November 25, 2024 – Vancouver, BC, Canada – Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PEMC) (“Pacific Empire”, “PEMC” or the “Company”), a British Columbia copper-gold explorer, is pleased to announce that it has finalized drill targets and a corresponding diamond drilling strategy at its flagship Trident property, located 50 km west of Centerra Golds Mt. Milligan Mine.
Highlights
- The updated drill program proposes a initial fence of 3-5 drill holes moving from south to north across the target area in addition to one hole testing a potential high grade breccia pipe.
- Updated targeting incorporates the orientation of regional stratigraphy which dips roughly 20o to the south and suggests that the orientation of the main porphyry target should dip 70o to the north.
- Based on this interpretation the orientation of drill holes for the upcoming drill program should be dipping 70o to the north, which allows the target to be tested most effectively.
“In designing and further refining the strategy for the upcoming drill program at Trident, it is critical to understand the orientation of a potential porphyry ore body to maximize the potential for success of our initial diamond drill program at Trident,” commented Brad Peters, President, CEO & Director of Pacific Empire. “We now have a high degree of confidence that the potential porphyry target dips approximately 70 degrees to the north, and the implications from this interpretation allow us to locate future drill holes and their respective orientations to best cover the target area for rapid success.”
Analysis of the regional stratigraphy in the area of the Trident and Pinnacle properties reveals that the general orientation of rocks in the area dip gently to the south at an angle of approximately 20 degrees. This has significant implications for identifying the location and orientation of the porphyry targets on both the Trident and Pinnacle properties.
Analysis of historical drill core reveals the presence of mineralized porphyry dikes that are directly responsible for the copper-gold mineralization encountered at Trident. The source and origin of these mineralized porphyry dikes has yet remained elusive. All the historical drilling at Trident has focused almost exclusively on the robust copper-gold soil geochemical anomaly that characterizes the property.
Considering the target area and the area of historical exploration is on a gentle slope, it is reasonable to assume that the source of the soil geochemical anomaly at Trident is upslope from the anomaly itself. Pacific Empire believes that the area to the north of historical drilling is the most likely location for a potential copper-gold porphyry discovery and is responsible for the robust geochemical anomaly as well as the source of the observed mineralized porphyry dikes from historical drilling.
Figure 1 - Example of mineralized porphyry dikes within a 6 m interval grading 0.87% copper (2007-2 from 74 - 80m)
Figure 2 - Schematic representation of the Primary Target area in relation to historical drilling and the geochemical anomaly with proposed drillhole locations.
The copper and gold in soil geochemical anomalies at Trident were the first clue for Pacific Empire that there was potential for a significant discovery at Trident. The copper anomaly extends roughly east-west for approximately four kilometres and on average is one kilometer wide. In addition, there are a significant number of samples that run greater than 500 ppm copper with a maximum value of 5,213 ppm, representing over half a percent copper in the soil. An important observation is that the best drilling which is at an area referred to as the “A Zone” is on the southern margin of this geochemical anomaly and has a very limited geochemical signature in the immediate area and downslope. This is however the location where mineralized porphyry dikes were observed in drill core from the 2007 diamond drill campaign. The orientation of these dikes is dipping to the north, again, suggesting the source of the mineralized porphyry dikes is to the north.
Another important observation is the distribution of zinc in soil geochemistry. A common pattern for copper porphyry hydrothermal systems is for the highest copper grades to occur closest to the hydrothermal center, whereas the highest zinc values tend to occur outboard from the hydrothermal center.
Dr. Paul Johnston, Pacific Empire’s Senior Geologic Advisor commented, “In general, copper is concentrated in the center and declines away from the center. Zinc remains soluble at lower temperatures and can therefore be transported further from the hotter hydrothermal center. The thermal gradients in a porphyry system do not have to be spherical in 3D or circular in plan. Many things, like permeable faults, can disrupt the ideal pattern”.
Figure 3 - Copper soil geochemistry in relation to the Primary Target.
Figure 4 - Anomalous zinc soil values transported away from hydrothermal center (volcanic rocks shown in green, intrusive rocks shown in brown).
The following map, (Figure 5) shows the location of the drill targets at a “Triple Point Junction” with volcanic rocks to the north and intrusive rocks to the south. The targets are also at a location where two types of intrusive rocks meet, the monzonite and syenite of the Hogem Intrusive Suite. An attractive location for porphyry deposits is often found within intrusive rocks that are immediately adjacent to volcanic rocks. An additional attractive targeting factor is a further contact such as, in this case, the contact between different intrusive rocks. Such juxtapositions of contacts and rocks units have the potential to facilitate fluid conduits that are critical for the formation mineralized hydrothermal systems.
Figure 5 - Airborne Resistivity (56kHz) with geological units showing the location of the Primary Target at a Triple Point Junction (note the thick black line represents the boundary between volcanic rocks to the north and intrusive rocks to the south).
It is very common for hydrothermal breccias to be intimately associated with and in close proximity to mineralized hydrothermal systems. One of the more intriguing discoveries at Trident has been the recent observation of the presence of very well mineralized hydrothermal breccia specimens. Although collected from subcrop, they suggest a significantly mineralized breccia may exist in the primary target area.
Figure 6 – Property scale Gold soil geochemistry with location of Campbell Trench, A Zone and 2007 Drilling
Figure 7 – Copper soil geochemistry with location of Campbell Trench, A Zone and 2007 Drilling
Figure 8 – 2024 Magnetotelluric Survey with location of Campbell Trench, A Zone and 2007 Drilling
About Trident
The Trident property is an early exploration stage property hosting an alkalic porphyry copper-gold-silver prospect with district-scale potential that is accessible by vehicle. The property is located approximately 50 km to the southeast of NorthWest Copper Corp.’s Kwanika Deposit and 50 km to the northwest of Centerra Gold’s Mt. Milligan Mine. The property covers 6,618 hectares endowed with well-established logging roads providing important efficient access to conduct exploration programs.
Copper mineralization on the property was first discovered in 1969, while exploration crews were following up on anomalous stream sediment samples. The following year, Falconbridge optioned the property and over the next two years completed IP and magnetic surveys, geological mapping, soil sampling and diamond drilling. This work ultimately led to the discovery of the A Zone.
Additional exploration programs were completed by Kookaburra Gold Corp. from 1988 through 1991, Solomon Resources Ltd., from 2006 through 2008. In 2013, PEMC optioned the property and in 2014, in turn, PEMC optioned the property to Oz Minerals which completed during that same year, an IP survey and completed a two drillhole, diamond drill program at Trident.
In 2022, Pacific Empire acquired a 100% interest in the property in exchange for granting the vendors a 2% net smelter return royalty (“NSR”). One-half (1%) of the 2% NSR which may be purchased for $500,000 by Pacific Empire.
Prior to 2014, known mineralization on the property was believed to be associated with fracture and/or shear zones structures striking 120 degrees and dipping 75 degrees towards the northeast. A review of historical drill core by the Pacific Empire exploration team has led to a much different interpretation with respect to the nature of known mineralization on the property. The most important observation made was the determination of the presence of hornblende-feldspar monzonite porphyry intrusions detected within drill core obtained from the A Zone. These types of porphyry intrusions are typically characterized by sheeted quartz sulphide veins hosting disseminated chalcopyrite and bornite residing immediately adjacent to and within the porphyry dikes. Other observations include the highest grades noted in historical drilling can be seen to be directly associated with intervals where such porphyry intrusions occur.
Figure 9 – Regional Land Position and Significant Companies
Figure 10 - South Hogem Copper-Gold Belt
“Between our 100% owned Trident and Pinnacle projects runs the Klawli river. The gold flakes and nuggets in the vial displayed on the map were collected from that location on the Klawli river. It is this and other geochemical evidence gathered by the PEMC exploration team which leads us to postulate the potential for a gold-enriched copper system nearby on either Trident, Pinnacle, or possibly both projects. To date, visible gold has been observed in outcrops at Trident, placer gold discovered in the nearby Klawli river gravels, as well gold has been detected in drill core from Pinnacle. All three of these known occurrences of gold and their respective locations suggests there may be a shallow buried, large scale, gold-enriched, copper porphyry deposit within our district scale land package,” commented Brad Peters, President, CEO and Director of Pacific Empire.
Table 1 - Highlights from Historical Drilling at Trident
About Pinnacle
The Pinnacle project is located 60 km to the west of Centerra Gold's Mt. Milligan Copper-Gold Mine and 30 km to the southeast of NorthWest Copper’s Kwanika Copper-Gold Deposit in a proven copper-gold porphyry district. Access to the Pinnacle is by road including a new and expanding network of logging roads and trails throughout the main target areas. This improved access is a significant development and is anticipated to contribute to cost effective drill support and provides additional bedrock exposure.
“Over the past 2 years significant logging operations have developed an extensive road network that now covers the entirety of the southern half of the property providing new outcrop exposure and efficient access. The 2023 forest fires dramatically affected the property resulting in significantly improved access to the property,” commented Brad Peters, President, CEO and Director of Pacific Empire.
Qualified Person’s Statement
Kristian Whitehead, P.Geo., serves as a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release, approving the disclosure herein.
A Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was part of the sampling program at Trident. This program included the systematic submittals of standards and blank samples into the flow of samples produced by the sampling.
Samples were prepared and analyzed at ALS Laboratory in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Gold is assayed using a 30-gram of -75 micron-size pulp fire assayed and finished by ICP-AES analysis to detect content between 0.01 and 10.0 ppm (Au-ICP21). Copper returning over limit values (>10,000 ppm) was re-assayed with higher detection limits using a 0.4g pulp with Four Acid Digestion and ICP finish to detect content between 0.001 – 50% (Cu-OG62). As well, a 0.5 gram cut from the pulp of each rock sample was dissolved by four acid digestion and analyzed by mass spectrometry for a suite of 48 additional elements (ME-MS61).
About Pacific Empire
Pacific Empire is a copper exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PEMC. The Company has a district scale land position in north-central British Columbia totaling 22,541 hectares.
British Columbia is a “Green” copper jurisdiction with abundant hydroelectric power, access and infrastructure in close proximity to the end market.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
“Brad Peters”
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. Tel: +1-604-356-6246
brad@pemcorp.ca
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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