These are the longest copper mineralized intercepts ever drilled at Majuba. The mineralized intersections are directly correlative with porphyry-type vein density, pervasive porphyry-style alteration and multiple intrusive events, the company said in a news release.
The 2022 core drilling program focused on the Majuba Target Zone. The goal was to complete deeper holes and extend the copper mineralization intersected in the 2020 and 2021 drill campaigns.
Drill highlights from hole MHB-27: 1,136 ft (346.3 m) at 0.25% CuEQ starting at 710 ft (216.4 m) including 834 ft (254.2 m) at 0.31% CuEQ from 750 to 1,584 (228.6-482.8 m) and 119 ft (36.3 m) at 0.14% CuEQ from 1,727-1,846 ft (526.4-562.7m).
Highlights from MHB-28: 1,287 ft (392 m) at 0.30% CuEQ starting at 245 ft (74.7 m), including 652 ft (198.7 m) at 0.33% CuEQ from 595 to 1,247 ft, 192 ft (58.5 m) at 0.21% CuEQ from 1,340 to 1,532 ft and 105 ft (32 m) at 0.18% CuEQ from 1,542 to 1,647 ft. MHB-29 intersected granodiorite porphyry at 3,403 ft (1,037 m). The entire hole is mineralized with 3,607 ft (1,099.4 m) at 0.05% CuEQ from 0 to 3,607 ft.
Buster Hunsaker, consulting geologist for Majuba Hill, said an initial development scenario for the project in Pershing County would look at a starter oxide scenario with an open pit. But the porphyry potential at depth gets the experienced geologist excited.
“It’s to come across something so obvious, stuck out of the ground like a mountain of metal, and to recognize it, see the geology develop and be part of the first people to bring that out. It took effort for the first ten years to recognize the porphyry copper potential,” Hunsaker told MINING.COM at a conference in San Diego in December.
Where Majuba Hill sticks out in the western Nevada plains implies that it is located on an underexplored copper belt in a segment where there aren’t many mines, despite a significant volume of historical work on the geology. The brownfield site has produced 2.6 billion lb. of copper on a historical basis.
The company believes that should it succeed in making a vital porphyry discovery, it could ideally play into the copper macro picture of a deficit of about 5 billion lb. of the red metal from about 2026 onwards.
“The tremendous thickness of copper mineralization confirms that Majuba Hill is a significant porphyry copper discovery in Nevada, one of the top three mining jurisdictions in the world,” Majuba Hill CEO David Greenway said in Monday’s statement.
“Copper mineralization from top to bottom also indicates that we have discovered a deposit which will have an impact on the copper supply for the world at a time when the world needs long-term, secure supplies for the future,” Greenway said.
“With our mineral inventory estimate announced September 20, 2022, showcasing the potential for 1.5 billion pounds of copper equivalent, we now have these game changing results in hand to expand on that estimate and ultimately contribute to the development of an NI 43-101 compliant copper resource.”
An updated property wide mineral inventory estimate is now underway.
Midday Monday, the Vancouver-based junior’s stock was down 1.8 % on the CSE. Trading volume had reached 234,368 by lunchtime, compared to the average daily volume of 70,169, capitalizing Majuba Hill Copper at C$11.3 million ($8.4m).
