Black Pine Resources has concluded an initial drilling programme at its Sugarloaf copper property, situated near Tyrone, New Mexico, US.
The company reported that eight of the 11 permitted sites were drilled with the work carried out by American Drilling of Spokane, Washington.
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All drill holes reached their planned depths under the supervision of a site geologist, with HQ core samples collected and now stored at a secure facility in Silver City, New Mexico.
Following the completion of drilling activities, Black Pine stated that the earthworks have been reclaimed.
The company also confirmed that all collected drill core has been quartered, with a portion shipped to ALS Chemex in Tucson for multi-element analysis.
Assay results for these samples are still pending.
Black Pine project manager Richard Kern said: “After an unusually long permitting process with the U.S Forest Service and the State of New Mexico, we are happy to announce completion of an initial drilling campaign at Sugarloaf. We look forward to receiving assay results.”
The Sugarloaf Project is located within a known mineral belt near Tyrone and is characterised by both oxide secondary copper and high-grade sulphide copper ores.
Drilling at the property was aimed at assessing an oxide secondary copper zone at surface and other porphyry copper prospects within the area.
Sugarloaf consists of 77 unpatented mining claims totalling 1,544 acres, and it is located approximately 650m west of Freeport-McMoRan’s secondary copper open pit at the Tyrone Mine.
Historic surface sampling at Sugarloaf has returned average copper grades above 0.30%.
Both deposits are considered secondary copper sources suitable for acid leaching.
