Adamera shares up 47.8% on Cooke Mountain drilling news
Adamera Minerals Corp. [ADZ-TSXV] said Wednesday February 14 that early stage drilling at its Cooke Mountain Project in northeastern Washington State has intersected a thick mineralized zone with both semi-massive and disseminated sulfides over a 120-metre core length.
The announcement sparked active trading in Adamera shares, which rose 47.8% or $0.055 to 17 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange Wednesday. Over 4 million shares changed hands.
Investors were reacting to news about the first drill hole to test an anomaly known as the as the SE-01-VTEM target. Mineralization consists of variable amounts of sulfides, magnetite and silica alteration from a depth of 60 to 180 metres downhole.
The core is currently being logged and cut prior to gold fire assaying, the company said in a press release.
“While we won’t know if this drill hole represents a discovery until we receive assays, it is at the very least a clear vindication of our greenfields targeting program,” said Adamera President and CEO Mark Kolebaba.
“The intensity of the hydrothermal alteration and the proximity of the mineralization to the Republic of Graben margin gives me every reason to be optimistic about the potential outcome,” he said.
Adamera is exploring for a stand-alone, high-grade gold deposit in an established mining camp that has reportedly produced six million ounces of high-grade gold.
The Cooke Mountain property is within hauling distance of the Kettle River Mill which was used to process ore from the Kinross Gold Corp. [K-TSX; KGC-NYSE] Kettle-River Buckhorn gold mine, which ceased production in July 2017 after nine years in operation.
As the 1,800-tonne-per day Kettle River Mill was recently placed on care and maintenance, Adamera is hoping to make a discovery that will attract the interest of Kinross or other large gold mining companies.
Aside from the location, optimism within the Adamera camp is based on the fact that Cooke Mountain remains under explored with modern surveying techniques, including VTEM.
A recent VTEM survey, combined with ground magnetics, detailed soil sampling and geological mapping, has defined numerous high priority targets, which are currently being drilled, the company said. That includes the SE-01 gold target, which is located approximately 4 km from the Kettle River gold mill.
In the February 14 press release, the company said the first hole was drilled at an angle of -55 degrees, approximately perpendicular to the strike of the VTEM anomaly. The true width of the intercept is not yet known and will be better defined by a second hole, which is currently under way.
Both sulfide and magnetite content in the core range from approximately 3% to 80%. Intense silica alteration and silica replacement as well as local sericite alteration accompany the sulfides and magnetite from 68.5 metres to 121.4 metres, the company said. Much of the interval displays complex fracturing and sulfide veining, it added.