Pacific Ridge drills 0.67% CuEq over 328 metres at Kliyul, British Columbia
Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. [PEX-TSXV; PEXZF-OTCQB] reported the remaining results from the 2022 diamond drill program completed at the 75%-optioned Kliyul copper-gold porphyry project, located in the prolific Quesnel Trough in north-central British Columbia.
Highlights: Drill hole KLI-22-050 returned 89.0 metres of 1.06% copper equivalent (CuEq) (0.28% copper, 1.05 g/t gold, and 1.20 g/t silver) within 328.0 metres of 0.67% CuEq (0.25% copper, 0.57 g/t gold, and 1.25 g/t silver).
Drill hole KLI-22-046 extended mineralization 250 metres north of the Kliyul Main Zone (KMZ) and returned 59.0 metres of 0.89% CuEq (0.24% copper, 0.87 g/t gold, and 2.29 g/t silver) within 169 metres of 0.55% CuEq (0.20% copper, 0.46 g/t gold, and 1.65 g/t silver).
Drill hole KLI-22-049, a 300-metre step-out to the east of KMZ, returned 28.0 metres of 0.61% CuEq (0.27% copper, 0.44 g/t gold, and 2.87 g/t silver) within 340.0 metres of 0.30% CuEq (0.15% copper, 0.20 g/t gold, and 0.80 g/t silver).
2022 drilling materially increased the size of the KMZ mineralized body to approximately 600 metres (E-W) x 350 metres (N-S) x 600 metres vertical depth from approximately 350 metres (E-W) x 150 metres (N-S) x 500 metres vertical depth.
Drilling also confirmed that the magnetic vector inversion (MVI) data closely correlates with mineralization; in plan, there is an approximate 38-hectare anomalous MVI. The currently defined KMZ mineralized footprint represents only 5.5 hectares, or 14.5% of the total footprint.
“The overarching goal of the 2022 drill program at Kliyul was to demonstrate that the Kliyul Main Zone has size potential,” said Blaine Monaghan, President & CEO of Pacific Ridge. “Not only did we achieve that goal, but the MVI data suggests that there is tremendous potential for the KMZ mineralized body to continue growing. That will be the focus of our fully funded 2023 exploration program.”
The 2022 program comprised 7,014.7 metres in 12 diamond drill holes, the largest ever drill program at the Project. Results of the second six drill holes (3,743.0 m) confirmed the expansion of mineralization into three zones adjacent to KMZ – to the north across Valley Fault (Kliyul North), to the east across Divide Lake Fault (East Wedge), and to the west across the Lui Fault (Kliyul West). Mineralization in each of these fault-defined zones remains open in several directions and at depth, as does KMZ mineralization to the southeast.
Altogether, these results suggest that the KMZ is one component of a larger mineralized system that extends to the north, east, southeast and southwest. Broad step-out drilling 600 m to the west (KLI-22-047) and over 700 m to the east (KLI-22-048A) from the centre of KMZ along the Valley Fault Trend encountered weak fault-controlled mineralization with sericitic alteration and is interpreted to be within a high-chargeability pyrite halo, currently defining the outer boundary of the porphyry system.
Pacific Ridge’s flagship project is the Kliyul copper-gold project, located in the prolific Quesnel Trough, approximately 50 km southeast of Centerra Gold Inc.’s Kemess Project. In addition to Kliyul, the company’s project portfolio includes the RDP copper-gold project (optioned to Antofagasta Minerals S.A.), the Chuchi copper-gold project, the Onjo copper-gold project, and the Redton copper-gold project, all located in British Columbia.