Kingfisher Metals (KFR) - Technical Analysis and Due Diligence

Kingfisher Metals is a forward-thinking exploration company focused on efficiently and systematically exploring its district-scale gold and copper properties. With exposure to high-grade gold and copper, Kingfisher Metals is well positioned for growth during this next up-cycle in commodities. The company’s team comprises experienced geologists, backed by a solid management group with decades of corporate and capital markets experience.

Merlin-Marr Johnson caught up with Gayle Febbo, Vice President of Exploration, Kingfisher Metals. Ms. Febbo is an exploration geologist with over 17 years of experience in the mining sector. She obtained his M.Sc. degree in Structural Geology (Mineral Deposit Research Unit) from the University of British Columbia. She has spent the majority of her career working in the prolific Golden Triangle on world-class projects such as Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM), Bruce Jack, and Galore Creek.

Company Overview

Kingfisher Metals is an exploration company focused on efficiently exploring its district-scale gold and copper properties. The company’s asset portfolio includes the Goldrange Project, The Ecstall Project, and the Thibert Project. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX-V: KFR), the OTC Markets (OTCQB: KGFMF), and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: 970).

Kingfisher Metals is operating in British Columbia, Canada, exploring a hybrid of copper and gold projects in under-explored districts. Notably, the company has been focused on its Goldrange project and has spent the majority of its exploration budget on the asset. All 3 of the company’s assets are located in British Columbia. The Goldrange project is about a 20-minute drive from the highway on a gravel road.

The Goldrange Project is a 100%-owned asset that spans a 36,692-hectare area. The project covers a broad area of high-grade orogenic gold mineralization similar in style to the Bralorne Gold Mine which produced 4.2Moz gold at 17.7g/t. The project sits about 140km northwest of Bralorne along the same regional fault network host to numerous gold occurrences. The Goldrange Project covers a broad area of highly anomalous gold and arsenic in stream sediment samples with limited historic exploration and no diamond drilling despite hand mining activities dating back to the 1930s.

The Willians Lake prospect is about a 3-hour drive away. On the south side of the gravel road, the company has a camp at the White Saddle Airbase which borders the land package. The company has a significantly longer range throughout the project in the Waddington Mountain Range. Notably, this mountain range features the biggest mountains in all of British Columbia and a range of peaks and valleys. The Day Trip Zone is located at an elevation of 1,200m, while the Cloud Drifter prospect is a bit lower. The camp is located in the valley below.

The Goldrange Project features similar structurally-controlled gold mineralization as the Golden Triangle area, which hosts the Bruce Jack VSM, the Eskay Mine district, and Galore Creek. The deep structures are highly-significant trans-lithospheric structures, making them a great area for exploration.

In the Eskay Mine district, porphyry deposits, calcokalic, alkalic deposits with epithermal vein, and VMS (Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide) deposits have been identified in close proximity. These features are a common denominator in the gold systems. The importance of the Yukon fault complex comes through within this region. This is a major crustal break according to the company.

These structurally-controlled gold systems behave in a similar fashion to one other, despite having different ages. The company is currently looking at Cretaceous-aged systems that have experienced different mineral events over time. These systems are quite similar from a structural perspective. The systems have a porphyry system coming through the vein systems followed by an orogenic system. Due to the hybrid nature of these deposits, a lot of different mineral styles are found.

Whether the mineralization is formed through a rift, under compressions, or due to different structural settings, it can play out quite differently. It is important to note that the processes are taking place at depth and work needs to begin at the structure. When it comes to exploration, determining the right starting point is crucial. While gold can be found in most places within the region, a company should focus on reducing the risk with the existing claims. The Thibert Project has similar features. The company has staked the crustal break within the project area. Since exploration carries a lot of risks, it is vital to reduce it at every step of the way.

Drill Operations

Kingfisher Metals deployed RAB (Rotary Air Blast) drills this year partly due to logistical reasons. It currently has 2 drills assigned. The company is carrying out diamond drilling at the Cloud Drifter prospect and RAB drilling at the Day Trip Zone as it features surface mineralization. While RAB drilling has its own set of props and cons, it enables the company to collect real-time XRF (X-ray Fluorescence) data.

The company’s process is to drill a hole and analyse the data in LeapFrog. It helps plan the next hole, making the process fast and highly efficient. RAB drilling is highly effective as it requires minimal helicopter support and no water supply. The Day Trip Zone has surface mineralization along with a rolling slope where a track-mounted rig can be manoeuvred.

RAB drilling has its share of cons. As the chips are returned to the surface, air blasting outside the rod can cause potential contamination with intervals that are above the sample being collected.

In RAB drilling, the rock is hammered at the base of the hole, generating chips and dust. Next, the air is used to blast the material and is returned to the outside of the rods. RC drilling is done inside the rod, which is ideal for a resource. The risk of contamination increases in the case of a wet hole, however, the company is yet to encounter any water at the Day Trip Zone.

Longer assay turnaround times were the company’s biggest challenge in 2021. The deposit features numerous veins and without the assay results, the company is unable to determine whether the vein is high-grade or not. Through RAB drilling, the company can figure out the pathfinders right away. It isn’t concerned about cross-contamination at the Day Trip Zone.

The maximum depth in really good rock is expected around 100m. The company is currently drilling at a depth of 50m-70m. The Day Trip Zone has a broken surface due to oxidization. Due to the presence of significant oxidised rock blocks, the drilling isn’t confident at the moment, which is the norm for such operations.

So far, the oxidization appears to span the depth of the drilling. A lot of iron oxide minerals are also found at depth. The company anticipates that oxidization may be caused either by exposure or paleo-hydrothermal factors.

The Day Trip Zone

At the Day Trip Zone, the company is targeting 2 main bodies. It has a few different geophysical targets, and the company is looking to start drilling with the target that offers the highest confidence, which is determined through rock samples, soil analysis, and geophysics. The first area of interest is a breccia target. The company realised last year that breccia would be essential for high grades. It has started elevating the breccia targets on a regional level. In a case where the grade holds together, the company has plans to drill additional breccia targets. This is also one of the reasons why the company chose to drill at the Day Trip Zone. The Zone spans a 70m x 90m area on the ridge. Here, big blocks of arsenopyrite cement breccia were identified.

Interestingly, the majority of the pieces sitting on a flat ridge are coarse chunks of breccia containing sulphide cement. The majority of these are highly-oxidised, but arsenopyrite can still be seen in some of the rocks along with the necessary pathfinders. Through sampling, the company found material grades ranging between 3g and 20g. The company has plans to set up a RAB drill rig right on top and start drilling to determine the zone’s scale and geometry.

The second target is a breccia corridor that seems to disappear under to the west. This target is intrusive-hosted and is starkly different from the first target. Based on sampling results, the intrusive-hosted body has grades of 2m of 6.7g. The company hasn’t found any sulphide presence here. It anticipates that this zone is part of the same hydrothermal system. The arsenopyrite breccia is coming through intermediate, mafic, volcaniclastic, siltstone, and sandstone. In essence, there are a lot of different materials reacting with each other.

According to the company, the intrusion is essentially monotonous diorite. The hydrothermal mineralogy is expressed differently here. The company separated the mineralogy in the form of different targets as they have varying characters, pathfinders, and spatial separation.

The company has found a range of mineralogy at the Day Trip zone and the region appears to be fairly complex. Through a short mapping campaign, it found quite a lot of rubble on the surface. The company is looking to access the diamond drill core in order to better understand the system. It has also identified several different hydrothermal events.

As the scale of the continuity of the system was previously underestimated, Kingfisher Metals ended up changing its interpretation of the zone. Previously, it was only targeting two fairly focused bodies that were near surface. Since this isn’t a 100% outcrop, the company is yet to determine the underlying geology. The company’s pathfinders are working really well. The pathfinders are defined by all the elements found within the deposit that are closely associated with gold. In the case of Day Trip, these elements include arsenic, bismuth, copper, lead, zinc, and antimony. Since all pathfinders pick up in the same intercept, the company was able to determine the width and location. However, the material grades remain undetermined at the moment.

Kingfisher Metals had originally planned a month-long program of RAB drilling across Langara and Standard zones. However, for the past 2 months, the company has continued drilling at the Day Trip Zone. The results achieved so far are promising. The company has intercepted strong pathfinders in all of the holes. Upon closer inspection, it was found that the western intrusive target area mainly comprises quartz, pointing towards an underlying hydrothermal intercept.

The eastern target area is grungy and oxidised containing a deep, blood-red colored iron oxide product of a sulphide. Though the company is yet to identify the minerals, the samples on the surface are similar and are associated with good grades. It is important to note that the oxidation process does not guarantee upgrading or downgrading. If sulphide content decreases, it also causes a drop in weight. This is often where gold reserves are found. The company has plans to conduct diamond drilling through the gold and oxide layer in order to determine the material grade.

At the Day Trip zone, the company has identified a breccia target area and a sheeted vein with the intrusion. It has found white rocks which feature several veins running through the breccia. The RAB drill location is on the top of the ridge, coming down into the vein feature. The majority of the work has been conducted around the upper area. The company also carried out a small find survey, collecting rock samples and geophysics. The survey results show that the zone had been underestimated.

The Day Trip zone has quite a lot of lateral continuity, with gorse running down the slope. Based on the IP (Induced Polarisation) lines, the company has identified several nice anomalies. The first collected sample from the zone was back in 2020, which led to the identification of Goss. In the same year, the company also mapped some rocks and soils along with talus finds and an IP survey.

In the north, the company has mapped a vein corridor that disappears to the west. It features a really nice pile of breccia where the rusty rocks are present. The deposit also has talus finds. The company found up to 8g grades in talus lines across the body.

Initially, the company had plans to pin down the zone’s geometry by way of drill operations. Since the breccia body was steep, it was originally interpreted to be cylindrical in shape. The company had plans to drill holes 2,3,4 and 5 from the first pad and depending on the results, reposition the RAB rig.

Currently, it is drilling hole 27. The company has plans to drill additional holes and has already placed 2 pads for the same. It has plans to shift the RAB rig to the Langara zone as it has limited time available to drill the other targets.

Kingfisher Metals has set up a local grid using the IP lines. The map shows the presence of conductors and chargeability anomalies. These indicators correlate quite well with the surface geochemical surveys, which include the breccia. The company has high confidence in geophysics as the vein quarter was also picked up during the survey.

There are numerous anomalies to the east and the west that remain to be tested. The company is looking to pin down the geology so that efficient diamond drilling can be conducted. Since diamond drilling is significantly more expensive, RAB drilling has been a crucial tool in outlining the geometry as the systems are fairly hard to chase. Establishing an area pattern has been one of the biggest challenges at the Cloud Drifter Zone. The company is looking to drill the big target that has structurally-focused mineralization contained within. RAB drilling has been useful in achieving this goal.

The breccia target includes both the drilled holes and the hole in progress. This region has a certain pathfinder signature that largely features wall-rock-hosted mineralization. The intrusive target area is a whole cluster, while the intrusion is a low angle. The company is also targeting general mineralization.

Based on the XRF results, the company anticipates that it is inside a base metal system that contains copper, lead, and zinc. These base metals have a good correlation throughout and are commonly associated with gold. The base metals appear to have the same pattern. As a result, every zone featuring intercepts also has pathfinders. Vein material or breccia material is seen in the chips. Overall the company has identified two major structural features.

The breccia target was interpreted to be steep with a gentile dipping feature. This broadly relates to the bedding geometry. However, it would need to see the rocks in order to interpret it. There are a lot of mafic and clastic rocks surrounding it. These rocks are highly reactive in nature and really good at dumping out gold. The company anticipates that these rocks are just feeders to the gold. It would need to drill beyond a 50m depth in order to better understand the geology.

The breccia target area is easier to drill with RAB as it features a low-angle geometry. As per the company, the diamond drill would have been overkill, while RAB drilling gives the company multiple chances to hit the targets. There is a major structural zone to the south where the mineral zone is likely to be rooted. The company tried drilling this zone but was unable to reach a considerable depth. Diamond drilling would be needed to reach the desired depth.

The company also has an east-west major structural zone along with a low west-dipping, possibly bed-parallel domain. It was unable to reach the sheeted vein and breccia zone in the intrusive-hosted area, realising later that the zone dips to the east. The company has also identified multiple geometries that are low-angled and steep. It is believed that this geometry enables fluid movement.

Kingfisher Metals is currently awaiting the assay results which are expected in the next few days. These results aren’t expected to cause major changes in the diamond drill program. The company is cognizant of the intervals and the areas that contain grades. It is yet to pinpoint the exact areas that contain gold. It expects to gain perspective on the gold once the diamond drilling starts. The company has begun consolidating the diamond drill plan into LeapFrog.

At the Day Trip Zone, the company has found the shallowest vein structures seen so far. There are anticipations that there’s a significant vertical it needs to work with. This is because the other zones throughout the district have demonstrated the presence of high-grade gold for a given texture or mineralogy. The company is currently on the top of the zone, and if proven, the company would have a significant vertical zone to work on, starting from the top of the ridge. There is a lot of opportunity for setting up a drill hole in the valley bottom from either side.

The company intends to continue drilling as long as it is in the system. It is looking to twin the best-scattered intercepts. At the same time, the company is looking to revisit the pads, twin them and confirm whether the RAB has accurately sampled the material or not.

Since the company’s geophysics doesn’t go deep enough, planning deeper drill targets is challenging. It is planning to drill below a 150m depth, however, the data currently available is fairly limited. Drilling deeper also reduces the de-risking aspect. It is looking at a deeper IP survey as it has worked well so far. The company is looking to collect additional data in order to drill deeper in a cost-efficient manner.

Kingfisher Metals is looking to drill the zone in the next 1-2 weeks. Despite having limited data availability, the company has been able to outline quite a bit through RAB drilling. There are a lot of untested areas. The company couldn’t get into the eastern structural zone which is believed to be rooted in. In order to test the strike length of the zone, a fair bit of drilling is required.

The company is looking at a minimum of 7,500m of diamond drilling, out of which 5,000m is allocated for the Cloud Drifter Zone. The additional 2,500m would be assigned based on the drill results. The company is likely to start drilling with the HQ zone, navigating through the rubble. Due to the shallow mineralization, this zone could be drilled fairly quickly which, in turn, would provide access to good metres. The drilling budget is dependent on the production and cash flow.

The Langara Zone

Following the drilling at Day Trip, Kingfisher Metals is looking to move the RAB drills to the Langara zone. Notably, Langara was initially discovered by prospectors, who went in on horseback and developed a few addits on the talus slopes. The majority of historic work was in the 1930s. During this time, mining was done right into the slope. In fact, the zig-zag pack is still visible on the talus slope. The company has plans to drill the addit.

Kingfisher Metals found blocks of rock from the dump pile. These rocks contained hydrothermal quartz sulphide. The rejected material featured 14g grades. It anticipates that this is some sort of a breccia. The zone itself is considerably broken and features a northerly vein trend that meets an easterly trend. Overall, the Langara zone is complicated from a structural standpoint and features significant fracturing.

The company successfully built a pad right on top of the addit, and similar to Day Trip, it is looking to drill a spider pattern off the pad in order to understand the underlying geometry. This operation is part of the de-risking strategy to collect as much information about the geometry as possible, before conducting diamond drilling. Langara is a great target that needs a lot of work.

Kingfisher Metals has conducted extensive work at the Cloud Drifter zone, getting it up and ready for diamond drilling. Due to this, the company wasn’t able to conduct a lot of work on the Langara Zone. The company’s team is deployed all the way to the backside of Langara, as this zone is a whole mountain that features a series of veins and mineralization throughout.

According to the company, RAB drilling will be ideal to start pinning down the patterns and their role in different areas. It has identified multiple areas of mineralization and anticipates that the targets would be at depth. The company is looking to determine the intersecting point of these patterns along with the structural zones. Due to Langara’s topography, the company has limited flexibility when it comes to building pads.

The pyritic background, which is responsible for the development of the big pyritic hornfels poses a challenge. These pyritic features are exclusive to the Langara zone and weren’t found in the other zones. While it does not have any significance to the mineral system, it does interfere with the IP survey. Since the company couldn’t conduct an IP survey, not a lot is known about the Langara zone. RAB drilling in different areas of the mountain would help the company put together a concept. It can then go ahead and drill deeper holes with diamond drilling in order to target the feeders.

Langara is a unique system that features slightly different pathfinders and mineralogy compared to Cloud Drifter. As a result, the company is approaching it as a standalone system. The company is looking to prove the system’s capabilities and its positioning in the group of gold systems.

Targets 2022 and Beyond

In 2021, Kingfisher Metals used soil grid and IP survey as key data sets. It majorly focused on chargeability as it correlated with surface mineralization.

The Cloud Drifter zone is steep and mostly covered by trees. As a result, the company had to work really hard in order to gather surface data. Due to limited surface data availability, the company was unable to map a fault or a vein corridor. It was able to gather limited data from the local areas. The company had to rely heavily on soil geochemistry and used chargeability because the prospect looked quite good. The company had 4 focused highs that it was looking to test. It realized that conductivity was working better at Cloud Drifter. Chargeability picked up more disseminated or disconnected sulphide as it's a big hypothermal system. The company actually found sulphide in every hole at Cloud Drifter from top to bottom.

At the Cloud Drifter, the company realised that the chargeability wasn’t picking up the high grade. It drilled the chargeability which did not work out well. From last year’s learnings, the company realised that the soil anomalies weren’t one-to-one. It realised that there’s a 3km x 2 km monster soil anomaly, a big gold system with lots of continuity. Drill operations demonstrated the presence of a broad gold anomalism in the drill holes. However, the soils didn’t work well for high-grade targeting.

In fact, the company had instances where it hit grade at surface, however, there was no soil response, and vice versa. Some of the highest soil response areas also didn’t hit anything comparable to the drill hole. The company has significantly reduced its reliance on the data sets for targeting. It is now moving to connectivity. Part of the reason why connectivity is working is that the grades were found to be closely associated with breccia. For the higher-grade intervals, breccia is needed. These breccias are cemented by sulphide. A conductor helps identify the continuity or connectivity of the sulphide.

Based on the existing IPs, the company noticed that a couple of holes go into the lower mountain. Till now, the majority of the drilling was in the upper mountain with just two holes in the lower mountain region. Out of the two holes, only one hit the conductor. The company has plans to weigh more on this hole.

This year, the company is looking to work on the lower mountain region. The upper mountain has an affable paroxetine diorite sill and a brittle deformation zone. The lower mountain is relatively younger, featuring quartz diorite and low-angle silt. The company found that the mineralization is more focused on the lower mountain. This might be due to the host rock or a geology feature. The upper mountain has diorite which is highly reactive, while the lower mountain isn’t as reactive. It might be due to feeder differences, as the lower mountain has more structurally focused feeder zones and in the upper mountain, the distribution is likely to be lateral.

Kingfisher Metals has a 5,000m drill program planned for Cloud Drifter. It has 3 broad target areas which have been clustered. One of them is called the Eastern Target area, located in the north-eastern portion. The second zone is called the Pad 400 Target area, which is largely a follow-up from last year’s drill operation. The third zone is the Western Target area. The company started with the Pad 400 area and is currently on the third pad.

At the Cloud Drifter zone, the company did find mineralization last year and started learning about the grades, however, predictions have been difficult. It has plans to carry out structural targeting this year. For the Pad 400 Target area, the majority of the targets are structural intersections. Each projected intersection has led to mineralization so far. The company is happy with this year’s structural database.

It had assigned Dan Core from Fathom Geophysics to work on the MEG and LIDAR data. Dan came up with new structural interpretations. Each projection has led to an intercept that features hydrothermal material. The company began stepping out from last year’s drill holes, following up on 73g over 1m grades. This led to a breccia with 6.88g over 9m grades.

The structures correlate with each other and are separated by 100m, making them easier to target. The company has plans to infill drill the target area and then go after the more complicated targets along the structural trend.

Last year, the company had a few interpreted structures, however, these were biased on the outcrop. Structural mapping was conducted back in 2020, however, all the data was based on a small area on the ridge top and the cliff. The company tried working with this data but it didn’t work as intended because most of the key structures were missing.

Kingfisher Metals also tried targeting some of the lighter structures and found that most of the fundamental faults are increasingly resistive. The structures filled with hydrothermal fluids aren’t necessarily making a planar topographic low. The planar topographic low points to an offset late shift where fluids were coming in and sealing it, leading to a brittle lateral structure.

In the Pad 400 Target area, the company has represented last year’s intercepts in yellow and red. Last year, the company had only 1 pad in the lower mountain as it was limited by pad builders and was working mostly on the upper mountain. As a result, it was unable to drill a lot of the lower targets.

Based on the line work conducted by Fathom Geophysics, cross-cutting relationships were established. These map structures coincided perfectly. Kinematics were also conducted here.

Currently, the company is drilling the phase 2 follow-up in the Pad 400 Target area. Next, it will move to the Eastern Target area which will be followed by the Western Target area. The Eastern Target area’s merit is its rock texture. It features a spaced outcrop. Each rock sample has led to high grades. The rock texture is diffusive in nature. The veins here are stringer and the rock samples are representative of the small outcrops that were found in the forest. The company is looking to test the continuity of these holes through drill operations.

Since the Eastern Target area isn’t structurally focused, it could potentially be a bulk-tonnage target. The company has found a conductive anomaly and chargeability anomaly in the region. Fathom Geophysics had interpreted a large-scale structural intersection domain based on the fault line work. A radial symmetry feature is interpreted here. Fathom Geophysics anticipates that the Eastern Target zone could be a location for a steep feed body with possible intrusion or structural feeder zone present right in the region featuring the rock textures. Within the thin sections, one of the two locations was stained for potassium. This can be indicative of fluids heating up. Although the company has limited surface data at the moment, it anticipates that this zone could have massive potential.

Once the company is comfortable pausing the Pad 400 results, it will start drilling at the Eastern Target area. It has plans to revisit the Pad 400 area later on.  As other targets are being drilled, the previous assay results will enable the company to carry out targeted drilling. The company has comparatively shorter assay turnaround times, while RAB drilling provides immediate targeting information. In the final phase of the drill program, the company will focus on the Western Target.

To find out more, go to the Kingfisher Metals website