Nine Mile Metals Ltd. [CSE-NINE; OTCQB-VMSXF; FSE-KQ9] has received all necessary drill permits on its Wedge project southwest of the Brunswick No. 12 mine in the Bathurst mining camp, New Brunswick, and has mobilized the drill rig onsite for its high-priority drill program on targets No. 1 and No. 2.
Drilling at California Lake Target #10 stopped on December 17, 2023, above target depth due to inclement weather. The drill target is located in rolling hills west of Bathurst and the roads (20 km+) are not maintained by the NB Department of Highways making access for both crew and fuel trucks extremely hazardous.
The drill hole has been capped and will be re-entered when weather permits. Once shut down, the drill was relocated to the Wedge to avoid having equipment stuck deep in the bush over the winter months. Meanwhile, drill core is being cut and submitted to ALS Certified Labs in Vancouver for assay. Downhole geophysics (BHEM) is also being evaluated since this can be done in the winter months prior to resuming the drill program, through snowmobile access. We are obtaining quotes and recommendations for implementation.
Located approximately 4 km west of Hwy 430, the Wedge target areas #1 & #2 are the only accessible targets in the western portfolio due to heavy snowstorms and the New Brunswick Snowmobile Federation (NBSF), who take over road responsibilities for grooming until April. Arrangements have been made with the NBSF allowing us to clear a portion of the road to facilitate access to the Wedge for fuel deliveries. Drilling is expected to commence immediately targeting the Wedge Mine (Target #1) at depth and defined targets to both the southeast and to the northwest.
“Drilling will target the historic Wedge Mine area (Target #1) including the mineralized horizon and geophysical trends along strike to the northwest (Target #2) that Cominco identifies but never drill tested. Additional drill holes are planned to the southeast of the mine in a new area identified by EarthEx and their Late Time conductive response analysis, portrayed by the red axis line on Figure 1, where no drilling has been reported.” stated Gary Lohman, B.Sc., PGO., Nine Mile Metals VP Exploration and Director.
Patrick J Cruickshank, MBA, CEO and Director, stated, “Both the California Lake Target 10 area and the Wedge projects are very high priority and important for Nine Mile Metals. We are fortunate to have been able to relocate the Rig in these conditions and keep our overall program moving forward. We are extremely optimistic for our Wedge targets area and look forward to announcing positive results from this program until end of March. We look forward to returning to California Lake at the soonest time possible. The Rig and the crew are in Bathurst and preparing the site for this weekend start.”
Discovered in 1956, the Wedge Mine produced 1.503MT grading (2.88% Cu, 0.65% Pb, 1.81% Zn, 20.6 g/t Ag). McCutcheon et al (2005) stated a historical measured resource of 545,200T (1.75% Cu, 1.71% Pb & 5.21% Zn) to a depth of 274 metres.
The company has also closed its $1.5m flow-through private placement announced in December. Total proceeds raised was $1,125,000 which will be used towards exploration programs on the company’s New Brunswick VMS properties.
Nine Mile Metals is focused on Critical Minerals Exploration (CME) VMS (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ag and Au) exploration in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada. The company’s primary business objective is to explore its four VMS Projects: Nine Mile Brook VMS; California Lake VMS; Canoe Landing Lake (East-West) VMS and our Wedge VMS Projects.
