Enduro Metals (ENDR) - Hunting Super High-Grade Copper Gold Porphyries

Enduro Metals Corp. is a junior exploration company focused on the advancement of its flagship Newmont Lake project. The project holds a land position of 688 km² and is located between Eskay Creek, Snip, and Galore Creek within the heart of the Gold Triangle located in northwestern British Columbia. The project hosts four large mineralisation systems within its borders and has shown visible gold in previous exploration drilling initiatives.

Enduro Metals Corp. in the middle of July 2022, announced that it had commenced an exploration drilling program at its Newmont Lake project, with the program’s initial goal being to expand the mineralisation of its Burgundy Ridge zone, with it further aiming to follow up on a previously conducted geochemical sampling program at the McLymont Fault and to extend the potential mineralisation. The company announced on the 21^st of September 2022, that it had completed the aforementioned exploration drilling program, with a total of 10,888 m drilled. The exploration drilling program was able to complete 20 diamond drill holes at the Burgundy Ridge zone, and 5 additional diamond drill holes at the project’s McLymont Fault zone. The company also conducted various exploration initiatives at the Chachi, North Toe, NW and Ken zones.

Enduro Metals Corp. published the initial drill results from its exploration drilling at the Burgundy Bridge zone on the 18^th of November 2022. The highlights of the exploration drilling include intercepting 0.50% copper equivalent over 66.80 m as well as 0.71% copper equivalent over 331 m, which included a mineralisation interval of 18 m at 3.0%.

The company has also begun preparations for an R&D facility in conjunction with the University of British Columbia Okanagan to allow for detailed lithological, alteration, and hyperspectral studies to be performed on all drill core samples from the 2022 drilling program.

Newmont Lake project

The Newmont Lake project of the company is a 688 km² land package located in the Golden Triangle in northwestern British Columbia. The project holds at least four mineralisation systems, namely the Burgundy, McLymont, North Toe and Chachi systems.

The Golden Triangle is a world-class mineralisation system which hosts some of the most successful mines in the history of British Columbia. The area has seen more than CAD$ 5 billion in mergers and acquisitions in recent times as well as the creation of more than CAD$ 4.5 billion worth of infrastructure.

The Newmont Lake project is located between the Eskay Creek gold mine, which will be the highest grade gold mine in the world when in production, the Snip Gold mine, which produced 1 million ounces of gold between 1991-1999 at an average grade of  27.5 g/t and the Galore Creek project, the world’s largest undeveloped gold project.

The Newmont Lake project holds a potentially world-class alkalic porphyry discovery at its Burgundy Ridge zone, with a 2021 exploration hole intercepting 0.71% copper equivalent over 331 m from the surface. Enduro Metals Corp. also intercepted 0.50% copper equivalent over 66.80 m including 1.82% copper equivalent over 6.08 m.

Recently concluded drilling program

Enduro Metals Corp. in the middle of July 2022, announced that it had commenced with an exploration drilling program at its Newmont Lake project, with the program’s initial goal being to expand the mineralisation of its Burgundy Ridge zone, with it further aiming to follow up on a previously conducted geochemical sampling program at McLymont Fault and to extend the potential mineralisation.

The company announced on the 21^st of September 2022, that it had completed the aforementioned exploration drilling program, with a total of 10,888 m drilled. The exploration drilling program was able to complete 20 diamond drill holes at the Burgundy Ridge zone, and 5 additional diamond drill holes at the project’s McLymont Fault zone. The company also conducted various exploration initiatives at the Chachi, North Toe, NW and Ken zones. Cole Evans, the CEO of Enduro Metals Corp. explains that the company is focused on advancing the Burgundy Ridge zone of the project, with the zone being a newly discovered mineralisation system that has shown high-grade copper and gold mineralisation.

“In 2021, that’s when we had our first discovery hole as it was dubbed. The total mineral horizon involved 331 m of 0.71, which was in the copper equivalent. 0.3 copper, 0.35 gold. Important numbers there. But what I draw to people, the really important stuff, at least in my opinion, is that there’s a 206 m interval of 0.85% copper EQ material. Approximately 50-50 gold to copper, and there was 146 m of the 1% copper equivalent. That’s what we’re hyper-focused on chasing. Because in our opinion, that grade is king.”

Enduro Metals Corp. published the initial drill results from its exploration drilling at the Burgundy Bridge zone on the 18^th of November 2022. The highlights of the exploration drilling include intercepting 0.50% copper equivalent over 66.80 m as well as 0.71% copper equivalent over 331 m, which included a mineralisation interval of 18 m at 3.0%.

Evans explains that the initial assay results are significant, in that they assist the company in better understanding the mineralisation of the deposit, which allows Enduro Metals Corp. to better strategise its exploration initiatives.

“This is a brand-new thing. We don’t have the advantage of, it’s a double-edged sword, you have the advantage of it being brand new. This is when you find big deposits. But you have the disadvantage of it being brand new and you don’t have a lot of information to work with. So, that’s what that first press release is about, figuring out what the orientation is. What we did figure out is that it's sub-vertical. That’s important from a tonnage perspective because that’s, over the next 3 years, what we need to show.”

Advancing the project

Evans explains that the company’s aim with the Newmont Lake project is not to reach production, as many junior mining companies but rather sees the maximum value creation potential for its shareholders by monetising the asset to a major mining company.

“We’re not here to build the mine. I’m frank about that with people, obviously, right particularly in this neck of the woods, we’re here to find a deposit and over a 3-year period, likely grow it to X amount of tonnage that we think is important, maybe in the 400 Mt to 500 Mt range at these sorts of grades that we think are economically significant, and then sell it to the company that’s going to take it to the next level.”

The common perception regarding a gold-copper porphyry system is that its size equates to a larger capital cost as well as operational cost requirements. Evans explains that the Burgundy zone of the Newmont Lake project is a small-scale porphyry system consisting of high-grade mineralisation that is equal to any high-grade system in British Columbia. He explains that the accessibility of the project, which is supported through the infrastructure initiatives of the area, further adds value in the eyes of any potential major mining company.

“It’s an order of magnitude smaller than a traditional porphyry, but it’s made up for in that it’s the highest grade of any of the types of porphyry deposits found in British Columbia, Western Canada, this is the highest-grade type. Galore Creek, for example. Galore Creek gets bad market rap because it’s in Timbuktu. It’s a 110 km access road, and a 7 km tunnel to get to it. Burgundy isn’t. That’s critical. As I said, we want to show it’s not certain yet but we’re looking at plans for the track program starting in the spring. That will show that. So, I’d say it’s not as many metres as one would necessarily think compared to your KSMs or things like that, which are just much bigger systems.”

Another alluring aspect of the Newmont Lake project is its jurisdiction. The project’s grade may be seen in other jurisdictions across the world, but would in all likelihood be in an unstable political area. Evans explains that the tendency that major mining companies have recently shown in acquiring exploration assets, shows that the mining industry is in need of high-quality projects in safe jurisdictions.

“The majors who are looking, immediately within our area, CAD$ 5 billion in M&A and equity investments in 3 years. It’s not too bad. You look at the risks some of the majors are starting to make themselves amenable to this earlier phase in the project generation pipeline because they realise that lack of quality copper projects, particularly in first-world jurisdictions. Yeah, you can find good copper projects in DRC or Zambia or something like that. From a jurisdictional perspective, that’s not British Columbia.”

Future initiatives

Enduro Metals Corp. will in the future remain focused on advancing its Newmont Lake project, with Evans commenting that the company plans to increase the rate of its exploration initiatives. The size of the project, may to other junior companies be a liability, but Evans believes that Enduro Metals Corp. has the focus to ensure the successful execution of the company’s advancement initiatives.

“It’s a matter of ramping up the pace, I’d say. So, it’s more metres, longer timeframes, and most importantly, more communication with people and really understanding what it is that we’re trying to accomplish and what it is that we’re focused on. Massive land package, and district-scale potential, for a junior that could be a huge problem. Because if you’re not focused, it’s a liability. That’s where our land package we feel gives us the optionality in a sense when you talk about 3 years down the line and you’re selling this thing, it’s a focus on Burgundy.”

Evans explains that the focus of the company will be the Burgundy zone in the near future. The rationale regarding this is that the Newmont Lake project holds other similar mineralisation zones within it, which leads the Burgundy zone to serve as a sort of “proof of concept”.

“Burgundy is as important from a resource perspective as it is as a proof of concept if you will. Because there are these 2 or 3 other locations on the property that meet the same criteria. Well, now if you’re a major miner and you’re looking at a project that you want to acquire, that’s extremely attractive because one, porphyries form in clusters, Enduro can’t go and chase them all themselves but that keeps your exploration teams busy for a decade pass to continue to build resources.”

The company may consider various options in the future with regard to advancing its Newmont Lake project. Evans explains that the company may consider joint ventures or even spinning out sections of the project. The rationale regarding the spinning-out of a section of the project is due to the diverse mineralisation of the Newmont Lake project, which may hinder a major mining company from acquiring the project if it is focused on a certain mineralisation type.

“We’re looking at a number of things right now with a number of different people. But it’s exactly that, whether it would be traditional joint ventures, explorational alliances, potentially even different spin-outs of portions of the project like McLymont…”

The company has also begun preparations for an R&D facility in conjunction with the University of British Columbia Okanagan to allow for detailed lithological, alteration, and hyperspectral studies to be performed on all drill core samples from the 2022 drilling program.

To find out more, go to the Enduro Metals website