White Cliff nabs 7.54% silver prize at Great Bear

White Cliff Minerals finds possibly the highest-grade rock chip assay in recent history of 7.54% silver at Great Bear
Rock chips were found about 550m along strike from two historical silver mines within the underexplored Slider prospect
Sampling also returned consistently high-grade polymetallic results including 9.8% copper at the Charlie prospect

Special Report: Rock chip sampling might only be a guidepost to actual mineralisation, but it’s hard to not get excited when silver makes up 7.54% (75,439g/t) of the rock you hold in your hands.

This is the exciting scenario White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) has found itself in at its already very promising Great Bear project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Rock chip sampling at the 1.5km by 1.5km Slider prospect had returned almost unheard of bonanza grade silver of 7.54% and 5.35% about 550m along strike to the northwest of two historical underground silver mines that produced 34.2Moz of refined silver.

An east-west structural trend striking over 450m was also identified within the Slider region after rock chips returned assays of up to 904g/t silver, 6.5% copper and 8.1% zinc while a similar mineralised structure – sampled over 450m north to south – also returned 383g/t silver and 13.6% copper.

Meanwhile, rock chips at the Charlie prospect – a skarn horizon covering a strike of ~900m that was previously identified by state geologists – has returned consistently high-grade polymetallic results of up to 9.8% copper, 233g/t silver, 1.7% lead and 2.4% zinc, which adds to the metal basket at Great Bear.

This adds to earlier rock chip sampling results that uncovered three additional IOCG mineralised structures and the Coyote epithermal system – a zone of intense epithermal alteration and veining with assays of up to 4g/t gold, 12.1% copper and 62.5g/t silver.

White, Cliff, Minerals, ASX, WCN, Rock, Chip, Sample, Silver, Great, Bear — Here’s what 7.54% silver looks like in a rock chip sample. Pic: White Cliff Minerals

Highest grade silver result in recent history

“Well, this not something you see every day, let alone to find on surface during a maiden field program – possibly the highest-grade silver results published in recent history,” WCN managing director Troy Whittaker said.

“It’s remarkable that the team has now delineated a total of six high-grade copper, gold and silver mineralised districts at Great Bear.

“Results to date have included massive, mineralised contents of 42.6% copper, 42.2% copper, 39.5% copper, 38.2g/t gold, 29.7g/t gold and 716g/t silver and now, those results have now potentially been outshone by this silver discovery.

“To reel off with consistency, these results in a maiden campaign from around 15-20% of the overall Great Bear Project Area is great. If we are able to marry these results and structures up with the recently completed geophysics and prove depth potential, we will be well placed for significant discovery.”

Whittaker added that the Slider discovery is amazingly underexplored, providing WCN with plenty of potential to find additional high-grade silver structures.