Nicola Mining (TSXV: NIM) has entered into a funding agreement with the University of British Columbia”s UBC Mineral Deposit Research Unit to research the potential and existence of copper porphyry systems.
MDRU is a partnership between UBC Mineral Deposit Research Unit, Lakehead University and Universities of Alberta and Calgary, and 15 partner organizations, which includes Nicola Mining, focused on improving the rate at which porphyry copper deposits can be discovered.
In May, MDRU announced the award of C$2.7 million ($2.09m) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance program, matching C$1.3 million ($1m) in industry cash contributions).
Information from Nicola’s recently completed 998-line kilometer Z‐Tipper Axis Electromagnetic survey across the entirety of New Craigmont is to be received soon and can be incorporated with the project, the company said.
The porphyry fertility and vectoring project, which has received funding from private sector and government sources, plans to characterize alteration mineral associations and inclusions, and LA-ICP-MS analyses on chlorite, epidote, pyrite, and carbonate minerals, to provide an interpretation of potential vectors towards deposits.
Leveraging new technologies could augment the ability to find porphyry systems in British Columbia.
“We are very excited to team with MDRU on this project and feel that it is well suited for the New Craigmont project, which is Canada’s highest grade historic large copper mine,” Nicola CEO Peter Espig said in a media statement.
“Leveraging newer technologies, such as ZTEM Survey, and working closely with UBC’s geological team could be very fruitful towards finding porphyry copper targets.”
