Oxygen Capital has created new company Sun Metals for advancing the Stardust project in north central British Columbia.

Introducing Sun Metals

Sun Metals was created in 2017 by Oxygen Capital with the purpose of advancing the Stardust project, formerly known as Lustdust. Oxygen is a multi-disciplinary team with a successful track record in converting modest capital investments into exceptional shareholder returns. For Sun Metals, Oxygen has created a leadership group with significant experience in base metal exploration, mining and capital markets, as well as direct working experience in B.C. resource development. Not only does the region host a large geological endowment, but supports numerous mine operators. Oxygen believes B.C. is a reliable jurisdiction with excellent exposure to capital markets, a deep pool of exploration professionals, a wealth of supporting services, and exceptional infrastructure with direct access to Pacific markets.

Sun Metals is led by President & CEO Steve Robertson, who has nearly three decades of experience in exploration and mine operations in the province that Stardust calls home.

Sun Metals is encouraged by results from an initial exploration program and an updated resource estimate.

“The current and updated resource estimate for Stardust provides confirmation of the strong grades present in the Canyon Creek zone. This provides Sun Metals with the confidence to move forward with planning for an extensive exploration campaign,” says Robertson.

2017 Exploration Program

Sun Metals’ initial exploration at Stardust included 45 rock samples, 744 soil samples, 28.1 line kilometres of IP and ground magnetometer survey and three diamond drill holes totaling 343.5 metres (m). This work was undertaken to both provide confidence in historic work and also enhance the existing database to create the platform from which Sun Metals will work to launch future programs.

Drill highlights include:

  • 5.15 m (est TW 4.22 m) of skarn mineralization grading 0.44% copper (Cu), 2.99% zinc (Zn), 156.6 gram per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag), and 1.36 g/t gold (Au) in drill hole LD2017-02.
  • LD2017–03 intersected precious metals rich vein material and returned 4.37 m (est TW 2.12 m) grading 332.6 g/t Ag and 3.36 g/t Au, including 1.32 m (est. TW 0.71 m) of 856.0 g/t Ag and 8.00 g/t Au.

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate

An updated Mineral Resource Estimate on the Canyon Creek Skarn Zone has been completed by Qualified Person, Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo. of GeoSim Services Inc. Grade estimation was based on analytical data from 106 drill holes completed between 1997 and 2017. The estimate includes only skarn mineralization identified in the Canyon Creek zone, and has not included drilling information from the manto, vein or porphyry zones due to a lack of information density in those areas.  

Fourteen mineralized skarn zones were modeled using a minimum width of 1.5 m. Composite grades were capped at 15 g/Au and 200 g/t Ag. Zn grades above 6% were limited to a 25m range. Block model grades were estimated by the inverse distance cubed method using dynamic anisotropy to simulate the individual zone geometries.

The indicated mineral resource is estimated to contain 985,000 tonnes grading 1.34% Cu, 0.62% Zn, 1.59 g/t Au and 36.8 g/t Ag. An additional inferred resource contains 1,985,000 tonnes averaging 1.24% Cu, 0.14% Zn, 1.72 g/t Au and 30.5 g/t Ag. The cut-off grade for the base case was 1.5% copper equivalent. Metal price assumptions for the equivalent calculation were $3.00/lb Cu, $1.25/lb Zn, $1300/oz Au and $18/oz Ag. The cut-off grade represents an in-situ metal value of approximately $100/tonne which is believed to represent a reasonable break-even cost for underground mining and processing.