District Metals (DMX.V) has seen its share price slide to just 5 cents, but that doesn’t mean the company is in hibernation mode. District provided an update on its Bakar copper project in British Columbia and the Gruvberget polymetallic asset in Sweden.
At Bakar, the main issue is the delay in the permit approval. The company and its 80% joint venture partner Sherpa II Holdings (SHRP.V) were hoping to be drilling by now as it submitted an application for an 800 meter drill program in November 2021, more than a year ago. For some reason (the company mentions ‘unforeseen delays’) the permit is now only expected in the first quarter of next year which means there will be no drilling this year. The exploration budget for the remainder of this year has now been allocated towards completing additional airborne geophysical and geochemical surveys at Bakar. These programs will consist of a VTEM survey and a magnetic survey which should help the company to get a better understanding of the EC target as the new surveys will be conducted over an area that hasn’t been surveyed yet.
District Metals only owns a 20% stake in the property (and is the operator which means its cash contribution for the exploration projects is really just about 10%) and its main focus is still on the Swedish assets. While Tomtebo undeniably is the flagship project, the company has also completed some work on the Gruvberget project. Earlier this month, District released the results from a soil sampling program, focusing on four specific target zones on the Gruvberget project.
The results from this soil sampling program should help District Metals to prioritize the drill targets for 2023 as the data from the soil samples will now be compared with existing data from geochemical and geophysical exploration programs. Soil geochemistry is one of the most important methods available to the company due to the glacial till which makes the traditional bedrock mapping and sampling programs challenging.
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