Cascadia Minerals drilling PIL Property, British Columbia
Cascadia Minerals Ltd. [TSXV-CAM; OTCQB-CAMNF] reported that diamond drilling has commenced at the PIL Property, located in the heart of northern British Columbia’s Toodoggone region. The PIL Property is located 30 km north of the past-producing Kemess Mine and hosts numerous copper-gold porphyry and epithermal gold-silver targets. Drilling in 2024 will focus on the PIL South target, where 2023 geophysical surveys returned a compelling untested IP chargeability anomaly.
PIL Exploration Plans: 1,600 to 2,000 metres of diamond drilling at the PIL South target is underway, comprising a total of two to three holes. Diamond drilling will test a compelling copper-gold porphyry target where a 2023 TITAN IP Chargeability survey identified a strong anomaly underlying mineralized surface samples, including 3.89% copper with 173 g/t silver and 119 ppm molybdenum in outcrop.
Prospecting and mapping will continue across the 151 km2 property, with a focus on the recently discovered Spruce Zone, where 2023 rock sampling returned results including 3.75% copper and 101 ppm molybdenum from outcrop, as well as the Copper Ridge, Atlas and PIL South targets.
“We’re excited to have work underway at the PIL Property in BC,” said Graham Downs, President and CEO. “This is our first diamond drill program at the property, which hosts numerous underexplored targets. Work will be focused on the PIL South target, where an extensive copper-gold soil anomaly coincident with high grade outcrop has seen very little historical drilling. Last season we completed a deep IP survey in this area which returned the classic signature of a buried copper-gold porphyry. This year’s drilling will be the first ever attempt to target the core of this anomaly, below the pyrite shell observed in historical holes.”
PIL South hosts a 2.5 x 2.0 km copper ± gold-molybdenum soil anomaly. Outcrop rock samples collected in this area have returned values including 3.89% copper with 173 g/t silver and 119 ppm molybdenum. A TITAN deep IP survey was conducted at this target in 2023 and returned a signature suggestive of a buried porphyry target at depth, below historical drilling. The chargeability response exhibits a broad zone of very high chargeability around a deeper zone of moderate chargeability, suggestive of a pyrite shell around the core of a porphyry system at the 1,200-metre elevation level. The resistivity response shows a core zone of moderate resistivity with moderate chargeability values that could represent the potassic core.
Three shallow historical drillholes were completed by a previous operator at this target in 2003. Core from these holes was reviewed in detail in 2023 and exhibits high-level alteration signatures (propylitic to sericite alteration), with zones of significant pyrite, and short intervals of anomalous copper and gold. The alteration and mineralization seen in these historical holes supports the interpreted pyrite shell signature in the IP survey and suggests that they were drilled above or adjacent to an untested potassic core of a porphyry system.
This season’s diamond drilling program will test deeper in the system, evaluating structures and multiple anomalous features present in the IP response. Two to three holes of up to 800 m length each are planned, with potential to extend the program if results are encouraging.
Cascadia anticipates receiving final assays from the Phase 1 exploration program at the Catch Property within a week. Phase 2 drilling at Catch is scheduled to commence July 20, with additional IP geophysical surveys scheduled for August. Soil sampling will begin at the Mack’s Copper project in the third week of July, with geochemical work at the Sands of Time and Milner properties to follow.
The PIL Property is under option from Finlay Minerals Ltd. [TSXV-FYL; OTCQB-FYMNF] and Cascadia can acquire a 70% interest in the project by making a series of staged payments and work expenditures.
Cascadia’s flagship Catch Property hosts a brand-new copper-gold porphyry discovery where inaugural drill results returned broad intervals of mineralization, including 116.60 metres of 0.31% copper with 0.30 g/t gold. Catch exhibits extensive high-grade copper and gold mineralization across a 5 km long trend, with rock samples returning peak values of 3.88% copper and 30.00 g/t gold.
In addition to Catch, Cascadia is conducting exploration work at its Mack Copper and Milner properties – Catch analogues within Yukon’s Stikine Terrane – as well as the Sands of Time property in the Yukon and the PIL Property in British Columbia, all of which have additional copper porphyry targets. Cascadia has approximately 52 million shares outstanding and its largest shareholders are Hecla Mining Company, Michael Gentile and Barrick Gold.