Vancouver Sherwood Copper (SWC-V) has arranged a $1.3-million private-placement financing to fund another round of drilling at the Minto copper-gold project in the Yukon Territory.
The company says the drill program slated to begin in late January will focus on confirming “potentially higher gold grades” in the balance of the deposit not tested during this year’s summer program. The financing was required to fund the unexpected round of drilling, and higher costs related to optimization studies for the feasibility study in progress.
Sherwood says its summer program revealed “excellent potential” for higher gold grades in the two-thirds of the deposit drilled to date. The goal now, states President Stephen Quinn, is to demonstrate the same potential for the remainder of the deposit, “so that the potentially higher grades can be included in the feasibility study for the entire deposit.” He adds that recovered, payable gold credits could potentially cover a significant portion of future operating costs.
The Minto project was partially developed in the late 1990s by a previous operator that spent about US$10 million before construction ceased because of low metal prices. Existing infrastructure includes mill foundations, grinding and ball mills, and a modern camp-site.
The next phase of drilling will consist of 12-15 holes within the existing resource boundaries. In the interim, drill results from this year’s program will be updated for new resource estimate expected to be released early next year. Once the January drill program is complete, the results will incorporated into the final feasibility study being prepared by an engineering firm.
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