System Still Wide Open!
Core Assets Corp. (CSE:CC; FSE:5RJ; OTC.QB:CCOOF) has completed a total of eleven diamond drill holes with a total length of 3,602 m on its Silver Lime project in the Atlin Mining District in northwestern British Columbia during the 2024 season, successfully testing a 2.7-kilometer long mineralized north-south trend between the Pete’s North, Sulphide City and Pike Valley targets. The drilling has particularly expanded the extent of Mo-Cu-Ag porphyry and Fe-Zn-Cu massive and semi-massive sulfide skarn mineralization in and around the Sulphide City target (including the defined Whaleback Skarn, Grizzly and Gally targets).
The best drill hole (SLM24-061) on the Whale Back target yielded 11.78 m with 10.6% Zn, 0.36% Cu and 16 g/t Ag from surface. The newly acquired data from this season also provides important information about the mineralizing porphyry system at depth. Core Assets has also announced a new structural interpretation for the Silver Lime Project in the coming weeks.
Geological map in plan view showing the locations of diamond drill holes before 2024 and in 2024 in the Silver Lime project
Figure 1: Geological map in plan view showing the locations of diamond drill holes before 2024 and in 2024 in the Silver Lime project.
The skarn mineralization at Whaleback forms a 250 m long trend with high-grade Zn-Cu-Ag-Pb carbonate replacement mineralization exposed at the surface of the Gally target area, where near-surface drilling in 2023 identified 8 m with 13.9 g/t Ag, 3.5% Pb+Zn and 0.18% Cu from surface, including 1.3 m with 845 g/t Ag, 31.3% Pb+Zn and 1.10% Cu.
Drilling at Sulphide City in 2022 intersected the same mineralized carbonate horizon hosting the mineralization in the Whaleback Gally targets at a drill depth of 241 m in hole SLM22-013 (or 120 m true depth). This intersection yielded 0.53 m with 9.0% Zn within 2.31 m with 2.0% Zn and 644 ppm Cu, indicating that the high-grade Fe-Zn-(Cu) skarn mineralization extends from surface to a true depth of at least 120 m below the Whaleback skarn.
Nick Rodway, President and CEO of Core Assets, commented: “Our longest and highest-grade massive sulfide zinc intersections were obtained during the 2024 drilling season. We have also successfully exposed quartz-sericite-pyrite zones and potassium-altered porphyritic intrusions with Mo-Cu-Ag signatures at depth at Sulphide City. This impressive system is open for exploration at depth and in multiple directions and is predestined for further discoveries.”
Porphyry Potential at Depth: Core Assets Suspects a Steeply West-Dipping Structure
Drilling at Sulphide City in 2024 intersected widespread QSP-altered zones and potassium-altered porphyritic intrusions at depth in drill holes SLM24-063 and SLM24-064. These intrusions are associated with anomalous porphyry molybdenum-copper-silver mineralization and increasing porphyry fertility at depth. Oriented drill cores and detailed structural mapping data obtained in the 2023 and 2024 seasons indicate that the mineralizing porphyry system at Sulphide City dips to the west, intersecting steeply dipping, folded stratigraphies. This new data has increased confidence in exploring deeper porphyry copper mineralization in the Sulphide City target area and will help delineate high-grade massive sulfide trends occurring in additional receptive marble horizons throughout the project area.
The preliminary exploration drilling in the Pike Valley target area (discovered in 2023) was designed to test the extent and grade potential of the quartz-carbonate-Ag-Zn-Pb-Au veins exposed at surface down-dip. Drilling at Pete’s North was designed to test the mineralization potential of an ultra-high chargeability anomaly (120 mV/V) extending from surface to a depth of >400 m. In 2024, a series of layered sulfide veins and veinlets within zones of intense pyritization and silicification, as well as altered porphyritic dikes, were observed at surface above the high chargeability anomaly.
Conclusion: The geology of Core Assets’ Silver Lime Project is highly complex due to the many different mineralization events that have overlapped and overwritten each other throughout geological history. Ironically, the fact that the mineralization is so rich and almost ubiquitous makes orientation so difficult. The near-surface skarn at the Whaleback target (Sulphide City) is in itself a worthwhile target with very good polymetallic grades. However, the current exploratory drilling is not yet aimed at building tonnage, but serves to improve the structural understanding of the deposit. The grand prize that Core Assets is after remains the porphyry system at depth. The data obtained in 2024 provide important clues for the exploration of the suspected deeper porphyry copper mineralization in the Sulphide City target area. Much evidence suggests that the mineralizing porphyry system at Sulphide City dips to the west and intersects steeply dipping, folded stratigraphies. In the coming weeks, Core Assets will present a new structural interpretation for the Silver Lime Project along with the results of surface samples.
