Great Bear Exploration (ASX:GBL) will field test more than 200 priority copper, gold, and silver targets across its Great Bear Lake Project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The targets stem from an independent review by Resource Potentials, which combined historical and recent geological, geochemical, and geophysical datasets across the project.
The consultancy compiled airborne magnetic, radiometric, electromagnetic, regional gravity, and high-resolution digital elevation data to identify prospective anomalies. Dome and collapsed caldera structures will be a focus of this season’s field and geochemical sampling program.
Great Bear says the work identified several areas that have received limited exploration, including potential iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) systems.
Executive Director Rod McIlree says the company will use the field results and new airborne data to narrow the target pipeline ahead of potential drilling in spring 2027.
“Our focus over the coming weeks is to systematically test the highest-priority targets on the ground, integrate the forthcoming FALCON® survey and advance the project to drill-ready status for an early start next spring,” McIlree says.
Xcalibur Smart Mapping is mobilising its FALCON® airborne gravity gradiometry system for a survey over the project’s three main volcanic complexes. The program, planned on 300m line spacing, will also collect magnetic and radiometric data.
The company says it expects the field observations, geochemical assays, and FALCON® results to improve its interpretation of alteration zones and identify targets for direct drill testing.
The Geological Survey of Canada recognises the Great Bear Magmatic Zone as the country’s premier IOCG province. Historical mining in the zone’s northern district between the 1930s and 1980s produced about 13.7 million pounds of uranium oxide, 34.2 million ounces of silver, and 11.4 million pounds of copper, alongside gold credits.
Great Bear holds more than 2,800km² across the Great Bear Magmatic Zone, which is prospective for IOCG, iron oxide-apatite, polymetallic epithermal, skarn, and uranium deposits.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Bear Exploration
