VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 22, 2022/PRNewswire/ - Capella Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: CMIL) (FRA: N7D2) (the "Company" or "Capella") is pleased to announce that it has received approval from the Norwegian Directorate of Mining for the Company's maiden diamond drill program at its 100%-owned Kjoli copper-zinc-cobalt ("Cu-Zn-Co") massive sulfide ("VMS") project in central Norway.
Permits have been granted for up to 4,000m of diamond drilling in 25 holes (Target Areas A-D; Figure 1). Four main priority areas have been defined for drill testing: i) the Gronskard, Kjoli, and Guldalsgruva targets located along the main prospective horizon for VMS deposits, and ii) a large (>2km strike length), deep (>350m) electromagnetic ("EM") conductor at Kjoli Deeps, which is interpreted by the Company to represent a buried, NW-dipping massive sulfide body.
Initial logistical planning for the Kjoli drill program assumed 100% ground support for the drill rig, with key off-road permits having already been obtained from both the Holtalen and Tydal municipalities. However, excessive winter snowfalls have hindered access to some of the target areas and, as a result, helicopter support will now also be required. The Company has applied for the additional approvals required for helicopter-supported operations, and these will potentially allow for the initiation of drilling by mid-March.
Eric Roth, Capella's President and CEO, commented: "I am pleased to be reporting that we have received approval from the Directorate of Mining for our inaugural diamond drill program at Kjoli. In parallel, strong community support for the project is evidenced by the approval of key off-road permits from both the Holtalen and Tydal municipalities. However, recent inclement winter conditions have required the Company to apply for additional permits for helicopter-supported operations, with these permits expected to be obtained by mid-March.
As reported previously, our drill target generation activities at Kjoli have been focused on the definition of high-grade Cu-Zn-Co targets located both along strike from, and adjacent to, the past-producing Kjoli and Killingdal copper mines. However, a significant new target has also been defined at Kjoli Deeps and will be a priority for our drilling. I look forward to keeping the market updated on our progress at Kjoli."
About the Kjoli Project
The Kjoli copper project is located within the northern extension of the Roros mining district, which saw production from a number of high-grade copper-rich VMS deposits from the mid-1600's until low copper prices in the mid-1980's resulted in their closures. Kjoli represents a brownfields/greenfields exploration project covering the former Kjoli and Killingdal copper mines, together with some 20km strike of underexplored but highly prospective stratigraphy for the discovery of new copper-rich VMS deposits. Historical copper grades from the former Kjoli mine were reported to be 2.9% Cu1.
Exploration activities completed at the Kjoli project in 2021 included a systematic soil sampling program (2,800 samples) and a gravity survey (a common exploration tool utilized in VMS exploration programs globally but utilized for the first time in Norway at Kjoli). Results from these field programs were combined with results obtained earlier from the CARDS AI/Data Mining target generation work and have allowed for the definition of 25 drill sites in 4 main target areas. The Company will also evaluate cobalt concentrations, an important battery/EV metal, in the Kjoli mineralization in economic evaluations going forward.
| 1 Historic production figures are from Birkeland, A. (1986) Mineralogisk og geokjemisk undersokelseav Killingdal gruver, Sor-Trondelag. M. Scient. Thesis, University of Oslo in Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper 53 pg. 86. |
Figure 1. Priority target areas for the Kjoli diamond drill program. A: Kjoli Deeps; B: Gronskard mine area; C: Kjoli mine area; D: Guldalsgruva-Rorosmena mine area.