Kingfisher signs two four-year option agreements

Mar 8, 2023

2023-03-07 12:01 ET – News Release

Mr. Dustin Perry reports

KINGFISHER SIGNS DEFINITIVE OPTION AGREEMENTS TO CONSOLIDATE 362 SQUARE KM COPPER-GOLD PROJECT IN GOLDEN TRIANGLE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Kingfisher Metals Corp. entered into two option agreements on March 6, 2023, to consolidate a 362-square-kilometre copper-gold project in the Golden Triangle region of northwest British Columbia, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Highlights:

Two four-year options to earn 100 per cent of the Ball Creek East project and the Hank project, now referred to as the HWY 37 project;
Highway 37 and the Northern Transmission Line pass through the HWY 37 project and lie within nine to 15 kilometres of main historical zones of drilling;
Multiple open-ended mineral deposits, including the Mary Cu-Au porphyry, the Williams Cu-Au porphyry and the Hank Au-Ag epithermal deposits;
Same mineralization age and scale of alteration as the Tier 1 Treaty Creek-KSM-Brucejack trend;
Limited historical drilling on project outside of known deposits despite widespread soil anomalies and gossans over 17 by nine km porphyry-epithermal footprint;
Located within the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation, with a communications agreement in place.

Dustin Perry, chief executive officer of Kingfisher, states: “The consolidation of this porphyry-epithermal district represents a significant opportunity for discovery of Tier 1 deposits of critical and precious metals. The HWY 37 project has a distinct advantage over much of the Golden Triangle given the proximity to infrastructure crucial to any future development. Our VP, exploration, Gayle Febbo, and our technical adviser, Charlie Greig, have both worked in the past at the comparable KSM project and Brucejack mine, as well as the HWY 37 project location, and have extensive knowledge of the area. We look forward to commencing exploration at the HWY 37 project in due course.”

Ms. Febbo, vice-president, exploration, of Kingfisher, states: “The Iskut region is host to an array of Au-rich deposit types formed at various times throughout the Mesozoic, but the most productive of these was during the emplacement of Early Jurassic Texas Creek intrusions. This suite of intrusions is known to have formed the largest gold resource globally at KSM and one of the highest-grade operating gold mines at Brucejack. The HWY 37 project represents a rare and ideal land position with both a district-scale Cu-Au porphyry belt and superimposed Au-Ag epithermal belt caused by the same suite of intrusions as KSM and Brucejack.”

About the HWY 37 project

The 362 square km HWY 37 project is in northwest British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. The Stewart-Cassiar Highway (37) and the 287-kilovolt Northwest Transmission Line pass through the eastern portion of the project. The project encompasses a broad area of porphyry Cu-Au and epithermal Au-Ag mineralization and alteration.

The HWY 37 project is located within the Stikine terrane of northwest British Columbia and is underlain by the Stuhini and Hazelton groups. Mineralization spans porphyry to epithermal deposit types, and is related to Early Jurassic Texas Creek intrusions, which are also responsible for mineralization at the Treaty Creek-KSM-Brucejack district. The northeastern part of the project is underlain by Iskut River formation, which also host the Eskay Creek past-producing mine and are favourable for VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) mineralization.

Historical work on the project has delineated three advanced deposits with several other targets and anomalies at earlier stages of exploration. Historical drilling on the project has outlined the Mary porphyry, with 13,506 metres of drilling, and the Williams porphyry, with 6,095 m of drilling. The Mary and Williams porphyries are both open in multiple directions and show distinct similarities with porphyry systems along the KSM-Treaty porphyry belt. The Hank Au-Ag epithermal deposit has seen 21,623 m of exploration drilling, albeit mostly focused within a small area within the larger six by three km gold-silver anomaly. Drilling at Hank has mostly been confined to shallow depths (less than 200 m).

The footprint of alteration on the project is at a similar scale to the Treaty Creek-KSM-Brucejack district, although exploration maturity is much younger at HWY 37.

Mary porphyry

The Mary porphyry was first worked in 1963 and was most recently drilled in 2019. The porphyry deposit crops out on the north and northeast slopes of a relatively flat-topped mountain. Cu-Au patterns at Mary define marked low-angle trends open along trend. Although unusual globally, this unique low-angle Cu-Au trend is common to porphyry systems in the region, such as the Goldstorm (Treaty) and Sulphurets (KSM) deposits. Historical drilling was confined to a small percentage of the Mary porphyry footprint and has not focused on low-angle ore geometries. Along the Cu-Au trends at Mary is an approximately 1,500 m gap in drilling extending to the Cliff showing with an untested chargeability anomaly at depth. The Mary porphyry footprint spans six by six km and is cored by an untested chargeability anomaly. The dimensions of this footprint are characteristic of multiple coalesced porphyry centres and are likely too laterally extensive to be caused by the Mary deposit alone. The area is fully permitted, and the company is planning to complete a program of detailed mapping, geophysics and stepout drilling to test a much larger area than was historically drilled.

Williams porphyry

The Williams porphyry was discovered by Golden Ridge Resources Ltd. in 2017 and drilled from 2018 to 2019. Potassic alteration crops out at surface and mineralization has been traced to a depth of approximately 550 m. A large continuous chargeability anomaly extends from the area of drilling to the east and southeast for over 1.5 km and is yet to be drill tested. The Williams porphyry is considered to be the high-level porphyry feeder to the Hank Au-Ag epithermal system although based on the six km lateral extent to the epithermal system; it is likely that more porphyry centres exist in this area. Future drilling at Williams will focus on defining the limits of the system and vectoring toward a copper-rich core zone. Low-angle metal patterns at Williams and the presence of a chargeability anomaly lateral to the Williams porphyry reflect a similar pattern as the Mary deposit and those at KSM and Treaty. These patterns suggest that future drilling will favour lateral, same-elevation targeting rather than vertically deeper targets. Permitting is under way with drilling anticipated in 2024.

Hank

The Hank epithermal Au-Ag system was first discovered in 1980 and spans over six by three km. The epithermal system has seen considerable drilling (21,663 m) which has been mostly confined to shallow depths (less than 200 m). The majority of drilling has focused on bed-parallel shallow targets with limited testing for structural feeders and steeper gold zones. The most recent drilling at Hank (2017 to 2019) tested deeper holes and intercepted higher grades than seen before, including visible coarse gold. Of the 120 historical diamond drill holes at Hank, all were drilled in a narrow northwest-southeast geometry, and none have targeted the potential for feeders along cross-structures. Future work at Hank will focus on infill drilling across the historical areas of drilling with the goal of producing a complaint resource, as well as testing additional targets and exploration concepts throughout the six by three km trend. Permitting is under way for 2024 drilling.

Summary of option agreements

Ball Creek East project

The company has entered into a property option agreement with Evrim Exploration Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Orogen Royalties Inc.), whereby Orogen has granted Kingfisher the right to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in a series of mineral claims located in the province of British Columbia commonly referred to as the Ball Creek East project, subject to a 2-per-cent net smelter return to be retained by Sandstorm Gold Ltd. and the right to up to $4.1-million in milestone payments.

Pursuant to the terms of the Ball Creek East option agreement, Kingfisher has the right to earn a 100-per-cent ownership interest in the Ball Creek East project as follows:

Issuing common shares with a value of $300,000 on the date that the TSX Venture Exchange approves the Ball Creek East option agreement;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $400,000 on or before the date which is the first anniversary of the effective date;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $500,000 on or before the date which is the second anniversary of the effective date;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $1-million on or before the date which is the third anniversary of the effective date;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $1.3-million on or before the date which is the fourth anniversary of the effective date;
Granting a 1-per-cent net smelter return royalty to Orogen in respect of the company’s Ecstall property on the effective date;
In order to maintain the Ball Creek East option agreement in good standing until exercised to earn a 100-per-cent ownership interest in the Ball Creek East project, Kingfisher must carry out mining work on the Ball Creek East project, incurring aggregate expenditures of $7.5-million on or before the fourth anniversary of the effective date.

The Ball Creek East NSR royalty may be bought down by Orogen at any time by one-half with a cash payment of $1-million.

Hank project

The company has entered into a property option agreement with Golden Ridge whereby Golden Ridge has granted Kingfisher the right to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in a series of mineral claims located in the province of British Columbia commonly referred to as the Hank project, subject to a 3-per-cent net smelter return to be retained by Orogen and the right to $2.5-million in milestone payments by Golden Ridge.

Pursuant to the terms of the Hank option agreement, Kingfisher has the right to earn a 100-per-cent ownership interest in the Hank project as follows:

Cash payment of $25,000 and issuing common shares with a value of $75,000 on the date that the TSX-V approves the Hank option agreement;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $150,000 on or before the date which is the first anniversary of the effective date;
Issuing additional common shares with a value of $300,000 on or before the date which is the second anniversary of the effective date;
Cash payment of $100,000 and issuing additional common shares with a value of $1-million on or before the date which is the third anniversary of the effective date;
Cash payment of $125,000 and issuing additional common shares with a value of $1,475,000 on or before the date which is the fourth anniversary of the effective date;
In order to maintain the Hank option agreement in good standing until exercised to earn a 100-per-cent ownership interest in the Hank project, Kingfisher must carry out mining work on the Hank project, incurring aggregate expenditures of $3-million on or before the fourth anniversary of the effective date.

Pursuant to the Hank NSR royalty, 1 per cent may be purchased by Golden Ridge at any time with a cash payment of $3-million (U.S.). Also, if the company acquires earn a 100-per-cent ownership interest in the Hank project, then Sandstorm will be entitled to a 2-per-cent net smelter return on the Hank project, which may be bought down by the company by one-half with a cash payment of $1-million.

About Kingfisher Metals Corp.

Kingfisher Metals is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on underexplored district-scale projects in British Columbia, including the Golden Triangle region. Kingfisher has three 100-per-cent-owned district-scale projects, and an option to earn 100 per cent of the HWY 37 project, that offer potential exposure to high-grade gold, copper, silver and zinc. The company currently has 103,057,272 shares outstanding.

We seek Safe Harbor.

https://kingfishermetals.com/