Nicola’s New Craigmont shaping up as special project, chairman says
Nicola Mining Inc. [NIM-TSXV] on Monday April 2 released a summary of results from winter drilling at its company’s 100%-owned New Craigmont Project near Merritt in southern British Columbia’s Thompson-Nicola Region. Highlights included Hole NC-2018-03, which returned 100.6 metres of 1.33% copper, including 40.2 metres at 2.52% copper, and 15 metres, grading 5.18% copper.
The program focused on extending and defining boundaries on the Craigmont West zone, which has been named to denote its status as the westward extension of the mineralized skarn zone mined in the historical Craigmont open pit and underground mine.
It was designed to target the full width and western extent of a segment of copper-iron-skarn mineralization believed to be the continuation of the mineralized zone extending west from the historical Craigmont Mine.
Previous results were reported in the last three months. Nicola has since received all results from the remaining drill data. These results have improved the geological understanding of the area and continue to establish the width and continuity of the Craigmont West zone, the company said.
Previous Craigmont West zone exploration highlights include 71.4 metres at 0.6% copper from hole NC-2018-01 (released February 28, 2018), including 16 metres at 1.4% copper.
“Results from the initial stages of drilling at Craigmont West have been very encouraging and more drilling is clearly necessary for advancing the project toward establishing a resource and exploring west along strike and at depth,” said Nicola Mining CEO Peter Espig.
“This drilling has intersected grades and widths comparable to mineralized zones mined at the historical Craigmont Mine,” he said.
Nicola Chairman Frank Hogel said it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a very special project and the company looks forward to providing an explanation on the ongoing exploration program in a subsequent news release.
From September 2017 to February, 2018, a total of eight diamond drill holes were drilled at Craigmont West, totalling 4,436 metres. The drill holes were planned as a follow-up to the drilling program Nicola executed in 2016, which intercepted 85.92 metres of 1.11% copper in hole DDH-THU-002. Although that intersection was significant in grade and width, the mineralized zone in this hole was cut off by the Embayment fault and the true with potential of the zone could not be evaluated.
The objectives of the 2017/2018 exploration program were as follows:
Successfully intersect and define the full width of the mineralized skarn zone, particularly between historical holes S-100 and DDH-THU-002.
Test the continuity of the zone to the west and at depth.
Gain further understanding of the lithologic sequence and its control on mineralization.
The integration of the recent drilling results with historical data is continuing by Nicola’s geological team, the company said. Once complete, a follow-up drill program will be designed to expand the mineralization zone encountered in the current drill program and test other targets identified within the Craigmont West zone.
The company also owns and operates a nearby mill and tailings facility that custom mills ore for gold producers.
Nicola Mining shares were unchanged at 17.5 cents on Monday. The 52-week range is 14 cents and 25 cents.