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NovaCopper (NYSEMKT:NCQ;TSX:NCQ) announced a review of this year’s activities and a year-end corporate update.
NovaCopper (NYSEMKT:NCQ;TSX:NCQ) announced a review of this year’s activities and a year-end corporate update.
As quoted in the press release:
NovaCopper completed its acquisition of Sunward Resources Ltd. (“Sunward”) which netted the Company approximately C$20 million cash and 100% ownership of the Titiribi gold project in Colombia. The Company completed a summer drill program at the 100% owned Arctic project in Alaska on time and under-budget. Drill results confirmed continuity of high grade copper-gold-silver-lead-zinc mineralization. Alaska’s Governor Bill Walker authorizes AIDEA to initiate the EIS for the Ambler access road. Board approved change of corporate name to “Trilogy Metals Inc.” subject to receipt of shareholder approval at the next annual meeting.
As the Company approaches its fiscal year end on November 30th, we look back 2015 with a great sense of accomplishment. In June we acquired Sunward, a publicly listed company on the Toronto Stock Exchange with a gold exploration property located in Colombia and approximately C$20 million of cash on its balance sheet. The Sunward acquisition was approved by the shareholders of both companies.
The funds we acquired from the Sunward acquisition were used to advance the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP), specifically to advance the Arctic deposit towards pre-feasibility. The first phase was to complete an in-fill drill program at Arctic, collect in-pit geotechnical (soil and rock), hydrological and waste characterization data and begin engineering studies with a budget of $5.5 million. During the summer field season, the Company completed fourteen diamond drill holes for a total of 3,056 meters drilled. The 2015 in-fill drill program was designed to support upgrading of potentially open pitable Inferred Resources to Measured and Indicated Resources classification. Results of the drill program were released on October 21, 2015.
Highlights of Drill Results
Based on a cut-off grade of 1.0% copper, all holes intersected significant zones of high grade copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc mineralization {A –} including:
- AR15-0145 intersected four mineralized intervals, including 22 meters of 3.86% copper, 0.86 g/t gold, 71.0 g/t silver, 1.15% lead, and 5.36% zinc, and 5 meters of 3.82% copper, 0.68 g/t gold, 74.7 g/t silver, 1.60% lead, and 7.21% zinc, and 6.5 meters of 6.67% copper, 0.52 g/t gold, 31.4 g/t silver, 0.20% lead, and 3.38% zinc;
- AR15-0136 intersected two mineralized intervals, including 32 meters of 3.08% copper, 1.56 g/t gold, 45.9 g/t silver, 0.18% lead, and 2.72% zinc, and 9 meters of 7.36% copper, 2.34 g/t gold, 219.3 g/t silver, 0.77% lead, and 5.00% zinc;
- AR15-0138 intersected 18 meters of 4.93% copper, 0.74 g/t gold, 102.0 g/t silver, 0.94% lead, and 5.11% zinc;
- AR15-0144 intersected three mineralized intervals, including 11 meters of 7.10% copper, 0.70 g/t gold, 80.4 g/t silver, 1.09% lead, and 9.04% zinc, and 9 meters of 4.22% copper, 0.75 g/t gold, 76.7 g/t silver, 0.82% lead, and 3.46% zinc;
The Company announced that all fourteen holes encountered significant mineralized intervals of high grade mineralization which are reported in Table 1. Results are consistent with previous drilling conducted within the resource area on the property.
On the same day that we released results from our drill program, Alaska’s Governor Bill Walker authorized the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to begin the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process on the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road (AMDIAR). Completion of the AMDIAR would provide road access from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler mining district where the State of Alaska and NANA Regional Corp., an Alaska Native Corporation, have extensive land holdings. The Ambler mining district consists of over two dozen known prospects of polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide and carbonate-hosted copper-cobalt-gold-silver replacement style deposits occurring along a 100Km (70 Mile) long belt of mineralization, including the UKMP.