Copper Reef Mining Corp. announced Wednesday it has secured a work permit and a government grant for planned drilling at a promising mineral target near Flin Flon.
The grant, courtesy of Manitoba’s Mineral Exploration Assistance Program (MEAP), will cover up to 40 per cent, or a maximum of about $159,000, for drilling at the Albert’s Lake target, said president and CEO Stephen Masson.
“The plan is to be drilling in two weeks at the latest and to find out whether we have a deposit there, or some kind of mineralization there, and we won’t know till we drill,” said Masson, whose junior mineral exploration company is based in Flin Flon.
Speaking Wednesday, Masson said the ice on Albert’s Lake was not yet thick enough to accommodate a drill. Work was planned to add more water to thicken the ice and enable drilling.
Copper Reef plans to drill at least two holes on the target, which the company said is about 700 metres long near surface “within highly altered felsic volcanic rocks.”
The company’s modeling shows the target may be composed of two different lenses. The drilling will test both of them.
Copper Reef officials have previously spoken optimistically about the target. The company is further encouraged by the recent discovery of a new volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) zone at Callinex Mines’ Pine Bay Project, to the southwest of Albert’s Lake.
The Albert’s Lake target lies along the same trend as the Pine Bay Project, Masson said, and likely represents a separate mineralized system.
“The Albert’s target, if verified as a VMS by drilling, would represent a completely new discovery,” he said.
Masson said initial drilling at Albert’s Lake would likely take a week. If drilling uncovers promising results, he said the company could drill up to six more holes.
If drilling goes beyond winter, barges could be used on the lake, he said.
While Copper Reef lacks core samples from the target, company officials are buoyed by results from a helicopter-borne electromagnetic survey flown over the site in 2010.
Masson previously said that it’s unknown what type of metal or metals may make up the Albert’s Lake target.
