Durrant Pate/Contributor

C3 Metals Inc. has provided an update on its copper-gold exploration program in Jamaica.

The Canada-based company, which holds a domestic operations licence, says it is systematically evaluating a district-scale property, where 16 porphyry, 40 epithermal, and multiple volcanic redbed copper prospects have been identified over 30km of strike extent.

Nearer-surface targets 

C3 Metals President and CEO, Dan Symons spoke about the company’s near-surface targets in Jamaica saying, “we have many high-quality, near-surface targets across our district-scale package and a disciplined systematic exploration approach is required to maximize the probability of achieving our size/grade target criteria. Until market conditions for junior exploration companies improve or a strategic alternative is in place to finance a meaningful deep drilling program, we believe the best value-adding proposition in the near term is to focus our exploration efforts on nearer-surface targets. It is this disciplined approach that will give us the highest probability of meeting our business objectives.”

As the Bellas Gate project is an early-stage exploration project and there is insufficient metallurgical data to allow for estimation of recoveries, C3 Metals says, “porphyry copper-gold recoveries are estimated based on multiple comparable porphyry-style copper-gold deposits. The company continues to drill with two rigs at the Bellas Gate project.”

Two holes at the Geo Hill prospect have been completed and assays are pending (see Geo Hill prospect location in Figure 2). While the company awaits the assay results from these holes, drilling has commenced testing the northwest extension of the Camel Hill porphyry prospect (Figure 2) where drill hole CMH8400-002 reported 108.0m at 0.42% copper and 0.26 g/t gold (0.60% CuEq1) from only 6.0m downhole.

Drilling has also commenced at the Connors porphyry prospect (Figure 2) to test below drill hole CON9325-001, which intersected 309.0m at 0.44% copper and 0.33 g/t gold (0.67% CuEq1) 

Prospect ranking and evaluation 

C3 Metals is also advancing several other interpreted porphyry centres, extensive zones of volcanic redbed-style copper-silver mineralization, and high-grade copper and gold epithermal targets (Figure 2). This work will assist in prospect ranking and evaluation for systematic drill testing.

C3 Metals is focused on the discovery of at least one million tonnes of contained copper equivalent1 on its district-scale mineral concession package in Jamaica. Across the Bellas Gate and Arthurs Seat properties surface exploration has delineated approximately 18km of continuous copper in soil geochemistry assaying over 300ppm copper together with over 800 rock chip samples assaying above 0.50% copper (Figure 2). 

Numerous mineralization styles (porphyry, epithermal, volcanic redbed) are evident across numerous prospects. C3 Metals is systematically testing these prospects as quickly and efficiently as possible to determine the probability of an individual prospect meeting the one million tonnes of contained copper equivalent1 criteria. 

Examples of target size/grade criteria include:

• 200Mt at 0.5% CuEq1 (open pit target)
• 100Mt at 1.0% CuEq1 (open pit or underground target)
• 50Mt at 2.0% CuEq1 (open pit or underground target)

Confirmed multiple mineralisation styles 

The company has confirmed multiple mineralisation styles (porphyry, epithermal and volcanic redbed) with exploration targets that potentially meet the tonnage and grade criteria. Systematic exploration will confirm whether each individual prospect meets or fails to meet the defined criteria.

Exploration update

The company has been drilling with two rigs at its 100 per cent owned Bellas Gate project, primarily at the Provost porphyry prospect. Provost was selected for systematic drilling due to its 1,200m long by up to 1,000m wide copper in soil anomaly coincident with magnetic and IP chargeability geophysical anomalies and three historical drill holes that confirmed porphyry-style copper-gold mineralisation below surface.

C3 Metals has been systematically testing the near-surface strike extent and the grade potential at depth to understand the probabilities of Provost meeting its target size/grade criteria.

Recent intercepts from the Provost Porphyry Prospect at the Bellas Gate Project:

Deeper drill holes were planned to test the grade potential at depth as a follow-up to drill hole PVT0825-001, which intercepted 281m at 0.37% copper and 0.21 g/t gold (0.52% CuEq1), including 62m at 0.50% copper and 0.39 g/t gold (0.77% CuEq1

To date, a single deeper drill hole (PVT0825-003) has been completed at Provost. At approximately 550m downhole, PVT0825-003 encountered a fault zone of heavily silicified and mineralized broken rock making for inefficient drill productivity until the hole was terminated in mineralization at 780m downhole depth.

Trace bornite mineralisation was observed in hole PVT0825-003, and it is possible that a higher-grade bornite-rich core to the Provost porphyry prospect is present immediately below or east of this fault zone associated with a large magnetic geophysical anomaly.