en.Wedoany.com Reported - Pirate Gold (TSXV: YARR; US-OTC: YARRF) has encountered extensive copper-gold mineralization in its initial drilling at the Moby Dick target in central Newfoundland, Canada, indicating a regional mineralizing system beneath the area.
According to a report released by the company on Wednesday, drill hole PGC-26-068 intersected 180.8 meters of mineralization at 194 meters downhole, grading 0.13% copper, 0.36 grams per tonne gold, and 1.73 grams per tonne silver; including a 49.4-meter section with higher grades of 0.28% copper, 1.07 g/t gold, and 3.42 g/t silver. Another drill hole, PGC-26-058, returned a 112.4-meter interval from 250 meters downhole, grading 0.12% copper, 0.22 g/t gold, and 1.76 g/t silver; including a 45-meter section grading 0.17% copper, 0.46 g/t gold, and 2.57 g/t silver.
These holes are part of the first three drill holes at the Crippleback Moby Dick target by the St. John's-based exploration company, belonging to its Treasure Island project on the Valentine Lake fault zone. The project is located approximately 30 kilometers from Equinox Gold's (TSX, NYSE-A: EQX) Valentine mine. Pirate Gold believes the assay results are consistent with the characteristics of a porphyry-high sulfidation epithermal system.
"Against a backdrop of increasingly rare multi-billion-tonne copper discoveries, we have drilled into a deposit that could become an industry unicorn," said Executive Chairman and CEO Denis Laviolette in a press release. He is also the founder, executive chairman, and CEO of Toronto-based EarthLabs, which owns The Northern Miner Group. "Today's results offer only a glimpse of what could ultimately be a much larger copper-gold district."
As miners search globally for new supply to meet demand from electrification, data centers, and the energy transition, large multi-billion-tonne copper discoveries have become scarce. If confirmed, a porphyry-epithermal system of this scale would mark a rare new discovery in an industry increasingly reliant on expanding existing deposits rather than finding new ones.
Mineralization occurs within an area known as advanced argillic alteration. Drilling has confirmed the alteration zone extends 3,100 meters in length, 850 meters in width, and 500 meters in depth, with all boundaries still open. The company stated the entire system could span 32 kilometers by 8 kilometers.
It is important to note that the discovery remains at an early stage. Only three drill holes have tested the alteration zone so far, with results from a fourth hole pending, and Pirate Gold has not yet delineated any resources at Moby Dick. Additionally, the company abandoned one hole, PGC-26-088, which failed to reach target depth due to swelling clay making further drilling too difficult—highlighting the technical challenges of testing such an intensely altered system.
"We knew the alteration was telling us something, and now the first drill holes have confirmed it," said company President Tim Froude in the press release. "Our focus now is to keep drilling and figure out just how big this whale really is."
Crippleback is located on the same fault zone as Equinox Gold's Valentine mine, which began commercial production in November and is ramping up to its design capacity of 175,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold per year.
Pirate Gold stated that since acquiring the rights to the area, geologists have recorded over 100 copper and gold occurrences along the 40-kilometer-long Crippleback intrusive belt, including 79 new copper occurrences discovered around Moby Dick in the past month. The company has also acquired 12 additional nearby mineral licenses from multiple private holders through a combination of cash, shares, and royalties.
On Wednesday, Pirate Gold's shares surged 40% on the Toronto Stock Exchange to C$0.28 per share, before retreating to C$0.24 on Friday, giving the company a market valuation of approximately C$122 million. Over the past year, the stock has traded between C$0.17 and C$0.39.
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