September 20, 2021, Vancouver, British Columbia – Surge Copper Corp. (TSXV: SURG) (OTCQX: SRGXF) (Frankfurt: G6D2) (“Surge” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced at the main Berg deposit area, located within the approximately 350 square kilometre Berg Property in central British Columbia. Surge is earning into a 70% interest in the Berg Property from Centerra Gold Inc. (see December 16, 2020 press release).
Following the successful rehabilitation of the access trail and ongoing progress on camp reconstruction (see August 11, 2021 press release, and Figure 3), one drill rig has successfully been mobilized to site, and has begun drilling on a collar location in the southwestern quadrant of the deposit area (see Figures 1 and 2). As road and drill pad construction progresses, and dependent on weather conditions, the drill is expected to move to several locations in the northeastern quadrant of the deposit area, before returning to the southern and western areas of the deposit in closer proximity to camp.
The 2021 drill program at Berg is expected to comprise approximately 4,500 metres across up to 15 holes, with a budget of approximately C$1.3 million and will be continuously evaluated as operating and weather conditions evolve toward the end of the season. The objectives of the program include modernizing the drill hole database including orientation survey and full-suite geochemical assay data, improving the understanding of the structural controls on mineralization and supergene enrichment, and improving drill hole density in the high-grade domains of the deposit. High-grade potential within the deposit is illustrated for example by historical hole BRG11-219 which intersected 63 metres of 0.56% copper, 0.070% molybdenum, and 60.5 g/t silver, which included several narrow intervals of bonanza grade silver within a wider continuous zone averaging 5.6 g/t silver.
The historical drill hole database at Berg comprises a total of 53,754 metres over 215 holes. Drilling in most areas of the deposit remains wide spaced and mineralization is open to depth and outward from the central Berg stock. The deposit has been shown to have excellent vertical continuity with significant mineralization intersected greater than 550 metres below surface. A substantial portion of the historical drilling was not assayed for precious metals, namely silver, and in the current NI 43-101 resource (see March 17, 2021 press release) those intervals have been assigned a silver grade of zero. The deposit is notable among porphyry deposits located in British Columbia for having a well-developed supergene enrichment blanket superimposed on the hypogene mineralization, which is itself characterized by several generations of veining.
Leif Nilsson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are thrilled to have a drill turning at the Berg Project. Significant work has gone into preparing for this program, not least of which has been the efforts by the field crews to regain ground-based access to the deposit area. Due to the shorter seasonal window at Berg, and the work required to reactivate the camp, this first year’s program will be smaller than what we may plan for 2022, but it will set us up extremely well to refine our planning during the seasonal break. We look forward to new drill data coming out of what is one of the most exciting porphyry copper exploration projects in BC.”
Figure 1. Plan map of drill hole locations for 2021 Berg drill program.
Figure 2. Drill rig active at Berg for the first time in ten years.
Figure 3. Berg camp construction progress.
Ootsa Exploration Program Update
One core rig is currently drilling at the Ootsa Property which has seen over 24,000 metres of drilling in 63 holes since June 2021. Of that, 2,760 metres in four holes have been focused on testing new targets, 14,056 metres in 24 holes have been focused on resource related drilling at the Seel deposit area, and over 7,000 metres in 35 holes have been focused on the shallow Breccia Zone located to the north of the Seel deposits. Results from 10 holes have previously been reported, and results are pending for an additional 53 completed holes.
The Company is about to commence a surface exploration program focused on priority exploration targets across the Ootsa-Berg claim package. This work will be supported by final results from the ZTEM airborne geophysical survey completed this summer, which are expected in the near term. Soil sampling and mapping will initially be focused on the Bergette Target where historic drilling has intersected porphyry mineralization and a 400 metre wide copper in soil anomaly averaging 1,549 parts per million copper remains untested by drilling and open to expansion.
Qualified Person
Dr. Shane Ebert P.Geo., is the Qualified Person for the Ootsa and Berg projects as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
About Surge Copper Corp.
The Company owns a 100% interest in the Ootsa Property, an advanced stage exploration project containing the East Seel, West Seel and Ox porphyry deposits located adjacent to the open pit Huckleberry Copper Mine, owned by Imperial Metals. The Ootsa Property contains pit constrained NI 43-101 compliant resources of copper, gold, molybdenum, and silver in the Measured and Indicated categories.
The Company is also earning into a 70% interest in the Berg Property from Centerra Gold. Berg is a large, advanced stage exploration project located 28 km northwest of the Ootsa deposits. Berg contains pit constrained NI 43-101 compliant resources of copper, molybdenum, and silver in the Measured and Indicated categories. Combined, the adjacent Ootsa and Berg properties give Surge a dominant land position in the Ootsa-Huckleberry-Berg district and control over four advanced porphyry deposits.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
“Leif Nilsson”
Chief Executive Officer
For Further information, please contact:
Telephone: +1 604 416 2978
info@surgecopper.com
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This News Release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "will", "may", "should", "expects", "plans", or "anticipates" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward looking statements, including but not limited to the Company’s plans regarding the Berg Property and the Ootsa Property. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking-statements. Such uncertainties and risks may include, among others, actual results of the Company's exploration activities being different than those expected by management, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required government or other regulatory approvals, the ability to obtain adequate financing to conduct its planned exploration programs, inability to procure labour, equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, equipment breakdown, impacts of the current coronavirus pandemic, and bad weather. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect the Company's current judgment regarding the direction of its business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.