Canterra expands Lundberg target at Buchans copper-zinc project

Drilling at Canterra Minerals’ (TSXV: CTM; US-OTC: CTMCF) past-producing Buchans polymetallic project in Newfoundland showed copper-rich continuity across the Lundberg target and confirmed a high-grade sulphide lens at the Two Level target.

Highlight hole H-26-3561 cut 57 metres in the Lundberg deposit grading 0.25% copper, 0.81% zinc, 0.39% lead, 2.74 grams silver per tonne and 0.02 gram gold from 24.8 metres depth, Canterra reported Wednesday. That intercept included 11 metres at 0.87% copper, 1.18% zinc, 0.43% lead, 5.49 grams silver and 0.02 gram gold. Buchans is about 330 km west of St. John’s.

“Lundberg remains open for expansion and grade enhancement, and Canterra continues to grow and upgrade the near-surface opportunity, which is expected to anchor the district,” Atrium Research analyst Riley Venton said in a note on Wednesday.

‘Higher-confidence’ tonnes

Another assay highlight, from hole H-26-3560, returned 51 metres grading 0.07% copper, 0.23% zinc, 0.07% lead, 1.35 grams silver and 0.02 gram gold from 25 metres depth. Hole H-26-3559 cut 44.5 metres at 0.12% copper, 0.62% zinc, 0.2% lead, 1.22 grams silver and 0.01 gram gold from 26.5 metres depth. 

“Lundberg remains a large, near-surface mineralized footprint with multiple opportunities to add higher-confidence tonnes and define higher-grade copper-rich zones,” Canterra CEO Chris Pennimpede said in a release. 

“With Phase 2 drilling about to begin, our focus now shifts to near-surface extensions of the Lundberg stockwork resource and additional priority targets across our critical minerals portfolio.”

Prolific VMS district

The results highlight the exploration potential of Buchans, one of Canada’s most prolific volcanogenic massive sulphide camps where Asarco mined about 16.1 million tonnes of ore grading 14.5% zinc, 7.6% lead, 1.3% copper, 126 grams silver and 1.37 grams gold from 1935 until 1981.

Buchans also sits 50 north of Equinox Gold’s (TSX, NYSE-A: EQX) producing Valentine mine and about 35 km southeast of Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) past-producing Duck Pond polymetallic mine.

Those holes confirm “the lateral extent of the Lundberg mineralized system” and support the view that the target remains open for resource expansion and grade optimization, Canterra said.

The Two Level discovery intercept, though only 1.65 metres wide, graded 0.63% copper, 6.11% zinc, 3.43% lead, 92.3 grams silver and 0.69 grams gold from 165.7 metres depth. It confirmed the occurrence of a high-grade semi-massive sulphide lens at the target, Canterra said.

717M lb copper

Buchans hosts 16.7 million indicated tonnes grading 1.5% zinc, 0.4% copper, 0.6% lead, 5.7 grams silver and 0.07 gram gold for 615 million lb. contained copper, 1.05 billion lb. zinc, 411 million lb. lead, 6.3 million oz. silver and 184,000 oz. gold, according to a 2024 resource.

Inferred resources total 380,000 tonnes at 2% zinc, 0.4% copper, 1% lead, 22.4 grams silver and 0.31 gram gold for 102 million lb. copper, 191 million lb. zinc, 77 million lb. lead, 1.1 million oz. silver and 34,000 oz. gold.

Canterra shares fell more than 9% to 15¢ apiece at mid-day Wednesday in Toronto, valuing the company at $56.9 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 7¢ to 24¢.