CAVU Mining (CSE:CAVU), a junior copper exploration company in Canada, has a mission statement of “Creating Value Through Exploration”. The company delivered on that promise yesterday when it announced it had discovered a new copper porphyry at its Hopper copper-gold project in Yukon Territory.

This critical project is within the Yukon-Tanana Terrane. Location within the Traditional Territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, the property totals 74 square kilometres. The property includes copper-gold skarn and porphyry mineralization.

Jaap Verbaas, CEO of CAVU, stated in a press release, “This porphyry discovery is transformational for CAVU and the Hopper project. 116.18m at 0.209% copper is an exciting interval for CAVU’s first hole in area. It is the second diamond hole in the porphyry target and the first hole on the project to intersect primary porphyry mineralization. With hole 6 CAVU tested how three different datasets relate to potential porphyry mineralization to establish a targeting strategy. We ended up exceeding our own expectations with over 100m of mineralization from surface. We are proud to have substantially increased the potential of the Hopper Project and today’s results give our technical team a clear path for follow up-diamond drilling in 2022. Guided by a strong technical team and robust geochemical and geophysical datasets we believe we will be able to vector to the core of the porphyry efficiently.”

The discovery of the new copper porphyry came with the drill results for drill hold HOP21-DDH-06. 

Highlights

• Hole HOP21-DDH-06 Intersected 116.18 m of 0.209% Cu and 1.3 g/t Ag from surface
• Including 90.22m at 0.244% Cu and 1.4 g/t Ag
• Alteration and grade indicate HOP21-DDH-06 located on the margin of a large Cu-Mo porphyry

Table 1. Drill results of HOP21-DDH-06.

1True width of drill intercepts unknown.

2Assumptions used in USD for the copper equivalent calculation were metal prices of $3.00/lb Copper, $1,300/oz Gold, $18/oz Silver and recovery is assumed to be 100% as only preliminary metallurgical test data is available. The following equation was used to calculate copper equivalence: CuEq = Copper (%) + (Gold (g/t) x 0.6319) + (Silver (g/t) x 0.0087).

3Recalculated to account for a total of 0.7m recovery. The unrecovered interval was assumed to be unmineralized. The following formula was used: (recovered interval / unrecovered interval) * original value.

Table 2. Drill collars (UTM Zone 8N) as surveyed with dGPS.

Source: CAVU Mining

Porphyry is the Key

Porphyry is a type of deposit that occurs in a geological environment similar to that of an epithermal deposit. A porphyry copper deposit is a body of copper ore formed by hydrothermal fluids from a voluminous magma chamber several kilometers from the deposit. In later stages, circulating meteoric liquids interact with the magmatic fluids.

Water is one of the essential constituents of porphyry copper deposits and Cu and its ligands (sulfur) combine with Cu to form the mineral). Porphyry Cu and porphyry Mo are large to huge deposits ranging up to >20 and 1.6 Gt of ore, respectively, which represent 60-95% of the world’s copper and molybdenum deposits as well as significant amounts of gold and silver. They occur in hydrothermal systems affecting 10s to > 100 km3 of the upper crust, resulting in enormous mass redistribution and potential concentrations of many elements.

Why Miners Want Porphyry

Mines that exploit porphyry often contain sufficient amounts of gold and molybdenum and some copper. There are exceptions to this rule, but copper-porphyry deposits are a good example of the dogma of “quality is king” and simplification of the mining economy. Large miners are looking for these deposits for large tonnages and low-cost operations.

In the case of copper porphyry deposits, they are among the most valuable deposits in the world due to their immense size, polymetallic nature, decades of mine life, and high production rates. As global demand for this vital element for the modern world increases, porphyry deposits play an important role as a supplier. As CAVU Mining (CSE:CAVU) continues to explore its Hopper Gold Porphyry and Skarn, investors will be watching for more results like these for direction.

The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a licensed professional for investment advice. The author is not an insider or shareholder of any of the companies mentioned above.