Black Pine drilling extends zone

A drilling crew at the Black Pine project in east-central Idaho has delineated more than 16,000 ft. of mineralized strike length.

Property owner Formation Capital (VSE) has identified 13 zones along the mineralized strike, though only six of these have been drill-tested. Drill results from the Regina zone have returned copper-gold-silver-cobalt intersections in a strataform, exhalative, sulphide system. Significant values include a 9.2-ft. intersection in hole 17 grading 0.03% copper, 0.41 oz. gold and 0.25 oz. silver per ton, and 1.25% cobalt; a 2-ft. intersection in hole 20 grading 6.9% copper, 0.031 oz. gold, 1.51 oz. silver and 0.1% cobalt; and a 9-ft. interval grading 0.01% copper, 0.018 oz. gold, 0.07 oz. silver and 0.64% cobalt.

Wider intersections include 123 ft. grading 0.23% copper, 0.001 oz. gold, 0.05 oz. silver and 0.037% cobalt in hole 18 and a 146-ft. intersection grading 0.12% copper, 0.002 oz. gold, 0.03 oz. silver and 0.053% cobalt in hole 21.

Further drilling is planned on the Regina and other zones in early 1995. To date, work has concentrated on the potential for developing a heap-leach, copper-oxide operation. In the new year, the company expects to commission a preliminary feasibility study encompassing drilling data from the Swift, Jacob and Trench zones, where oxide mineralization has been intersected.