One long copper-gold intercept propels Intrepid

Intrepid Mines (IAU-T, IAU-A) hit upon its best intercept yet at its Tujuh Bukit sulphide copper-gold project in Indonesia and the market took notice.

Word of a long intercept got the company’s share price rolling as it reached a new 52-week high, climbing 22% or 21¢ to close at $1.15 in Toronto on Sept. 14 — the day the drill results were released — on an unusually high volume of 5.6 million shares traded.

The buzz was, no doubt, generated by an intercept running from the 266-metre level to the 855.5- metre level — a total of 589.5 metres with an average grade of 0.57 gram gold, 1 gram silver, 0.65% copper and 122 parts per million (ppm) of molybdenum.

“The results from this hole show that we have not yet defined the boundaries, both laterally and vertically, of the mineralization,” Brad Gordon, Intrepid’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This is the best result to date from the project and adds further excitement to this significant emerging project.”

The star hole was drilled on the northeastern edge of the main Tumpangpitu porphyry area below previously known oxide mineraliza- tion in what is known as Zone A.

The hole was also positioned 300 metres from a past hole that intersected 627 metres grading 0.45 gram gold, 0.44% copper and 80 ppm molybdenum.

Results from three more holes, the last of the current drill program, are yet to come in but results from the holes and the 10 others that comprised the recent drill program will go into a resource estimate due out by the end of September.

But lest investors get too exuberant over the results, it should be considered that Indonesian forestry laws restrict non-forestry activities and prohibit open-pit mining in protected forest areas.

The Zone A, Zone B and Zone C resources at the project all fall within a protected forest area.

Intrepid says its partner at the project, PTIMN, is working with Indonesian authorities towards a review of forest land status.

The company says there is some encouraging precedent with other reviews having led to the granting of reclassifications and PTIMN has received an extension of the Forestry Exploration permit that allows for mineral exploration within forestry areas.