Nicola Mining Inc. announces the completion of its 2023 drilling exploration program at the New Craigmont Copper Project, a wholly owned venture located near Merritt, BC, and 33 km south of Teck Resources Ltd.'s Highland Valley Copper, Canada's largest open pit copper mine. The Company initiated the 2023 Program on June 6, 2023, drilling six diamond holes totaling 2,684 metres on Mineral Lease 237643, adjacent to the historic Craigmont Copper Mine. The 2023 Program aimed to explore the potential of a southeastern extension of the historic Craigmont skarn ore body and to investigate the potential of a porphyry copper system.
Drill holes NC23-001, NC23-002, NC23-003, NC23-004a were drilled southeast of the historic Craigmont Copper Mine to test the potential of continued skarn mineralization. NC23-001 intercepted two intervals of (weakly mineralized) exoskarn hosted in Nicola Group limey sedimentary rocks, namely from 67.25 m to 99.8 m and 172.43 m to 185.50 m. The skarn intervals are composed of banded actinolite, magnetite, epidote, brown garnet and veinlets of chalcopyrite. The holes NC23-002, NC23-003 and NC23-004a have discovered extensive alteration (epidote, chlorite and biotite) in Nicola Group sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks, while no exact skarn interval was found in the drill core.
This alteration is characteristic of porphyries and supports the possibility of a proximal porphyry system. Drill holes NC23-005 and NC23-006 were drilled northeast and north of the historic pit and targeted the Guichon Quartz Diorite. Extensive potassic alteration, propylitic alteration and veinlets of chalcopyrite +/- molybdenite were observed in the core, suggesting the presence of a porphyry copper system at New Craigmont.
The presence of these features along with discreet zones of significant copper Grade, all in proximity to the historic high-grade skarn, support the hypothesis that there is a porphyry centre (or several) on the property and that a copper porphyry system is the mineralization source for the historic Craigmont skarn. The Company continues to work diligently to compile a database of all, both historic and current, core logs and lab results. Once complete, Nicola will begin building a 3D geological interpretation using core logs, mapping data and geophysics.
This will greatly aid in target generation and allow the Company to refine working hypotheses, as well as integrate subsequent data. Induced polarization ("IP") surveys are being planned for spring of 2024 over two key areas of interest, which will help fill existing IP data gaps. Data will be utilized in conjunction with magnetic and resistivity data to augment interpretations of structure, lithology, alteration, and mineralization.
Previous IP results correlate well with high-grade copper intercepts at Embayment (Figure 10). Nicola anticipates using the results of the IP surveys, along with existing data to plan drill holes over one or both areas to be drilled later in the summer of 2024. Nicola's exploration team continues to collaborate closely with the University of British Columbia's ("UBC") Mineral Deposit Research Unit ("MDRU") on the MDRU's ongoing study of porphyry-style alteration and mineralization at the New Craigmont property.