Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 13, 2025) - Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PEMC) ("Pacific Empire", "PEMC" or the "Company"), a British Columbia copper-gold explorer, has outlined its 2025 exploration plans for its Flagship Trident Copper-Gold Property and the Pinnacle Property.
Highlights
Pacific Empire intends to complete an initial 3-5-hole diamond drilling program at Trident. The initial diamond drill program at Trident is focused on the primary target area where over 50 years' worth of exploration suggests that the area immediately north of historical drilling is the most prospective. This drill program will also vector drill azimuths towards the north so to efficiently test this target area.
Pacific Empire has submitted an application with the Inspector of Mines, Northeast/North Central Region of the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Low Carbon Innovationfor a multi-year exploration permit at the Trident project. The permit includes plans for 20 diamond drill holes, geophysical surveys, and additional road construction. Approval is anticipated in Spring 2025.
"A multi-year exploration permit has been submitted for Trident," commented Brad Peters, President, CEO, and Director of Pacific Empire. "The permit addresses issues related to road construction and the use of culverts for water crossings. Last year, damage to a segment of the access road was identified, necessitating the installation of a culvert to mitigate potential adverse effects and minimize disturbance. Runoff from a small creek had affected a portion of the road, requiring either an amendment to the existing permit or the submission of a new one. Given the permitting timelines, we determined that applying for a comprehensive, multi-year permit would best position Pacific Empire for sustained exploration efforts over the next five years."
The focus of the 2025 exploration program will be on the primary target area at Trident. This area is located north of the historic A-Zone where previous diamond drilling intersected several intercepts of copper and gold mineralization. The initial diamond drill program proposes 3-5 holes to depths of approximately 500 to 600 metres intended to rapidly and efficiently test this highly prospective target.
Figure 1 - Compilation of geochemical and IP geophysical data
The presence of mineralized porphyry dikes, which were intersected in historical diamond drilling by Falconbridge in the 1970's and later by Solomon Resources in 2007, are directly responsible for the copper-gold mineralization encountered at Trident and are critical to our understanding of the source and origin of a potentially much larger main porphyry body.
All historical drilling at Trident has primarily targeted the robust copper-gold soil geochemical anomaly that defines the central portion of the property. Considering the target area and the gentle slope of the region, it is reasonable to assume that the source of the soil geochemical anomaly lies upslope from the anomaly itself.
Geophysical surveys, including airborne magnetics, ground-based induced polarization, and mobile magnetotellurics, all support the potential for a significant copper-gold deposit in this target area.
Figure 2 - Schematic representation of the Primary Target area in relation to historical drilling and the geochemical anomaly with proposed drillhole locations.
"What excites us the most about Trident is the gold and copper grades encountered by previous operators. We believe the most significant advancement on the property to date is the recognition that mineralization appears to be directly associated with these porphyry dikes. Furthermore, their orientation suggests that the optimal drilling strategy is to drill 3 to 5 holes, moving from south to north, starting from the A-Zone," commented Brad Peters, President, CEO, and Director of Pacific Empire.
Dr. Paul Johnston, Pacific Empire's Senior Geological Advisor, commented, "In general, the orientation of small porphyry intrusions and dikes tends to be less than 15 degrees from vertical, at the time of formation, due to natural physical constraints. This information can be used to infer the current orientation of the system, which is invaluable when designing a diamond drill program that targets the source."
Table 1 - Highlights from Historical Drilling at Trident
The Pinnacle property, located immediately west of Trident, now has extensive road access due to ongoing logging operations over the past few years. Additionally, widespread forest fires in 2022 cleared large areas of the property, creating new opportunities for prospecting and mapping.
Initially, the Company intends to evaluate the extent of new road building, which will be followed by extensive prospecting in new areas that were previously inaccessible. The priority will be to identify new areas of exposed rock while mapping and collecting rock samples.
"For years, large areas of Pinnacle remained virtually inaccessible due to dense forest cover and a lack of access roads. This is no longer the case. With extensive road-building activities from logging operations, we are excited about the opportunity to prospect newly created roads and roadcuts for fresh rock exposures. Historically, the only known outcrop at Pinnacle has been in the Aplite Creek area, where copper and gold have been observed, which also coincides with the only exposed outcrop on the property," commented Brad Peters, President, CEO, and Director of Pacific Empire.
About Trident
The Trident property is an early exploration stage property hosting an alkalic porphyry copper-gold-silver prospect with district-scale potential that is accessible by vehicle. The property is located approximately 50 km to the southeast of NorthWest Copper Corp.'s Kwanika Deposit and 50 km to the northwest of Centerra Gold's Mt. Milligan Mine. The property covers 6,618 hectares endowed with well-established logging roads providing important efficient access to conduct exploration programs.
Copper mineralization on the property was first discovered in 1969, while exploration crews were following up on anomalous stream sediment samples. The following year, Falconbridge optioned the property and over the next two years completed IP and magnetic surveys, geological mapping, soil sampling and diamond drilling. This work ultimately led to the discovery of the A Zone.
Additional exploration programs were completed by Kookaburra Gold Corp. from 1988 through 1991, Solomon Resources Ltd., from 2006 through 2008. In 2013, PEMC optioned the property and in 2014, in turn, PEMC optioned the property to Oz Minerals which completed during that same year, an IP survey and completed a two drillhole, diamond drill program at Trident.
In 2022, Pacific Empire acquired a 100% interest in the property in exchange for granting the vendors a 2% net smelter return royalty ("NSR"). One-half (1%) of the 2% NSR which may be purchased for $500,000 by Pacific Empire.
Prior to 2014, known mineralization on the property was believed to be associated with fracture and/or shear zones structures striking 120 degrees and dipping 75 degrees towards the northeast. A review of historical drill core by the Pacific Empire exploration team has led to a much different interpretation with respect to the nature of known mineralization on the property. The most important observation made was the determination of the presence of hornblende-feldspar monzonite porphyry intrusions detected within drill core obtained from the A Zone. These types of porphyry intrusions are typically characterized by sheeted quartz sulphide veins hosting disseminated chalcopyrite and bornite residing immediately adjacent to and within the porphyry dikes. Other observations include the highest grades noted in historical drilling can be seen to be directly associated with intervals where such porphyry intrusions occur.
"Between our 100% owned Trident and Pinnacle projects runs the Klawli river. The gold flakes and nuggets in the vial displayed on the map were collected from that location on the Klawli river. It is this and other geochemical evidence gathered by the PEMC exploration team which leads us to postulate the potential for a gold-enriched copper system nearby on either Trident, Pinnacle, or possibly both projects. To date, visible gold has been observed in outcrops at Trident, placer gold discovered in the nearby Klawli river gravels, as well gold has been detected in drill core from Pinnacle. All three of these known occurrences of gold and their respective locations suggests there may be a shallow buried, large scale, gold-enriched, copper porphyry deposit within our district scale land package," commented Brad Peters, President, CEO and Director of Pacific Empire.
About Pinnacle
The Pinnacle project is located 60 km to the west of Centerra Gold's Mt. Milligan Copper-Gold Mine and 30 km to the southeast of NorthWest Copper's Kwanika Copper-Gold Deposit in a proven copper-gold porphyry district. Access to the Pinnacle is by road including a new and expanding network of logging roads and trails throughout the main target areas. This improved access is a significant development and is anticipated to contribute to cost effective drill support and provides additional bedrock exposure.
"Over the past 2 years significant logging operations have developed an extensive road network that now covers the entirety of the southern half of the property providing new outcrop exposure and efficient access. The 2023 forest fires dramatically affected the property resulting in significantly improved access to the property," commented Brad Peters, President, CEO and Director of Pacific Empire.
Qualified Person's Statement
Kristian Whitehead, P.Geo., serves as a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release, approving the disclosure herein.
About Pacific Empire
Pacific Empire is a copper exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PEMC. The Company has a district scale land position in north-central British Columbia totaling 22,541 hectares.
British Columbia is a "Green" copper jurisdiction with abundant hydroelectric power, access and infrastructure in close proximity to the end market.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
"Brad Peters" President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mineral exploration; fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume and the additional risks identified the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
