Amex Exploration (AMX.V) continues to drill its flagship Perron project and as we already explained before, the project has several different zones of interest and the company’s most recent exploration update came from the QF zone where Amex drilled a few holes to follow up on the VMS-type mineralization it discovered in previous drill programs. Encountering VMS mineralization should not be a massive surprise as the QF zone is located on strike of the Normetal mine which produced in excess of 10 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.15% copper, 5.12% zinc, 0.55 g/t gold and almost 1.5 ounces of silver per tonne.
The company released the assay results from several holes drilled at the QF zone, and all holes have intersected the typical VMS style mineralization at depth. The table above contains the highlights of the holes and although the width of the intersected zones is relatively narrow, Amex mentions both the grade and width compares favorably to the Normetal mine which was operated for several decades, reaching a total depth of 2,400 meters below surface.
As the Amex drill data shows, the drill bit intersected the mineralization at roughly 700 meters down hole and knowing the Normetal mine was developed to a depth of 2,400 meters and knowing Amex is drilling in what appears to be the same mineralized horizon, odds are the VMS mineralization continues to run at depth.
According to Executive Chairman Jacques Trottier, the results confirm the copper-rich area of the QF zone is becoming more robust at the 600 meter level and shows a very good eastern lateral extension with copper values of over 2% over widths of 4-5 meters. Trottier is right. Even though the width is relatively narrow, the grade is good. If we would for instance look at the results of hole PEX-21-095 which encountered 1.95 meters of 1.2% copper, 1.33% zinc, 0.63 g/t gold and 57.07 g/t silver, the gross rock value is actually $228/t using $4 copper, $1.50 zinc, $1800 gold and $23 silver. The copper-equivalent grade used by the company is 2.59% but for those who prefer to look at things from a gold-equivalent perspective, using the commodity prices we used to calculate the gross rock value, the gold-equivalent grade would be around 3.95 g/t.
Amex Exploration is very active this year and assay results are being released on a continuous basis. And with every hole, the interpretation of the deposit ahead of a maiden resource estimate is improving.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Amex Exploration. Amex is a sponsor of the website. Please read our disclaimer.
