Photo by: Reuters
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A drilling programme had started at the Alaska Peninsula copper-gold project, in south-west Alaska, explorer Millrock Resources reported on Thursday.
The company was managing the programme, which was being funded by mining and metals company First Quantum Minerals (FQM), which had an option to earn up to an 80% interest in the project by funding exploration.
FQM had authorised a 2015 exploration budget of $2-million and a drilling programme consisting of about eight holes, totalling 2 400 m, had been planned.
The project covered 203 000 ha and drilling would be carried out on surface lands owned by two Alaska Native corporations, Far West and Chignik Lagoon Native, with which Millrock had concluded surface-access agreements.
Through the drilling programme, the Dry Creek and the Mallard Duck Bay prospects would be tested for porphyry-style copper-gold mineralisation.
Surface and airborne surveys conducted by Millrock and FQM in 2014 identified and characterised zoned rock alteration and metallic mineral distribution patterns typical of this deposit type.
Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) owned the subsurface mineral rights and surface rights at certain locations. As such, Millrock had secured an exploration agreement with an option to lease the mineral rights from BBNC.