Vancouver-based American Pacific Mining Corporation has secured drilling contracts with two contractors to complete Phase 1 of a combined reverse circulation and diamond core drill program on its Madison copper/gold project, Montana.
The 15 000 m drill program is expected to start in May.
The upcoming campaign is the largest coordinated drill programme initiated by the company at Madison to date and is designed to systematically extend and expand on shallower high-grade copper and gold mineralization, as well as test for deeper porphyry discovery targets.
For the reverse circulation drilling portion, the company has engaged O’Keefe Drilling based in Butte, Montana.
For the diamond core portion of the programme, the company has engaged Nasco Industrial Services and Supply, on behalf of itself or its wholly-owned subsidiary, NISS Drilling Services based in Kellogg, Idaho.
Using both reverse circulation and diamond drilling methods will optimize costs, improve efficiency, and accelerate target testing across multiple zones.
The reverse circulation drilling will be used for rapid, cost-effective testing of near-surface skarn targets and to establish pre-collars for deeper core hole tails, while the diamond drilling will focus on testing high-priority porphyry targets at depth.
American Pacific has designed the programme to test two complementary opportunities: expansion of known copper/gold skarn mineralization near surface and potential discovery of a larger intrusive-related copper/gold porphyry source at depth.
Recent technical work supports the interpretation that Madison represents a broader evolving mineralized system than historically recognized.