Leif Nilsson, CEO & Director of Surge Copper (TSX.V:SURG – OTCQX:SRGXF), joins me for a comprehensive update covering ongoing field activities, 3 types of drilling, and various derisking work initiatives and development work streams all building towards their updated Resource Estimate and Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), at their flagship copper-molybdenum-silver-gold Berg Project in British Columbia.
We start off reviewing the resource size and different metals contributions as well as the key economic metrics from the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) that was released in June 2023. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate includes combined Measured & Indicated resource of 1.0 billion tonnes grading 0.23% copper, 0.03% molybdenum, 4.6 g/t silver, and 0.02 g/t gold, containing 5.1 billion pounds of copper, 633 million pounds of molybdenum, 150 million ounces of silver, and 744 thousand ounces of gold, plus an additional 0.5 billion tonnes of material in the Inferred category. Leif reviewed some of the results from their substantial metallurgical testing program, where a bulk concentrate has been successfully separated into a copper concentrate containing the precious metals and a high-value molybdenum concentrate.
Next we shifted over to the 3 different types of drilling that have been ongoing or are still underway at the Berg Project.
- Leif highlights that there has a been a fair bit of infill drilling completed over the last 2 years, including the recent 1,500 meter 5-hole program from this summer’s program, where more ounces will be moving from the inferred category into the measured and indicated category when it gets updated along with the coming PFS.
- In addition to this infill and definition drilling, there has been a fair bit of geo-technical drilling to characterize ground conditions at proposed infrastructure areas of the project footprint, including the first-ever uphill-angle drilling at Berg.
- Lastly there in ongoing ARD drilling using an underground drill, testing the outer margins of Berg mineralization to evaluate acid rock drainage potential within the conceptual pit’s waste rock zone.
Additional workstreams remain active across the site, including geophysical surveys, environmental baseline studies, and logistical field preparations such as pad construction and line cutting. The Berg camp is currently a hub of coordinated technical activity, with drill contractors, field geologists, environmental and geotechnical engineers, helicopter crew, line cutters, pad builders, geophysical crews, and camp support staff all contributing to the program. Collectively, these efforts are generating the critical datasets required to support robust design parameters and reduce risk ahead of the upcoming pre-feasibility study.
Wrapping up we discussed a number of factors from what the permitting process will look like for EA readiness, the value in the strategic partner they have in African Rainbow Minerals Limited (“ARM”) assisting the Project both financially and technically, and an overall sense of how the size and scale of the Berg stacks up to other large copper development assets in Canada.
If you have any follow-up questions for Leif regarding Surge Copper, then please email them to me at Shad@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Surge Copper at the time of this recording, and may choose to buy or sell shares at any time.
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