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DEH CHO
A Canadian mining exploration and development company plans to conduct an exploration program in the Deh Cho and Sahtu this summer.

Copper North Mining Corp. has an exploration camp established at Coates Lake, one of the locations in its Redstone Property where the company will be conducting an exploration program this summer. - photo courtesy of Copper North Mining Corp.

Copper North Mining Corp. will be spending an estimated $800,000 to increase its understanding of certain areas within its Redstone Property. The property consists of five mining leases and 13 mineral claims spread out across approximately 180 km. The property is located approximately 120 km northeast of Cantung Mine and 220 km west of Wrigley.

Copper North took ownership of the property after the company was created from the Western Copper Corporation last October. Copper North's mandate is to develop copper projects in the North, said Dr. Sally Eyre, the company's president and chief executive officer.

"Very little work has been done on the Redstone Property," Eyre said.

The area was drilled in the 1960s and 1970s by Shell Canada but no work was done during the next two decades. In the mid-2000s, a regional geological evaluation was done of the Redstone copper belt.

Regional geology

This summer's exploration program will build on the knowledge of the regional geology and focus on specific areas that Copper North might drill next year.

"It is the precursor of what we hope will be a bigger program in 2013," Eyre said.

The exploration program will look at four areas on the property, the most important of which is the Coates Lake deposit. The deposit, which is located in the southeastern portion of the property in the Deh Cho, has a historic inferred resource of 34 million tonnes with 3.92 per cent copper and nine grams of silver per tonne.

The other locations including Johnson Vein, Hayhook Basin and Hidden Valley in the Sahtu need more development because no inferred resources have been established there, said Eyre.

To learn more about the areas, the company will be using ground geophysics, geo-chemical sampling and geological mapping. The ground geophysics will involve a team of between two and four people using small pieces of equipment to get a profile of what may be below the surface, said Eyre.

"We know this region is highly prospective," she said.

"You have to be optimistic but realistic."

If Copper North is confident in the results it finds, it plans to conduct a drilling program next summer and look for extensions of the known mineralization. The next step would be to look at economic feasibility, Eyre said.

Copper North has already held preliminary meetings in Wrigley and Fort Simpson to introduce itself and explain the exploration program. Eyre said the company hopes to conduct similar meetings in Nahanni Butte, Norman Wells and Tulita soon.

Copper North has started to look for qualified people in a local community – but Eyre wouldn't divulge which one – to fill some positions related to this summer's work, including environmental monitors and general field support.

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