Firetail Resources has signed a binding option to acquire up to 80% of the York Harbour copper-zinc-silver project
Project contains VMS geology and is near Firefly Metals’ Green Bay copper project
Company to raise up to $1.57m for purchase and exploration
Maiden drilling wrapped up at Firetail’s Picha copper project in Peru
Special Report: Firetail Resources has expanded its global footprint into North America after signing a binding farm-in agreement to acquire the York Harbour copper-zinc-silver project in Newfoundland, Canada.
Firetail Resources’ (ASX:FTL) new York Harbour project is a ‘Cyprus-type’ volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) copper exploration project across 47km2 of highly prospective geology.
It’s home to the historical, high-grade York Harbour copper mine that was discovered in 1897 and produced 100,000t of ore from underground, with grades of between 3-12% copper, 7% zinc and 1-3oz/t silver.
The western Newfoundland region also hosts a flurry of other mining projects, such as FireFly Metals’ (ASX:FFM) Green Bay copper project and Little Deer copper-gold complex, Calibre Mining’s (TSX:CXB) Valentine and Matador Mining’s (ASX:MZZ) gold projects.
The York Harbour geology and historical mines. Pic supplied: (FTL)
York Harbour’s high-grade copper
Recent exploration drilling has been limited to shallow drill holes around the historic workings of the York Harbour project area, yet have returned exceptional copper intercepts.
Extensive drill data of >40,000m of surface, underground and diamond drilling showed significant results:
29m at 5.25% copper, 9g/t silver from 147m (YH21-24 H Zone), including 3.24m at 9.54% copper, 3.5% zinc and 10g/t silver from 167.8m
24.3m at 2.77% copper 9.3% zinc and 18g/t silver from 93m
22.56m at 4.34% copper from 68.88m
24.54m at 2.14% copper and 12.78% zinc from 21.03m
FTL says the intercepts demonstrate the project’s copper prospectivity and warrant further investigation across several target areas.
As a brownfields copper project, the exploration potential to prove up a deposit is enticing.
There’s 11 identified and partially drill-tested VMS deposits at York Harbour: named A Zone through to K Zone, as well as several more reported VMS showings elsewhere on the property.
The target horizon strewn across the project tenure appears at, or near surface on both sides of a 1km wide syncline structure, resulting in ~16km of combined prospective strike length.
Exploration plans
A targeting model is being planned with the aim of being able to rapidly drill test the potential extensions to the drill-defined high-grade mineralisation.
An electromagnetic survey will also be conducted across the entire property to source out more prospective targets.
FTL exec chair Brett Grosvenor says the intention was to find strategic copper assets in world-class locations, which would be complementary to the company’s existing portfolio of battery metals projects.
“We see York Harbour ticking all of these boxes,” Grosvenor says.
“York Harbour presents an advanced brownfield opportunity in a proven district for copper mineralisation.
“The near-term potential to define a mineral resource and expand the footprint is clear from our due diligence, and our team is very excited to get on the ground and start the exploration program.”
Digging deeper in Peru
FTL has also increased its stake in the highly prospective Picha copper project in Peru up to 70% after reaching a Stage 1 farm-in performance milestone – the completion of a 5000m maiden diamond drill program.
Some results are still pending, however, assays that are in so far are showing significant copper grades of up to 2.81% at the Cumbre Coya prospect.
“We have achieved a significant milestone at the Picha copper project. 5000m of drilling has been safely executed without incident and the outcome of the drilling has met our expectations,” Grosvenor says.
“To have grades >2.8% copper over a 13m downhole interval indicates the potential of this asset.
“We will now focus on the interpretation of the data and geological modelling and determine the best way to unlock the potential at Picha.
“The next phase of the program will be to take the learnings from the maiden drill program and use this to help plan the next phase of exploration work.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Firetail Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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