Constantine Metal Resources found larger deposits of copper and zinc than average along with a high grade precious metal discovery at its Palmer project near Haines.
The longest intersection of mineralization found was a 45-meter core sample drilled at the South Wall site. The sample consisted of 2.5 percent copper and 7.4 percent zinc compared to the project’s overall 1.41 percent copper and 5.25 percent zinc resource average.
The precious metals were found at the Nunatak prospect, 3 kilometers south of the South Wall area near a glacier on Bureau of Land Management land.
The average grade for sliver in the project area is 31.7 grams per ton. The latest discovery yielded a sample of 10 times that much, around 9.1 ounces per ton, and comparable to the inferred sliver grade found at the Green’s Creek mine, one of the largest silver mines in the world.
“We know we don’t have enough yet to mine,” Constantine’s vice president of community affairs Liz Cornejo said. “We still need to keep exploring and finding more but it was nice that the very first drill hole off the property was really rich.”
The mining exploration company has plans to drill through August as it attempts to better define the system’s mineral deposit.