ASX-listed Valor Resources has finalised a review of historical exploration results at its Surprise Creek uranium project in northern Saskatchewan, Canada and has delineated three new significant copper targets which surprisingly have had minimal modern exploration in the last 40 years.
Valor’s Canadian uranium project is located to the north of the renowned uranium rich Athabasca basin in northern Saskatchewan and seemingly also has strong prospectivity for copper mineralisation. The company’s new mineral claims cover an area of 44 square kilometres to the west of the Surprise Creek project and were acquired in November 2022.
The review of historical exploration data dating from the 1950’s through to the 1970’s was undertaken on the newly staked claims which include three significant historical copper showings, Ellis Bay, Bob Lake and Waterloo.
The data review highlighted significant copper occurrences, in particular the Ellis Bay and Bob Lake Prospects. Trenching, channel sampling and drilling was undertaken on these two prospects in between the 1950s and 70s, but minimal modern exploration has been completed since then.
Valor Resources Executive Chairman, George Bauk said: “The recently staked claims at the Surprise Creek Project cover an area that has lacked any significant exploration activity over the past 40 years. The copper results generated in the 1950s-1970s have never been followed-up using modern exploration techniques, providing an exceptional opportunity for new discoveries”.
Bob Lake lies in the northwest corner of the project area and was first explored by Great West Uranium Mines back in 1952. Geologically, the area is underlain by a granite gneiss cut by dolerite dykes and quartz veins. Great West pierced ten holes in the ground totalling 576m at Bob Lake North and eight holes totalling 744m at Bob Lake South. The drilling pulled up intersections such as 9m at 2.07 per cent copper and a respectable 27.3 grams per tonne silver from surface in the north and 2.5m at a hefty 5.58 per cent copper and 17.43 g/t silver from 6.1m from the southern prospect.
The Ellis Bay copper occurrence sits within spitting distance of Ellis Bay in the southwest corner of the project area and was discovered in 1968 by Adora Mines who completed trenching and channel sampling.
The so-called Zone 25 occurrence, which is around 1.5km southwest of the Ellis Bay prospect was detected in 1971 by airborne electromagnetic surveys by Pinex Mines who plugged several holes in the area with mineralised intercepts of up to 6.6m at 1.31 per cent copper from 11m and 4m at 0.60 per cent copper from 8m. Quite recently, in 2012, Jazmine Minerals re-sampled some of the historical trenches with assay results up to 0.74 per cent copper.
North American Rare Metals discovered the Waterloo South showing in 1969, whilst Waterloo West was revealed by a lone prospector in 1971. The South and West showings are approximately 2.5km apart, either side of the Waterloo Lake. As with the other areas, most of the exploration work was done between 1950-1970 and was only briefly explored after by Phelps Dodge. Trenching and channel sampling results of up to 1.39 per cent copper over 4.5m were reported, along with 2.41 per cent copper over 3m, which included a 1m sample at an impressive 6.05 per cent copper at Waterloo West.
In all showings the copper is hosted within the minerals chalcopyrite, bornite, malachite and chalcocite. Valor intends to commence boots-on-ground geological mapping and rock chip sampling in the middle of the year in order to verify the historical data.
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