Visionary Copper shares up 16% on Manitoba VMS permitting news
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Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. [VCG-TSXV, VCGMF-OTCQB] is preparing to advance the Rainbow Deposit towards early production at its 100%-owned Pine Bay VMS project in the Flin Flon Mining District in Manitoba.
Visionary Copper shares advanced on the news, rising 16% or 17 cents to $1.20. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $1.95 and 60 cents.
Visionary said it has received two exploration work permits from the Province of Manitoba which authorize drilling at the Rainbow deposit. The move comes after the company submitted an Advanced Exploration Permit (AEP) application, supported by detailed engineering plans for ramp access and a proposed 10,000-tonne bulk sample.
The newly issued permits authorize surface diamond drilling, line cutting, geophysics, and trail clearing, positioning Visionary to advance the project’s planned exploration at an appropriate time, through December, 2028.
Visionary Copper, a company previously known as Callinex Mines, said the recently consolidated Pine Bay project area covers 11,859 hectares (approximately 120 square kilometres) and benefits from a mineral lease, water, hydroelectric power, historic shaft and direct road access to an idle processing facility in nearby Flin Flon. Rainbow is a high-grade, copper-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) polymetallic deposit discovered by the company in 2020. Rainbow and the Pine Bay deposit are located approximately 900 metres apart.
The Rainbow deposit contains an indicated resource of 3.44 million tonnes of grade 3.59% copper equivalent (CuEq) for 272.4 million pounds of CuEq (238.3 million pounds of copper, 56.9 million pounds of zinc, 37,600 ounces of gold, 692,800 ounces of silver and 2.3 million pounds of lead).
On top of that is an inferred resource in the Rainbow deposit of 1.28 million tonnes of grade 2.95% CuEq, containing 83.4 million pounds of CuEq (72.1 million pounds of copper, 19.5 million pounds of zinc, 11,100 ounces of gold, 222,200 ounces of silver and 800,000 pounds of lead.
In addition, an inferred resource has been outlined in the Pine Bay deposit of 1.0 million tonnes, grading 2.62% copper, containing 58.1 million pounds of copper.
“I am pleased that the Manitoba Government has issued these exploration permits as they give Visionary the ability to advance Pine Bay at an appropriate time through December 31, 2028,’’ said Visionary President and CEO Max Porterfield. “Rainbow is a high-grade copper deposit on a mineral lease, 16 kilometres from Flin Flon, with the engineering for an AEP ramp access and associated environmental baseline work already done,’’ he said. “We believe that makes it a potential near-term source of high-grade copper. Around Rainbow, the targets our team outlined last year, from the historic Leo copper deposit to Amulet on the Rainbow horizon, give us meaningful exploration upside. Pine Bay gives Visionary a second high-grade copper and gold opportunity alongside our Port Leamington deposit in Newfoundland.’’