VANCOUVER, BC March 4, 2024 – CopperCorp Resources Inc. (TSXV: CPER) (OTCQB: CPCPF) (“CopperCorp” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide and update on its diamond drilling campaign1 at the Razorback rare earth and copper property in western Tasmania, Australia.
The first diamond drill hole at the South Darwin prospect, SDD007, was designed to test 130-150m beneath high-grade REE-Cu mineralisation intersected in historical hole SDD0052. Hole SDD007 was completed to a depth of 553m on 29th February. Further planned drilling at South Darwin is currently on hold while the Company awaits assay results from SDD007 to optimize the targeting of next drill holes. The drill rig remains onsite and will undergo maintenance during this period.
Logging and sampling of SDD007 is well underway with samples from the first 200m of SDD007 already at the laboratory and remaining priority core intervals on schedule to be sampled and despatched during the coming week. First gold assay results are anticipated within 1 to 2 weeks, while prioritised REE assay results are anticipated within 3 to 4 weeks. A full update on SDD007 and any further drilling will be provided once assays have been received and interpreted.
Drill Hole SDD007
SDD007 was designed to test for depth extensions approximately 130 to 150m below high-grade REE and Cu-Au mineralization intercepted in historical hole SDD0052:
SDD005:
- 72.0m @ 1.13% total rare earth oxides (TREO) from 286m, including
- 30.0m @ 2.26% TREO from 296m, including
- 10.0m @ 3.0% TREO from 307m
- 13.0m @ 1.2% Cu and 0.45g/t Au from 345m
- 30.0m @ 2.26% TREO from 296m, including
Geological logging indicates that SDD007 successfully intersected zones of biotite-allanite alteration rock and magnetite-sulphide mineralization characteristic of the REE and Cu-Au zones intersected in SDD005. At this early stage of exploration, visual inspection of the drill core provides limited insight into potential REE contents and assaying is required to confirm the extent and grade of the potential REE mineralized zones intersected.
Other Work Programs
Concurrent with the drilling program, the Company continues to carry out surface mapping and rock sampling programs within the Razorback property (Figure 1), as well as reprocessing and modelling of geophysical data over priority target zones (Darwin, Hydes and Jukes Zones3). The company looks forward to providing updates on this work during March.
Drill hole planning, environmental surveys and permitting is currently underway for proposed drilling programs at the Jukes3 and Jasper Hills6 Cu-Au prospects. These will be discussed in more detail in upcoming news releases.
Figure 1. Exploration target areas, Razorback property.
Figure 2. Magnetics (left) and thorium in radiometrics (right) image with Ce in historical surface rock sampling, Darwin Zone target area. Historical rock chips samples were mostly not assayed for full suite REE and Ce values are used as an indicator for REE mineralization. The magnetic anomalies are due to magnetite associated with IOCG style mineralization, while thorium is a common indicator for possible REE mineralization.
Figure 3. Cross section showing recently completed drill hole SDD007 and historically drilled holes (SDD004 and SDD005). Assays are pending for SDD007.
About the South Darwin Prospect
The South Darwin prospect is located within the larger Darwin zone target area, defined by a 7km long north-south trending coincident magnetic and potassium-thorium radiometric anomaly. Historical drilling2 (comprising 8 diamond core holes totaling 2,293m) into part of this extensive anomaly at the South Darwin prospect intercepted significant IOCG style Cu-Au and REE mineralization associated with north-south trending hydrothermal breccias comprised of magnetite-hematite-pyrite-chalcopyrite-bornite mineralization hosted in intensely K-feldspar-chlorite-tourmaline altered volcanics directly adjacent to intrusive granites and porphyry bodies. The mineralization at South Darwin remains open at depth and along strike, and with the previous drilling testing less than 10% of the 7km-long anomaly, the Company considers there to be excellent further REE and Cu-Au discovery potential at Darwin Zone.
The IOCG style mineralization drilled at South Darwin comprises vein, breccia and semi-massive to massive magnetite-pyrite-chalcopyrite. The previous drilling returned a best intercept of 13.0m @ 1.2% Cu and 0.45g/t Au from 345m (SDD005)2,4 and the same hole also intercepted significant rare earth element mineralization2,4 including 30.0m @ 2.26% TREO from 296m1.
About CopperCorp
CopperCorp is focused on the exploration and development of its Skyline and AMC Projects in western Tasmania. The company is well-financed with approximately C$5.5M in working capital as of January 10, 2024.
Quality Assurance / Quality Control on Assay Results
Information on historical and recent prospecting, mining, and exploration activities at the Razorback property contained within this news release has been reviewed and verified by the Qualified Person. Historical and recent data is considered sufficiently consistent between generations of past explorers, and sufficiently consistent with recent results, to provide confidence that compiled and reviewed assay results are indicative of the tenor of the samples. In the opinion of the Qualified Person, sufficient verification of historical and new data has been undertaken to provide sufficient confidence that past exploration programs were performed to adequate industry standards and the data reported is fit for substantiating the prospectivity of the project in general, supporting the geological model/s proposed, planning exploration programs, and identifying targets for further investigation. The Company has undertaken resampling and analysis of available historical drill core in order to independently verify historical results.
Mineralized Interval Calculations
Reported rare earth element significant mineralized intervals in this news release are calculated as down-hole length-weighted intercepts using a 0.15% TREO lower cut-off grade and generally carry a maximum internal dilution of 4m. High-grade mineralized intervals were calculated using a lower cut-off grade of 1.0% TREO. No top-cut grade was applied. True widths of drill hole intercepts are yet to be determined; however, it is estimated that true widths are in the range of 70% to 95% of reported intervals.
Rare Earth Element Calculations
TREO (Total Rare Earth Oxides) values were calculated by the formula: TREO = CeO2 + La2O3 + Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 + Sm2O3 + Gd2O3 + Dy2O3 + Eu2O3 + Er2O3 + Tb4O7 + Ho2O3 + Tm2O3 + Lu2O3 + Yb2O3 + Y2O3.
Standard element to oxide conversion factors have been used in the calculation of rare earth oxide values from elemental assay values.
Qualified Person
The Company’s disclosure of technical or scientific information related to EL8/2023 (the Razorback property), in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sean Westbrook, VP Exploration for the Company. Mr. Westbrook is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined in National Instrument 43-101. This news release may also contain information about adjacent properties on which the Company does not have an interest. Information sources regarding the adjacent properties are listed in the References section of this news release. The QP has been unable to verify the information on these adjacent properties and the information is not necessarily indicative to the mineralization on the properties that is the subject of this news release.
References
1CPER: TSXV News Release 18th January 2024
2CPER: TSXV News Release 15th November 2023
3CPER: TSXV News Release 20th September 2023
4CPER: TSXV News Release 21st February 2023.
5CPER: TSXV News Release 6th June 2023.
6CPER: TSXV News Release 26th April 2023.
Contact
Stephen Swatton
President, CEO & Director
Additional information about CopperCorp can be found on its website: www.coppercorpinc.com and at www.sedar.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain “forward-looking statements” under applicable Canadian securities legislation relating to the scope and timing of exploration at the Razorback property, plans for future exploration and drilling and the timing of same, the merits of the Company’s mineral projects and other plans of the Company. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words “encouraging”, “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “interpret”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “aims”, “suggests”, “often”, “target”, “future”, “likely”, “pending”, “potential”, “goal”, “objective”, “prospective”, “possibly”, “preliminary” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “can”, “could” or “should” occur, or other statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made, and that such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements include risks associated with exploration and drilling; the timing and content of upcoming work programs; geological interpretations based on drilling that may change with more detailed information; possible accidents; the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental approvals necessary to carry out the Company’s plans; the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans; the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company’s expectations; increases in costs; environmental compliance and changes in environmental and other local legislation and regulation; interest rate other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors and exchange rate fluctuations; changes in economic and political conditions; and other risks involved in the mineral exploration industry. The reader is urged to refer to the Company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators’ System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR+) at www.sedarplus.ca for a more complete discussion of risk factors and their potential effects.
Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions, including management’s assumptions about the following: the availability of financing for the Company’s exploration activities; operating and exploration costs; the Company’s ability to attract and retain skilled staff; timing of the receipt of necessary regulatory and governmental approvals; market competition; and general business and economic conditions. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.