B.C.-focused Surge Copper (TSXV: SURG; OTC: SRGXF) has provided its first resource update for its flagship Ootsa property, an advanced-stage exploration project located adjacent to Imperial Metals' (TSX: III) Huckleberry mine, since 2016.
Pit-constrained measured and indicated resources at the project now total 439 million tonnes averaging 0.18% copper, 0.12 gram gold per tonne, 0.02% molybdenum and 2.1 gram silver for 1.7 billion lb. copper, 1.6 million oz. gold, 167 million lb. molybdenum and 30 million oz. silver.
Inferred resources add 138 million tonnes grading 0.15% copper, 0.1 gram gold, 0.02% molybdenum and 2 grams silver for 462 million lb. copper, 400,000 oz. gold, 46 million lb. molybdenum and 9 million oz. silver.
The resource includes three copper-gold-molybdenum-silver porphyry deposits - East Seel, West Seel and Ox - hosted by Ootsa.
The updated resource represents a 96% increase over its last estimate in 2016, and combined with the nearby Berg project, in which it can earn a 70% interest from Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) brings Surge's total measured and indicated inventory to over 1 billion tonnes, with total contained metal across the two projects of 5.3 billion lb. copper, 1.6 million oz. gold, 586 million lb. molybdenum and 89 million oz. silver.
The new Ootsa resource is based on a drill hole database comprising 152,000 metres of diamond drilling, including about 50,000 metres drilled since 2018. It combines multiple mineralized zones at the Seel deposit area into a single pit-constrained volume, and demonstrates both the overall size of the mineral endowment at Ootsa, as well as the presence of near-surface, higher-grade subsets of the resource that could be evaluated in future studies as potential starter pits.
During 2021, Surge embarked on an exploration campaign that sought to optimize the existing deposits by expanding existing resources and known higher-grade trends where they remain open, drill test high-priority copper-gold porphyry targets that occur proximal to the existing deposits, and advance several gold silver and base metal exploration targets within the Ootsa claim block.
"Our objective with the drill campaigns in 2020-2021, and this resource estimate, were to determine the characteristics of a 'super-pit' resource at Ootsa that would encompass various zones at Seel including the large mineralized zone at West Seel, the near-surface gold-rich zone at East Seel, and the high-grade Breccia zone," said Surge CEO Leif Nilsson in a press release. "This result demonstrates the significant overall size of the Seel system and the flexibility represented by the near-surface higher-grade zones, including the Breccia zone, which has seen an approximate quadrupling in size and remains open for further expansion."
The company is conducting a 22,000-metre regional exploration program.
The next steps at Ootsa include advanced metallurgical test work (ongoing), long lead-time environmental baseline monitoring programs, internal engineering trade-off studies focused on district-wide infrastructure options, and exploration (ongoing).