Scott Petsel, President of Metallic Minerals (TSX.V:MMG – OTCQB:MMNGF), joins us to review the ongoing exploration plan at the La Plata Copper Project in Colorado and the upcoming exploration strategy at the Keno Silver Project in the Yukon.
We start off getting an update on how the 5,000 meter drill campaign at the La Plata copper-silver-gold-PGE alkalic porphyry project is progressing. Scott outlined that the exploration team just recently completed a 2nd deep hole down to 1350 meters, following up on the high-grade intercept hole #22-04 which intersected 816 meters of 0.41% Cu Eq (0.30% Cu, 2.47 g/t Ag, 0.038 g/t Au, 0.055 g/t Pd and 0.093 g/t Pd) from surface and ended in 5.39% CuEq over 5.2 m (2.44% Cu, 18.7 g/t Ag, 5.0 g/t Au+PGE). This hole generated more interest in this project from larger companies, and lead to the announcement on May 18th of the $6.3 million strategic equity investment by Newcrest Mining Limited to further advance the La Plata Project.
A 3rd drill hole is being drilled currently, and there should be 1-2 more deep drill holes to follow after that one is completed, with the goal to continue to grow the resources at La Plata. On September 14th, an updated National Instrument 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate was released, representing a 25% increase in contained metal, based on an additional 1,730 meters of diamond drilling completed in 2022. The inferred mineral resources at the Allard deposit now total 1,211 million pounds of copper (1.2 Billion lbs) and 17.6 million ounces of silver in a constrained model with 147.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.41% Copper Equivalent (CuEq) (0.37% Cu and 3.72 g/t Ag) using a 0.25% CuEq cut-off grade.
Next we pivoted over to the 1,500 meter exploration program gearing up at the Keno Silver Project, located in the Keno Silver district of the Yukon, with the focus being at the high-grade veins and targets within the Formo zone. Additionally another key upcoming milestone by year end with be the Maiden Resource Estimate at the Keno Silver Project, that is slated come out by year-end. This will be the culmination of much of the exploration work since acquiring the project in 2017, and will feature resources from 4 key target areas of interest at the deposit; Formo, Caribou, Homestake, and Fox. The exploration is getting more encouraged that in addition to open pit opportunities at each of these targets, that there may additionally be selective underground mining opportunities.
Wrapping up, we highlighted the current financial strength of the company’s treasury, and additionally the expectation for new revenues to start coming in this month from the Australia Creek gold alluvial royalty property in the Klondike Gold District of the Yukon. Currently the primary operator working these claims towards production is Little Flake Mining, a company owned and operated by Parker Schnabel of Discovery Channel‘s top-rated television series, “Gold Rush.” Work is well underway with initial production and first royalty payments anticipated to start in late August. This ties into a larger discussion on how there could be room for 10 operators along their vast alluvial land claims, resulting in more future royalties, which could bring in more revenues to fund exploration at both the Keno Silver and La Plata Projects.
If you have any follow up questions for Scott on Metallic Minerals, then please email us Fleck@kereport.com or at Shad@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Metallic Minerals.
.
Click here for a summary of the recent news out of Metallic Minerals.