Mount Copeland
Mt. Copeland Past Producing High Grade Molybdenum Property
The Mount Copeland deposit lies within metamorphic rocks flanking the southern margin of Frenchman Cap Dome, 32 kilometers northwest of Revelstoke, British Columbia. The rocks have been metamorphosed and subjected to three phases of deformation. Lenses of syenite pegmatite and syenite aplite are common along the northern border of the nepheline syenite unit, and because of their concentrations of molybdenite, are the focus of economic interest. During the life of the Mount Copeland mine (1970-1974) almost all production was from these aplite-pegmatite bodies within the syenite gneisses, more specifically the Glacier zone, which was up to 3 meters thick and exposed for 121 meters along a strike length of over 1 kilometer. The object of Torch River Resources exploration efforts will be
to attempt to find a repeat of the Glacier zone, which produced 163,278 tonnes grading 1.1 percent molybdenum.
Anomalous REE values in soil samples
are widespread. The areas that have the highest concentrations of
REE values in soil include Marble Breccia Ridge and the East Glacier
Zones. Geochemical analysis results have identified molybdenum
(Mo), REE (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb,
Lu), yttrium (Y), zirconium (Zr), and niobium (Nb) bearing
mineralization. The magnetometer survey
strong anomalies are located in an area of marble with extensive
zones of pyrrhotite and/or magnetite/ilmenite replacement
mineralization which coincides with elevated REE geochemical
analysis of rock chips 10AR-22 to 28 from Marble Breccia Ridge.
A second area of REE bearing mineralization occurs in the East
Glacier Zone (e.g. rock chip sampleCOPE10AR-20). The East Glacier
and Marble Bx Ridge Zones are about 500 meters apart, but they occur
on the same stratigraphic horizon and may be part of an extensive
REE bearing mineral zone that trends under the glacier. In addition
to REE bearing mineralization, a zone of elevated molybdenum and
coincident niobium occurs in the east extension of the Copeland
underground workings. This area has been targeted for possible
extensions of Mo bearing mineralization, but this zone appears to
have elevated Mo-Nb-Ti (e.g. rock chip sample COPE10AR-4 _ 5). Also,
directly adjacent to the underground workings there is a rock chip
sample that contains elevated Mo-REE-Nb-Ti (rock chip sample
COPE10AR-3).
Mount Copeland Technical Report
March 16, 2009