VMS Ventures has started diamond drilling on select target areas proximate to the Reed Mine.
Over 4000 meters of drilling has been budgeted for the program which is designed to test seven separate target areas located approximately 300 metres to 2.3 kilometres from the current Reed Mine workings.
Drill holes are planned to vary between 300 metres and 850 metres in length and will test targets identified by the technical team of joint venture partners Hudbay Minerals, and VMS Ventures.
Initial targets were generated through a review of archived exploration data sets and historical drilling and geophysical surveys. These targets were then re-evaluated using more recent electromagnetic geophysical surveys integrated with geochemical and geological data sets resulting in the selection of 7 targets for drill testing.
Geophysical anomalies related to a massive sulphide-type deposit like the Reed copper-zinc deposit typically have both electrical conductance and magnetic geophysical signatures and are hosted in prospective volcanic rocks.
The Reed deposit volcanic host rocks are covered by a layer of younger sedimentary rocks and overburden. Accordingly, target selection relies heavily on the interpretation of geophysical surveys and the litho-geochemical analysis of archived drill core from the property.
VMS Ventures will act as Operator for this exploration program and will work in close cooperation with joint venture partner Hudbay. VMS Ventures Inc. owns 30% of the Reed Mine and Hudbay owns 70% and is the mine Operator.