NorthWest Copper reports ‘game-changing’ drill result from Kwanika deposit

NorthWest Copper (TSXV: NWST) has hit the highest-grade copper-gold interval ever intersected at Kwanika, one of the two deposits at the company’s advanced-stage copper-gold exploration project in British Columbia.

The high-grade interval consists of massive to semi-massive copper and gold mineralization at a moderate depth in the western half of the deposit. It expands the high-grade portion of the deposit, introducing a new style of mineralization. The relationship of this new style of mineralization to the rest of the mineralization is not yet clear, but it adds another style of high-grade to the suite of exploration targets at Kwanika and NorthWest Copper’s adjacent Stardust project, the company says.

The drill hole drill returned 235.45 metres grading 2% copper, 1.21 grams gold per tonne and 5.3 grams silver per tonne (2.92% copper equivalent). This intercept included a mineralized interval of 153.25 metres of 2.84% copper, 1.69 grams gold per tonne and 7.5 grams silver per tonne (4.13% copper equivalent), and 9.4 metres of 29.85% copper, 4.34 grams gold per tonne and 70.5 grams silver per tonne (33.6% copper equivalent).

“This drill hole is a game changer for our Kwanika deposit and for the region. The very high grade within a larger porphyry system is very unusual and establishes a brand new and incredibly exciting target type,” NorthWest’s president and CEO Peter Bell stated in a news release.

“We drilled one of the highest-grade drill holes reported globally in 2018, when DDH18-SD-421 intersected 100 metres of 5.3% copper-equivalent, at our adjacent Stardust deposit,” he said. “This new Kwanika drill hole is even higher-grade than drill hole 421 and occurs just 7 km away. The presence of such extraordinary grades in multiple deposits is both surprising and rare, and opens up multiple, very high-grade exploration targets over a substantial area.” 

Kwanika is located within the Quesnel Terrane, which hosts numerous porphyry copper-gold deposits such as Mount Milligan, New Afton and Highland Valley. The deposit is easily accessible by road from the of Fort St. James.

NorthWest’s goals at Kwanika this year include expanding the high-grade zone and improving the grade within it by drilling angled holes across mineralized structural zones with closer-spaced drilling. Results to date have both expanded and improved the continuity and grade, according to Bell.

NorthWest has focused on the high-grade portion of Kwanika and adjacent high-grade Stardust deposit since the company was created in March. Previous assay results from Kwanika followed the releases of favourable Stardust metallurgy in April 2021 and an expanded high-grade Stardust resource in May 2021.

The latest near-surface results, plus another set of deeper holes still to be released, are expected to support an updated Kwanika resource planned for the fourth quarter.