Cascadia Minerals drills 0.15% copper over 3.36 metres at Catch project, Yukon
Cascadia Minerals Ltd. [TSXV-CAM] provided a project update and final diamond drilling results from the 2023 exploration campaign at its 100%-controlled flagship Catch property in central Yukon, Canada, located 10 km from an all-season highway and power line within the traditional territory of the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation. Given the successful results of the inaugural 2023 diamond drill campaign, Cascadia has staked additional contiguous claims and initiated planning for a spring 2024 follow-up drill program.
Catch exploration summary: Inaugural diamond drilling in 2023 drilling resulted in a copper-gold porphyry discovery at the Diorite zone with hole CA-23-002 intersecting 116.60 metres of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold.
Drilling at the Main zone (holes CA-23-003 to -005), located two km north of the Diorite zone, intersected high-level porphyry alteration and anomalous copper-gold values, but has not yet identified the source of extensive copper-gold mineralization in a localized landslide.
Additional 227 contiguous claims recently staked to cover additional prospective ground, expanding the Catch property to 117 km2 in size.
Drilling has yet to intersect significant potassic alteration, suggesting there is potential to discover higher copper and gold grades in untested areas in the core of the porphyry systems.
Planning is under way for an early 2024 follow-up diamond drill program. Systematic property-wide soil sampling has identified numerous additional copper anomalies across the property, as far as 10 km away from the Diorite zone.
“Following our successful 2023 exploration season we are eager to follow up with an expanded program in 2024. We have already made a significant copper-gold discovery at the Diorite zone (116.60 m of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold) and continue to be confident in the potential of the Main zone due to the abundance of mineralization, and high-level alteration signatures in drill core,” said Graham Downs, president and CEO. “Our team is excited to commence the 2024 Diorite zone expansion drill program and to continue exploring numerous untested targets throughout the recently enlarged property. Cascadia is very well positioned to provide significant shareholder value with continued 2024 exploration success. As a brand-new company with a meaningful new discovery, we look forward to getting the Cascadia story out to a broader audience in 2024.”
With the success of the 2023 inaugural diamond drill program and strong evidence for an extensive mineralizing system, Cascadia staked an additional 227 claims in the late fall, expanding the Catch property by 46 km2 to a total of 117 km2. Planning work is under way for a follow-up drilling program to commence in spring 2024. If snowfall conditions are favourable, work is targeted to begin in late April or early May.
Preliminary plans call for a minimum of 5,000 metres of diamond drilling at Catch in 2024. The first priority will be to drill follow-up holes at the Diorite zone, building on discovery hole CA-23-002, which intersected 116.60 metres of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold. As this hole intersected significant grades in higher-level sodic and propylitic alteration, 2024 drilling will target significant step-outs both laterally and at depth, in areas with strong geophysical anomalies, vectoring toward the potassic core of the system.
Drilling in 2023 at the Diorite zone was completed on only the westernmost induced polarization section line, where numerous outcrops returned strong copper grades coincident with a chargeability anomaly at depth. The diamond drill was overwintered on an undrilled pad in the middle of this eastern IP section, and 2024 work will commence with several deep holes in this area, as well as undercuts of the 2023 drill holes.
Exploration will also continue at the Main zone to better characterize the tenure of mineralization and locate the bedrock source, in order to guide follow-up drilling.
Drill hole Ca-23-001 returned 333.87 metres of 0.13% copper and 0,04 g/t gold, including 45.83 metres of 0.30% copper and 0.15 g/t gold. CA-23-002 returned 435.0 metres of 0.16% copper and 0.09 g/t gold, including 116.60 metres of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold. And including 4.07 metres of 0.51% copper and 6.03 g/t gold, and including 65.60 metres of 0.40% copper and 0.13 g/t gold. CA-23-003 returned 3.36 metres of 0.15% copper and 0.05 g/t gold and 1.47 metres of 0.12% copper and 0.04 g/t gold and 1.00 metre of 0.12% copper and 0.04 g/t gold.
. Hole CA-23-001 targeted a high IP chargeability anomaly underlying an outcrop which returned 0.31% copper with 0.17 g/t gold over 12 metres from a hand trench.
Hole CA-23-002 was collared 160 metres north of CA-23-001, targeting the same high IP chargeability anomaly, underneath an outcrop which returned high-grade grab samples including 3.88% copper with 30 g/t gold.
Drilling at the Diorite zone has not yet intersected significant potassic alteration, suggesting there is potential to discover higher copper and gold grades associated with the potassic core of the system. Additional drilling will be required to vector toward this core.
Holes CA-23-003 to -005 at the Main zone intersected broad zones of propylitic alteration throughout, as well as evidence of major structures. This hole encountered several faults which returned elevated copper, including 0.16% copper and 0.29 g/t gold over one metre from 274 metres, 0.15% copper over 3.36 metres from 205.65 metres and 0.12% copper over 1.47 metres from 226.53 metres, suggesting mineralization may be leaking upward from a source located at depth.
The 117 km2 Catch property is located in central Yukon, Canada, 56 km southeast of the town of Carmacks, in an underexplored part of the Stikine terrane which extends from the Golden Triangle in British Columbia into Yukon.
Catch is under option from a Yukon prospector, and Cascadia can earn up to a 100% interest, subject to a royalty.
Cascadia is a Canadian junior mining company focused on exploring for copper and gold in Yukon and British Columbia. Cascadia’s flagship Catch property is a brand-new grassroots porphyry discovery which exhibits extensive high-grade copper and gold mineralization across a five km long trend, with rock samples returning peak values of 3.88% copper and 30 g/t gold and initial drill results returning broad intervals of mineralization, including 116.60 metres of 0.31% copper with 0.30 g/t gold.
In addition to Catch, Cascadia is conducting exploration work at its PIL property in British Columbia and the Sands of Time and Rosy properties in Yukon, as well as evaluating additional regional opportunities. Cascadia has approximately 37 million shares outstanding, and its largest shareholders are Hecla Mining Company (19.6%) and Barrick Gold (7.5%).