White Cliff Minerals Primed for Imminent Maiden Field Campaign at Nunavut Project

by Katie Gordon, Associate Editor - The Assay

White Cliff Minerals Limited (ASX: WCN) has provided an update on its activities as it prepares for an upcoming maiden field campaign at its Nunavut Copper-Gold-Silver Project in Northern Canada.

White Cliff managing director Troy Whittaker commented, “The Nunavut Cu-Au-Ag Project presents the company with a significant opportunity. Previous operators demonstrated the presence of high-grade copper veins, but there was no sufficient follow-up drill testing, providing us with the potential for considerable exploration upside. Despite inferred substantial strike extents across the project, only single samples were taken from limited occurrences. These occurrences give us a strong foundation to explore the district-scale potential.”

The Nunavut Cu-Au-Ag project represents a significant district-scale opportunity at the pre-discovery stage. The project is underpinned by the presence of both high-grade, volcanic-hosted copper-silver lodes and the potential for large-tonnage sedimentary-hosted copper deposits. The project area hosts all the necessary first-order controls for the formation of sedimentary-hosted copper deposits. Historic drilling, less than 2km east of the company’s mineral claims, has provided proof-of-concept results, including a 2015 drill hole that returned 28.97m of 0.57% Cu from the basal Rae Group sediments.

Historic work has identified several priority target locations, providing a clear starting point for the Company to commence field activities:

Located in the southern extents of the company’s mineral claims, “Don” is an outcropping lode system that has yielded the highest historical copper and silver assay results within the project area. Highlights include samples from the northernmost quartz-chalcocite-bornite vein, with values of 30.7% Cu, 194g/t Ag; 8.29% Cu, 23g/t Ag; and 7.84% Cu, 104g/t Ag over an 88m strike.

Situated in the southeast of the company’s landholding, “CU-TAR” features at least four copper-silver lodes within NE trending vertical structures cutting the stacked basaltic flows of the Coppermine River Group. Historic grab samples include 21.18% Cu, 9g/t Ag; and 35.54% Cu, 17g/t Ag. Continuous chip samples have returned 2.5m at 10.3% Cu and 5g/t Ag.

This location is characterized by prominent NE/SW structures and a drift-covered bench approximately 1000ft in length. Historic trench sampling results include 1.13m at 16.75% Cu and 1.22m at 4.69% Cu.

Additionally, a N/S trending zone of chalcocite-chalcopyrite-bornite-malachite mineralization, “HALO” historically returned 5m at 4.34% Cu and 5.4g/t Ag from surface composite rock chip sampling in 2014.

“We look forward to deploying our team to the field in the coming months to undertake the aerial geophysical MobileMT survey and ground reconnaissance works, including rock chip sampling from outcrops and channel saw sampling. We will provide further updates as the project progresses.” Added Troy.