Canamin to drill Poplar property

A drilling program is expected to begin shortly on the Poplar property which was recently acquired by New Canamin Resources (VSE).

The company can acquire a 100% interest in the property, about 45 miles by road from Houston, B.C., by making staged payments totalling $2 million over the next three years.

Alan Savage, president of the company, said a crew is now on the Poplar property re-establishing Utah Mines’ old grid. Utah Mines spent about $2.5 million on the property prior to 1982, drilling 73 holes in a small area of a larger prospective area measuring about 1×2 miles.

Utah Mines’ preliminary estimates from the work put potential reserves at 290 million tons grading 0.37% copper equivalent including molybdenum, gold and silver credits.

Savage said the company is conducting some base-line environmental studies and plans to begin a 5,000-ft. drilling program on the property within two weeks. Five infill holes are planned for Utah’s reserve area and an additional five holes will be drilled immediately to the west to test a strong geochemical anomaly.

A further five holes will be drilled to test another large anomaly, about two miles to the east. Soil sampling in the area has returned values of 0.1-0.2% copper and although Utah Mines did some trenching on the anomaly, its results have been misplaced.