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

Newcrest Mining Ltd. and Imperial Metals Corp. reported additional strong gold-copper intercepts from drilling at the East zone high-grade pod at the Red Chris Mine in northwestern British Columbia.

Hole RC634, drilled in the East zone, cut 394 meters averaging 1.6 grams per metric ton gold and 0.86% copper starting at 650 meters down the hole. This intercept includes 166 meters of exceptional gold and silver for a bulk tonnage porphyry system.

"Drilling results at Red Chris have returned 166 meters grading 3.0 g/t gold and 1.5% copper, which is significantly higher than we would expect to find in porphyry systems," said Newcrest Mining CEO Sandeep Biswas. "New Red Chris results also confirm the presence of multiple discrete high-grade pods of mineralization within the East Zone."

Newcrest, 70% owner and the operator of the Red Chris Mine, has already tapped impressive grades in this zone first identified by Imperial, 30% owner of Red Chris, in 2009.

Highlights from previously reported 2020 drilling at Red Chris include:

• 276 meters of 3.3 g/t gold and 1.7% copper from 684 meters in RC611, which includes 150 meters of 5.6 g/t gold and 2.5% copper from 688 meters.

• 514 meters of 0.81 g/t gold and 0.57% copper from 660 meters in RC616, including 104 meters of 2.7 g/t gold and 1.7% copper.

• 532 meters averaging 1.3 g/t gold and 0.82% copper from a depth of 534 meters in hole RC623, including 184 meters of 3.2 g/t gold and 1.8% copper.

Newcrest said two drill programs are active at Red Chris, with eight diamond drills turning on the property.

The East Zone resource definition program is designed to obtain geological, geotechnical, and metallurgical data to support future studies for underground block cave mining there.

Newcrest Mining Ltd.

A separate brownfields exploration program is searching for additional zones of higher-grade copper-gold mineralization within the Red Chris porphyry corridor. This includes the first ever drilling beneath the Main zone at Red Chris, now underway, and the completion of a property-wide airborne electro-magnetic and gravity survey flown over a porphyry corridor that spans Red Chris and the neighboring GJ-Donnelly property acquired by Newcrest earlier this year.

Since Newcrest acquired a 70% interest in Red Chris last year, more than 67,690 meters of drilling has been completed on the joint venture property. The JV is on track to begin an underground decline into the East zone by early 2021 and expects to announce an initial Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) resource for Red Chris in the first quarter of 2021.

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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