Brixton Metals Corporation reported that the exploration program at its flagship Thorn Project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle has begun. The wholly-funded 2022 program will include up to 20,000 m of drilling, with a focus on the Camp Creek Porphyry Target and the Trapper Gold Target, with the Metla Copper-Gold Target and the Outlaw Gold–Silver Target being explored as well.
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com/ Mr. Tempter
We are excited to have begun drilling now, which is the earliest start of a season yet. Two of the high priority targets include the Camp Creek copper dominant porphyry target and the Trapper Gold Target. Additional exploration work is planned to drill ready other copper-gold targets on the massive Thorn Project.
Christina Anstey, VP, Exploration, Brixton Metals Corporation
Camp Creek Cu–Au–Ag–Mo Porphyry Target
In 2021, Brixton Metals made considerable progress on the blind Camp Creek Porphyry Target. Drill holes 162, 181, 183, and 184 revealed copper, gold, silver and molybdenum grades, and also the porphyry index values (MPIx), raising with depth. Both holes 183 and 184 ended in mineralization and are approximately 286 m apart.
One drill rig has started drilling at the Camp Creek Porphyry Target, with a wedged hole starting at about 930 m in THN21-184 for 1000 m of the new core. THN21-184 drilled 821 m of porphyry-style copper dominant mineralization where the bottom 14 m of the hole ended in 0.68% Cu, 0.14 g/t Au, 6.53 g/t Ag, and 508.57 g/t Mo during the last season.
The lower portion of the hole had more chalcopyrite than pyrite mineralization. A 1.85 m interval from 1175 m depth yielded 89.3 g/t Au as well.
The goal at Camp Creek is to tag the porphyry system’s copper-rich core.
The Trapper Gold Target
In early June, a second drill will begin drilling on the Trapper Gold Target. Following the purchase of the Trapper claims and royalties in 2020, Brixton’s first drill program in 2021 successfully highlighted the target’s gold endowment.
Hole THN21-186, which yielded 187.50 m of 1.60 g/t Au, including 139.00 m of 2.14 g/t Au, including 11.5 m of 19.25 g/t Au, was a top-notch result from the Trapper Target in 2021.
The Trapper Target is made up of Upper Triassic Stuhini volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks intruded by Cretaceous quartz diorite, which is thought to be part of the Thorn Magmatic Suite. At Trapper, high-grade gold mineralization is connected with quartz diorite, including a broad gold zone that stretches into the Stuhini volcanic rocks.
At Trapper, the goal is to expand the gold zone both on trend and at depth.
The Metla Copper-Gold Porphyry Target
Metla is a copper-gold porphyry anomaly situated 15 km southeast of the Trapper area on the Thorn Project. The Metla claims were purchased from Stuhini Exploration in 2020. The Au–Cu bearing granodiorite is Triassic in age, 220 +/− 3.1 Ma, according to recent U–Pb zircon age dating.
In the Metla area, there are several different types of mineralization, including a potassic altered diorite porphyry unit with bornite, chalcopyrite and chalcocite that yielded 4.7% Cu, 1.8 g/t Au, and 31 g/t Ag. The hydrothermal breccia hosts massive pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite showings, with rock samples returning up to 62.7 g/t Au and 4.54% Cu. Cominco’s trench in 1989 yielded 9 m of 4.6 g/t Au.
The exploration program for 2022 will also include comprehensive geochemistry, geological mapping, and possibly additional geophysical surveys to identify drill targets for drilling in 2022 or 2023.
The Outlaw Gold Target
The Central Outlaw Target is situated more than 3 km to the southeast of the Camp Creek Target. Gold mineralization is found in clastic sediments such as Triassic Stuhini group interbedded siltstone-graywacke, with a gold-in-soil anomaly that runs east-west for about 5 km.
Mineralization is stratiform and restricted to structurally controlled areas, and it is assumed to be linked to Jurassic dacite dykes that intrude the sediments. The Central Outlaw Zone has also been drilled for 600 m with drill results of 1.1 g/ Au up to 59 m. The highest surface rock grab sample yielded 22.98 g/t Au and came from the East Outlaw area.
In 2022, the Outlaw Target’s goal is to drill for gold mineralization continuity between the Central and East Zones, as well as east extension, using 4–6 widely spaced drill holes.