Results from Seabridge Gold’s 2013 drilling on the Deep Kerr zone at its 100% owned KSM project in northwest British Columbia, Canada, have dramatically changed the company’s thinking about the economic profile of the project. A year ago, Seabridge viewed KSM as an attractive, large-scale gold project with a robust copper credit. With the addition of 2013 Deep Kerr drill results, the company now believes KSM is equally a top-tier copper project, with grades that potentially invite comparison with the world’s largest and most profitable operating copper-gold mines.
The weighted average of drill intercepts from the Deep Kerr zone currently yields a grade of 0.71% copper and 0.46 g/mt gold over a width of 220 m.
Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk said, “A key strategic objective for this year’s program was to expand the universe of prospective operating partners for KSM by increasing its potential as a copper producer. There are not many gold companies able to build a project as large as KSM. There are many more base metal producers with the capacity and experience needed for the task. We believe that Deep Kerr now puts KSM’s copper potential above the threshold required for the involvement of a major base metal company.
“Our current focus is to continue to de-risk KSM, particularly by advancing it through the environmental review process and reaching agreements with local treaty and First Nations. When these objectives have been met, which we anticipate by mid next year, we expect a longer list of prospective operating partners thanks to our success at Deep Kerr.”
Fronk also noted that the widths and grades encountered in hole K 13-34 (640 m of 0.85% copper and 0.42 g/mt gold) indicate that the most productive portion of Deep Kerr could be found in future drilling. “Our best results came at the end of this year’s program. As we moved to the north, there was a definite trend toward a broader zone with richer gold and copper grades.
“Next year’s program will focus on this area, which is open along strike and at depth and where higher-grade tonnage could be added quickly. There is no doubt in our mind that Deep Kerr will prove to be a very large deposit.
