Constantine drills 6.9 m of 7.08% Zn, 2.1% Cu at Palmer

Oct 14, 2021

2021-10-14 07:37 ET – News Release

Mr. Garfield MacVeigh reports

CONSTANTINE INTERSECTS 7.08% ZN, 2.10% CU, 40.57 G/T AG AND 0.42 G/T AU OVER 6.9 METERS IN LOWER SOUTH WALL ZONE OF THE PALMER DEPOSIT

Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. has provided a summary of the summer field activities and available assay results from its 2021 drill program at the Palmer joint venture project, Alaska.

Two diamond drill rigs were mobilized to the Palmer property in early June to complete up to 6,000 metres of drilling directed toward: (i) infill drilling the downdip inferred South Wall copper-zinc-silver-gold resource, (ii) exploration drilling to explore for the fault offset of the thick South Wall deposit, and (iii) geotechnical and environmental drilling to support the planned underground exploration program and provide information required to advance the project to feasibility.

Drill contractor staffing issues and low drill productivity caused the company to refocus the planned multipurpose drilling program to ensure that the geotechnical and environmental aspects of the drill program were completed. A total of eight diamond drill holes for a total of 2,917 metres were drilled.

Infill and hydrology drill holes

Two drill holes (1,230 metres) were completed on the lower South Wall zone as resource infill and hydrological information holes. The South Wall zone includes an indicated mineral resource of 4.68 million tonnes grading 5.23 per cent zinc, 1.49 per cent copper, 30.0 grams per tonne silver and 0.30 g/t gold and inferred mineral resource of 5.34 million tonnes grading 5.20 per cent zinc, 0.96 per cent copper, 29.2 g/t silver and 0.28 g/t gold (1).

Drill hole CMR21-143B tested the lower part of the South Wall inferred mineral resource and intersected the mineralized horizon between 451.2 and 511.7 metres downhole with zones of semi-massive to massive sulphides and barite intervals. Significant assay results are provided in the associated table.

CMR21-144, the second infill drill hole, intersected chert and footwall stringer mineralization in close proximity to the Kudo fault. Assay results are pending.

                                     SIGNIFICANT ASSAY RESULTS

Drill hole           From         To   Width (1)      Cu     Zn        Ag        Au    BaSO4 (barite)
                 (metres)   (metres)    (metres)     (%)    (%)     (g/t)     (g/t)               (%)

CMR19-143B          451.2      488.1        36.9    0.16   2.16     16.68      0.09             17.50
includes            451.2      469.0        17.8    0.06   3.25     18.20      0.10             25.90
includes            451.2      462.6        11.4    0.07   3.60     24.42      0.11             31.10
includes            458.0      462.6         4.6    0.08   5.36     27.66      0.15             31.00
CMR19-143B          485.1      487.1         2.0    1.47   1.74     53.64      0.37             11.79
CMR19-143B          504.8      511.7         6.9    2.10   7.08     40.57      0.42                 -
includes            506.8      510.5         3.7    2.81  10.71     56.11      0.62             28.60

(1) True width is estimated to be 75 to 80 per cent of reported width.

2021 Palmer project work program

Extensive geotechnical, engineering and environmental studies were carried out during the 2021 field season, which included:

Six geotechnical diamond drill holes (1,687 metres) were completed in the Palmer deposit area to provide hydrological information including water volume and water quality. Monitoring wells were completed in five of the six drill holes for continuing water monitoring. The remaining geotechnical drill hole plus the two infill drill holes were lined with slotted PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe for additional hydrological studies.
Seismic survey work totalling 6.7 line kilometres was carried out on 11 grid lines in Glacier Creek valley to collect depth to bedrock information that was followed up with a sonic overburden drilling program.
Twelve sonic overburden drill holes totalling 678 metres were completed in Glacier Creek valley to determine the overburden stratigraphy, establish bedrock depths and provide hydrological information from groundwater monitoring wells.
Updates to the avalanche study database were completed and will further aid in designing avalanche mitigation requirements and longer-term safe locations for project infrastructure.
The exploration portal access road was reviewed to provide an updated cost estimate to upgrade the switchback road to the portal site to a 10-to-12-per-cent grade in 2022, in preparation for the 2023 planned start of the underground exploration ramp.
Three Glacier Creek monitoring stations have been established to provide seasonal stream flow information, particularly for the peak flow periods that are difficult to acquire because of the very high energy stream environment during these periods.
Two weather stations are established on site that provide continuous temperature, precipitation and wind information. The higher elevation station was upgraded to include precipitation data.

The fieldwork has been completed for the season and the drilling equipment has been demobilized. Environmental monitoring and data collection will continue through the fall and winter season.

Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd., the company’s joint venture partner, financed the 2021 work program with an approved budget of $8.8-million (U.S.), which will result in some dilution of Constantine’s interest in the project. Dilution is prorated according to expenditures and Constantine’s project interest based on expenditures to the end of September, 2021, is 46.61 per cent. Constantine remains the operator of the project for which it receives a management fee.

Update on permitting and scheduling

The geotechnical and environmental information collected this year and previous seasons is being compiled and interpreted by various consulting groups. The information is applicable to the amended waste management permit application to be submitted in the first quarter of 2022 that, when approved, will allow the planned underground exploration to proceed in June, 2023. The underground exploration program is expected to take 18 months to complete and will provide access to the hangingwall of the lower South Wall deposit for resource upgrade and confirmation of geological, hydrological and geotechnical information currently being collected from surface drill holes.

A program of surface resource upgrade drilling and exploration drilling at the Palmer deposit (South Wall/RW zones) and the AG deposit is being considered while the underground preparation work and underground development work takes place from 2022 through 2024. The additional surface and underground geological, geotechnical and hydrological information for the period 2022 through 2024 will provide the necessary data for permitting and feasibility-level studies that determine future project development.

About the Palmer project

Palmer is a high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide/sulphate (VMS) project located in a very accessible part of coastal southeast Alaska, with road access to the property and within 60 kilometres of the year-round deep-sea port of Haines. Mineralization at Palmer occurs within the same belt of rocks that is host to the Greens Creek mine, one of the world’s richest VMS deposits.

Exploration work at Palmer has continued to grow the mineral resource estimate in two deposits to its current size of 4.68 million tonnes indicated grading 5.23 per cent zinc, 1.49 per cent copper, 30.0 g/t silver and 0.30 g/t gold and 9.6 million tonnes inferred grading 4.95 per cent zinc, 0.59 per cent copper, 69.3 g/t silver and 0.39 g/t gold. VMS deposits are known to occur in clusters, and with at least 25 separate base metal and/or barite occurrences and prospects on the Palmer project, there is abundant potential for discovery of multiple deposits.

In 2019, the company reported a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project with an after-tax net present value (discounted at 7 per cent) of $266-million (U.S.) (see the company’s news release dated June 3, 2019). The PEA outlined the potential for a low-capex, low-operating-cost, high-margin underground mining operation with attractive environmental attributes. Metal prices used for the PEA were $2.82 per pound for copper, $1.22 per pound for zinc, $16.26 per ounce for silver, $1,296 per ounce for gold and $220 per tonne for barite.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Qualified person statement

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael J. Vande Guchte, PGeo, vice-president, exploration, for Constantine Metal Resources and a qualified person (QP) as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101.

About Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.

Constantine is a mineral exploration company led by an experienced and proven technical team with a focus on the Palmer base metal project being advanced as a joint venture between Constantine (about 46.6 per cent) and Dowa Metals & Mining Co. Ltd. (about 53.4 per cent), with Constantine as operator.

In September, 2019, Constantine successfully spun out its gold assets into Highgold Mining Inc. that included the high-grade Johnson project in south-central Alaska and the Munro-Croesus gold property, which is renowned for its high-grade mineralization in the Timmins area, Ontario.

Sampling procedures

Samples of drill core were cut with a diamond-blade rock saw, with half of the cut core placed in individually sealed polyurethane bags and half placed back in the original core box for permanent storage. Sample lengths typically vary from a minimum 0.3-metre interval to a maximum 1.5-metre interval, with an average 1.0-to-1.5-metre sample length. Drill core samples were shipped by transport truck in sealed woven plastic bags to ALS’s laboratory facility in North Vancouver, B.C., for sample preparation and analysis. ALS operates according to the guidelines set out in International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission Guide 25. Gold was determined by fire assay fusion of a 30-gram subsample with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Various metals including silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) atomic emission spectroscopy, following multiacid digestion. The elements silver, copper and zinc were determined by ore-grade assay for samples that returned values greater than 10,000 parts per million by inductively coupled plasma analysis. Barium (BaO) analysis utilized lithium borate fusion into fused discs for XRF (X-ray fluorescence) analyses, with BaO converted to BaSO4 (barite) using a conversion factor of BaO multiplied by 1.52217. Density measurements were determined at the project site by qualified Constantine personnel on cut core for each assay sample.

We seek Safe Harbor.

https://www.constantinemetals.com/