0.76 g/t Gold over 175.49 m Intersected in Leached Cap
VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 2, 2021 /CNW/ - Western Copper and Gold
Corporation ("Western" or the "Company") (TSX: WRN) (NYSE American:
WRN) is pleased to announce assay results from the 2020 exploration
diamond drilling program at its wholly owned Casino Project
("Casino") located in the Yukon
Territory, Canada.
The exploration program consisted of 12,008 m of diamond drilling in 49 holes. There
were four major drilling targets (see Figure 1): the "Gold
Zone", a zone of higher-grade gold values along the southern and
western margins of the Casino deposit; step-out drilling at the
"Northern Porphyry Zone"; drilling in the "Casino West Zone" west
of the Gold Zone; and a new target in the "Ana Zone" located 2 km
west of the Casino West Zone within the Canadian Creek claim block
acquired in 2019. A full table of all drill results can be
found here:
http://westerncopperandgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020_Drill_Results.pdf
"Casino is a significant copper-gold project and these drill
results continue to improve it. The 2020 drill program extended the
mineralization at the Northern Porphyry discovered in 2019 and
confirmed the importance of the higher-grade deposit core." said
Paul West-Sells, President and CEO.
"The deposit core has significantly higher grades than the rest of
the deposit and they persist from a few metres below the surface to
greater than 200 m depth over a
sizable area. The significance of these attributes will be clearly
shown in the updated PEA, which we expect to release during
Q2."
Gold Zone and Deposit Core
Drilling at the Gold Zone confirmed the higher copper and gold
grades of the breccia-hosted mineralization. All 20 completed holes
within the Gold Zone returned notable intervals of
mineralization.
Of note is an area within the eastern Gold Zone where a cluster
of angle holes, DDH20-05, 08, 27, and 46, were drilled into the
core of the Casino porphyry-copper system. Holes DDH20-05,
08, and 27 drilled a leached cap whose thickness is approximately
100 m over an area of 500 m by 300 m (see
Figure 2). These holes confirmed gold grades that are
significantly higher than the 0.25 g/t gold measured and indicated
heap-leach resource grade1 (see Figure 2). In
addition, holes DDH20-05, 08, and 46 confirmed gold and copper
grades significantly higher than the 0.16% copper and 0.18 g/t
gold grades of the measured and indicated mill
resource1. These grades extend over 100 m below the leached cap in the supergene and
hypogene zones and cover an area of 800
m x 500 m. This material
would be targeted in the early years of the mill operation.
Also, higher-grade gold-silver intervals spatially related to
the late-stage Patton Porphyry dykes throughout the main deposit
enrich the tenor of mineralization locally within the Gold
Zone.
Table 1: Significant drill intercepts from the eastern Gold
Zone
Hole
|
Met
Zone
|
Hole
Length
|
From
(m)
|
To
(m)
|
Width
(m)2
|
Cu
(%)
|
Au
(g/t)
|
Ag
(g/t)
|
Mo
(%)
|
CuEq
(%)3
|
DDH20-05
|
Leached
Cap
|
354.48
|
3.25
|
178.74
|
175.49
|
0.06
|
0.76
|
5.5
|
0.029
|
|
|
Supergene
|
178.74
|
223.15
|
44.41
|
0.74
|
0.83
|
6.0
|
0.081
|
1.77
|
|
Hypogene
|
223.15
|
354.48
|
131.33
|
0.36
|
0.46
|
3.1
|
0.018
|
0.82
|
DDH20-08
|
Leached
Cap
|
271.27
|
7.40
|
169.70
|
162.30
|
0.03
|
0.44
|
3.6
|
0.015
|
|
|
Supergene
|
169.70
|
218.00
|
48.30
|
0.52
|
0.77
|
7.9
|
0.038
|
1.36
|
|
Hypogene
|
218.00
|
271.27
|
53.27
|
0.36
|
0.56
|
5.8
|
0.020
|
0.95
|
DDH20-27
|
Leached
Cap
|
148.44
|
9.05
|
148.44
|
139.39
|
0.00
|
0.29
|
1.2
|
0.000
|
|
DDH20-46
|
Leached
Cap
|
301.75
|
3.30
|
145.10
|
141.80
|
0.01
|
0.28
|
5.4
|
0.002
|
|
|
Supergene
|
145.10
|
172.09
|
26.99
|
0.28
|
0.37
|
2.40
|
0.004
|
0.61
|
|
Hypogene
|
172.09
|
301.75
|
129.66
|
0.24
|
0.38
|
2.80
|
0.014
|
0.63
|
Northern Porphyry
At the Northern Porphyry Zone, step-out drill holes like
DDH20-09 and 44 increased the northern extent of mineralization by
approximately 500 m (Table 2).
Table 2: Significant drill intercepts from the Northern
Porphyry
Hole
|
Met
Zone
|
Hole
Length
|
From
(m)
|
To
(m)
|
Width
(m)2
|
Cu
(%)
|
Au
(g/t)
|
Ag
(g/t)
|
Mo
(%)
|
CuEq
(%)3
|
DDH20-09
|
Supergene
|
260.60
|
7.30
|
61.30
|
54.00
|
0.30
|
0.25
|
1.30
|
0.003
|
0.52
|
|
Hypogene
|
61.30
|
260.60
|
199.30
|
0.16
|
0.19
|
1.20
|
0.005
|
0.34
|
DDH20-44
|
Leached
Cap
|
300.23
|
0.90
|
21.90
|
21.00
|
0.14
|
0.20
|
3.10
|
0.006
|
|
|
Supergene
|
21.90
|
85.10
|
63.20
|
0.18
|
0.15
|
0.90
|
0.004
|
0.32
|
|
Hypogene
|
85.10
|
300.23
|
215.13
|
0.13
|
0.16
|
1.00
|
0.014
|
0.32
|
Casino West and Ana
Drilling at the Casino West Zone focused on the southern flank
of the Canadian Creek valley. Although no significant values were
returned from the farthest upslope holes, values increased
progressively downslope towards Canadian Creek, reaching a maximum
value of 0.30% CuEq3 over 87.00
m in DDH20-37.
The program included three holes targeting the Ana Zone,
centered 4 km west of the core of the main deposit. All
returned narrow mineralized intervals ranging from 1.92%
CuEq3 over 3.00 m in
DDH20-31 to 0.37% CuEq3 over 15.00 m in DDH20-40.
Western will now focus on completing the Preliminary Economic
Assessment announced at the end of last year, which is on target
for completion in Q2 of 2021.
NOTES
1 See news release
dated July 14, 2020.
2 Widths are core length, not true width
of mineralized intersection.
3 CuEq Metal Prices: US$2.75/lb copper, US$1,500/oz gold, US$11.00/lb molybdenum, US$18.00/oz silver with no adjustment for
metallurgical recovery.
Heather Seeley, P.Geo. is the
qualified person responsible for drill results from the Casino
Project exploration program and the preparation of the technical
information in this news release.
QA/QC including assurance of chain of custody has been
implemented. Split core samples are prepared and analyzed by ALS
Chemex. Prepared samples are initially run using a four acid
digestion process and conventional multi-element ICP-AES analysis.
Additional assaying for total copper and molybdenum is run using a
4 acid digestion – AES or AAS method to a 0.001% detection
limit. Gold assays are run using 30 gram sample fire assay
with an AA finish to a 0.005 ppm detection limit, with samples
greater than 10 ppm finished gravimetrically. The QA/QC procedure
involves regular submission of Certified Analytical Standards and
property specific duplicates.
ABOUT WESTERN COPPER AND GOLD CORPORATION
Western Copper and Gold Corporation is developing the Casino
Project, Canada's premier
copper-gold mine in the Yukon
Territory and one of the most economic greenfield
copper-gold mining projects in the world. For more
information, visit www.westerncopperandgold.com.
On behalf of the board,
"Paul West-Sells"
Dr. Paul West-Sells
President and CEO
Western Copper and Gold Corporation
Cautionary Disclaimer Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
and Information
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements
concerning anticipated developments in Western's operations in
future periods. Statements that are not historical fact are
"forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in
the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward looking
information" as that term is defined in National Instrument 51-102
("NI 51-102") of the Canadian Securities Administrators
(collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Certain
forward-looking information should also be considered
future-oriented financial information ("FOFI") as that term is
defined in NI 51-102. The purpose of disclosing FOFI is to provide
a general overview of management's expectations regarding the
anticipated results of operations and capital expenditures and
readers are cautioned that FOFI may not be appropriate for other
purposes. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not
always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates",
"believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible" and
similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or
results "will", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved.
These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited
to, statements regarding perceived merit of properties; mineral
reserve and resource estimates; capital expenditures; feasibility
study results (including projected economic returns, operating
costs, and capital costs in connection with the Casino Project);
exploration results at the Company's property; budgets; permitting
or other timelines; economic benefits from the mine and/or the
access road; strategic plans; market price of precious and base
metals; or other statements that are not statement of fact. The
material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking
statements include prevailing and projected market prices and
foreign exchange rates, exploration estimates and results,
continued availability of capital and financing, construction and
operations, the Company not experiencing unforeseen delays,
unexpected geological or other effects, equipment failures,
permitting delays, and general economic, market or business
conditions and as more specifically disclosed throughout this
document, and in the AIF and Form 40-F.
Forward-looking statements are statements about the future
and are inherently uncertain, and actual results, performance or
achievements of Western and its subsidiaries may differ materially
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements due to a variety of
risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such risks and other
factors include, among others, risks involved in fluctuations in
gold, copper and other commodity prices and currency exchange
rates; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results
and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits;
uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, recovery
rates, production estimates and estimated economic return; risks
related to joint venture operations; risks related to cooperation
of government agencies and First Nations in the development of the
property and the issuance of required permits; risks related to the
need to obtain additional financing to develop the property and
uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing;
the possibility of delay in construction projects and uncertainty
of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely
availability of permits and other governmental approvals; and other
risks and uncertainties disclosed in Western's AIF and Form 40-F,
and other information released by Western and filed with the
applicable regulatory agencies.
Western's forward-looking statements are based on the
beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the
statements are made, and Western does not assume, and expressly
disclaims, any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by
applicable securities legislation. For the reasons set forth above,
investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements.
SOURCE Western Copper and Gold Corporation