Kodiak Copper steps up drilling at B.C. porphyry project
Kodiak Copper Corp. [KDK-TSXV] said Thursday a second drill rig is now operating at its 100%-owned MPD copper-gold porphyry project in southern British Columbia.
Kodiak shares advanced on the news, rising 2.8% or $0.02 to 74 cents in light morning trading. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of $1.40 and 49.5 cents.
Kodiak Copper founder and Chairman Chris Taylor is best known for his previous success with Great Bear Resources, a company that was recently swallowed by Kinross Gold Corp. (K-TSX, KGC-NYSE) in a $1.8 billion deal. His aim is to repeat that success with Kodiak.
The MPD project covers a 97.3 square kilometre land package in south-central British Columbia and represents the consolidation of three properties (Man, Prime, Dillard) which had never been explored as a single project with modern techniques.
It is located in the Quesnel Trough, B.C.’s primary copper-producing belt, the one that hosts Teck Resources Ltd.’s (TECK.B-TSX, TECK.A-TSX, TECK-NYSE) Highland Valley mine, Imperial Metals Corp.’s (III-TSX) Mount Polley mine, and Centerra Gold Inc.’s [CG-TSX, CAGDF-OTC] Mount Milligan mine.
Kodiak has said the MPD project’s Nicola Belt geology has many similar characteristics to the neighbouring alkalic porphyry systems at the Copper Mountain mine to the south and New Gold Inc.’s (NGD-TSX, NYSE American) New Afton mine to the north.
MPD is adjacent to the highway and is usually accessible year-round via service roads.
The company said a large program of 25,000 metres is planned for 2023 and will focus on multiple target areas that have not previously been drilled. Target areas on the original MPD North claims, include the Man, Beyer, Dillard East, Blue Sky and Eclipse areas.
Target areas at MPD South (Axe claims), include the 1516, South and West Zones.
Drilling in 2022 focused on extending the high-grade copper porphyry Gate Zone, extending it to 1.0 kilometre north-south by 350 kilometres east-west and to a depth of 900 metres. Drilling last year also led to the discovery of the parallel Prime Zone over 400 metres in length and down to a depth of 550 metres.
However, as Gate is not large enough to be economic on its own, company officials have said they hope to create more value for shareholders by focusing other targets outside of the Gate Zone.
Kodiak recently disclosed that a 3D Induced Polarisation geophysical survey had identified a new drill target from surface to a depth of 600 metres, extending below shallow historic copper and gold mineralization of the Man Zone in the northern part of the MPD property.
The company said drilling continues on the West Zone target in the MPD South area where Kodiak recently announced that new drill holes have intersected porphyry mineralization and sulphides.
“We are encouraged by our progress to date and have now added a second drill rig to accelerate the program to test several targets in parallel,’’ Kodiak President and CEO Claudia Tornquist.