The Nunuvut Planning Commission has given White Cliff Minerals the go-ahead to kick off exploration at its Coppermine project in Canada, where it will follow up on high-grade historical copper results.
The company says the regulatory approval marks a major step in the permitting process and allows it to appoint contractors for this year’s exploration initiatives in the Canadian province of Nunavut and complete logistical planning.
White Cliff is now fully permitted to follow up where historical exploration previously identified dozens of outcropping occurrences of copper and silver mineralisation across the 805-square-kilometre project. It includes one rock chip sample from the Halo prospect returning assays of 30.24 per cent copper and 34 grams per tonne silver, while a second showed 30.25 per cent copper and 43g/t silver.
Rock chip samples from the Cu-Tar prospect delivered even higher results, with one assay returning 35.54 per cent copper and 17g/t silver. The company’s Don target has returned multiple samples of greater than 40 per cent copper, with another showing 30.7 per cent copper and more than 200g/t silver. Two additional samples from the Don prospect showed assays of greater than 40 per cent copper, with sliver values exceeding 100g/t.
Management says negotiations with several Canadian-based service providers are continuing for various work programs on what will be the first systematic exploration at the project area in decades. The company will initially base its logistical hub in Kugluktuk, a town of about 1500 people located to the north-east of the project area, which is accessible by both plane and ship.
White Cliff Minerals chairman Rod McIllree said: "With this Nunavut Commission licence approval, we are now fully permitted and can move to finalise our exploration initiatives including contractor selection. This milestone was a critical component of our strategic planning phase and is now delivered. We can now focus on validating a significant database of historical mineral resources, high-grade outcrop samples and ultimately prepare for drilling.”
Management says prospector Samuel Hearne first reached Coppermine River way back in 1771 and reported finding a four-pound copper nugget at surface. The area was first staked in 1929 and by late 1967, more than 40,000 claims were lodged by more than 70 different companies. However, exploration slowed in the 1970s due to the instability of the price of copper.
Once White Cliff has finalised its exploration campaigns for Coppermine, the programs are expected to run in close collaboration with planned work at its recently-acquired Radium Point uranium project in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The project adds a massive 3300sq km to its Canadian holdings in an area that takes in several historical mining operations.
Management says Radium Point and the Eldorado/Echo Bay mine was historically recognised as a significant source of uranium and other metals during World War II and was recorded as being one of Canada's biggest uranium mining districts at the time. Historical production from the project area prior to 1982 shows some impressive figures including 13.7 million pounds of uranium oxide, 34.2 million ounces of refined silver and more than 11.3 million pounds of copper with associated gold credits.
White Cliff has now secured a significant chunk of land in Canada where it will be keen to get boots on the ground as it makes its first inroads into an area with a productive mining history.
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By Michael Philipps
