Overview
The Pinnacle Project covers 15,478 hectares and is located 50 km to the west of Centerra Gold's Mt. Milligan Copper-Gold Mine and 20 km to the southeast of Northwest Copper's Kwanika Copper-Gold Deposit in a proven copper-gold district.
On December 21, 2020, Pacific Empire signed an option agreement with 1111 Acquisition Corp. (“1111 Acquisition”) whereby 1111 Acquisition has the right to earn a 70% interest in the Pinnacle property by spending a total of $5,700,000 in exploration expenditures, issuing a total of 3,500,000 shares and making cash payments totaling $375,000 over a period of four years.
Location and Access
The Pinnacle Project is located 100 km north-northwest of Fort St. James and 200 km northwest of Prince George, in central British Columbia, Canada. It is comprised of 32 mineral claims covering 15,478 hectares and is vehicle accessible via forest service roads whereby the driving time from Fort St. James to the property is approximately 2 hours. The Pinnacle Project is situated within the Omineca Mining District.
Geology and Mineralization
Geology on the Pinnacle project can be summarized as intermediate volcanics locally intruded by syenitic to dioritic dikes. Previous exploration programs have encountered anomalous copper and gold mineralization that is dominated by pyrite. Alteration assemblages encountered in drilling and associated anomalous gold ± copper mineralization suggest the presence of a large hydrothermal system. Targeting information has lead to the identification of at least two significant target areas.
Exploration History
The earliest record of exploration in the area is from the early 1970’s when a 20-foot wide pyrite rich zone was discovered cutting a rhyolite unit with malachite, chalcopyrite, calcite and hematite. Additional work during the early 1970’s identified areas of anomalous copper and molybdenum in soil. Follow up geophysical surveys were completed in addition to 4 diamond holes where copper mineralization was encountered.
The next phase of exploration took place during the 1980’s when BP Exploration Canada staked the Phil claims. In the summer of 1983, a reconnaissance rock sample returned anomalous gold and copper values and was followed up with additional staking and soil geochemical surveys which outlined two areas of anomalous copper, gold and molybdenum. Additional rock sampling returned up to 1,500 ppb gold and 1.1% copper from potassic altered volcanic rocks. In September of 1990, BP Resources completed 1067.8 m of drilling in six holes. Highlights include 6.4 g/t gold over 6 meters. In addition, forty-one rock chip samples were collected and analyzed for copper and gold; one rock chip sample contained 9,450 ppb gold and 6,600 ppm copper
In the spring of 2007, Solomon contracted Fugro Airborne Systems Inc. to conduct an airborne DIGHEM survey over the property. The survey consisted of 1,458 line-km.
In 2012, Pacific Empire staked the property and in 2014 optioned the property to Oz Minerals Exploration. Three IP grids were completed over coincident magnetic high and resistivity high anomalies referred to as the Later, Sooner and Elbow target areas. Large IP chargeability high anomalies were outlined at the Elbow and Sooner targets, while the Later IP survey resulted in a subtle chargeability response.
The following year Oz Minerals completed six diamond drill holes. Three drill holes were completed at the Sooner target and three holes were completed at the Elbow target. Anomalous intervals of copper were intersected at both target areas. The most significant result was a gold intercept of 94 m grading 0.34 g/t gold from drilling at the Elbow target.
In 2016 the property was optioned to ML Gold Corp. and a three-hole diamond drilling program was completed at the Elbow target area. Again, notable gold intercepts were achieved at the Elbow zone with locally anomalous copper mineralization. Highlights included 41.3 m at 0.42 g/t gold in hole DD16ELB007.
The following year, ML Gold completed a further five diamond drill holes immediately to the west of the historical Aplite Creek drilling by BP Selco in 1990.