Cascadia options Yukon ground near Western Copper play
Cascadia Minerals Ltd. [CAM-TSXV] has taken an option on a large property that lies adjacent to Western Copper & Gold Corp.’s [WRN-TSX, NYSE American] Casino copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in the Canadian Yukon.
Casino project ranks as one of the largest copper-gold projects in Canada and has attracted Mitsubishi Materials Corp. and Rio Tinto Plc’s [RIO-NYSE] as strategic investors.
Casino is estimated to host measured and indicated resources of 14.5 million ounces of gold and 7.6 billion pounds of copper. On top of that is an inferred resource of 6.6 million ounces of gold and 3.3 billion pounds of copper.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) which was announced in June, 2021, envisages a large open pit operation, a concentrator to recover copper, gold, silver and molybdenum, and a solid waste facility to store mine waste rock and mill tailings.
Cascadia said it has optioned the 57 square kilometre Sands of Time property from Dr. Jack Milton. The company said Sands of Time contains two large, underexplored molybdenum and copper soil anomalies. They are similar in size to the anomalies over the Casino deposit. The larger of the two has never been drilled.
“Jack has utilized modern geological techiques to identify compelling science-based evidence that the property may host porphyry-style mineralization under cover,” said Cascadia President and CEO Graham Downs. “We look forward to building on Jack’s work on the property with a systematic exploration campaign to fully evaluate its potential,’’ he said.
Cascadia can acquire a 100% interest in the property by making cash payments of $200,000, issuing 900,000 shares and incurring $1.3 million in exploration expenses prior to December 31, 2026. Once the option is exercised, the property will remain subject to a 2.0% net smelter return royalty of which 1.0% can be repurchased by Cascadia for $1 million.
Also, a milestone payment of $1 per ounce of gold equivalent will be due to Dr. Milton upon completion for the first measured and indicated mineral resource on the property equal to or greater than 1.0 million ounces of gold equivalent.
On Tuesday, Cascadia shares eased 2.3% to $0.005 to 21 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 35 cents and 17.5 cents.
Newly-listed Cascadia is a company that was set up to own properties previously held by Atac Resources before the company was acquired by Hecla Mining [HL-NYSE].
Before it was swallowed by Hecla, Atac’s rights and interests in relation to a basked of properties in the Yukon and British Columbia were transferred to Cascadia. Hecla currently holds 19.9% stake in Cascadia. Another key shareholder is Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX, GOLD-NYSE], which holds a 10% stake in Cascadia.
Cascadia’s key assets include the Catch property in the Yukon, the PIL property in B.C. and Rosy property in the Yukon. Cascadia’s initial focus is the Catch property, which is located in central Yukon, 56 kilometres southeast of Carmacks, in an underexplored part of the Stikine terrane – a key geological tarrane which extends from the Golden Triangle in B.C. into the Yukon.