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Canada

Ootsa Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePreliminary Economic Assessment
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Molybdenum
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Ootsa project (Seel and Ox porphyry deposits plus Seel Breccia Zone(s)) has been advanced through extensive resource drilling and metallurgical test programs.

2016 PEA outlined integration scenario with neighbouring Huckleberry mine highlighting lowcapex opportunity to extend operating life of existing infrastructure.

Updated 2022 resource demonstrates significant metal endowment and ongoing expansion potential of nearsurface zones.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Surge Copper Corp. 100 % Indirect
The Ootsa Property lies within the Omineca Mining Division and consists of 120 contiguous non-survey mineral claims totalling 72,537.6 hectares. The claims are 100% owned by Surge Copper Corp and its 100% wholly owned subsidiary Ootsa Ventures Ltd.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Porphyry

Summary:

The Ootsa Project, as made up of both the Seel and Ox Deposits lie in a highly prospective area and represent several porphyry deposits alongside numerous other exploration targets across the property.

The Seel and Ox deposits contain disseminated and veinlet controlled Cu-Au-Mo-Ag mineralization and large zones of potassic, sericitic, chlorite-bearing, and argillic alteration assemblage consistent with classification as a porphyry Cu system. Late base metal silver veins at the Seel Breccia and Damascus areas share characteristics with base metal Ag veins known to occur around porphyry deposits.

The Seel deposits can be separated into four domains; East Seel, West Seel, Seel Breccia and the East Extension Zone (also called NE zone).

The East Seel Cu-Au zone
East Seel Cu-Au style porphyry mineralization is associated with early potassic alteration and quartz- chalcopyrite-magnetite-pyrite veining with a moderate to strong chloritic component. This style of mineralization forms a distinct airborne magnetic high. The main intrusive unit throughout the Cu-Au zone is a coarse crowded porphyry containing 40 to 60% phenocrysts in a fine grained aphanitic matrix. Feldspar is the dominant phenocryst consisting of euhedral and sub rounded crystals, 3 to 7mm in size. Biotite phenocrysts, 2 to 3mm in size make up about 2 to 5% of the rock but are often completely masked by alteration. This rock is termed “crowded feldspar porphyry” as the feldspar phenocrysts typically touch each other. Alteration causes the color and appearance of this rock to change considerably over short distances, however, the texture and phenocryst composition remains fairly constant. Locally, strong sericite alteration and matrix silicification within the crowded feldspar porphyry bleaches and masks any biotite that might have been present. In the mineralized zone the rock contains 2 to 4% finely disseminated pyrite and chalcopyrite in a variably silica flooded groundmass. Pyrite and chalcopyrite also occur along fractures, and pyrite-chalcopyrite-magnetite occurs in quartz veins, locally concentrated in the vein centers. Traces of bornite have been found in the higher grade zones of East Seel. There are generally 5 to 7 quartz veins per metre, 0.5 to 1cm in size, within the mineralized zone. Early high temperature quartz-chalcopyrite veins occur in this zone along with several episodes of later veining, including purple anhydrite veins that carry variable amounts of pyrite and chalcopyrite.

West Seel Cu-Au-Mo-Ag zone
The West Seel deposit contains Cu-Au-Mo-Ag mineralization hosted in a variety of porphyritic intrusive rocks, breccias, and fine-grained clastic and volcanic rocks adjacent to the intrusive margins. The deposit contains a complex suite of feldspar-biotite-quartz porphyritic intrusive rocks containing phenocrysts of varying size and abundance that intrude a fine-grained clastic sedimentary and volcanic package containing variable biotite hornfelsing. A mineralized hydrothermal breccia pipe has been identified at depth and does not appear to extend to surface. The breccia pipe is roughly 100 x 150 m horizontally and has been traced over 400 m vertically, and remains open at depth. At depth, the West Seel deposit is hosted by a large, weakly porphyritic intrusion containing strong potassic (biotite) alteration, termed the West Seel intrusion. Higher-grade mineralization at West Seel appears to be concentrated around the contacts of this intrusion within the surrounding hornfelsed country rocks.

Seel Breccia Cu-Ag-Zn Zone
The Seel Breccia is located approximately 200 metres north of the East Seel deposit and has been shown to contain high-grade copper and silver mineralization as well as minor gold and zinc. The breccia is an east-west trending, subvertical, south dipping breccia body ranging from 25-100 m wide over a strike length of 300+ m, extending to depths of up to 100 m below surface. Smaller parallel and irregular breccia bodies locally surround the main zone.

Ox Deposit
The Ox deposit is located in the north-central portion of the Ootsa Property claim block, about 4km northeast of the Seel deposit and 7km east-southeast of the Huckleberry mine. The Ox deposit is roughly crescent shaped with some fault-controlled offsets and is characterized by disseminated and vein- controlled porphyry Cu + Mo mineralization. Mineralization contains pyrite, chalcopyrite, and molybdenite hosted in hornfelsed sedimentary rocks near the western margin of a granodiorite porphyry stock (Ox intrusive). Mineralization and the porphyry intrusion are truncated and offset on the east side by the Ox fault.

The main host rock for mineralization is a hard siliceous fine grained clastic sedimentary rock with patchy zones of strong biotite hornfels, and zones with K-feldspar, biotite, sericite, chlorite, anhydrite, silicification and clay alteration. Blebs and patches of epidote occur throughout the zone. Quartz veining is weak to moderate but present within mineralized zones, comprising quartz with K-feldspar, and quartz with chalcopyrite and/or molybdenite. Minor magnetite can be found locally at Ox. Quartz-chalcopyrite veins generally cut molybdenite bearing veinlets. Pyrite veinlets and disseminated pyrite (2-3%) are widespread as are late calcite veinlets.

A fine grained feldspar porphyry occurs as dikes or sills within the mineralized zones and contains mineralization and alteration similar to the surrounding sedimentary rocks. A coarse crowded feldspar biotite porphyry forms an intrusive body on the east side of the Ox mineralized zone. The porphyry contains 80-90% feldspar crystals 2 to 10mm in size (average 6mm), 5-10% biotite as books to 5mm, plus minor interstitial quartz, and is interpreted to have a granodiorite composition. The crowded porphyry does not contain significant zones of mineralization but does have variable K-feldspar, sericite, chlorite, pyrite, and clay alteration with weak copper and molybdenum locally. Quartz veining is typically weak. Several drill holes indicate the crowded porphyry is locally in fault contact with the adjacent mineralized sedimentary rocks.

On all sections mineralization is hosted in the sedimentary (grey) rocks with variable amounts of fine to medium grained porphyry (pink). Mineralization has a gradational boundary on the west side whereas a crowded feldspar biotite porphyry (orange) bounds mineralization on the east side. In general, mineralization appears to be highest grade at or near surface and adjacent to the intrusive contact, with an apparent grade decrease with depth, with the main mineralized body extending 150 to 250 metres below surface. Significant alteration is still present in the rocks underlying the mineralized zone but Cu and Mo values are generally weak and patchy.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Copper M lbs 28324
Gold koz 185
Molybdenum M lbs 216
Silver koz 2503,000
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Daily mining rate 40,000 t *
Daily milling rate 16,900 t *
Annual ore mining rate 5.6 Mt *
Annual mining rate 14 Mt *
Annual milling rate 5.6 Mt *
Stripping / waste ratio 1.47 *
Waste tonnes, LOM 95,879,718 t *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM 65,357,899 t *
Total tonnes mined, LOM 161,237,617 t *
* According to 2016 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsEstimated
Cash costs Copper USD 1.32 / lb * **  USD
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Copper USD 2.09 / lb * **  USD
Assumed price Molybdenum USD 10.3 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Copper USD 3 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Silver USD 17 / oz *  USD
Assumed price Gold USD 1,260 / oz *  USD
* According to 2016 study / presentation.
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency2016
OP mining costs ($/t mined) CAD 2.67 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2016 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M CAD 658.5
Refining costs $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Freight costs $M CAD 41.9
G&A costs $M CAD 36.6
Total OpEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Total Taxes $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Royalty payments $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Net revenue (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 5% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 22, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 22, 2023

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2016

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