American Pacific shares jump on copper results from Palmer VMS project

The company said the 2023 drill program successfully targeted high-priority areas in unique Zone 1 and Zone 2-3 mineralized lenses, which together make up the South Wall zone at Palmer.

Highlight assays include 43.8 metres grading 6.54% copper, 3.15% zinc, 0.42 gram gold per tonne and 27.97 grams  silver; and 23.9 metres grading 9.03% copper, 3.49% zinc, 0.83 gram gold and 41.75 gram silver, both drilled in Zone 1. The highlight result from the other two zones was 39.8 metres grading 1.11% copper, 4.34% zinc, 0.45 gram gold and 32.45 gram silver.

“The final assay results from Palmer’s 2023 resource definition drilling have exceeded expectations with tremendous copper grades and aggregate metals values over significant widths,” commented Peter Mercer, SVP of advanced projects at American Pacific.

The final batch of assays consisted of 13 drill holes completed in three separate zones. Among them were the four most significant copper drill intersections reported to date at Palmer, along with significant zinc, gold and silver results.

Palmer, located in southeastern Alaska near Juneau is held under a joint venture partnership with Dowa Metals & Mining, owner of Japan’s largest zinc smelter. The US$20 million resource definition and geotechnical program in 2023 was funded by Dowa, which has a 55% interest in the JV.

The company is now incorporating all 2023 results into its 3-D geological model in order to locate priority drill locations for the 2024 program. “This year’s drilling will provide valuable insights as we re-evaluate and rank the numerous VMS showings throughout the mineralized district,” Mercer added.

The 2023 drilling also extended the copper-zinc mineralization beyond the Palmer deposit’s current mineral resource estimate, consisting of 4.7 million tonnes grading 1.49% copper, 5.23% zinc, 0.3 gram gold and 30.8 grams silver in the indicated category and 5.3 million tonnes grading 0.96% copper, 5.2% zinc, 0.28 gram gold and 29.2 grams silver in the inferred category.

According to a 2019 preliminary economic assessment, the copper-zinc resource at Palmer is expected to support an 11-year mine operation (plus a two-year pre-production period) with a post-tax net present value (at 7% discount) of US$266 million and an internal rate or return of 21%.

Shares of American Pacific Mining shot up by 30.7% to 34¢ apiece on Thursday afternoon on the latest Palmer drill results. The company has a market capitalization of $66.8 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 17¢ and 47¢.