OK2 Minerals (OK.V) has now started its long-awaited diamond drill program at the Golden Triangle based Pyramid project in an attempt to define a copper-gold porphyry system. Meanwhile, the company continues to work on its Kinskuch Lake claims where a new exploration theory is being developed. An overview.
The main focus remains on the Pyramid project
The diamond drill program at Pyramid (located at the northern end of the Golden Triangle) will consist of approximately 2,000 meters, drilled in four different holes. This diamond drill program has been designed to follow up on the recently completed RC drill program. This diamond drill program will obviously be completed before the winter sets in at the Golden Triangle.
The RC drill results which were released in August were disappointing from a grade perspective (only a few intercepts returned assay results of in excess of 0.10% copper) but were interesting from a geological point of view. Despite the low grades encountered in the RC drill program, the existence of a mineralized system has been confirmed and the diamond drill program will now drill deeper to figure out if there’s a deeper copper-gold porphyry system underneath the zones which were encountered in the RC drill program.
The diamond drill program will focus on the Central Zone and West Zone and the results from these zones will provide OK2 Minerals with an improved interpretation of the mineralization. The proof will be in the pudding and we’ll know more when the assay results will come out later this month.
Encouraging exploration results from Kinskuch Lake
At the southern tip of BC’s Golden Triangle, OK2 received the assay results from a surface sampling program at the Kinskuch Lake property where all three targets on the land package were subject to a sampling program. And the results? They are really interesting. In fact, the assay results could result in a completely different theoretical concept.
At the Big Bulk zone (what’s in a name?), the sampling program was successful in defining a 2.25 kilometer long trend with assay results averaging 0.57% copper and 0.35 g/t gold with valued of up to 1.79% copper and 2.84 g/t gold. The results of this summer’s exploration now has a dramatic impact on the technical model of the Big Bulk porphyry system. The company originally assumed it was an upright and lower tonnage system, but a new geological model developed together with the University of British Columbia and the BC Geological Survey now seems to indicate the porphyry system has been tilted (resulting in a 3.5 kilometer long surface expression).
If the system has indeed been tilted, the mineralized zones which are usually located at depth might now actually be (much) closer to the surface and this could explain the high copper and gold values encountered during the surface sampling program.
Meanwhile, OK2 Minerals is still waiting for Hecla Mining (HL) to share the results of the airborne ZTEM survey which was flown a few months ago. This helicopter-executed electromagnetic survey will try to detect deeply buried porphyry targets. However, the ZTEM survey was flown before the theory of a tilted structure gained credibility, so it will be really interesting to see what the results of the ZTEM analysis will show.
Once these results will have been received, OK2’s geologists will review the data and determine the high-priority drill targets based on both the airborne survey and the results of the sampling program.
Two recent flow-through financings put the company in a great position
Even though CEO Mike Devji has never been a huge fan of flow-through financings, OK2 Minerals did complete a first flow-through financing and is currently in the final phase of a second financing to top up its treasury to make sure its exploration activities can continue uninterrupted.
OK2 Minerals raised C$768,000 in a first flow-through financing by issuing 9.6M shares at C$0.08 per share. Immediately after closing that round, OK2 announced a second round of flow-through shares at a higher price of C$0.09 per share. The company aims to raise an additional C$252,000 by issuing 2.8 million shares. Should this financing be fully subscribed, OK2 Mineral’s share count will increase to approximately 86.2 million shares for a market capitalization of C$9.5M based on the current share price of C$0.11.
Conclusion
OK2 Minerals will raise a total of C$1M+ in flow-through funds that will have to be spent on the properties. We are looking forward to see the assay results from the diamond drill program at Pyramid and whilst we don’t expect OK2 to immediately make a discovery, the assay results will provide the company with more information which could then be used to design the 2018 exploration program.
The recent exploration results at the Kinskuch Lake program are very intriguing and it would really be a game changer if the theory of the ‘tilted’ mineralized structure could be confirmed. It’s still early days here but Kinskuch Lake definitely looks promising.
The author has a long position in OK2 Minerals. OK2 Minerals is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer
