Western Keltic expands Kutcho Creek

Vancouver — Drilling at Western Keltic Mines‘ (WKM-V) Kutcho Creek copper-zinc project in northern British Columbia has expanded the higher-grade resource.

The company has drilled 41 holes at the massive sulphide project and is expanding the deposit’s boundaries. The following are among the assays that have been received for the first 22 holes:

— Hole 1 — 2.6 metres (from 503.7 metres) grading 1.17% copper, 5.1% zinc and 11.4 grams silver per tonne, and, farther down-hole, 11.1 metres (from 510.7 metres) of 3.25% copper, 4.72% zinc, 112 grams silver and 1.7 grams gold, including 5.3 metres of 3.72% copper, 8.73% zinc, 129 grams silver and 2.3 grams gold.

— Hole 3 — 10.7 metres (from 64.6 metres) grading 2.8% copper, 2.6% zinc, 65 grams silver and 0.47 gram gold;

— Hole 5 — 8.3 metres (from 41 metres) of 5.34% copper, 5.94% zinc, 138.6 grams silver and 2.3 grams gold;

— Hole 12 — 17.9 metres (from 61.7 metres) of 2.52% copper, 2.33% zinc, 61 grams silver and 0.5 gram gold.

Keltic has been drilling large-diameter (HQ) core at the Kutcho zone to extract sufficient material for metallurgical testing. This year’s drilling at the main Kutcho massive sulphide deposit occurred over an area measuring 1,200 by 270 metres; in the process, a higher-grade core with an average thickness of 8.6 metres was delineated.

The deeper, Esso West area drilling resulted in extension of the deposit both updip and downdip, as well as toward the west.

The Kutcho Creek deposits were initially discovered by Sumac Mines, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining, and Esso Minerals Canada in the late-1970s. Subsequent exploration in the 1980s, including a prefeasibility study, outlined an indicated resource of 14.9 million tonnes grading 1.85% copper, 2.62% zinc, 31.6 grams silver and 0.37 gram gold in the main Kutcho deposit. The deeper Esso West deposit also has a historical resource of 1.5 million tonnes grading 3.37% copper, 5.71% zinc, 63.4 grams silver and 0.54 gram gold.

The prefeasibility study indicated a low internal rate of return of 11.1%, below the requirement for development at the time. With present commodity prices and infrastructure economics factored into the project, Keltic is working on expanding the higher-grade portions of the deposit and developing a plan for open-pit and underground development.

The Kutcho Creek project is 100 km east of Dease Lake.

The company has 21.9 million shares outstanding, and a market capitalization of about $5.7 million at the present trading level of 26 per share.