Callinex reports high-grade zinc at New Brunswick project

Callinex Mines Inc. [CNX-TSXV, CLLXF-OTCQX] on Thursday January 18 said drilling has intersected high-grade zinc values and expanded the near-surface Nash Creek deposit in New Brunswick. Callinex shares rallied on the news, rising 11.3% or $0.04 to 39.5 cents in early afternoon trading, Thursday.

The high grade zinc values were reported in assay results from four drill holes. Those drill holes are part of a recently completed 35 drill-hole campaign on the 100%-owned Nash Creek deposit, which is located in the fabled Bathurst Mining District.

Drill hole NC17-257 returned exceptional near-surface results, the company said. Highlights include a 15-metre intersection grading 7.2% zinc equivalent, including 9 metres of zinc equivalent from a starting depth of 113 metres.

Nash Creek hosts a sizeable volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit that contains a near-surface indicated resource of nine million tonnes, grading 3.6% zinc equivalent, or 712 million pounds of zinc equivalent, along with 1.1 million tonnes of inferred resources, grading 3.6% zinc equivalent or 88 million pounds of zinc equivalent. The current NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource estimate is based on only two of five known zones, which are open for expansion, the company has said.

“Our success in expanding the strike length of the deposit by nearly 50% over the past six months of exploration speaks to the exciting potential of the project,” said Callinex President and CEO Max Porterfield. “While we continue to focus on exploration advances in 2018, we are eager to publish an updated resource and maiden preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Nash Creek deposit in the coming months,” he said.

Callinex plans to delineate the extent of the Nash Creek deposit along strike in both directions along a 3-km long zinc-lead soil anomaly, of which only the southern 2 km has been drilled. The company also plans to test satellite zones that are open for expansion and commence a district-scale exploration program along the 20-kilometre long land package.

“We are targeting the PEA to have a base-case scenario of a standalone open pit operation with potential to process between 15 to 20 millon tonnes of material,” Porterfield said.

Aside from New Brunswick, Callinex is also active in Manitoba. Last week, Callinex released results from a 2017 summer drilling campaign at the Pine Pay and Big Island Projects in Manitoba’s Flin Flon Mining District. The Pine Bay and Big Island projects are located east of HudBay Minerals Inc.‘s  [HBM-TSX, HBM-NYSE] 777 Mine and processing facilities. As the 777 operation has less than four years of mine life, it will soon require additional ore. Callinex said the summer drilling campaign consisted of 10 holes, or 5,350 metres of drilling to conduct a maiden program at the company’s Big Island Project and follow-up on a new zinc and gold rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralization at the Pine Bay Project.