Coast Copper releases assay results from Empire mine property

Coast Copper (TSX-V: COCO) has intersected high grade copper and gold at its Raven Bluff and Raven pit targets, 200 metres north of the past-producing Merry Widow open pit mine at the Empire mine project on Vancouver Island. 

The 15,764-hectare Empire mine project hosts three past-producing open pit mines — Merry Widow, Kingfisher pit 1 and 2— and two past-producing underground mines — Benson Lake and Merry Widow/Kingfisher underground — that yielded iron, copper, gold and silver. 

Highlights from two drillholes and one partial drillhole, included 16.28 metres grading 7.18 grams gold per tonne, 3.17% copper, 47.8 grams silver per tonne, 0.056% cobalt starting at 97.78 metres in drill hole MW21-015 at the Raven Bluff target; and 1.67 metres grading 6.20 grams per gold, 0.002% copper, 0.4 grams silver per tonne starting at 31 metres in hole MW21-017 at the Raven pit target.  

MW21-017 is the first ever drillhole to be drilled under the backfilled Raven pit. As a magnetite resource, the Raven deposit’s sulphide content made it uneconomic in the past, as such, the deposit was abandoned and later backfilled with waste rock from the Merry Widow pit, the company said.  

After passing through 30 metres of waste dump material, the drill immediately cored into semi-massive pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite. The company notes that deeper in the hole, it encountered other bands of massive magnetite of up to 8.6 metres. 

“These new discoveries confirms our belief that additional areas on the property are prime exploration targets for new copper and gold discoveries as previous operators either focused on the mining of magnetite or drilling in the Merry Widow pit,” Adam Travis, Coast Copper’s CEO, stated in a news release. 

According to Travis, the latest drill results prove that the “Empire mine property covers a large district scale potential with multiple target types that have seen little to no modern exploration.” 

The news follows the release in late January of drill results from 11 holes that were drilled in and around the historic Merry Widow magnetite mine. 

Highlights included 3.23 metres grading 18 grams gold per tonne, 1.55% copper, 28 grams silver per tonne, and 0.012% cobalt starting at 23.43 metres in hole MW21-007; and 4.86 metres grading 8.15 grams gold per tonne, 0.57% copper, 11.4 grams silver per tonne, 0.010% cobalt starting at 29.62 metres in drill hole MW21-004. 

The Merry Widow open pit has a historic or non-43-101 compliant measured and indicated resource of 960,000 tonnes grading 2.03 grams gold per tonne, 5.64 grams silver per tonne, 0.34% copper, 0.013% cobalt and 16.1%. 

Coast Copper entered into an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Empire mine property from Mirva Properties in September 2020. To earn a 100% stake, the company must make aggregate cash payments of $750,000, issue 3 million common shares to Mirva and complete work commitments totaling $2 million over a four-year period. 

Coast Copper’s shares closed at 13¢, up on the day by 3¢. Over the last year the junior explorer has traded in a range of 8.5¢ and 19.5¢.  The company has 55.2 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of $7.1 million.