Drilling expands Red Chris

Drilling continues to expand the resource potential of the Red Chris copper-gold project in northern British Columbia.

American Bullion Minerals (VSE) holds an 80% interest in the project and is further extending the 1995 drill program into November. A prefeasibility study is expected to be completed in February.

Teck (TSE) holds a 20% interest in Red Chris, 10% of which is carried. The company can increase its interest to 55% by funding the project through to production.

A resource is not yet fully defined, although 226 holes have been drilled to date. It is expected to be in the range of 300 million tonnes for the Red Chris and Yellow Chris deposits, containing more than 2.5 billion lb. copper and 3.6 million oz. gold.

American Bullion is confident it will meet its objective of defining a 220-million-tonne mining reserve grading 0.5% copper and 0.4 gram gold per tonne within the main Red Chris deposit. An additional 50-100 million tonnes is projected for the adjacent Yellow Chris zone.

Prior to the 1995 field program, an open-pit resource within the Red Chris deposit was estimated at 157 million tonnes grading 0.48% copper and 0.37 gram gold, based on a cutoff of 0.3% copper.

Recent drilling in the Red Chris area encountered mineralization beyond the contemplated open-pit limits. Hole 210, drilled in the western portion of the zone, returned 85.8 metres grading 0.71% copper and 0.69 gram gold, while hole 206 extended the reserves further at depth, intersecting 128 metres of 0.49% copper and 0.46 gram gold (including an interval grading 0.78% copper and 1.02 grams gold over 24.4 metres). Over the next month, drilling will be directed at infilling the western portion of Red Chris.

Situated adjacent to, and west of, the Red Chris deposit is the Yellow Chris area, where drilling is concentrating on two zones: the Far West in the northern portion and the Gully in the southern. To date, 19 holes have tested the Far West over a strike length of 700 metres, a width of up to 250 metres and a depth of 250 metres. The gold-to-copper ratio at Far West is the highest yet outlined at Red Chris.

Assays from recent drilling include: 173.7 metres of 0.24% copper and 0.5 gram gold for hole 201; 119.8 metres of 0.33% copper and 0.65 gram gold for hole 205; 175.9 metres of 0.14% copper and 0.51 gram gold for hole 208; and 78.3 metres of 0.42% copper and 0.36 gram gold (including 23.5 metres grading 0.73% copper and 0.59 gram gold) for hole 200.

Meanwhile, an average grade of 0.43% copper and 0.4 gram gold is inferred for the Gully zone from 11 holes drilled over a 450-metre strike length, a width of 200 metres and to a depth of 300 metres.