Resource World Magazine

30 www.resourceworld.com J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 8 Sun Metals delineating Stardust polymetallic deposit by Ellsworth Dickson SUN METALS CORP. [SUNM-TSXV] is a newly-listed company with an old project. Recognizing that a high-grade deposit will partially de-risk a mining project in a sector that has ever-chang - ing metal prices, management set out to find a mineral project that featured robust grades. As such, Sun Metals, a member of the highly successful Oxygen Group of companies, has optioned a 100% interest from Lorraine Copper Corp. [LLC-TSXV; LRCPF-OTC] in the Stardust polymetallic project located 250 km northwest of Prince George, British Columbia. To earn its interest, Sun Metals will pay $375,000 in stages, issue 2.5 million shares and spend $6 million on exploration by December 31, 2021. Exploration of the project dates back to 1944. To date, some $25 million has been spent in the ground that has included 390 drill holes (80,000 metres), 5,800 samples, 425 line-km of magne - tometer geophysical surveys and 390 line-km of VLF surveys. Unlike porphyry deposits with their low grades, the Stardust property features 2,200-metres of mineralization with four styles of mineralization that includes a high-grade skarn deposit as well as veins, mantos and porphyries, some of which have zinc, lead and molybdenum credits. The Canyon Creek copper-gold skarn remains open for expansion and hosts indicated resources of 985,000 tonnes grading 1.34% copper, 1.59 g/t gold and 36.8 g/t silver, for a CuEq of 2.92%. Inferred resources stand at 1,985,000 tonnes of 1.25% copper, 1.72 g/t gold and 30.5 g/t silver, for 2.65% CuEq. Indeed, all the zones remain open to expansion. Steve Robertson, PGeo., President and CEO, told Resource World, "We have a permit in place that will allow us to start exploration. We currently have an expanded permit that is in for review at this time and we expect to not have any interruption to our work plans with that." He added that Sun Metals has initiated discussions with the Takla Lake First Nation and expects that they will have a fruit - ful conclusion. "We're early in our discussions but I will say that things have been going quite well and we're off to a good start." "There's been a great deal of exploration and discovery in that general area north of Prince George for many years and that's one of the reasons why we're attracted into the area," said Robertson. "It's got such great potential from a geological perspective." Plans are in place for this season's exploration program. "We're going to be starting with an airborne geophysical survey in May and due to the heavy snow load this year, we're probably not going to get our boots on the ground until sometime in June," said Robertson. This will be followed by geologic mapping and prospecting, re-logging and re-sampling of historic drill core, 15,000 metres of diamond drilling and data compilation for an estimated cost of $5 million. Commenting on skarns, an important source of copper and gold in BC, Robertson said, "Skarns don't necessarily behave them - selves and form nice planer features but they make up for that in grade. Their usually very high-grade bodies provide an ability to build a lot of pounds of copper and ounces of gold quickly." He noted that getting high-grade mineralization is very reward- ing in today's environment with high mining costs. "I think we need to do more drilling to be able to build tonnage before we can start to conceptualize exactly how this would potentially be exploited. All four of those types of mineralization can be found on the surface and so, the concept to there being potentially of open pit isn't out of the question. For the high-grade mineraliza - tion, underground mining is probably the more likely scenario, should we get to that point." Financing objectives were better than expected. "We targeted a $5 million financing and exceeded our expectations by about 30%. We ended up raising $6.4 million which you know, is a tes - tament to the strength of the Oxygen Group. Over the past nine months, Sun Metals and three sister companies in the Oxygen Group have raised a total of $73 million over six financings. A number of Oxygen Group companies have been successful and have been taken up by more senior companies, including Fronteer Gold, True Gold, True North Nickel, Blue Gold and Aurora. Other active companies include Pure Gold Mining Inc. [PGM-TSXV; LRTNF-OTC], Liberty Gold Corp. [LGD-TSX; LGDTF-OTC] and Discovery Metals Corp. [DSV-TSXV; AYYBF- OTC]. n Sun Metals team engaged in discussion over Stardust drill core from the 2017 program. Chairman Donald McInnes is at the far left (foreground) and President & CEO Steve Robertson is at the centre. Photo courtesy Sun Metals Corp. MINING

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