TerraX rises on assay-less Newfoundland drilling update

TerraX Minerals (TXR-V) has released its second assay-less drilling update in less than a month from its Stewart gold-copper project in Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Shares of the company climbed 8¢, or 26%, on the news, closing at 38¢ on Sept. 14 on a record volume of 1.06 million shares.

TerraX has now completed its second drill hole at the Stewart property, collared 1.7 km northeast of the first hole but still “along the strike trend of the mapped alteration on surface.” It says the hole is targeting a large, buried Titan induced-polarization survey anomaly. 

Though assays have yet to come back from the lab, TerraX says the second hole intersected “porphyry-style alteration with significant sulphides” from a downhole depth of 172 metres to the end of the hole at 585 metres. The hole ended still within the zone of alteration and sulphides, reports TerraX.

The Vancouver-based company started a 2,500-metre drill program at Stewart in mid-August to test what it calls “Oyu Tolgoi porphyry-style gold-copper mineralization” found on the property. It says sampling, as well as induced polarization and airborne magnetic surveys, have identified a mineralized system target up to 1.4 km wide and 6 km long. 

In its update on Aug. 25, TerraX said the first hole “intersected an extensive porphyry-style alteration zone with significant sulphides over 433 metres.” The hole was testing a Titan 24 section line containing a 250-by-300-metre chargeability anomaly that intersects the surface.

The company reported at the time that it was encouraged by the presence of “strong alteration to a vertical depth of 307 metres in this location and by the apparent close correspondence between sulphide distribution and the Titan chargeability anomaly. This suggests that TerraX’s interpretation of a major porphyry system on the Stewart property is correct.”

In both press releases, the company cautions that the presence of strong alteration and extensive pyrite development “need not be indicative of significant quantities of gold or other metals and that, prior to receipt of assay results, no conclusions can be drawn as to the nature or extent of any metal content.”

As for the comparison with Ivanhoe Mines’ (IVN-T, IVN-N) large Oyu Tolgoi deposit in Mongolia, TerraX says: “It has been recognized that the Stewart property’s sheeted and stockwork quartz veins, and its widespread advanced argillic alteration with low-grade gold and copper values, is similar to other large porphyry systems where advanced argillic alteration closely overlies porphyry mineralization, such as at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia. Exploration below the advanced argillic zone in search of this style and size of deposit will be a primary target for TerraX on the Stewart property.”

TerraX optioned a 100% interest in the Stewart property in June 2010 from Nathaniel and Michelle Noel in exchange for staged payemsnts of $105,000 cash and  295,000 shares and a commitment to spend $525,000 on exploration over four years.

TerraX is led by geologists Joseph Campbell as president and Thomas Setterfield as vice-president of exploration.

The director with the most shares is Stuart Rogers, who has 560,000. He is currently president of Max Resource (MXR-V) as well as president of West Oak Capital Group, a private Vancouver-based resource investment company. 

TerraX has 25.3 million shares outstanding, or 34 million on a fully diluted basis. 

At presstime, the company’s shares traded at 27¢ apiece with a 52-week trading range of 16¢–49¢.