Wolfden drills turn at High Lake

Wolfden Resources (YWO-V) has begun a $2-million summer program of drilling and airborne geophysics at its High Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide property in Nunavut’s Bathurst Inlet.

Hole 201, the first 40-metre downdip step-out hole to test for depth extension of mineralization at the B zone cut 37 metres grading 2.6% copper, 0.28 gram gold and 16.8 grams silver per tonne. That intersection is followed by a new mineralized footwall diorite zone from which assay results are pending.

The hole undercut a hole sunk in 2001 that returned 5.2% copper across 29.6 metres.

Ongoing drilling indicates that the B zone continues at depth.

At last count, the B zone’s resource stood at 3.2 million tonnes running 5% copper, 1.1% zinc, 2.3 grams gold and 18.2 grams silver. The zone remains open at depth and along strike to the south.

A second drill rig is testing for downdip and strike extensions on the property’s D zone.

Hole 202, the first 75-100-metre step-out hole on the D zone has extended mineralization at depth on the north end of the deposit cutting 28.3 metres running 2.4% copper, 6.6% zinc, 0.36 gram gold and 34.7 grams silver in the main massive sulphide lens. Below that, a 15-metre section from the footwall stringer zone yielded 2.3% copper, 2.1% zinc, 0.15 gram gold and 21.3 grams silver.

The hole undercut some older holes that returned up to 2.59% copper and 7.5% zinc over 18.3 metres.

The D zone is host to a drill-indicated resource of 1.6 million tonnes running 2.1% copper, 4.9% zinc, 0.6 gram gold and 59.1 grams silver.

Varying widths of massive and semi-massive sulphides have been cut in holes 203-205, 207 and 208. Hole 206 failed to cut the hanging wall diorite on the west side of the deposits.

Drilling this summer will also test other targets, including the G zone, where grab samples have returned copper values exceeding 6%.

The High Lake deposit is one of the highest-grade undeveloped polymetallic deposits in Canada with resources totalling 5.3 million tonnes of 4.05% copper, 2.4% zinc, 1.76 grams gold and 31.7 grams silver. Most of the resource is amenable to open-pit mining.

Earlier this year, Wolfden acquired a 6.8-sq.-km adjoining property covering the western extension of the Granite Lake magnetic anomaly, a possible kimberlite target.