VMS Ventures hits 10% copper

Vancouver – A 33-metre intercept grading more than 10% copper was enough to put the spotlight back on VMS Ventures (VMS-V).

VMS Ventures hit volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization at its Reed Lake project in Manitoba in mid-September, lifting its share price to $1.50 from 20. Its price has since settled considerably but news of a high-grade intercept at depth was enough to spark a 16% rally VMS Ventures moved 4.5 million shares to close up 10 at 71 in July 3^rd trading.

Hole 41 returned the highest grade intercept from the project to date: 10.36% copper over 33.46 metres, starting 332 metres downhole. The intercept also averaged 0.11% zinc, and assay results for silver and gold values are still pending. The mineralization in hole 41 is primarily chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite without any significant black chlorite. As such it is considered a zone of mobilized material and not the centre of the VMS mineralizing system.

It is also the deepest intersection to date, extending mineralization to 360 metres depth. Previously the mineralized zone had been traced to 180 metres depth. George Gale, vice president of exploration for VMS Ventures, thinks the high-grade zone may represent a copper-rich footwall zone that is stratigraphically below the solid sulphide lens.

Hole 39, drilled from the same collar as hole 41 but pointed to the northwest, returned 3.56% copper and 0.49% zinc over 13.9 metres from 190 metres downhole, extending the near-solid sulphide lens 45 metres to the west. Hole 38, also from the same collar but pointed northeast, cut 35.8 metres of 2.22% copper and 0.06% zinc. Another hole from the collar, hole 35, intercepted 19.8 metres grading 2.7% copper and 1.72% zinc.

Hole 36, drilled from a collar some 50 metres southeast, returned a lengthy intercept: 81 metres grading 3.54% copper and 0.26% zinc from 133 metres depth, including 36.6 metres of 5.64% copper and 0.13% zinc.

Hole 50, for which assay results are still pending, cored 15 metres of near-solid sulphide that extend the near-solid sulphide lens to the southwest.

Holes 25, 40, and 42 returned short copper-zinc mineralized intervals that represent areas of shearing that displaced mineralization. Three other holes intersected both altered footwall and hangingwall rocks but no significant intervals of sulphide. These results have helped the company understand the layout of the deposit.

Reed Lake consists of a property optioned from W. Bruce Dunlop, another under option from Hudson Bay Exploration and Development, a subsidiary of HudBay Minerals (HBM-T, HBMFF-O), and several claims staked by VMS Ventures.

Reed Lake VMS mineralization is contained in moderately to intensely altered felsic volcanic rocks, typical of other VMS deposits along the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Proterozoic belt. VMS Ventures has been picking up property in the Snow Lake area for the last few years and now holds 12 distinct land packages in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Belt.

In other VMS Ventures news, in June the company announced its intention to spin out the company’s nickel assets into a new company. VMS Ventures would be the largest shareholder of the new company, which would seek to list on the TSX Venture Exchange. The impetus for the spinoff is that VMS Ventures feels the company’s nickel assets are undervalued in the current structure.