RDP
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About RDP
Owned 100% by Pacific Ridge, RDP is located 40 km west of the Company’s flagship Kliyul. RDP is over 10,000 hectares in size and lies within the Stikine Terrane, which is host to numerous significant porphyry deposits in northern British Columbia, including Kemess, Red Chris, Kerr-Sulphurets and Galore Creek. From 2022-2024, RDP was under option to Antofagasta Minerals S.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC (ANTO: LSE).
RDP contains several porphyry copper-gold targets (Roy, Day, Porcupine, and Bird - see Figure 1), that have been explored intermittently since the early 1970’s, including prospecting and mapping, various geochemical surveys, ground and airborne geophysical surveys, trenching and a limited amount of drilling. The Project is underlain by lower Hazelton Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks (Lower Jurassic) of andesitic and dacitic composition and the Gyr rhyolite porphyry; and by Late Triassic to Early Jurassic plutonic rocks including the Fir gabbro and Roy plutonic suite with porphyritic plugs, sills, and stocks of monzodiorite composition.
Figure 1
RDP Target Areas
Day Target
Mineralization at Day includes pyrite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, minor molybdenite, and local bornite as disseminations, sheeted veins and vein stockworks in diorite and adjacent altered volcaniclastic rocks. Historical drilling includes 2,472 m in 19 drill holes. Drill highlights include 0.67% Cu and 0.93 g/t Au over 58.8 m (drill hole D-74-1) and 0.54% Cu and 0.69 g/t Au over 57 m (drill hole C-92-1)( see news release dated May 4, 2021).
Roy Target
Mineralization at Roy consists of a quartz-magnetite-chalcopyrite stringer stockwork within a monzonite intrusion. Trench sampling in 1990 encountered 0.121% Cu and 0.55 g/t Au over 62 m within an 80 m trench. Shallow diamond drilling programs have been completed at Roy, but results are incomplete or unavailable except for drill hole EQ-11-01. This hole was drilled in 2011, the last time RDP was explored, and returned 0.11% Cu and 0.64 g/t Au over 122.95 m (see news release dated May 4, 2021).
Porcupine Target
Discovered in 1972, the Porcupine target, was explored as a stratabound massive sulphide target. Float samples assayed as high as 17.2% Cu and 0.19% Cu with 7.98 g/t Au (see news release dated May 4, 2021). Four holes drilled in 1972 returned sporadic results. More recent evaluation of the alteration and soil geochemistry at Porcupine suggests it is epithermal in nature and possibly related to an underlying porphyry system.
Bird Target
The historical Bird Target, located between Roy and Porcupine target areas, about 1.8 km west-southwest of Roy, was reassessed with mapping and prospecting. A nearby mineral occurrence with several percent chalcopyrite, quartz-chalcopyrite vein stockwork and potassic alteration (K-feldspar, magnetite), was identified in a topographic low where porphyry dykes intrude prospective (subaqueous type) volcaniclastic host rocks.
2022 RDP Drill Program
Pacific Ridge completed 1,861 m of drilling at RDP in six diamond drill holes.
Highlights
- Starting near surface, hole RDP-22-005 returned 497.2 m of 0.37% copper, 0.40 g/t gold, and 1.6 g/t silver, including 107.2 m of 0.63% copper, 1.10 g/t gold, and 2.91 g/t silver (see news release dated October 25, 2022).
- The longest, highest-grade interval ever returned from RDP.
- Drilling intersected zoned sulfide mineralization including a central bornite-chalcopyrite mineralized interval over approximately 260 m, from 75 m to 335 m.
2023 RDP Drill Program
- 1,428 metres in three drill holes (RDP-23-007 to RDP-23-009) and tested the Day target and the Bird target.
- Drill hole RDP-23-007 at Day ended in strong porphyry copper-gold mineralization: 19.0 m of 0.32% copper, 0.19 g/t gold, and 1.08 g/t silver (see news release dated November 23, 2023).
- The dimensions of Day are now ~290 m east-west, ~100 m north-south, and up to ~600 m vertical depth. It remains open to the east and west, and at depth.
- Drill hole RDP-23-009 was the first diamond drill hole to test Bird at depth and returned 18.5 m of 0.16% copper, 0.38 g/t gold, and 0.59 g/t silver within 111.0 m of 0.09% copper, 0.20 g/t gold, and 0.31 g/t silver (see news release dated November 23, 2023).
- Geochemistry and geophysics suggest that a porphyry core may lie approximately 200 m deeper than the mineralization intersected in RDP-23-009