Constantine drills 7.08% zinc at Alaska VMS project
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. [CEM-CSE] has released a summary of field activities and available assay results from its 2021 drill program at the Palmer joint venture project in Alaska.
The company said drilling has intersected 7.08% zinc, 2.10% copper, 40.57 g/t silver and 0.42 g/t gold over 6.9 metres in the South Wall zone of the Palmer Deposit.
The announcement comes after Constantine shares closed at 33 cents on October 13, 2021. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of 67 cents and 15.5 cents.
Palmer is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide-sulphate (VMS) project located in an accessible part of coastal southeast Alaska, with road access to the property. Palmer is also situated within 60 kilometres of the year-round deep-sea port at Haines.
Mineralization at Palmer occurs within the same belt of rocks that is host to the Greens Creek mine, one of the world’s richest VMS deposits.
Exploration work at Palmer has continued to grow the estimated resource in two deposits to an indicated resource of 4.68 million tonnes of grade 5.23% zinc, 1.49% copper, 30.0 g/t silver, 0.30 g/t gold. On top of that is an inferred resource of 9.6 million tonnes of grade 4.95% zinc, 0.59% copper, 69.3 g/t silver and 0.39 g/t gold.
VMS deposits are known to occur in clusters, and with at least 25 separate base metal/or barite occurrences and prospects on the Palmer project, the company says there is abundant potential for discovery of multiple deposits.
In 2019, the company reported a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA), outlining the potential for a potential low capex, low operating cost, high margin underground mining operation.
Constantine is working to develop the project in a joint venture with Dowa Metals Mining Co. Ltd., which is funding a 2021 work program with a budget of US$8.8 million. This work will dilute Constantine’s project interest which stood at 46.6% at the end of September, 2021.
However, Constantine remains the project operator and receives a management fee.
In a press release on Thursday, Constantine said two diamond drill rigs were mobilized to the Palmer property in early June. The aim was to complete up to 6,000 metres of drilling. This work was expected to include infill drilling of the down-dip inferred South Wall copper-zinc-silver-gold resource. It also aimed to feature exploration drilling to explore for the fault off-set of the thick South Wall deposit.
Drilling was also directed towards geotechnical and environmental drilling to support the planned underground exploration program and provide information required to advance the project towards feasibility.
However, the company said drill contractor staffing issues and low drill productivity caused the company to refocus the planned multi-purpose program to ensure that the geotechnical and environmental aspects of the drill program were completed.
A total of eight holes (2,917 metres were drilled.
The company said the underground exploration program is expected to take 18 months to complete and will provide access to the hanging wall of the South Wall deposit for resource upgrade and upgrade and confirmation of geological hydrological and geotechnical information currently being collected from surface drill holes.