August 9, 2018: Vancouver, British Columbia: Surge Copper Corp. (the “Company”) (SURG: TSX-V) is pleased to announce that assay results for hole S18-211 have been received and are presented below. Hole S18-211 is the first hole from the Company’s 2018 Ootsa drilling program. The Ootsa Property is an advanced stage copper-gold exploration project containing the East Seel, West Seel, and Ox porphyry deposits, and is located adjacent to the Huckleberry Copper Mine in British Columbia.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Hole S18-211 intersected 202 metres of continuous mineralization grading 0.50% copper equivalent (Cu Eq.) from the start of bedrock at 7.8 metres to the end of the hole at 209.8 metres.
- Included in this interval is a higher-grade section containing 0.77% Cu Eq. over 52 metres.
- The hole demonstrates the potential to increase mineralization at East Seel around the edges of the deposit.
Hole S18-211 was a 50 metre step out on the north side of the East Seel deposit and was drilled back toward the deposit at an azimuth of 135 degrees and a dip of -50 degrees and ended within the known deposit. The hole encountered mineralization at the start of bedrock at 7.8 metres depth and mineralization was continuous to the end of the hole at 209.8 metres depth. Assay results from the hole are summarized in the table below.
Summary of select drill intercepts – Hole S18-211
|
Drill Hole |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Width (m)* |
Cu % |
Au g/t |
Ag g/t |
Cu Eq.%** |
|
S18-211 |
7.8 |
209.8 |
202.0 |
0.26 |
0.31 |
1.32 |
0.50 |
|
including |
44.0 |
182.0 |
138.0 |
0.31 |
0.37 |
1.53 |
0.59 |
|
including |
124.0 |
176.0 |
52.0 |
0.42 |
0.47 |
1.73 |
0.77 |
*Width refers to drill hole intercepts, true widths have not been determined.
**Cu Eq. (copper equivalent) has been used to express the combined value of copper, molybdenum, gold and silver as a percentage of copper, and is provided for illustrative purposes only. No allowances have been made for recovery losses that may occur should mining eventually result. Calculations use metal prices of US $2.50/lb copper, $1200/oz gold, $15 silver, and $10/lb molybdenum using the formula Cu Eq.% = Cu% + (Au g/t x 0.701) + (Ag g/t x 0.0087) + (Mo% x 4.01).
Dr. Shane Ebert President of the Company stated, “hole S18-211 highlights the strong mineralization at East Seel and was successful in demonstrating the potential to expand near-surface mineralization along the edges of the deposit through additional definition drilling. Adding tonnage around the edges of East Seel would also improve the already low stripping ratio identified in the 2016 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). A program focused on deposit expansion and optimization will be conducted at a future date, for now the Company will focus the bulk of the 2018 exploration program on testing geophysical and geochemical exploration targets surrounding the East and West Seel deposits.”
Drill Program Update
An exploration and drilling program is currently underway at the Ootsa Property. A map showing the location of 2018 drill holes is available in the map gallery on our website or by clicking here.
Hole S18-211, released here, was the first hole of the program and assays were done on an expedited basis. The second hole of the program, S18-212, was located 500 metres northeast of the East Seel deposit and intersected a new zone of mineralization containing “breccia hosted” sulfides including pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Photographs of the mineralization in hole S18-212 are available in the photo gallery on our website at www.surgecopper.com or by clicking here. Holes S18-214 and 215 were step outs from hole 212 to better understand the “breccia hosted” mineralization. Hole S18-213 targeted a coincident magnetic-chargeability-resistivity geophysical anomaly located 650 metres east of the East Seel Deposit and the hole was abandoned in an altered fault zone at 120.7 metres depth due to difficult drilling conditions. Holes S18-216 and 217 both targeted a new area showing potential for porphyry style quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite mineralization located between the East Seel deposit and the historic Damascus high grade silver vein. The drill is currently set up on hole 217 but is shut down due to mechanical issues.
All holes with the exception of the bottom portion of S18-217 have been logged, sampled, and sent for assay with results for hole S18-212 expected within 3 weeks.
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. The property contains NI 43-101 compliant resources of 224 million tonnes in the Measured and Indicated categories with contained metals of 1.1 billion pounds of copper and 1 million ounces of gold as summarized in the table below.
On February 9, 2016, the Company announced a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Ootsa Property with potential for low capital cost, low risk and rapid pay back utilizing existing infrastructure in the district with a contract mining and toll milling scenario. The study recommends the Company continue to advance the Ootsa Project with extended and advanced technical studies with the intention of moving the project toward a production decision.
Ootsa Project Pit Constrained Mineral Resource Estimate at $8.50/t NSR Cut-off Value
|
Category |
Tonnes (‘000’s) |
CuEq % |
Cu % |
Au g/t |
Mo % |
Ag g/t |
CuEq M lbs |
Cu M lbs |
Au K oz |
Mo M lbs |
Ag K oz |
|
Measured |
187,148 |
0.38 |
0.23 |
0.15 |
0.021 |
2.8 |
1,568 |
934 |
916 |
85 |
17,089 |
|
Indicated |
37,041 |
0.35 |
0.21 |
0.12 |
0.023 |
2.8 |
286 |
175 |
146 |
19 |
3,368 |
|
M&I |
224,189 |
0.37 |
0.22 |
0.15 |
0.021 |
2.8 |
1,854 |
1,109 |
1,062 |
104 |
20,457 |
The current technical report supporting the resource statement and PEA is available on SEDAR or the Company’s website at www.surgecopper.com and has an effective date of January 2016. The resource estimate uses $8.50 per tonne NSR cut-off value. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and by definition do not demonstrate economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserves. A ‘Measured Mineral Resource’ is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics are so well established that they can be estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support production planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. An ‘Indicated Mineral Resource’ is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Copper Equivalent (CuEq) calculations are based on base case metal price (US$3/lb Cu, US$1260/oz Au, US$10.30/lb Mo, and US$17/oz Ag) and process recovery assumptions, and take into account smelter payable rates and refining costs. M&I = measured and indicated. The resource update and Preliminary Economic Assessment was completed by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Quality Control
All drill core is logged, photographed, and cut in half with a diamond saw. Half of the core is bagged and sent to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Kamloops British Columbia for analysis (which is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited), while the other half is archived and stored on site for verification and reference purposes. Gold is assayed using a 30g fire assay method and 37 additional elements are analyzed by Induced Coupled Plasma (ICP) utilizing a 4-acid digestion. Duplicate samples, blanks, and certified standards are included with every sample batch and then checked to ensure proper quality assurance and quality control.
Dr. Shane Ebert P.Geo., is the Qualified Person for the Ootsa project as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“Shane Ebert”
President and Chief Executive Officer
For Further information, please contact:
Telephone: 604-718-5454
Toll Free: 888-500-4587
info@surgecopper.com
Or
Don Mosher
Corporate Development
Telephone: 604-685-6465
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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. 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 or financing, inability to procure equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, equipment breakdown 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 suggests 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.