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

Trilogy Metals Inc. April 4 reported that the final set of assay results from the 2022 drilling at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects includes the best hole ever drilled at Arctic when it comes to the grade of the metals encountered times the length of the intercept.

"We are pleased to close out the reporting of our 2022 drilling campaign with additional high-grade results that reaffirm Arctic as one of the highest grade, open pitable copper deposits in the world," said Trilogy Metals President and CEO Tony Giardini. "We see Arctic and the wider Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects as excellent opportunities to advance environmentally responsible resource development and serve as key sources of minerals critical to the energy transition, infrastructure upgrades and national defense of the United States."

Arctic is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit slated to be developed into the first mine at Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects, or UKMP, a 448,217-acre package of state and Alaska Native lands being advanced by Ambler Metals LLC – an equally owned joint venture between Trilogy and Australia-based South32 Ltd.

A feasibility study updated earlier this year details plans for a mine at Arctic that is expected to produce 1.93 billion pounds of copper, 2.24 billion lb of zinc, 334.8 million lb of lead, 423,000 ounces of gold, and 36 million oz of silver over an initial 13 years of mining.

This operation is based on 46.7 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 2.11% copper, 2.9% zinc, 0.56% lead, 0.42 grams per metric tons gold, and 31.8 g/t silver.

A 10,738-meter drill program carried out at UKMP during 2022 included 8,376 meters at Arctic.

Highlights from previously released 2022 holes drilled at Arctic include:

• 9.63 meters averaging 3.58% copper, 5.89% zinc, 1.07% lead, 0.32 g/t gold, and 53.5 g/t silver in hole AR22-0192.

• 4.33 meters averaging 7.5% copper, 9.49% zinc, 1.58% lead, 3.38 g/t gold, and 126.3 g/t silver in hole AR22-0198.

• 7.76 meters averaging 4.52% copper, 6.42% zinc, 1.39% lead, 0.6 g/t gold, and 66.2 g/t silver in hole AR22-0202.

• 4.8 meters averaging 6.54% copper, 5.68% zinc, 0.69% lead, 0.79 g/t gold, and 44.4 g/t silver in hole AR22-0209.

• 7.28 meters averaging 8.56% copper, 9.59% zinc, 1.74% lead, 1.37 g/t gold, and 111 g/t silver in hole AR22-0212.

• 15.44 meters averaging 3.92% copper, 5.22% zinc, 0.97% lead, 1.35 g/t gold, and 49.4 g/t silver in hole AR22-0218.

• 16.09 meters averaging 3.34% copper, 3.37% zinc, 0.51% lead, 0.45 g/t gold, and 40.1 g/t silver in hole AR22-0236.

The latest batch of results includes a 42.77-meter intercept in hole AR22-0205 that averaged 3.09% copper, 6.21% zinc, 1.46% lead, 0.84 g/t gold, and 72.14 g/t silver. This is the highest-ever grade-thickness intersection out of the 237 holes drilled at Arctic so far.

Other highlights from the final batch of 2022 drill results include:

• 5.34 meters averaging 9.33% copper, 7.59% zinc, 0.59% lead, 0.21 g/t gold, and 59.76 g/t silver in hole AR22-0211.

• 6.15 meters averaging 3.97% copper, 5.79% zinc, 0.6% lead, 0.49 g/t gold, and 45.64 g/t silver in hole AR22-0214.

• 12.33 meters averaging 3.23% copper, 5.16% zinc, 1.33% lead, 0.73 g/t gold, and 49.75 g/t silver in hole AR22-0216.

• 45.03 meters averaging 2.36% copper, 2.78% zinc, 0.24% lead, 0.3 g/t gold, and 21.04 g/t silver in hole AR22-0221.

In addition to 42.8 meters of 7.04% copper-equivalent cut across zones 5 and 3, hole AR22-0205 cut 11.8 meters of 2.05% Cu-eq at the bottom of the proposed Arctic Mine pit.

• 19.45 meters averaging 8.71% copper, 9.54% zinc, 1.84% lead, 1.81 g/t gold, and 103.37 g/t silver in hole AR22-0230

• 10.95 meters averaging 6.53% copper, 10.55% zinc, 1.32% lead, 0.11 g/t gold, and 56.68 g/t silver in hole AR22-0234.

"The grades and thicknesses of the composites from these final infill drill results of 2022 compare well with those predicted by our resource model within the 2022 reserve pit design, especially Zones 3 and 5 which typically contain higher grades and most consistent thicknesses at Arctic," said Trilogy Metals Vice President of Exploration Richard Grosse. "The results are especially encouraging as these infill holes were designed to test areas of the deposit that were identified as having the potential for greater variance."