hole K15-10; 68 metres grading 0.40% copper and 0.34 g/t gold in drill hole K15-11; 62 metres grading 0.46% copper and 0.10 g/t gold, including 28 metres grading 0.90% copper and 0.17 g/t gold in drill hole K16-06, and 8 metres grading 1.29% copper and 0.84 g/t gold, and 60 metres grading 0.36% copper and 0.15 g/t gold in drill hole K16-07.
“Previous work at Aspen Grove was focused on the identification of shallow bodies of copper-gold mineralization amenable to open-pit mining. Mineralization encountered by drilling at both the Ketchan and Par prospects is now recognized by Kaizen geologists to reflect stratigraphically-controlled hydrothermal fluid discharge through Nicola Group rocks from deeper porphyry copper-gold intrusions that remain to be discovered,” Eric Finlayson, Kaizen’s interim CEO, said in the media brief.
Finlayson also said that the company is planning to launch an exploration program as soon as possible, which will include property-wide deep-penetration geophysical surveys and follow-up diamond drilling.
Aspen Grove is located in southern British Columbia, near the city of Merritt. It extends for 11,237 hectares and covers part of an extensive belt of porphyry copper-gold mineralization hosted by Early Triassic Nicola Group volcanic rocks and Late Triassic to Early Jurassic intrusions.