Western Copper and Gold has announced the commencement of an approximately 10,000 meter drill program at its wholly owned Casino Copper-Gold Project (Casino).

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Image: The goal of the drilling campaign is to convert inferred mineralization to indicated mineralization. Photo courtesy of Erik Stein from Pixabay.

CASINO DRILL CAMPAIGN

The drill campaign primarily consists of in-fill drilling of inferred mineralization located in the 22-year pit outlined by the January 25, 2013 Casino Project Feasibility Study (the “Feasibility Study”).  Drilling will be performed by two diamond drill rigs, and will consist of holes between 150 meters and 400 meters in depth.  It is expected that drilling will commence this week and be completed by the end of the third quarter.

The goal of the drilling campaign is to convert inferred mineralization to indicated mineralization, which would have a number of positive effects on the Casino project, including:

Increasing the overall tonnage of indicated mineralization, which in turn increases the amount of material that potentially becomes reserves in future economic studies, thus increasing projected mine life.

Potentially lowering the overall strip ratio, as in the Feasibility Study inferred mineralization located in the Casino pit was considered to be waste.

Providing more accurate quantities of ore and waste, which will allow for more detailed engineering of the tailings and mine waste facility outlined in the Best Available Tailings Technology Study.

Paul West-Sells, President and CEO, stated “We are excited to be drilling again at the Casino Project and optimistic that the expected updated resource will take one of the largest, economic, copper-gold deposits located in one of the most mining friendly jurisdictions in the world – Yukon, Canada and make it larger, more economic, and more robust.”

Source: Company Press Release