White Cliff’s new licence adds Danvers Canadian copper deposit to Rae portfolio

White Cliff Minerals acquires exploration licence covering the historical Danvers copper deposit
Historical drilling at Danvers has returned assays up to 39.4m at 4.9% copper
Acquisition secures dominant landholding and provides potential to expand occurrences of copper

Special Report: White Cliff Minerals has increased its exposure to prospective ground within the Rae copper region in Nunavut, Canada, with the acquisition of exploration licence L-2797.

The previously stranded licence, which was picked up through the acquisition of its 100% owner Victoria Copper, covers the historical Danvers copper deposit where drilling was carried out to a maximum depth of ~150m in 1967 and 1968.

Importantly for White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN), this drilling returned thick intervals of high-grade, near-surface copper such as:

4m grading 4.9% copper from a down-hole depth of 60.3m (S-57)
1m at 3.2% copper from 42.2m (S-24)
4m at 3.2% copper from 21m (S-21)
5m at 4% copper from 76.7m (S-63).

The success of this program was enough to define a historical resource estimate of 4.16Mt grading 2.96% copper that provides a hint of the deposits prospectivity though more work will be required to define a JORC 2012 compliant resource.

Follow-up drilling in 2003 and 2005 focused on expanding the known mineralised envelope, which starts at surface and extends for ~550m by 200m, confirmed that mineralisation remains open in all directions – including at depth.

Confirmation drilling and other verification work for the Danvers deposit has already been pencilled into the company’s upcoming 2025 exploration program at Rae.

The newly acquired licence sits 3km south of the Lake Hope Airstrip, where the company intends to base its 2025 field operations. It represents an accelerated near-term optionality to start growing a resource for the greater Rae project, which is numerous historical non-JORC – or NI 43-101 and ‘blue sky’ – mineral estimates.

Location of exploration districts – including the new Danvers target – within the Rae copper project. Pic: White Cliff Minerals

Value acquisition

“This is a value acquisition for shareholders. This moderate-tonne but lower-grade historic resource of 4.16mt at 2.96% Cu is but one of several styles of mineralisation the company expects to find throughout the broader licence area,” managing director Troy Whittaker said.

“Other targets include the very large tonne targets of Hulk, the high-grade, high-tonne potential of Stark, the very high-grade native copper flow top replacement targets and finally the extremely high-grade Thor, Rocket and Vision areas.

“This acquisition provides not only the potential for fast tracked expansion of an already identified large occurrence of copper but further secures the company’s dominant landholding in the region.

“We are now preparing for the 2025 drilling – with all targets now identified and prioritised starting with the giant Hulk sedimentary target, the extremely high-grade vein systems and resource verification work at Danvers as well as at Great Bear, the company is well positioned to deliver on its CY25 planned objectives.”

Recent rock chip sampling had returned up to 64.02% copper and indicated that outcropping copper is widespread throughout the licence area.

This article was developed in collaboration with White Cliff Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.