A month after a brushfire temporarily shuttered Capstone Mining Corp.’s (TSX:CS) Minto copper mine, the company has located a new high grade copper-gold discovery and nicknamed it "Wildfire."
Capstone couldn’t be reached to explain the name choice, but in a release it said the discovery was the result of an extensive geophysical anomaly found near Minto during a survey.
Based on its proximity to Minto, the Vancouver-based company decided to drill a hole right away and was impressed with the results.
The hole revealed 2.41% copper and 0.81 grams of gold per tonne over a 10.8 metre interval at a depth of 87.5 metres to 98.3 metres.
“The discovery of yet another high-grade copper-gold zone reinforces the tremendous prospectivity of the Minto mine property,” said Capstone president Stephen Quin. “Geophysics suggests that the Wildfire discovery could have a significant aerial extent, is relatively shallow, and the grades from the first hold are very encouraging.”
Capstone said the anomaly measures more than 900 metres north-south by 250 metres east-west, but more drills have to be sunk into the ground before the company knows exactly what Wildfire holds.
Minto is 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse and is expected to produce 50 to 55 million pounds of copper this year.
Meanwhile, the company reported a preliminary economic assessment for its Kutcho project in northern B.C. earlier this week.
To learn more about the Kutcho update check out BIV’s July 13 daily edition.