Cascadia Samples 3.88% Copper with 30.00 g/t Gold at its Catch Property, Yukon; Drilling to Commence in August
VANCOUVER, BC, July 19, 2023 /CNW/ - Cascadia Minerals Ltd. ("Cascadia") (TSXV: CAM) is pleased to announce prospecting, Induced Polarization ("IP"), Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic ("ZTEM") and aeromagnetic survey results from a 2023 Phase 1 exploration program at the Catch Property ("Catch") in Yukon. With these encouraging results, a Phase 2 diamond drilling program at Catch is planned to commence in early August. Exploration is also underway at the Rosy Property in Yukon and will be initiated shortly at the PIL Property in British Columbia.
- Catch prospecting returned the highest copper and gold grades on the project to-date, including 3.88% copper with 30.00 g/t gold in outcrop located 180 m north of the 2022 Diorite Zone discovery (Figure 1);
- IP surveys at the Diorite Zone returned a 1,000 x 500 x 300 m chargeability high immediately below high-grade surface samples (Figure 4);
- Mineralized rock and soil samples in the Main Zone are coincident with a well-developed IP chargeability anomaly extending to more than 300 m in depth (Figure 4);
- Outcrop chip sampling at the Diorite Zone returned 12 m of 0.31% copper with 0.17 g/t gold (Figure 3);
- Chip sampling at a new discovery 500 m south of the Diorite Zone returned 6 m of 0.12% copper with 0.48 g/t gold (Figure 3);
- Prospecting between the Main and Diorite Zones identified a new hydrothermal breccia with results including 0.21% Cu with 4.82 g/t gold (Figure 1); and
- Preparation for a Phase 2 maiden diamond drill program at the Catch property is underway, with up to 2,500 m planned to test the drill ready Main and Diorite Zones starting in early August.
"We continue to be very impressed with our exploration success at the Catch project," stated Cascadia's president and CEO, Graham Downs. "Our team continues to make new prospecting discoveries across the recently expanded property, with much of it still awaiting systematic evaluation. With extensive mineralization at surface and co-incident IP response at depth, we've already defined two drill-ready targets and are eager to get the diamond drilling underway. This has all the hallmarks of a significant new district-scale grassroots copper-gold discovery."
In addition to Phase 2 work at Catch, Cascadia is conducting exploration work at its PIL Property in British Columbia, and the Rosy Property in Yukon (Figure 5). Crews have been on site at Rosy for two weeks following up on historical high-grade gold and silver epithermal veins. The planned work program includes prospecting, mapping and soil sampling in underexplored areas. Crews will mobilize to PIL in two weeks for prospecting, mapping and soil sampling to refine drill targeting for the 2024 field season.
Figure 1 – Catch Copper in Soil
Figure 2 – Catch Main Zone
Figure 3 – Catch Diorite Zone
Figure 4 – Catch IP Chargeability 300m Depth Slice
Figure 5 – Catch Property Location
Phase 1 exploration at Catch consisted of prospecting, mapping, and geophysical surveys. A total of 544 rock samples were collected, and 11.1 line-km of IP and 778 line-km of airborne ZTEM geophysical surveys were completed.
Follow up prospecting focused around the Diorite Zone that was discovered at the end of the 2022 field season, (see ATAC Resources Ltd. news release dated January 23, 2023). A 12 m hand trench was dug where a 2022 sample returned 1.45% copper with 0.20 g/t gold. The trench was chip sampled in 1 m intervals and returned an average grade of 0.31% copper with 0.17 g/t gold over 12 m. Mineralization in the trench remains open in both directions and additional copper-gold mineralization was found outside the trench across a 40 x 40 m area (Figure 3).
A new outcrop showing discovered 180 m north of the Diorite Zone hand trench returned numerous high-grade samples, up to 3.88% copper with 30.0 g/t gold (Figure 3). The average grade of 9 rock samples collected from the outcrop was 2.01% copper with 11.23 g/t gold.
Another zone of mineralization was discovered approximately halfway between the Main and Diorite zones (Figure 1), within a 5 km long copper-in-soil anomaly. Rock samples in this area returned results including 2.13% copper in subcrop and 0.21% copper with 4.82 g/t gold in outcrop.
The 2023 IP survey was focused around the Diorite Zone, with results integrated in 3D with 2022 IP conducted at the Main Zone. The 2023 survey returned a 1,000 x 500 x 300 m chargeability high immediately below the high-grade Diorite Zone surface samples (Figure 4). This area lies within a coincident 600 x 550 m magnetic low.
A Phase 2 exploration program including soil sampling and up to 2,500 m of diamond drilling at the Main and Diorite zones is scheduled to commence in early August. This will be the first ever diamond drilling conducted on the Catch Property.
In addition to work at the Catch Property, Cascadia will be conducting work at the PIL Property in British Columbia, and the Rosy Property in Yukon. Crews are scheduled to mobilize to the PIL Property in two weeks to begin a prospecting, mapping and soil sampling program. A key focus of this program will be to categorize alteration profiles at the known targets to help vector towards potential porphyries at depth. If results warrant, a deep IP survey will be conducted to assist in targeting for a potential 2024 drill program.
Crews mobilized to the Rosy Property on July 5th for a prospecting and mapping program focused on following up historical high-grade gold-silver epithermal veins. A soil sampling program will be initiated in August at Rosy to improve geochemical coverage of peripheral parts of the property and investigate an underexplored copper-in-soil anomaly. The Rosy work program is being supported by a Yukon Mineral Exploration Program grant from the Yukon Government.
The 71 km2 Catch Property is located in central Yukon, 56 km southeast of the town of Carmacks, in an underexplored part of the Stikine terrane – a key geological terrane which extends from the Golden Triangle in British Columbia into Yukon. It is immediately adjacent to the 1,000+ km long, deep seated, crustal scale strike-slip Teslin-Thibert fault. The Stikine Terrane is characterized by Late Triassic to early Jurassic volcanic-plutonic arc complexes that are well-endowed with copper-gold-molybdenum porphyries including the Red Chris, Schaft Creek, Kemess, KSM and Galore Creek deposits and mines.
Catch is mostly underlain by augite phyric basalt of the Semenof Formation, centered on a 7 x 3 km regional magnetic high. Mineralization is associated with propylitic to sericitic alteration of basalt and lesser diorite, intrusion breccias and hydrothermal breccias. Locally there is intense silicification, brecciation and up to 10% disseminated to blebby pyrite, chalcopyrite and trace bornite and pyrrhotite. Secondary copper minerals including malachite, azurite and tenorite are widespread at surface, and coat fracture surfaces, and are often associated with gypsum.
The geology, alteration and mineralization observed throughout Catch are all indicative of a nearby copper-gold ± molybdenum bearing porphyry system.
Catch is under option from a Yukon prospector, and Cascadia can earn up to a 100% interest. For more information, see the Catch Property Technical Report filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Cascadia Minerals Ltd. profile.
Analytical work for all samples was completed by ALS Canada Ltd., with sample preparation in Whitehorse, Yukon and geochemical analyses in North Vancouver, BC. Samples were fine crushed before a 250-gram split was pulverized to better than 85% passing 75 microns. Rock samples were analyzed for gold by the Au-AA24 procedure which involves fire assay preparation using a 50-gram charge with an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. Multi-element data for 48 elements was determined for all samples by the ME-MS61 procedure, which involves a four-acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma – atomic emission spectrometry ("ICP-AES") and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.
Overlimit values for gold were determined by the Au-GRA22 procedure which involves fire assay preparation using a 50-gram charge with a gravimetric finish. Overlimit values for copper were determined by the Cu-OG62 procedure which involves a four-acid digestion followed by ICP-AES analysis.
Results referenced in this release represent highlight results only and include samples collected by previous operators in 2022 and earlier years. Below detection values for gold and copper have been encountered in soil and rock samples in these target areas.
The technical information in this news release has been approved by Adam Coulter, M.Sc., P.Geo., VP Exploration for Cascadia and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
Cascadia is a Canadian junior mining company focused on exploring for copper and gold in Yukon and British Columbia. Cascadia's flagship Catch Property is a brand-new grassroots discovery which exhibits extensive high-grade copper and gold mineralization across a 5 km long trend, with rock samples returning peak values of 3.88% copper and 30.00 g/t gold. Diamond drilling is planned to commence at Catch in early August. In addition to Catch, Cascadia is conducting exploration work at its PIL Property in British Columbia and the Rosy Property in Yukon, as well as evaluating additional regional opportunities.
On behalf of Cascadia Minerals Ltd.
Graham Downs, President and CEO
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SOURCE Cascadia Minerals Ltd.
please contact: Andrew Carne, M.Eng., P.Eng., VP Corporate Development, Cascadia Minerals Ltd., T: 604-688-0111 ext. 106, [email protected]
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