Resource World Magazine

46 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 Sun Metals drills high-grade skarn mineralization at Stardust by Thomas Schuster NEWLY FORMED SUN METALS [SUNM-TSXV] raised $6.45 mil- lion and began trading last May. Since then, the company has been exploring the Canyon Creek Skarn Zone at its Stardust Project about 250 km northwest of Prince George, British Columbia. The com- pany has focused its efforts on the high-grade copper-gold skarn portion of a 2.2 km-long historic Carbonate Replacement System. The Stardust Project, formerly known as Lustdust, has a rich exploration history dating back to 1941. Sun Metals, part of the Oxygen Capital Group of Companies, led by Donald McInnes and Dr. Mark O'Dea, were attracted to the project because it's a "data- rich project." Their philosophy centres on identifying overlooked opportunities in areas of previous exploration. Sun Metals is currently earning a 100% interest in the proj- ect in a deal signed with Lorraine Copper Corp. [LLC-TSXV] in August 2017. About $25 million had been invested in exploration at Stardust before the Sun Metals involvement. Work includes 80,000 metres of drilling over 390 holes, 5,800 soil samples, two airborne magnetic surveys, mapping and prospecting. The project hosts a large, porphyry-skarn-manto-epithermal system. Regional geophysical and geochemical data indicate the system extends well beyond the previously identified mineralized zones. Regional magnetics indicates the large intrusive complex has only been sparsely drilled. When soil geochemistry is layered on, it reveals vast, untested, prospective areas. In June, after compiling 70 years of data, Sun Metals kicked off a $5 million exploration program comprising a 15,000-metre drilling campaign along with mapping, prospecting, soil geo- chemistry, airborne Lidar and photogrammetry and a 100-metre line spaced Heli-born VTEM and magnetics survey. Drilling tar- geted geophysical/geological/geochemical anomalies that had never been previously drilled. Three types of targets were tested: • Extensional targets which were designed to test for expansion of areas of known mineralization and define a larger resource; • Geophysical targets which tested prospective areas based on results from the 2018 VTEM survey; • Geologic targets which tested prospective areas based on geo- logic modelling. Sun Metals has reported assays from drill hole DDH18-SD-421. The hole returned 100.00 metres grading 2.51% copper, 3.03 g/t gold, 52.5 g/t silver and 0.41% zinc, including 77.20 metres of 3.11% copper. 3.74 g/t gold, 64.9 g/t silver and 053% zinc, including 36.50 metres of 3.89% copper, 4.47 g/t gold, 84.6 g/t silver and 1.06% zinc, including 29.10 metres of 3.35% copper, 4.29 g/t gold, 65.7 g/t silver and 0.06% zinc. True widths of the mineralized intervals are not known. Assays from 14 more drill holes are pending. "We have intersected the strongest mineralization ever observed at Stardust and this drill hole is a game changer for the project and the district," said Steve Robertson, President and CEO. "We have crossed into a new area of mineralization that has not been tested previously. The mineralization is stronger and more pervasive, providing support that we are moving in the right direction to find more of these longer intercepts of consis- tently higher-grade mineralization. The Canyon Creek Skarn Zone is clearly open for expansion." Sun Metal's drills also targeted an extension to the historic Canyon Creek copper-gold skarn resource. Hole SD-411 intersected 14.4 metres averaging 1.32% copper, 1.03 g/t gold and 2.12% zinc in the 101 lens and 2.15 metres averaging 3.18% copper 0.75 g/t gold and 498.4 g/t silver from an extension of the 113 Lens. The Canyon Creek Skarn hosts an indicated resource of 985,000 tonnes averaging 1.34% copper, 1.59 g/t gold and 36.8g/t silver. This translates to a copper equivalent grade of 2.92%. a The company believes that the drill results that intersected higher-grade mineralization are closer to the source of the miner- alizing fluids that formed the overall skarn system. It is a pattern typical of many other known skarn zones associated with carbon- ate replacement deposits. "These kinds of grades, coupled with the multiple repeated mineralization stages readily seen in core, suggest we're on a major mineralization fluid pathway. The textures suggest we're still pretty distal, so there should be plenty of room to follow this high-grade skarn back towards the source of the system," said Dr. Peter Megaw, Chair of Sun Metals' Technical Advisory Committee. This field season, Sun Metals tested all of the major targets it outlined and identified a clear exploration path forward. Although some results are still pending, further exploration of the Canyon Creek Skarn in the area of hole DDH18-SD-421 will undoubtedly be the focus of the next stage of exploration. n MINING In November, Sun Metals announced an intersection of 100 Metres Grading 5% Copper Equivalent in a drill hole at the Stardust Project. The project is located approximately 250km northwest of Prince George, B.C. and is accessible by road. Photo courtesy Sun Metals.

• Cover