Canterra Minerals (CTM.V) has now released the first assay results from its maiden drill program on its fully owned Buchans project, located in Central Newfoundland’s mining district. The Buchans mine is recognized as the highest grade base metals mine in the world during its operational history, which spans over about half a century. Canterra’s technical team is convinced there’s more to be found at Buchans, and the assay results from the first few holes are proving them right.
Two specific holes are catching the eye with hole H-24-3531 encountering 60.25 meters of 2.25% CuEq, of which 0.74% is copper. The remainder of the copper-equivalent grade comes from the ZnPb (5.08%), silver (11.5 g/t) and gold (0.16 g/t). As the table below shows, the mineralization starts at surface and that’s perhaps the most impressive element of the hole. And within the 60 meter interval, there is a 26 meter width containing 3.17% CuEq starting at just 6 meters down hole.
A second hole, 3527, extended the known mineralization to approximately 240 metes below surface which is interesting as the historical resource estimate on the Lundberg deposit is cut off at a depth of approximately 180 meters in that specific area. Higher up in the hole, the drill bit intersected 121.45 meters of 0.90% CuEq, including 13.15 meters of 2.68% CuEq starting at less than 68 meters downhole.
The other holes drilled at the property are a mixed bad as for instance the 12 meters of 0.47% CuEq in hole 3381’s extension and 13 meters of 0.29% CuEq in hole 3529 are interesting but clearly not of the same magnitude as the assay results in holes 3531 and 3527.
The positive drill results lend more credibility to the historical resource estimate which contains almost 17 million tonnes of rock in an in-pit indicated resource calculation, which contains 156 million pounds of copper, 566 million pounds of zinc and 237 million pounds of lead. Considering the mineralization has now been extended to a level below the historical resource, Canterra’s technical team likely expects the resource to grow, both in terms of tonnage and perhaps in terms of grade as well. On top of that, the 2019 historical resource calculation was completed when metals prices were lower so at the current higher copper price, perhaps some tonnes that didn’t make the cutoff in 2019 may come into play in 2024.
Assays are pending for an additional two holes that targeted the are a of higher grade mineralization intersected in hole 3531, while also testing the central corridor of the Lundberg Mineralization where the company will drill-test the deposit
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Canterra Minerals. Canterra is a sponsor of the website. Please read the disclaimer.
