Some eye-popping copper drill results by Sterling Metals has spurred something of a staking rush in the Batchawana Bay area, north of Sault Ste. Marie.
Two exploration companies, Cruz Battery Metals and Red Lake Gold, are charged up about the 'metal of electrification' and are cozying up next to Sterling’s Soo Copper Project.
The pair of junior miners announced within a day of each other, last week, that they had staked ground to position themselves adjacent to Sterling’s 25,000-hectare property and dovetail on some of the Toronto copper finder’s recent successes.
Late last month, Sterling posted news of a drill hit that was highest grade of copper it’s ever recorded on the property. Sterling is running an exploration drilling program at its Soo Copper Project, 80 kilometres north of the city.
One drill hole result, headlined by the company, revealed 1.05 per cent copper equivalent over a 262-metre length of core, including 19.8 per cent copper equivalent at 9.3 metres. From this drill hole, Sterling proclaimed the discovery of a new copper zone, starting just 47 metres from surface.
The gold grade from the same hole was super high as well, at 196 grams per tonne over a 0.6 metre length of core, pulled from a depth of almost 220 metres.
Back in May, Sterling posted similar high-grade results. It’s emboldened the company to boost its drill program from 3,000 metres to 6,000 metres.
The hilly area north of Batchawana Bay, on the eastern shore of Lake Superior, has a history of copper exploration and a brief run at mining from the Coppercorp and the Tribag mines in the mid-1960s to early 1970s. Both are on Sterling’s property.
Sterling hasn't published a resource estimate yet, but that September drill intersect was enough to spike Sterling shares on the TSX-V from $0.44 a share in early September to a high of $3.06 by month’s end. It’s since settled to close at $2.00 at the end of trading on Oct. 8.
Copper has become the new gold in the last 16 months, surging to record highs. The metal was valued US$10,815 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange last week.
There are analysts' concerns about a global supply deficit due to a series of accidents and operational issues at copper mines in Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
That motivated Cruz Battery Metals to stake more than 1,100 hectares of ground on the boundary with Sterling that Cruz has dubbed the Sterling South Gold/Copper Project.
Vancouver-based Cruz is normally on the hunt for lithium and cobalt to add to their holdings in Nevada and Idaho.
No details were provided about any upcoming exploration work, but Cruz president Jamie Nelson said in an Oct. 6 release that they couldn’t pass up on the opportunity.
“Management felt that diversifying into other areas outside of lithium made sense,” he said. “Gold and copper prices, according to Kitco.com, are trading near all-time highs thus providing Cruz shareholders exposure to the precious metals sectors as well as lithium.”
To the north of Sterling, Red Lake Gold has staked 9,142 hectares for its newly named Soo North Copper Project
Red Lake management said on Oct. 7 that this “prompt acquisition” was based on Sterling’s high-grade intercepts. With copper prices at record highs, the company believes this project “opens exciting copper exploration opportunities” if it can raise some financing.
Red Lake Gold is the holder of the Whirlwind Jack gold project in northwestern Ontario, a 5,100-hectare property sitting next to Kinross Gold’s Dixie gold mine project, south of Red Lake.
Being new to the Sault area, Red Lake Gold is hiring geologic consultants to do some homework and field work before determining its next steps.
Sterling Metals, itself, is a relevant newcomer to the Algoma district, having appeared on the scene last year after swinging an acquisition deal with Copper Road Resources.
Now in its second round of exploration drilling, Sterling recently inked an exploration agreement with Garden River First Nation, which claims traditional land in the area. The pact with Sterling will make Garden River a part owner as 210,000 common shares will be issued to the Sault-area First Nation.