Cascadia Minerals Ltd. Jan. 4 announced an update on the company's Catch property in Canada's Yukon as well as the final diamond drilling results from its 2023 exploration program, culminating in a brief end-of-year review and its plans moving forward into 2024.

Last year, Cascadia Minerals (formerly ATAC Resources Ltd.) cut a deal with Hecla Mining Company to sell several of its core properties in an effort to branch into the energy metal sector. With Hecla taking over the Rackla and Connaught properties and investing C$2 million into forming a company for ATAC's former copper-forward properties and management, Cascadia successfully split and has continued to explore many of its previously held properties, including the Catch (copper-gold), Rosy (gold-silver), and Idaho Creek (copper-gold) in the Yukon, as well as the PIL (copper-gold-silver-molybdenum) project in Northern British Columbia.

Optioning Catch at the onset of 2022, Cascadia quickly endeavored to crack open this underexplored greenfields property.

That same year, the company initiated its first exploration efforts, which consisted of prospecting, mapping, soil sampling, and geophysical surveys. This included collecting 50 rock samples and 359 soil samples, as well as completing 10.1 line-kilometers of induced polarization and 49.3 line-kilometers of ground magnetic surveys.

Highlights of the surface sampling returned grades averaging 1.36% copper and 0.13 grams per metric ton gold; 1.01% copper and 1.03 g/t gold; and 1.57% copper.

Toward the end of 2023, Cascadia announced the results from the first two holes of its maiden drill program. Highlights from this included 45.83 meters averaging 0.3% copper and 0.15 g/t gold from surface in hole CA-23-001; and 116.6 meters averaging 0.31% copper and 0.3 g/t gold from a depth of 356 meters in CA-23-002.

Considering these were the first collars into the earth at Catch, Cascadia started off with some impressive results.

"Our second hole returned over a hundred metres of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold, comparable to the resource grade of Newmont's operating Red Chris open-pit mine in BC's Golden Triangle (measured and indicated open-pit grade of 0.34% copper and 0.28 g/t gold)," said Cascadia Minerals President and CEO Graham Downs in November. "We have clearly tapped into a large porphyry system and eagerly await results from the remaining three holes that were drilled at the Main Zone, two kilometers to the north."

Entering the new year, Cascadia reported the results of the final three holes from its inaugural drill program of 2023.

A total of five holes were drilled for 2,461.83 meters during the 2023 program, with the first two drilled at the Diorite Zone (1,065.83 meters) and the remaining three targeting the Main Zone (1,396 meters).

All drill holes targeted broad-induced polarization chargeability anomalies at depth, underlying coincident high-grade surface mineralization. Highlights from the three holes drilled into the Main Zone include:

• 3.36 meters averaging 0.4% copper and 0.13 g/t gold from a depth of 205.64 meters in hole CA-23-003.

• Three meters averaging 0.01% copper and 2.66 g/t gold from 382 meters in CA-23-004.

The company reports that hole CA-23-005 returned no significant results.

"Following our successful 2023 exploration season we are eager to follow-up with an expanded program in 2024," said Downs. "We have already made a significant copper-gold discovery at the Diorite Zone (116.60 meters of 0.31% copper and 0.30 g/t gold) and continue to be confident in the potential of the Main Zone due to the abundance of mineralization, and high-level alteration signatures in drill core."

Given the strong evidence for an extensive mineralizing system, Cascadia staked an additional 227 claims in late fall, expanding the Catch property by 46 square kilometers (18 square miles) for a total of 117 square kilometers (45 square miles) or 11,700 hectares (28,911 acres).

Eager to begin 2024 exploration, Cascadia's preliminary plans have called for a minimum of 5,000 meters of drilling for the year, with the first priority to drill follow-up holes at the Diorite Zone.

Cascadia Minerals Ltd.

Click image to see larger Catch copper-in-soils map.

"Our team is excited to commence the 2024 Diorite Zone expansion drill program and to continue exploring numerous untested targets throughout the recently enlarged property," said Downs. "Cascadia is very well positioned to provide significant shareholder value with continued 2024 exploration success. As a brand-new company with a meaningful new discovery, we look forward to getting the Cascadia story out to a broader audience in 2024."