Announcement • May 11
Copper Quest Exploration Inc Commences Drilling On The Rip Copper-Molybdenum Project
Copper Quest Exploration Inc. announced that drilling has commenced on the Rip Copper-Molybdenum Project for drilling a minimum of 2,000 meters. The RIP Project is in the Stikine region of British Columbia, situated approximately 33 km northeast of Imperial Metals Corporation’s past producing Huckleberry copper-molybdenum mine and Surge Copper’s advanced stage Ox/Seal/Berg projects, and 30 km southeast of Vizsla Copper Corp’s Poplar copper-gold Project. Imperial Metals Corporation is exploring Huckleberry and its surrounding claims for additional Cu-Mo resources. First phase drill testing at Rip has confirmed that largely covered geophysical targets define a multi-phase Cu-Mo mineralized porphyry system. Zones of anomalous Cu-Mo mineralization are hosted in porphyritic intrusions and associated vein stockwork. Drill Intersection highlights include: 0.102% CuEq over 126.6 m in drill hole RP24-001 from 21.4 m, including 0.268% CuEq over 24.6 m from 21.4 m; 0.112% CuEq over 114.3 m in drill hole RP24-002 from 33.6 m. The northern, approximately 1 X 1 kilometre, annular geophysical anomalies remain largely untested, while the southern anomaly of similar size has yet to be drill tested. Most assays from the 2024 drill campaign are anomalous in Cu-Mo and the presence of intense quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration and strongly developed vein sets resembling D veins indicates the presence of a significant porphyry system that has only been partially tested. The Rip represents an opportunity for the Company to drill an untested but known multi-phase Cu-Mo porphyry system in the Bulkley Valley that is one of BC’s most prospective areas for porphyry exploration and discovery. The project is being run out of Houston, BC, located approximately 60 km north of the Rip property. The drilling will target both the northern and untested southern anomalies defined by Copper Quest’s geophysical surveys, airborne magnetics and 3D IP, detailed by the Company in its July 31, 2024, press release. The geophysical surveys define two porphyry Cu-Mo mineralized centres. The northernmost centre coincides with outcropping porphyry Cu-Mo mineralization and comprises a coincident magnetic/resistivity high, surrounded by a large “doughnut” shaped chargeability high (>35 mV/V) with a diameter of approximately 1 km. The second potential porphyry Cu-Mo centre is situated approximately 1.1 km to the south, comprising a similar magnetic high surrounded by a “doughnut” shaped chargeability high (>35 mV/V). This southern potential porphyry centre is entirely covered by overburden with a diameter of approximately 850 metres. In summary, the 2024 mag, IP and drill program successfully resolved the original Rip anomaly into two separate porphyry systems and demonstrated that the northern target contains multiple intrusive phases and long intervals of low-grade Cu-Mo mineralization. This northern target has been partly defined as a 600m wide subvertical cylindrical mineralized zone between a magnetic barren core and a chargeable pyrite halo. The northern target has only been tested by three diamond drill holes (two by Copper Quest in 2024, one historical in 1975). The southern geophysical target is equivalent in size to the northern anomaly and has no diamond drill testing. Copper Quest drilled 1033 metres in two holes in 2024 at the Rip Cu-Mo porphyry project. The Rip project is interpreted as a highly underexplored porphyry Cu-Mo system that is predominantly covered by overburden. A small outcrop area contains variably altered porphyritic intrusions which cut strongly hornfelsed Hazelton Group volcano-sedimentary rocks. Porphyritic intrusions and hornfelsed country rock are both host to porphyry style stockwork, including magnetite-chalcopyrite and quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite veins. Historical exploration drilling on the project included shallow, predominantly percussion holes targeting a large IP anomaly; within the IP anomaly, the holes intersected predominantly quartz-sericite-pyrite altered lithologies (including altered porphyritic intrusions) with anomalous Cu-Mo mineralization. Multiple holes failed to reach bedrock. An airborne magnetic survey flown in 2024 revealed for the first time two separate circular magnetic highs within the historical chargeability high, suggesting that Rip contains two porphyry centers. The southern mag high is significantly larger than the northern one but does not crop out. Following the airborne mag survey, a 3D-DCIP induced polarization and resistivity survey was completed over the Rip target in 2024. The new IP survey resolved the original 1980 chargeability anomaly into two chargeability “donuts” around the two separate magnetic highs, the classic “pyrite halo” signature of porphyry systems, providing more evidence for the interpretation that Rip contains two adjacent porphyry systems. Two drill holes were completed on the northern geophysical target from a single setup, both intersecting anomalous to low-grade Cu-Mo porphyry mineralization from surface, and at depths >400m in RP24-001. Mineralization in both holes is hosted in three distinct phases of porphyritic intrusions with potassic to phyllic alteration and multistage veining (e.g., magnetite-chalcopyrite; quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite, pyrite-chalcopyrite with sericite haloes). RP24-001 drilled eastwards towards the core of the geophysical anomaly, targeting the magnetic high within the high chargeability ring. Between upper and lower mineralized zones lies a central barren zone of strongly magnetic crowded porphyry (148-284m), major quartz pods and segregations (284-334m) and unidirectional solidification textures (“USTs”) (369-374m). These coincide with the magnetic high and are interpreted to comprise a central magmatic cupola near the magmatic-hydrothermal transition. RP24-002 drilled westwards away from the core of the geophysical anomaly, targeting the strongest portion of the high chargeability ring. Below an upper zone of weak Cu-Mo mineralization, the lower portions of the hole intersected strong to intense sericite-pyrite alteration with D-style veins but negligible Cu-Mo. This abundant pyrite alteration explains the chargeability ring and is interpreted to be a portion of the pyrite halo of the northern target In 2024 ArcWest and Copper Quest added five additional claims to the option agreement, acquired by staking, more than doubling the initial 2,308.81 ha road accessible property to its current 4,770.65 ha. Detailed CuEq Methodology: Copper equivalent (“CuEq”) values represent length-weighted averages of selected contiguous assay intervals with values continuously greater than 500 ppm CuEq, with allowance for inclusion of single-sample gaps below 500 ppm CuEq.
