North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Western Copper and Gold Corp. June 4 said it plans to drill at least 43 holes this summer at its Casino copper-gold project in the Yukon.

Slated to get underway by mid-June, this drill program will test three targets identified last year – High Gold, Northern Porphyry and Canadian Creek.

Western's primary 2020 drill target is High Gold, a zone of higher grade gold mineralization with the potential to significantly bolster the economics of a mine at Casino. One particularly high-grade intercept in hole DH19-21 returned 55.1 g/t gold over 2.97 meters from a depth of 147.98 meters near the southern edge of the large porphyry copper-gold deposit at Casino. Additional intercepts from 2019 drilling in the High Gold zone include one meter of 4.78 g/t gold from a depth of 174 meters in hole DH19-10, and two meters averaging 3.55 g/t gold from a depth of 129 meters in DH19-13.

Western said the high-grade gold mineralization occurs in narrow near vertical structures estimated to be two to five meters wide that cut the older copper porphyry mineralization. The structures trend east and generally occur on the south side of the deposit over a distance of more than 2,000 meters.

The company plans to drill 19 holes at ten locations to confirm the controls, general continuity, and variability of gold grades across the breadth of the structure.

Northern Porphyry is associated with a satellite intrusive and breccia complex that represents a new deposit on the north side of the main Casino deposit. Western said Northern Porphyry appears to be at a higher erosional level porphyry system than the main Casino deposit, which suggests the potential for improving copper and gold grades at depth.

The explorer is currently considering 12 holes to test the dimensions of Northern Porphyry and a single deep hole to assess the potential for improving copper and gold grades at depth.

The balance of Western's 2020 drilling will test the Casino West Extension and Ana targets on Canadian Creek, a property immediately west of Casino acquired by the company last August.

Casino West is an 800- by 500-meter target immediately west of the Casino deposit. The four closest historical holes east of the target have leach capping or incipient leaching, weak enrichment and hypogene copper-gold-molybdenum mineralization typical of what is expected at the outer edges of a porphyry copper-gold- molybdenum deposit. Eight holes are proposed to test the area between the Casino deposit and the closest historical holes to the west.

An additional three holes will test for porphyry copper-gold mineralization at Ana. Past exploration shows an untested induced polartization (IP) geophysical and copper-in-soil anomaly surrounded by historical holes with moderate to strong propylitic to potassic alteration associated with low levels of copper, gold, and molybdenum.

Western Copper and Gold Corp.

In addition to Western's 2019 intercepts, historical drilling across the Casino deposit cut 1.85 meters of 73.6 g/t gold and 2.5 meters of 53.5 g/t in the High Gold zone.

"Following the success of our 2019 exploration program, and the acquisition of the Canadian Creek property adjacent to Casino, we are excited to begin drilling again," said Western Copper and Gold President and CEO Paul West-Sells. "Further delineation of the High Gold zone, the key component of the drilling campaign, has the potential to significantly change the project, and further delineation of the Northern Porphyry and Canadian Creek should further establish the district potential of this land package."

According to a 2013 feasibility study, the Casino deposit hosts 1.1 billion metric tons of proven and probable reserves containing 4.5 billion pounds of copper and 8.9 million ounces of gold.

In addition to the reserves, the Casino deposit hosts 5.4 billion pounds of copper and 9 million oz of gold in 1.7 billion metric tons of inferred resource.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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