American Bullion drilling at Red Chris property

A 22,000-metre drill program is under way at the Red Chris property in northern British Columbia.

American Bullion Minerals (VSE), which holds an 80% interest in the porphyry copper-gold project, reports that only about 35% of the exploration potential has been tested to date.

Last year’s drilling included 58 holes and amounted to 21,400 metres, bringing the total number of holes drilled to date to 129. Based on a cutoff grade of 0.4% copper, the indicated resource at Red Chris is now estimated at 100 million tonnes grading 0.58% copper and 0.46 grams gold per tonne.

Of the 70 holes planned, 40 will test the Red Chris deposit to define its limits, while the remainder will focus on the Yellow Chris zone.

A limited amount of shallow drilling in the 1970s returned copper mineralization from the Yellow Chris zone. Geophysical work by American Bullion outlined a 1-sq.-km induced-polarization anomaly over the area coincident with anomalous copper and gold values on surface. American Bullion reports that the Yellow Chris returned the highest geochemical response for gold ever seen on the property.

The company expects to start receiving assay results from the drilling in early June.

Teck (TSE) holds the remaining 20% interest in the Red Chris project and can increase this to 55% by funding a final feasibility study, as well as the capital cost of a mining operation.