XXIX Metal (TSX-V:XXIX) has begun a two-phase, 20,000m drilling program at its Thierry Copper Project near Pickle Lake in Ontario, Canada.
The campaign is the first systematic, large-scale drilling conducted at Thierry in more than 40 years and will focus on the near-surface K1 deposit.
XXIX says it intends to test K1’s grade, scale, and continuity under a new bulk-tonnage geological interpretation, with the results expected to support an updated mineral resource estimate.
Over the past two years, the company has rebuilt and reinterpreted more than 210,000m of historical diamond drilling data. K1 was previously modelled as a series of subparallel tabular veins, but XXIX now interprets it as a single disseminated copper and platinum group element system.
The company estimates K1 extends across approximately 1.4km of strike, is 250m wide, and reaches a depth of 400m. It says the deposit remains open at depth, where grades have been observed to improve.
CEO Guy Le Bel says the program will test the revised interpretation in the field.
“With drilling now under way at Thierry, XXIX has moved from reinterpretation to execution,” Le Bel says.
“Over the past two years, our team rebuilt more than 210,000m of historical drilling into a modern geological model and developed a new bulk-tonnage interpretation at K1.”
Thierry also hosts the higher-grade K2 deposit, where UMEX produced 5.8 million tonnes grading 1.13% copper between 1976 and 1982.
A 73.5 line-kilometre induced polarisation survey previously identified an anomaly between K1 and K2 measuring between 75m and 125m wide over more than 2.5km. XXIX says the anomaly supports the potential for a mineralised corridor between the deposits, which remains largely untested.
The 7,907-hectare Thierry project is wholly owned by XXIX and is not subject to royalties. Following a C$17.2 million ($17.46 million) financing, the company reports holding more than $19 million in cash and approximately $24 million in working capital.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: XXIX Metal
