Amarc Resources Ltd. (TSXV:AHR) has initiated drilling at its 100% owned Duke porphyry Cu-Au district in central British Columbia (BC).
This is the first phase of planned programmes to be funded under the recently announced Mineral Property Earn-in Agreement with Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boliden Group. Under the terms of that Agreement, Boliden may earn up to a 70% ownership interest, by investing in stages up to $90 million in the exploration and development of Amarc’s Duke District.
Core drilling, targeting the Duke Deposit, will continue until the Christmas break in 2022 and resume early in the 2023. In addition, surface programs testing some 12 prioritised deposit targets across the Duke District are also planned for 2023. Amarc is operator of the comprehensive drilling at the Duke Deposit and surface programmes.
“We are excited that the fully funded systematic exploration of the DUKE Deposit and DUKE District with Boliden has begun,” said Dr. Diane Nicolson, Amarc President and CEO.
“Our shareholders can expect a steady flow of results throughout 2023 from Duke and also our Joy Project being funded by Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc.”
The Duke District is located 80 km northeast of Smithers within the Babine Region, one of BC’s most prolific porphyry Cu-Au belts. It hosts the former Bell and Granisle Cu-Au mines operated by Noranda Mines, and the advanced stage the Morrison Cu-Au deposit. Significant infrastructure exists in the region servicing the former mines and the very active forestry and exploration industries.
Boliden has a two-staged option to earn up to a 70% interest in the Duke District. To earn an initial 60% interest Boliden must fund $30 million of exploration and development expenditures within four years, of which $5 million is a committed amount to be spent in 2022 and early 2023 combined with an expected further spend during 2023 of over $5 million. Amarc is operating the earn-in stage.
Central to Amarc’s extensive mineral tenure is the Duke Deposit discovery, located 30 km north of the former Bell Mine. Although explored historically, the extensive porphyry Cu system at the Duke discovery has not been delineated or drilled off. Many of the 21 historical shallow and closely-spaced core holes intersected and ended in significant Cu-Mo-Ag mineralization. These holes were restricted to a small portion of a robust, 3 km north-south by 1 km east-west Induced Polarization chargeability anomaly indicating a major, significant sulphide mineralized system.
Amarc completed initial drilling at the Duke Deposit in 2017 and 2018. Seven of the eight core holes drilled over an area measuring approximately 400 m north-south by 600 m east-west completed successfully intersected porphyry copper-style mineralization to a vertical depth of 360 m. This mineralization remains open to expansion.
Amarc has also completed a comprehensive compilation of government and historical data over the entire Duke District which provided a new interpretation of the geological, geochemical and geophysical characteristics of the Babine belt, identifying 12 previously unrecognized porphyry Cu deposit targets with exciting potential.
For further information please visit: https://amarcresources.com/
