Rockcliff hits near-surface copper and zinc at Freebeth in Manitoba

Phase one drilling at Rockcliff Metals’ (CSE: RCLF) Freebeth property in central Manitoba has returned high-grade copper and zinc mineralization including 5.28% copper equivalent over 2 metres and 4% copper-equivalent over 5 metres.

The drill program also pinpointed the historic Last Hurrah zone on the property, which is 3.5 km southeast of the past-producing Spruce Point copper-zinc mine, and within trucking distance of a processing and tailings facility that Rockcliff has leased 125 km away.

The Last Hurrah zone is associated with a 1.4 km long airborne geophysical anomaly, Rockcliff said in a press release, and drilling identified a zone of high-grade copper and zinc mineralization that remains open along strike and at depth.

The company completed its 100%-earn in on the project from Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) in 2016 for a total of $970,000 and Hudbay retains a 2% net smelter return royalty.

Hudbay also owns the Spruce Point copper-zinc mine, which in the 1980s produced 1.36 million tonnes grading 2.4% copper, 2.8% zinc, 2 grams gold per tonne and 25 grams silver per tonne, according to Ken Lapierre, Rockcliff’s vice president of exploration.

“It was not the nice hits that got me interested in Freebeth,” Lapierre told the Northern Miner in an email. “VMS deposits/mines love to form in clusters so the fact that the Spruce Point mine was in the neighborhood and the geology at Freebeth was similar to the geology at Spruce Point was a significant factor.”

“Also, the Freebeth property had numerous untested ‘priority 1’ targets that excited us and the fact that the Last Hurrah Zone was one of those ‘priority 1’ targets was a testament to the prolific nature of the property,” he continued. “Of course, having historical drill results with up to and over 4% copper-equivalent and widths of up to and over 4 metres didn’t hurt.”

An aerial view of the mining town of Snow Lake, Manitoba. Credit: Rockcliff Metals.

Assay results released on May 21 include 2 metres grading 4.02% copper, 1.02% zinc, 0.81 gram gold per tonne and 44.36 grams silver per tonne (5.28% copper-equivalent) starting from 297 metres in drill hole 20-005, including 2 metres of 5.52% copper, 1.04% zinc, 1.11 grams gold and 59.46 grams silver (7.11% copper equivalent).

Drill hole 20-009 returned 8 metres grading 1.79% copper, 1.92% zinc, 0.28 gram gold and 13.52 grams silver (2.79% copper equivalent), starting from a depth of 98 metres.

Rockcliff’s other projects include its high-grade, copper-rich Tower deposit, roughly 80 km to the south of Freebth, where in April it announced a new high-grade nickel-PGE discovery 600 metres to the south of Tower.

Tower currently has an indicated resource of 1.03 million tonnes grading 4.69% copper, 1.32% zinc, 0.85 gram gold and 23.7 grams silver. Inferred resources stand at 0.4 million tonnes grading 3.53% copper, 1.05% zinc, 0.57 gram gold and 18 grams silver.

Rockcliff also owns the Rail deposit in Manitoba, about 30 km from Freebeth. Rail has indicated resources of 1.17 million tonnes grading 3.52% copper-equivalent for a total of 90.7 million lb. contained copper-equivalent metal. Inferred resources add 728,000 tonnes grading 4.09% copper-equivalent, for a further 65.6 million lb. copper-equivalent.

The Rail deposit remains open along strike and at depth, and the company says there are several additional nearby copper targets that remain untested.

The company is working simultaneously on a PEA for both Tower and Rail and based on the findings will select which project should be advanced into production first.

“We’re more or less on track that when the PEA results come out in July, whichever property we select for the bankable feasibility study, we could make a construction decision within the first quarter of next year,” Alistair Ross, Rockcliff’s president and CEO, said in an interview.

“If we start with Tower, which is the likely candidate, that means a construction decision next year and we’d be in production in the first or second quarter of 2022 and then we’d have to have a second mine around the second quarter of 2026, just so that we keep the mill full,” Ross continued. “The broader term intent is keeping production flow for 20 years by bringing on three, four or five mines, and to get these kinds of hits at Freebeth early on in the program demonstrates or encourages us that the strategy or the ability to do four or five mines over 20 years will have a high degree of success.