Batchawana Copper Project

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Property Overview

 

The Property comprises 45 contiguous unpatented mining claims totaling 384 units, and covering an area of approximately 6,144 hectares in Ryan and Kincaid Townships. The property is located in the Batchewana Bay area on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. Access to the property is by Trans-Canada Highway 17 approximately 85 kilometers northwest of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

 

 

Surface Sampling and Drilling Results - Summer 2011                                                                                             

  • Cenit commenced a diamond drilling program at the Coppercorp Property in July 2011, to test the B Zone, the depth extension of the past-producing Coppercorp Mine C Zone, the SB Zone and the Kincaid Breccia.

  • The B Zone drill program comprising 14 drill holes totaling an estimated 1,200 meters of drilling was completed in August 2011. Significant results from the B Zone include:
    • BCP-4-11 intercepted 3.65 meters of 1.4% Cu and 3.9 g/t Ag
    • BCP-1-11 intercepted 5.58 meters of 1.97% Cu and 20.85 g/t Ag
    • BCP-12-11 intercepted 1 meters of 0.9% Cu

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  • The SB Zone drill program, consisting of 6 holes totalling 980m, was completed in October 2011. Best results include:
    • BCP-19-11 intercepted 4.8 meters of 7.27% Cu and 144.5 g/t Ag
    • BCP-24-11 intercepted 3.0 meters of 3.97% Cu and 65.2 g/t Ag as well as 3.2 meters of 3.18% Cu and 70.5 g/t Ag at 39.9 meters further down hole.
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  • A Surface Sampling Program was also completed at the Coppercorp area to locate the vein system at surface. Surface Sampling results include:
    • The North Extension of the original Coppercorp Mine returned 18.7% and 51.6% Cu from grab samples and a grade of 2.17% Cu over 2 meters from channel sampling. 
    • The B Zone returned a grade of 4.94% Cu over 3 meters for a strike length of 8 meters at the northern exposure of the zone, and 2.84% Cu over 3 meters for a strike length of 17 meters at the southern exposure of the zone. The B Zone had grab samples assaying 15.8% Cu.
    • The Kincaid Breccia returned assays as high as 3.44% Cu, 29.6 g/t Ag and 0.184 g/t Au from grab samples

 

Property Geology


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The geological setting of the Coppercorp Property is on the eastern edge of the 1.1 Ga Midcontinental Rift that underlies what is now Lake Superior. The Property predominantly covers Proterozoic-age volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Mamainse Point Formation, which unconformably overlies Archean-age metavolcanic rocks of the Batchawana Greenstone Belt. The stratigraphic units of the Mamainse Point Formation are offset by a series of radially distributed faults that coincides with a regional convex warping that may contribute to the mineralization process in the Coppercorp region. The fault system comprises two sets of structures. A north-northeast trending set dips 50-65° east and includes the Copper Creek Zone, Silver Creek Zone, and the ‘G’, ‘H’, and ‘F’ Zones. A north-northwest trending set dips 50-70°east and consists of the C Zone, SB Zone, D Zone and B Zone.

 

The Midcontinental Rift System hosts a number of significant and valuable copper, nickel, PGE and gold deposits. Examples are the Eagle deposit, Hemlo, Nokomis, Thunder Bay North as well as historic copper mines which includes the Keweenaw Peninsula, Isle Royal, and White Pine Mine

Coppercorp Deposit 

 

 

Economically viable copper mineralization at the Coppercorp Mine Property occurs in fault-related breccia zones and veins that transect the Keweenawan basalt flows and conglomerates. The veins and breccias consist of quartz and carbonate with subordinate laumontite and fluorite. The principle ore mineral is chalcocite with lesser amounts of bornite, chalcopyrite, malachite and native copper.

 

Historic Production

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The Coppercorp Property is a past producing copper mine that operated from 1965 to1972, producing 1.02 million tons grading 1.16% of copper and approximately 228,000 ounces of silver and 2,000 ounces of gold from high-grade mineralized vein system. The past-producing Coppercorp mine was closed to staking in 1972. The property was resumed to staking in 2002 and several subsequent exploration activities have been carried out on the property site including a diamond drilling program. The best mineralized section included 1.63% of copper and 5.15 g/t of silver over a 35.5-meter drill hole intersection (Hole CP05-05; Phase II Drill Program, 2005), although, the true width of the intercept was estimated at 17 meters.

Additionally, the Coppercorp Mine area is located on the Canadian side of the extension of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The Keweenaw Peninsula was the site of large-scale copper mining in the United States producing over 5 million tons of native copper deposits between 1845 and 1968.

 

Adjacent Producers


Two significant past producers in the vicinity of the Coppercorp Mine include the Mamainse that operated from 1882 to 1884, and the Tribag Copper Mine, which operated from 1967 to 1974 and milled over 1 million tons of ore, at a grade of 1.65% copper.

In addition, regionally there are many mines associated with the Mid-Continental Rift, the mega-structure underlying Lake Superior.

 

               

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IOCG Potential


Historical exploration work has suggested that the Coppercorp Property demonstrates essential features for hosting an iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposit similar to the IOCG deposits in Australia. The area is believed to be prospective for IOCG deposits because of its favorable geological setting, widespread copper mineralization with associated gold and silver hosted by Keweenawan basalts, abundance of iron oxide minerals, and alteration mineralogy. Past surveys have also confirmed semi-coincident gravity and magnetic anomalies in the area that can be indicative of IOCG deposits are present in the Coppercorp property and remain untested by drilling.