NorthWest Copper drills 3.2% CuEq over 41.2 metres at Stardust, British Columbia
NorthWest Copper Corp. [NWST-TSXV; NWCCF-OTCQX] reported the second set of results from the 2022 Stardust drilling program in the 421 zone, 200 km northwest of Fort St. James, British Columbia.
This hole was designed to cut through the 421 zone from a different direction than all previous drilling and highlights the thickness, grade and continuity of the 421 zone. The 421 zone forms the core of the 100%-owned Stardust deposit, one of the highest-grade copper-gold deposits in BC. Stardust remains open down plunge and along strike. The combination of Stardust and Kwanika is the subject of our PEA (preliminary economic assessment), the results of which were released on January 5, 2023. These drill results were not included in the PEA. Assay highlights from recent drilling include:
DDH22-SD-484 returned 41.20 metres of 3.20% CuEq (copper equivalent) from 722.00 metres (1.81% Cu, 1.66 g/t Au and 29.6 g/t Ag), including 4.80 metres at 12.82% CuEq from 734.40 metres, including 0.55 metres at 25.60% CuEq from 762.65 metres.
Gold-dominant intercepts from DDH22-SD-484 include two metres of 3.06 g/t Au, 0.01% Cu and 0.7 g/t Ag from 171.65 metres; 0.7 metres of 6.34 g/t Au, 0.2% Cu and 1.3 g/t Ag from 564.30 metres.
The upper part of hole DDH22-SD-484 contains four zones ranging from 0.65 to 2.00 metres with gold ranging from 5.07 g/t to 0.53 g/t and silver ranging from 170.0 g/t to 0.2 g/t. These intercepts are separate from and higher in the hole than the main 421 zone. These are not currently modelled and may indicate potential for another mineralized zone parallel and to the east of the 421 trend.
“This hole serves as a reminder that Stardust is not only one of the highest-grade copper deposits in British Columbia but retains a lot of exploration potential,” said Peter Bell, president and CEO. “The grades in the main intercept are very high, consistent with what we have seen before in the 421 zone and gives us further confidence in the geometry, grade, continuity of this part of the deposit. We are also highly encouraged by the gold dominant intercepts found away from 421 zone, which provide additional targets within Stardust. Stardust forms a key part of the Kwanika-Stardust project as outlined in our recent PEA, and remains underexplored.”
Drilling at Stardust for the 2022 season focused on conversion of inferred resources to higher classifications and on expansion of the resource around the 421 zone. Stardust is the high-grade carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) that is located approximately 7 km from the Kwanika deposit. The company has now reported all 2022 drill results from Stardust, and 20 of 30 holes from the 2022 drilling at Kwanika. These results have not been incorporated into the updated Stardust and Kwanika resource estimates or the recent PEA.
The company granted 3,540,625 stock options to directors and certain employees, and 557,813 restricted share units (RSUs) to certain employees pursuant to its stock option and RSU Plans.
The stock options have an exercise price of $0.20 and have a range of vesting periods over three years and expire January 6, 2028. The RSUs are payable in common shares of the company on exercise, vest on January 6, 2024, and expire February 6, 2024.