PALMER VOLCANOGENIC MASSIVE SULPHIDE PROJECT
COPPER-ZINC-GOLD-SILVER
“The South Wall Zone(s) is one of few, true new VMS discoveries made in recent years. Its significance is further enhanced by virtue of its location in a politically stable jurisdiction, excellent access, and proximity to a year round deep-sea port”
Key Features:
- Early stage discovery that includes multiple zones all open to expansion
- Excellent continuity of thick, up to 46 meter intersections (~35 m true width), of high-grade massive sulphide
- Within same Late Triassic volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) belt as the high-grade producing Greens Creek mine, and the giant 298 Mt Windy Craggy copper deposit – a world class environment
- Hallmarks of a major (+30 Mt) massive sulphide system
- Numerous base metal prospects that define more than nine miles of favorable mineral trends – large property (27 km2) with significant blue sky potential
- Located in Southeast Alaska in area of active resource development; logging and active placer mining within 2 km of property
- Excellent infrastructure with road access to edge of property and hydroelectric power generation in the region
- 40 miles by road from year round deep-sea port, offering ready access to Pacific Rim smelting markets
- High-grade polymetallic VMS deposits typically have attractive economics even during depressed commodity cycles, with Palmer having the potential to be an upper quartile deposit that can prosper in good times and bad.
- Steep geometry of South Wall massive sulphides coupled with the potential to access by short lateral drifts at lower elevations makes for attractive, lower cost mining should the project advance to production.
HISTORY OF SOUTH WALL DISCOVERY
In late 2007, Constantine intersected high-grade copper and zinc mineralization over a width of 14 meters at the RW zone (CMR07-07). The drill was then moved over 400 meters to the east, where discovery hole CMR07-09 intersected 24.2 meters of massive sulphide at what is now referred to as the South Wall zone.
In 2008, Constantine followed up on the initial South Wall discovery with hole CMR08-11, which intersected 36.3 meters of massive sulphide, followed by a second 20.4 meter massive sulphide zone, followed by a third 14.4 meter massive sulphide zone. The cumulative width of the three stratigraphically ‘stacked’ zones in this drill hole is 71.1 meters. Twelve holes (2 abandoned) for a total 4,395 meters were completed during 2008, yielding a total of seventeen mineralized intercepts. The exploration to date indicates a minimum lateral extent of South Wall mineralization of ~300 meters horizontally by ~300 meters vertically in three zones and all zones are open to expansion. Due to the continuous drilling success at the South Wall zone, and limited drill resources at the time, no holes followed up on the 2007 RW zone intersection –which is also open at depth and along strike.
The South Wall zones occur on the steep limb of a large anticlinal fold, whereas the CMR07-07 RW zone intercept is on the shallow dipping upright limb (see schematic fold diagram). The presence of massive sulphide on both sides of the fold indicates a sizeable massive sulphide system, with the zones on each limb offering excellent opportunity for further expansion.
PROPERTY INFORMATION
The Palmer Property is located in the Porcupine Mining area, 55 km, by road, northwest of the deep sea port of Haines, Southeast Alaska, at the northern terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway system. The Property consists of a contiguous block of land consisting of 340 federal unpatented lode mining claims, which cover an area of approximately 6765 acres (~2738 hectares or 27 square kilometres). Constantine has a 99 year lease and must make annual cash payments of US$42,500 to the property owners (50% Haines Mining-Exploration, Inc., and 50% Alyu Mining, Inc.). The owners retain a 2.5% NSR. There are no annual work commitments. To maintain the federal claims in good standing requires an annual cash payment of $125/claim or US$ 42,500 to the Bureau of Land Mangament (BLM).
PROPERTY HISTORY
Base-metal sulfides and barite were first discovered in the vicinity of the RW and South Wall Zones (Glacier Creek prospect area) in 1969 by local prospector Merrill Palmer. Palmer staked the discoveries and continued to prospect the area in subsequent years. In the early years following discovery, exploration focused on the economic potential of barite. Tests showed the baritic material to be suitable for production of drilling mud concentrates, although none of the prospects were developed. Many of the baritic units exposed in the area are highly oxidized and leached of sulphides, a feature of major exploration significance that was not fully appreciated until recently. It was drilling down dip of these surface showings beyond the influence of oxidation that led to Constantine’s RW and South Wall discovery intersections – 38 years after the original surface discovery.
In 1979, Anaconda Copper Company drilled the first three diamond drillholes on the Property, totaling 801 m, in the Glacier Creek Prospect area. All holes failed to intersect the main mineralized barite-base metal horizons, although one hole (GC-2) did intersect the narrow, distal expression of South Wall Zone III.
It was not until the exploration successes at Windy Craggy and Greens Creek were realized in the early 1980s that the base metal potential at Palmer was fully understood. In 1983, high-grade massive sulphide boulders up to 1.8 m (6 ft) in diameter and grading up to 33% Zn and 2.5% Cu were discovered at the toe of a small ice sheet near Mount Henry Clay. Twenty-six samples of various boulders collected by the U.S. Bureau of Mines returned an average grade of 19.3% Zn, 1.0% Cu, 0.4% Pb, 38.2 g/t Ag, 0.22 g/t Au, and 20.6% Ba, and their discovery led to four successive drill programs (Bear Creek Mining (Kennecott) 1984 and 1985; Granges Exploration Inc 1989; and Rubicon Minerals Corporation 1999, with a total of thirteen holes and 2958 m of core being drilled. None of the programs were successful in locating the source of the boulders, and the prospect remains an attractive exploration target.
In the mid to late 1980’s Newmont Exploration Ltd. pursued the precious metal potential at the Palmer Property, with particular attention being given to the Cap and Nunatak prospects (see Property Map Figure). At the Cap prospect, massive pyritic barite and baritic breccia was drilled in 1988 and 1998, with the best intercept of four holes being 134 g/t Ag over 23.2 m. At the Nunatak prospect, a 91 kg (200 lb) bulk sample divided into thirteen separate samples returned an arithmetic average grade of 11.84 oz/ton Ag and 0.092 oz/ton Au.
In the early 1990s, retreating ice exposed an outcrop of massive sulphide in the Glacier Creek prospect area that became known as the Little Jarvis occurrence (see Property Map Figure). Chip samples by Kennecott from the Little Jarvis occurrence yield up to 13.0% Zn, 7.0% Cu, 0.02 oz/ton Au, and 7.0 oz/ton Ag over 4.6 m (15 ft), although chip sampling at the same locality by Rubicon Minerals Corp. in 1998 yielded somewhat lower grades: 10.8 % Zn, 0. 27% Cu, 0.17 ppm (0.005 oz/ton) Au, and 44.2 ppm (1.29 oz/ton) Ag over 3.05 m (10 ft). The interpretation that the Little Jarvis occurrence was correlative with the Upper Main occurrence on the other side of the mountain to the southeast, led to Rubicon Minerals’ drill hole discovery of the RW zone in 1999. Rubicon intersected semi-massive to massive sulphide in four holes ranging from 2.2 m to 4.6 m in width and established down dip continuity of more than 200 m; however, due to deteriorating market conditions at the time Rubicon did not follow up on their initial discovery.
Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. was formed in 2006 with the purpose of exploring the Palmer property. The first of three holes drilled by Constantine in 2006 intersected 5.12 m grading 10.86% zinc and 44.4 g/t silver, and demonstrated the presence of massive sulphide 300 m east of Rubicon’s initial RW zone discovery holes. Following up on the success of the 2006 drill program, Constantine returned in 2007 and continued to intersect RW zone mineralization, highlighted by the 14 m intercept in hole CMR07-07 that grades 3.79% copper and 7.24% zinc. To date, semi-massive to massive sulphide (or its leached oxidized equivalent) of the RW zone has been intersected in ten holes, and the zone remains open in all directions to depth. An additional two holes have intersected significant footwall stringer mineralization.
The second to last drillhole of Constantine’s 2007 program intersected 24 meters of massive sulphide at what is now referred to as the South Wall zone. Drilling in 2008 focused on this new discovery, and included twelve holes (2 abandoned) that yielded a total of seventeen South Wall intersections. With relatively few holes, drilling in 2008 has outlined a framework of significant tonnage potential with all zones wide open to expansion. Future drilling will focus on expanding the envelope of mineralization, while also infilling and adding confidence to those areas already defined.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALIZATION
The Palmer project is located in the Alexander Terrane, within marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Devonian to Triassic age. These rocks correlate with host rocks of the giant Windy Craggy deposit, (297 million tonnes at 1.4% Cu, 0.07% Co, 0.2 g/t Au, and 3.8 g/t Ag), and the high-grade Greens Creek deposit (7.5 million tons grading 14.4 opt Ag, 0.12 opt Au, 10.24% Zn and 3.89% Pb, and a global resource of 24 million tons at slightly lower grades). The numerous showings and prospects on the Palmer property occur along two mineralized trends over a combined strike length of at least 9 miles. Repetition of the principal mineralized horizons by folding is interpreted to account for the distribution of at least 25 separate base metal and/or barite occurrences) across the property. Recent work has established the existence of more than one stratigraphically stacked mineralized horizon. Notable prospect areas include Glacier Creek (South Wall and RW zones), Mount Henry Clay, Cap, Nunatak, Hanging Glacier, the Gullies, Boundary and Red Creek. The showings/occurrences are associated with interpreted exhalative horizons in a thick sequence of basalt flows with interbeds of sediments, andesite flows and tuffs and fragmental and massive rhyolites. Extensive pyrite-sericite schists and siliceous rocks provide a common link to the showings suggesting the presence of a very large extensive mineralized system.
The Glacier Creek prospect has received the most attention. Mineralization at Glacier Creek occurs on both limbs of a large-scale south-overturned anticline that is cored by a south-directed reverse fault with modest offset. Two major stratiform horizons, the RW and Main horizons, have been identified on the shallowly to moderately dipping upright limb of the anticline. Highlight drill intersections of the RW horizon include 3.79% copper and 7.24% zinc over 14.0 meters in hole CMR07-07, and 10.86% zinc, 0.13% lead, 0.23% copper, 0.13 g/t gold and 44.4 g/t silver over 5.12 meters in hole CMR06-01. Three separate, stratigraphically stacked zones (South Wall zones I, II, and III) have been identified on the steeply dipping to overturned limb of the anticline. Highlight intersections include drill hole CMR08-14 that contains an interval of 15.2 meters of 5.1% copper, 1.79% zinc, 0.29 g/t gold and 20.5 g/t silver within a larger interval of 38.7 meters of 3.16% copper and 3.6% zinc. Both the RW and South Wall zones are open down dip and along strike.
At the Mount Henry Clay (MHC) prospect, abundant high-grade baritic massive and semi-massive sulfide boulders occur near the limits of a perched or stranded glacier. The average grade of a large number of the boulders is: 19.3% zinc, 1% copper, 0.4% lead, 38.2 g/t silver, 0.22 g/t gold, and 20.6% barium. Although the source of the boulders has not been determined, the area remains attractive for discovery. Silver-and barite-rich stratiform mineralization at the Cap prospect (134 g/t Ag over 23 m) remains virtually untested at depth and laterally, and other occurrences on the property have also yielded excellent precious-metal values (e.g., 11.84 oz/ton Ag and 0.092 oz/ton Au in a bulk sample of baritic semi-massive sulfide from Nunatak, and up to 198.9 g/t silver, 1.58 g/t gold, 14.1% zinc, 2.3% lead, and 0.36% copper from massive sulfide at the HG prospect). Lithologies are metamorphosd to greenschist grade.
For more information on the Palmer Project please view the 43-101 technical Report
