First Narrows Resources (UNO-V) is set to advance its Chester copper-polymetallic deposit to the prefeasibility stage. Favourable copper recoveries and a recent reinterpretation of the controls on mineralization have led to the recommendation for a $5.7 million delineation drill program on the property.
The Chester deposit is located in the Bathurst mining camp near Miramichi, New Brunswick. This area hosts thirty separate volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits. First Narrows is focusing on developing the Chester deposit, and exploring the Golden Ridge and Middle River gold properties as well.
The Chester deposit comprises three zones, two of which are VMS lenses containing lead, zinc and copper known as the Central and East zones. The West zone, which is also now known as the Copper Feeder zone, contains copper-rich disseminated and stringer sulphide mineralization and is likely the feeder to the VMS lenses.
A recent technical summary report recommends that the Copper Feeder zone’s historical resource and extensions, and new discoveries, undergo a 34,000-metre drill program toward advancing the deposit to the prefeasibility stage.
Chester has an inferred mineral resource of 7.5 million tonnes averaging 1.5% copper and 1.5% copper-equivalent. The other minerals include silver, gold, bismuth, cobalt, indium, gallium, lead, and zinc.
New zones of copper-polymetallic mineralization were discovered through drilling earlier this year within 100 metres of the surface. The new zones occur beneath the Chester Copper Feeder and Central zones. The Feeder zone was also found to contain potentially economic levels of other metals (indium, gallium, silver, gold, zinc, bismuth, cobalt), in addition to copper.
A recovery of 95% of the copper through gravity separation has resulted from preliminary metallurgical testing of samples from the Copper Feeder zone. A process flow sheet for hydro-metallurgical and bio-metallurgical extraction of the copper and other metals is being developed and tested.
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