Mining News: News Nuggets: Kiska enjoys renewed interest; drilling planned for Copper Joe

Kiska Metals Corp. May 31 provided an update on it portfolio of projects, including a planned drill program on its Copper Joe copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry project in Southcentral Alaska. “Kiska is excited to be entering this period of renewed interest in the resource sector with over C$4 million of cash and marketable securities on hand, active option agreements with top-tier companies, drill-ready projects available for option, and a growing royalty portfolio,” said Kiska President and CEO Grant Ewing. Copper Joe is currently under an option agreement with First Quantum Minerals. A magnetotelluric geophysical survey conducted in 2015 identified a 1,000-meter-wide anomaly that is coincident with an extensive zone of intense phyllic alteration at surface. The core of this anomaly has yet to be drilled and First Quantum has indicated that it will carry out a drilling program this summer. Kiska is also anticipating exploration at Kliyul, an early-stage gold-copper porphyry project in northern British Columbia held under an option agreement with Teck Resources Ltd. Teck has completed roughly C$3 million at Kliyul to date and must complete roughly C$1 million in additional exploration on the property, or make the equivalent cash payment to Kiska prior to Jan. 31, 2017 to maintain the option. Kiska’s portfolio also includes six other prospective projects available for option: the Chuchi, Golden Triangle, Williams and Redton projects in British Columbia; and the Goodpaster and Hilltop projects in Alaska. Goodpaster hosts extensive gold and multi-element soil anomalies in a geological setting comparable to the nearby Pogo deposit. Kiska said it is able to leverage the barite exploration work that Baker Hughes is currently conducting at Hilltop, including surface sampling and drilling, in order to evaluate the property’s gold potential.

-Shane Lasley