If gold is king, then silver is queen, and that makes copper their redheaded stepchild. With this old saying in mind, it seems Rockcliff Resources Inc. is firmly seated amongst royalty with the announcement of recent drill results from their Rail VMS deposit.
The community of Snow Lake was still giddy from HudBay Minerals Inc. and Alexis Minerals latest announcements on Lalor, Chisel North, and New Brit' when the Rockcliff news hit the streets. Having a hard time still digesting the earlier good news, residents were nothing short of stunned when the latter was publicized.
Earlier this month, Rockcliff announced that they had hit a 4.74m drill intersection grading 9.02 per cent copper, 3.46g/t gold, 1.62 per cent zinc, and 36.5g/t silver. This result not only proves positive the potential of the Snow Lake area property, but also effectively doubles the size of the company's intended drill program.
The company advised that the hole in question was drilled in an untested area, 150m north of the historic Rail VMS deposit. They note that drilling has now increased the Rail Zone mineralization to 685 metres of strike length and up to 380 metres deep. As well, the zone remains open in all directions, and with the additional 2,500 metres of drilling that was added to the ongoing program, Rockcliff will focus on defining the outer limits of the zone and test other high priority geophysical targets identified in previous surveys in the area.
Ken Lapierre, president and chief executive officer of Rockcliff Resources, took time out of a busy period that was framed by this announcement and Manitoba's Mining Convention, to answer some questions on the company and their Snow Lake prospects. Lapierre explained Rockcliff's reasons for coming to Manitoba in general, and Snow Lake in particular, was the fact that the greenstone belt, which covers the Snow Lake region, represents one of the most prolific VMS mining camps in the world. "With approximately 30 mines in the belt since the 1930s, this area represents an extremely attractive address for Rockcliff to carry out its goal of becoming mine finders," said Lapierre.
The company's regional holdings include five historical VMS deposits: Lon, Rail, Reed, Kof, and Sylvia. As well, Lapierre notes that Rockcliff also controls the Shihan VMS project located in northern Ontario. The regional holdings, dubbed the Snow Lake VMS project, total in excess of 500 square kilometres, of which 350 square kilometres is 100 per cent owned by Rockcliff. Within this area, there are virtually hundreds of what Lapierre calls, 'blue sky' drill targets waiting to be tested. "Since coming to the camp in 2007, we have spent almost $10 million testing and expanding our properties," he said. "With the recent discovery of the HudBay Lalor Deposit, the future for Snow Lake remains bright, and Rockcliff wants to be part of that. We want to be the discoverer of Snow Lake's next big mine."
The company is utilizing some cutting-edge technology in their endeavour to make that breakthrough. It is known as a ZTEM survey (stands for Z Axis Tipper Electromagnetic system) from Geotech Ltd. The ZTEM is an innovative airborne EM system, which uses the natural or passive fields of the Earth as the source of transmitted energy.
The Earth and ionosphere, both conductive, act as waveguides to 'transmit' the source energy great distances. "It is a state of the art airborne geophysical survey that allows for better depth penetration and resolution capabilities," said Lapierre. "It basically allows us to 'window out' barren rock and see areas with structure and conductors, both very important building blocks needed for the concentration of massive sulphides. It also can see deeper down, which I believe is key, since most of the mines have already been discovered from surface to 100 metres deep. However, it cannot tell you the type of sulphides and that's where the 'truth machine' (diamond drill) must be used. We are presently flying approximately 3,000-line kilometres over parts of our existing project focusing on our five known deposits and on our properties located immediately north and south of the Lalor deposit. We hope to have this survey completed shortly and to be drilling some 'blue sky' targets in the new year."
The CEO says that Rockcliff's short-term plans at Snow Lake are to advance their VMS deposits and discover new zones of mineralization with mine making capabilities. "On approximately 70 per cent of our project, we have 100 per cent ownership, and the balance of the project earns us a 100 per cent interest from HudBay," Lapierre said. "Every deposit needs drilling completed on it to determine actual size. Our initial focus has been on the Rail property, where we have been successful at significantly expanding the size of that zone. We feel, with continued successful drilling at Rail, it will put us one step closer to becoming a mine finding company."
