Island Copper Project Details
Location
The Island Copper Project claims are located on northern Vancouver Island from 12 to 40 km southwest of Port Hardy and 360 km northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The project consists of some 300 mineral claims grouped in 3 blocks referred to as the Hushamu claims, the Apple Bay claims, and the Rupert Block.
There are several areas of mineralization identified within the claim blocks. The only one that has a resource estimate identified is the Hushamu deposit.
This deposit is situated about 29 km from the reclaimed BHP Island Copper Mine within the Nanaimo Mining Division, a highly prospective porphyry copper district that measures 60 km in length and 8 km in width.
The project is characterized by multiple low trending hills and ridges bounded by narrow valleys with steep slopes. The area receives little snowfall in winter and can be effectively explored for 10 months each year.
Infrastructure
The project can be reached along logging roads from both Port Hardy and Holberg Inlet.
The marine load-out infrastructure and hydro power to reclaimed BHP Island Copper Mine remains in place.
History
Utah Construction and Mining Company explored the southern Hushamu area in 1980 – 1984. Moraga Resources Ltd. optioned the Expo property from BHP-Utah Mines Ltd. and performed geological mapping, geochemical soil sampling and diamond drilling between 1987 and 1994.
In 2005 Lumina Resources conducted the first major exploration in the area since 1994.
The programme comprised of historic data compilation, airborne geophysics, diamond drilling, geological mapping, prospecting, geochemical surveys and alteration studies. The highlight of the 2005 exploration program was the discovery of porphyry-style copper-gold-molybdenum mineralization at the NW Ewxpo.
Western Copper Corporation acquired Lumina Resources in November 2006.
Geology
The Island Copper Project (Hushamu) hosts porphyry copper-gold mineralization directly related to mesozonal to epizonal intrusions that vary widely in composition and tectonic settings. British Columbia examples include Island Copper, Galore Creek and Kemess while important worldwide deposits include Ok Tedi, Bingham Canyon and Grasberg. These deposits are typically located in orogenic belts at convergent plate boundaries and are associated with subduction-related magmatism.
The core of the systems is comprised of potassic alteration mineral assemblages including potassium feldspar, biotite, magnetite, and locally, anhydrite, diopside and garnet. The cores of the systems commonly host the strongest copper-gold mineralization as chalcopyrite and bornite. Peripheral to the potassic core are large zones of propylitic alteration consisting of albite, chlorite, epidote, calcite, diopside, actinolite and pyrite.
