American Pacific Mining Corp (“American Pacific”) is pleased to announce the 2024 budget and resource expansion-focused work program at the Palmer Project (“Palmer” or the “Project”), an advanced-stage, high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide-sulphate (“VMS”) project located in Southeast Alaska. Constantine North Inc., (“Constantine”) a subsidiary of American Pacific, is the operator for the Project, which is under a joint venture (“JV”) partnership with DOWA METALS & MINING ALASKA LTD. (“Dowa”).
South Wall – Zone 1 Copper Equivalent Grade Shells with Structural Interpretation. Image Credit: American Pacific Mining Corp
The 2023 program delivered the best four copper intercepts drilled to date at Palmer (see press release dated January 10, 2024), highlighting the opportunity to define copper-rich zones within the known mineral resource envelope. New interpretations developed following the 2023 campaign have the opportunity to further impact the grade and tonnage profile by targeting areas with similar signatures and structural settings.
The US $12.8 million 2024 program has been designed to continue expanding the known extent of the high-grade copper mineralization within South Wall Zones 1 and 2. The 2024 program will also include a series of step-out drill holes to test the nearby North Wall Target. The North Wall Target represents a potential fault offset extension of the South Wall mineralization that has not yet been adequately tested.
2024 Palmer Work Program Highlights:
- Mineral resource expansion drilling focused on the South Wall, designed to follow up on successes from the 2023 drill program by testing structural controls and extensions to the high-grade copper and zinc mineralized trends.
- North Wall exploration drilling targeting the interpreted fault offset extension of the high-grade South Wall Zone. Previous geological mapping and sampling has identified copper, zinc, and barite mineralization with 500 meters of untested strike length (see Figure 2).
- Advancing regional exploration targets with a property-wide data analysis of historical work, focused on modeling mineralization controls on new and previously identified prospects.
- Environmental and permitting activities, including ongoing environmental baseline studies and compliance work.
- Engineering studies, including a mineral resource estimate update, critical trade-off studies, and ongoing data collection in preparation for future feasibility studies.
Warwick Smith, CEO of American Pacific stated:
“During the 2023 resource definition program, our team discovered thick copper mineralization within the known mineral resource envelope. In 2024, we will look to leverage and build upon last year’s high-grade results while aiming at expansion through step-out and extensional drilling along the high-grade trends in addition to discovery-focused drilling at the adjacent North Wall Target. The North Wall alteration zone represents an outstanding and untested, near-surface target with very limited historical drilling. We look forward to another productive year with our joint venture partner with plans to update the mineral resource estimate by year-end.”
2024 Diamond Drilling Strategy
In 2024, the operations teams will focus on expansion drilling to identify lateral and downdip extensions of the South Wall of the Palmer Deposit (Figures 3,4), targeted structural investigation drilling in South Wall Zone 1 designed to follow up on the high-grade intersections of the 2023 drill program (Figure 1), and exploration step-out drilling to test the North Wall alteration zone (Figure 2).
Preliminary interpretation of the copper-rich core mineralization within South Wall Zone 1 indicates potential for several secondary cross-cutting structures. Understanding and targeting structural controls on mineralization zoning in 2024 will help refine and inform the local and regional diamond drilling strategy.
North Wall – Targeting High-Grade Zone 1 Extension
The North Wall Target is less than 200 meters from the edge of South Wall Zone 1. This zone is newly interpreted as the fault offset and the eastern extension of Zone 1 mineralization (see Figure 2). The alteration zone at the North Wall Target has strong geological and geochemical similarities to South Wall, but has seen limited drill testing along the 500-meter mapped strike length. Historical surface mapping has identified in-situ copper-zinc-barite mineralization leading the way to the potential of a South Wall Zone eastern extension.
North Wall Alteration Zone in proximity to South Wall Zone 1. Image Credit: American Pacific Mining Corp
The 2024 drilling campaign is being completed under an approved Plan of Operations from the Bureau of Land Management. In support of future programs American Pacific’s subsidiary, Constantine, the project operator, is pursuing authorization from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for an updated Plan of Operations outlining the additional work programs needed for pre-feasibility level data gathering over the next five years.
American Pacific will be contributing approximately $750,000 USD in kind by contributing its management fee towards the 2024 program. The Company’s joint venture partner, Dowa Metals & Mining Co., Ltd., has committed to fund the balance of the 2024 program.
South Wall – Zone 1 Mineralized Thickness with Structural Interpretation with Planned 2024 Pierce Points. Designed to Define and Expand the Zone 1 Mineral Resource. Image Credit: American Pacific Mining Corp
South Wall – Zone 2 Mineralized Thickness and Planned 2024 Pierce Points. Designed to Define and Expand the Zone 2 Mineral Resource. Image Credit: American Pacific Mining Corp
Amended NI 43-101 Technical Report Palmer Project Alaska, USA, JDS Energy and Mining Inc. 2019
Qualified Person Statement
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Vande Guchte, P.Geo., VP Exploration for the Palmer Project and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.