Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Copper Gains in ‘23

T2 Metals Corp. (TSX-V: TWO)(OTC: AGLAF), currently trading around C$0.40 per share, has intersected intense silica alteration in the first two holes of its maiden drill program at its 100%-owned Lida copper-silver-gold project located in southwestern Nevada’s prolific Walker Lane Mineral Belt — one of America’s top exploration addresses for gold, silver, copper, and lithium. 

Both drill holes — which were spaced ~900 meters apart — intersected altered and veined sequences of sedimentary rocks with Hole 1 intersecting a porphyritic quartz-feldspar intrusive, which the team believes provides evidence of potential proximity to a larger porphyry that may be a deeper source of the extensive near-surface copper mineralization found at Lida. 

Upon visual inspection of the drill core — which, by the way, the company will have on display at PDAC in Toronto, March 5-8 — the T2 team has elected to send core from both holes to the lab for processing and, subsequently, pause drilling until that analysis has been completed.

T2 Metals CEO Mark Saxon — whom you’re about to hear from directly in our exclusive interview — commented via press release:

“Drilling a previously untested project is an exciting time in the exploration industry, and Lida has been no exception. Intersecting a sulfide-bearing porphyry intrusive beneath cover is a very positive result, but the highlight was the silica altered interval with chalcocite associated with high resistivity. Lida sits within the Walker Lane, one of the most gold rich regions of North America, while locally a major gold mining company has staked on our western claim margin. Alteration of this style may be indicative of potential for gold mineralization. We elected to pause the drilling program after two holes to learn more about the intersected rocks using geochemistry and petrology, and we shall return to further test this large and highly prospective target on the basis of that new data.”

And speaking of mining addresses, Nevada consistently ranks near the top of favorable places to mine and was ranked as the #1 mining jurisdiction in the world in the 2020 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies — so it really doesn’t get any more prospective for mineral exploration than America’s Silver State. 

In terms of the Walker Lane Belt, activity is currently heating up in and around T2 Metals’ claim block with the company noting that a senior producer very, very recently staked mineral claims right along the western edge of its Lida property. 
 
And that’s not at all surprising considering that Nevada’s Walker Lane Mineral Belt is one of the richest mining districts in North America with hundreds of copper, gold, silver, and molybdenum deposits along with activity by senior producers such as AngloGold, Newcrest, Hecla, and Kinross — among others. 

The belt, which correlates directly with the infamous San Andreas Fault, has seen continuous mineral exploration and production — highlighted by a number of historically important mines, including the famous Comstock Lode — since the original gold rush of 1849.

T2’s Lida copper-silver-gold project — which is considered a high-priority target due to its association of widespread surface copper mineralization with a discrete magnetic high — is situated in a prime Walker Lane hotspot in between the Goldfield Deposits (Centarra Gold) and the Bullfrog Mine (Augusta Gold). 

A series of initial ground sampling and IP surveys across Lida, from 2021 to 2022, confirmed a zone of intense copper mineralization and strong hydrothermal alteration within the claim block, producing the first set of drill targets. 

As you can tell by Mark Saxon’s quote in the press release — and as you’ll undoubtedly pick up on in our exclusive interview coming right up — the T2 team is eagerly awaiting assay results from the first two holes and is poised to resume drilling once that geologic data is in hand. 

Far from a one-trick pony, T2 Metals is advancing two other key projects — the Sherridon copper-zinc-gold project in Manitoba, Canada, and the Cora copper porphyry project in Arizona. Also worth noting, the team is perpetually on the hunt for additional accretive acquisitions in other Tier-1 mining jurisdictions. 

The resource-stage Sherridon copper-zinc-gold project is a VHMS-style (volcanic-hosted massive sulfide) property located in the Flin Flon mining camp of northwestern Manitoba, Canada — another highly attractive North American mining address.  

It’s important to note that, 1.) VHMS deposits commonly occur in clusters, or “camps,” and, 2.) T2 Metals is the exclusive owner of the Sherridon camp.

Already, the Sherridon project includes four near-surface historical (2010) resource-stage Cu-Zn-Au deposits — including the Sherrit Gordon Mine; 8 million tonnes of past production — within a 4 km radius and is situated nearby to operating mines.

The team at T2 believes that the big, or “mother lode” deposit at Sherridon has yet to be found and that, once uncovered, could one day rival Hudbay’s 777 Mine (18-year mine life), which represented the pinnacle of a century of shared success for Hudbay and Flin Flon. 

The company intends to have boots-on-the-ground in that endeavor later this year wherein it also has at its disposal data from more than 400 historical drill holes and tens of kilometers of mineralized horizon defined by airborne geophysics.  

Last but not the least, T2 owns 100% of the 3.84 sq km Cora copper porphyry project, which is situated in the south-central Arizona Copper District where it is surrounded by an array of copper porphyry deposits and where historical drilling at Cora has produced thick intersections of oxide copper.

By now, you’re likely starting to notice that the T2 Metals team is ONLY interested in projects that are located within the safe confines of Tier-1 mining jurisdictions; Arizona, for example, chimed in at #2 in the Fraser Institute’s 2021 Mining Attractiveness Index. 

To that end, speculators can take added comfort knowing T2 is advancing projects in areas with a long established history of strong governmental support for mining operations.

Last summer, T2 completed an airborne magnetic survey at Cora, which identified a clear oval shaped low-magnetic feature — a characteristic commonly found associated with porphyry copper deposits in Arizona and elsewhere.

The magnetic-low feature is interpreted to be approximately 1.5 km by 1.5 km in area and corresponds, in part, with a zone of oxide copper mineralization previously drilled by California Steel Co. way back in the 1950s.

The T2 team believes the magnetic low may correspond with an intrusive ore body, which makes the anomaly a strong copper porphyry-style target. The company plans to drill test the target later this year. 

So plenty of near-term catalysts and news flow ahead for T2 over the coming quarters. For interested speculators, T2 Metals offers exposure to a portfolio of historical resource and discovery stage copper-dominant mineral exploration projects in Tier-1 jurisdictions within North America — all at a sub-C$15 million market cap. 

Our own Gerardo Del Real of Junior Resource Monthly caught up with T2 Metals CEO Mark Saxon for a deep dive into the exciting drill core just pulled from the ground at Lida in Nevada, plus a look at the company’s two other exciting mineral projects in Manitoba and Arizona. Please enjoy!

For additional information on Vancouver-based T2 Metals, be sure to contact the company’s IR department at info@t2metals.com.

Mike Fagan
Editor, Resource Stock Digest