Toronto, October 3rd, 2023 – Canadian Copper Inc. (“Canadian Copper” or the “Company”) (CSE:CCI) is pleased to announce a new Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE” or “Mineral Resource”) for the Murray Brook Project (“Murray Brook”) located in New Brunswick, Canada.
“The pending 100% acquisition of an advanced, large, and high quality base metal deposit in a safe jurisdiction is rare. Murray Brook has several key attributes: the deposit’s topography is conducive to surface development, its sulphide Mineral Resource is more than 98% M&I, with an NSR of C$115/tonne[1] mineralized material. With an open pit Mineral Resource of more than 21 million tonnes and situated less than 10 km from a fully operational process plant, this deposit could be supplying the critical minerals Canada needs much faster than most domestic development projects.” Simon Quick, CEO of Canadian Copper.
Sulphide Mineral Resource Estimate Highlights
- Measured: 15.8 million tonnes (“Mt”) grading 2.60% Zn, 0.43% Cu, 0.92% Pb, 0.52 g/t Au, and 39.0 g/t Ag (1.42% CuEq or 8.65% ZnEq).
- Indicated: 5.3 million tonnes (“Mt”) grading of 2.14% Zn, 0.52% Cu, 0.85% Pb, 0.67 g/t Au, and 37.3 g/t Ag (1.41% CuEq or 8.58% ZnEq).
Next Steps for the Murray Brook Project
- The Company has designed a 12-hole, 3,000 metre drill program to determine the extent of a new copper and gold zone (MB19-01: 1.35% Cu, 19 gpt Ag, 0.18 gpt Au over 26 metres) defined by twelve of the 2017 to 2019 drill holes, which are an approximate 50-metre step-out to previous drilling,.
- Review process options to potentially recover 400,000 gold ounce Mineral Resource that exists within the oxide and sulphide MRE. Presently, a 0% recovery is attributed for gold.
- Initiate an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) to include several critical trade-off studies. For example, given the Murray Brook Deposit is high grade (1.42% CuEq or 8.65% ZnEq) and conducive to low capital cost toll processing within the Bathurst region (Figure A). A toll milling development scenario will improve permitting timelines and reduce project execution risk.
- Commence regional exploration across the 18 km Caribou Horizon corridor that remains highly prospective and has produced greater than 700 million pounds of zinc plus copper, lead, silver, and gold since the 1970s.
Mineral Resource Estimate Completed by P&E Consultants Inc.
This MRE for Murray Brook is based on data with an effective date of September 27, 2023.
- Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues.
- The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.
- The Mineral Resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
- The Mineral Resource Estimate was based on July 2023 approx. consensus economics forecast US$ metal prices of $4.00/lb Cu, $1.25/lb Zn, $0.95/lb Pb and $23/oz Ag at a $0.76 USD/CAD exchange rate.
- Process recoveries used were 80% Cu, 87% Zn, 75% Pb and 90% Ag. Au was not recoverable.
- Overburden, waste, and mineralized material mining costs per tonne mined were respectively $2.00, $2.25 and $2.50.
- Processing and G&A costs per tonne processed were respectively $20 and $3.
- Constraining pit shell slopes were 50 degrees.
Geologic Model
The Murray Brook sulphide mineralization is classified as a sedimentary rock-hosted volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) deposit. This type of deposit is characterized by massive to semi-massive iron sulphide minerals that contain variable amounts of base metals and precious metals and is well studied and documented. Genetically, these deposits are coeval with felsic volcanic centres, and are generally lens-like and stratabound, with a discordant hydrothermal “pipe” at the stratigraphic base of the sulphide accumulation.
Resource Estimate Methodology
The drilling database for the Murray Brook Project contains 12,900 samples, all of which were analyzed for copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver. A total of 10,200 assays from 187 drill holes have been utilized for the Mineral Resource Estimate. One hundred and fifty-nine drill holes were completed between 2011 to 2013.
Grade capping was investigated on the one metre composite values within the constraining domains to ensure that the possible influence of erratic high values did not bias the database. Based on the log-normal histogram performance, Pb was capped at 16%, Zn at 24% and Ag at 410 g/t, whereas no capping was applied for Cu and Au.
The Murray Brook Mineral Resource block model was constructed using GemcomTM modelling software. The block model is oriented with X-axis at 110° azimuth with 3m x 3m x 3m blocks. Inverse Distance Squared (1/d²) grade interpolation was utilized for the Cu, Pb and Zn grade interpolation, whereas Inverse Distance Cubed (1/d³) was used for the Au and Ag grade interpolation, both with the capped composites. The average block-model mineralized bulk density was calculated to be 4.24 tonnes per cubic metre.
The Mineral Resource classification was determined with Zn interpolation, due to Zn generating the highest proportionate NSR value in the block model. Based on the semi-variogram performance and density of the drilling data, the Measured Resource classification was justified for blocks interpolated by the first pass using at least seven composites from a minimum of four drill holes within a spacing of 25 m along strike, 40 m down dip and 15 m on the across dip direction. Indicated Mineral Resources were classified to the blocks interpolated with the second pass and Inferred Mineral Resources were classified for all remaining blocks.
Figure A: Murray Brook Deposit Map
Figure B: Pit-Constrained MRE, 3D View
Sensitivity Analysis
A sensitivity analysis is presented below to help conceptualize grade and tonnage estimates at various NSR cut-off value increments for the Murray Brook Deposit.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Drill core were sawn in half using a using a VanCon diamond saw for 2010-2013 drilling and a hydraulic core saw for all 2017 to 2019 drilling. All samples were weighed by a company technician, with certain samples weighed both in air and water to measure bulk density. One half of the drill core was placed in a standard plastic sample bag and the other half carefully returned to the core box for reference. Samples were picked up from the drill core facility by bonded courier and driven to TSL Laboratories in Saskatoon throughout the 2010 to 2013 drill programs. Samples taken during the 2017 to 2019 drill programs were picked up at the core facility by courier transported to the ALS Global facility in Sudbury for sample preparation, before being shipped to the ALS Global laboratory in Vancouver for geochemical assaying.
Samples at TSL were crushed to 70% passing -10 mesh (1.70 mm), from which a 1,000 gram portion is riffle split and pulverized to 95% passing -150 mesh (106 μm). Samples at ALS Global were crushed to 70% less than 2mm, from which a 250 gram portion was riffle split and pulverised to better than 85% passing 75 μm. Samples at TSL and ALS were assayed for Cu, Pb, Zn and Ag using a 4-acid total digestion with AAS finish (TSL) or Ultra Trace Aqua Regia followed by ICP-MS (ALS). Gold was determined by a standard lead collection fire assay procedure using a 30 gram aliquot with an AAS finish, with overlimit samples re-analyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish. Quality control procedures included the routine insertion of prepared certified reference materials and sourced blank material. QA/QC field duplicates have been routinely assayed.
Data Verification
The Authors validated the post 2010 assays in the database against independently acquired analysis certificates from the laboratories who conducted the assaying. Additionally, the Authors collected independent due diligence samples on the site visit and verified them against the database. The Authors are of the opinion that the data in the Murray Brook database is suitable for Mineral Resource estimation.
Technical Report
The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is October 3rd, 2023. A NI 43-101 Technical Report prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. will be filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca within 45 days of this news release and will be available at that time on the Canadian Copper website.
For readers to fully understand the information in this news release they should read the Technical Report in its entirety when it is available, including all qualifications, assumptions, exclusions and risks. The Technical Report is intended to be read as a whole and sections should not be read or relied on out of context.
Qualified Person
Mr. Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and independent Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Puritch is responsible for the Murray Brook MRE and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this news release.
About Canadian Copper Inc.
Canadian Copper is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with a copper and base metals portfolio of historical resources and grassroots projects. The Company is focused on the prolific Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) of New Brunswick, Canada. There are currently 85,322,540 shares issued and outstanding in the Company.
[1] US$ metal prices of $4.00/lb Cu, $1.25/lb Zn, $0.95/lb Pb and $23/oz Ag at a $0.76 USD/CAD exchange rate. Process recoveries used were 80% Cu, 87% Zn, 75% Pb, 90% Ag and Au 0%.
