Copper Ridge tackles Far North exploration

After a significant injection of new corporate blood, Copper Ridge Explorations (KRX-V) is looking to fashion itself into a go-to play for base-metal exploration in North America’s northwestern corner.

The company’s new look emerged from a shake-up that began in the spring of 2009 when it sold four of its gold properties to Golden Predator (GPD-T) in exchange for stock.

Along with the deal came the expertise of Golden Predator’s chairman and chief executive Bill Sheriff, who, while retaining his duties at Golden Predator, now also serves as chairman of Copper Ridge. Sheriff is perhaps most noted for cofounding Energy Metals which was sold to Uranium One (UUU-T) for $1.8 billion in 2007. Joining Sheriff on Copper Ridge’s board was John Legg, president of Golden Predator.

But the inflow of Golden Predator talent into Copper Ridge wasn’t done there. In January, Michael O’Brien agreed to take on the title of chief financial officer at Copper Ridge, alongside his same title at Golden Predator.

The impact of the new board members was felt immediately as the company raised $3 million in an equity financing and then consolidated its shares on a 15-to-1 basis, shrinking its outstanding shares to 12 million.

Now much leaner, and with the Golden “Predator” additions, perhaps a tad meaner, Copper Ridge is putting the bulk of its energy into two projects: Duke Island and Clear Lake.

Duke Island is a copper-nickel-platinum- palladium project in southeast Alaska.

The company thinks there is a potential to define massive sulphide lenses along a basal contact in an ovoid style of mineralization.

Previous drilling by Quaterra Resources (QTA-V, QMM-X) hit 90 metres grading 0.127% copper and 57 metres grading 0.165% copper. Both of those holes also had anomalous platinum, palladium and nickel values.

But Copper Ridge believes it can do better.

It argues that new geophysical data show the two Quaterra holes did not test the highest priority target, which it says occurs along the base of the intrusion. It plans to correct that with a drill program that gets underway in June.

Copper Ridge acquired an interest in the project from Quaterra in September 2009. The deal lets Copper Ridge earn up to a 65% stake in the project.

The company’s other priority project is Clear Lake, which sits in central Yukon, roughly 225 km north of Whitehorse.

The deposit currently has an inferred resource of 7.8 million tonnes grading 7.6% zinc, 1.08% lead and 22 grams silver per tonne. That estimate was released in January 2010 and was based on historical drill results.

But Copper Ridge is aiming to improve on those numbers. The company has a two-staged drill program planned for the 2010 field season that it says will drill a total of 2,500 metres at a cost of $1.9 million.

The first stage will use 1,500 of those metres to test for extensions of the existing deposit to depth and along strike to the southwest.

The second stage will drill three geophysical targets along strike.

To fund its plans, the company will draw from the roughly $2.5 million it currently has in its coffers.

The company’s shares have traded in a tight range between 21¢ and 30¢ over the last three months — failing to partake in some of its copper-exploring peers’ recent market successes.

Sheriff, for his part, has signaled his belief in the company’s future success. The INK Insider’s report shows he acquired close to 200,000 shares of the company between January and late April of this year at prices ranging from 23¢ to 30¢.