from Amarc Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ:AXREF)
Amarc and Freeport Are Planning a Significant 2025 Drill Program in Their Joy District, Including at the High Grade Copper-Gold-Silver Aurora Discovery
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / May 29, 2025 / Amarc Resources Ltd. ("Amarc" or the "Company") (TSXV:AHR)(OTCQB:AXREF) is pleased to announce that planning in collaboration with Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. ("Freeport"), ahead of a significant 2025 drill program, is well advanced. Drilling is planned to be focused at the Company's new, high grade, gold-rich porphyry copper-gold-silver ("Cu-Au-Ag") AuRORA Deposit, the PINE Deposit and the Twins and Canyon Discoveries as well as several high potential and drill-ready Cu-Au Deposit Targets across the JOY District (or "JOY" or the "District") in north-central British Columbia ("BC"). Comprehensive exploration of the JOY District is indicating high potential for the development of a major Cu-Au district, hosting multiple important scale deposits.
Freeport is fully funding work programs at JOY, and has provided notice under the Mineral Property Earn-In Agreement (the "Agreement") (see Amarc release May 12, 2021) that it has invested CAD $35 million, under an accelerated time frame, and earned an initial 60% interest in the JOY District. The 2025 program of CAD $10 million is subject to Freeport electing to proceed to fund an additional CAD $75 million in exploration and development programs under Stage 2 of the Agreement, which election is anticipated by Amarc to be made during the third quarter of 2025. At Freeport's request, Amarc has agreed to continue managing all aspects of the exploration work programs.
High Grade Cu-Au-Ag AuRORA Deposit
The impressive AuRORA Deposit Discovery, announced earlier this year, is located within the expansive approximately 4 km 2 Northwest Gossan ("NWG") Target, an area within the 495 km 2 JOY District that had not previously been drill tested; much of the NWG Target remains unexplored. AuRORA is characterized by its high grades, near-surface location and excellent lateral and vertical continuity (see table below, and Amarc releases January 17, 20 and February 28, 2025). Importantly, AuRORA remains open to further expansion.
Following completion of discovery hole JP24057, Amarc began systematically stepping out, drilling with three core rigs along six 100 m spaced sections to start outlining the exciting AuRORA Cu-Au-Ag discovery, and confirm its high grade potential. None of these drill sections were completed as the Amarc team had to demobilize from the Centerra Gold Inc.'s Kemess Mine Camp by mid-October 2024, which was scheduled to be winterized at that time. The AuRORA deposit currently extends over 600 m by 500 m and remains open to lateral expansion.
The grade range encountered so far in AuRORA drill intersections is higher than that mined historically by Northgate Mineral Corp. at the Kemess South deposit (218 MT at 0.63 g/t Au and 0.21% Cu[1]) in the Kemess Mining District located immediately to the south of the JOY mineral claims. Centerra Gold Inc., which owns and is currently advancing the Kemess District, has recently reported Au and Cu resources for the Kemess Open Pit (Indicated of 111.7 Mt grading 0.27 g/t Au, 0.14% Cu and 1.19 g/t Ag), Kemess Underground (139.9 Mt grading 0.50 g/t Au, 0.25% Cu and 1.90 g/t Ag) and Kemess East deposits (Indicated of 93.4 Mt grading 0.39 g/t Au, 0.30% Cu and 1.66 g/t Ag)[2]. Members of the Amarc team were the first to recognize the porphyry potential of the Kemess area within the Toodoggone, and discovered and transacted the Kemess South Deposit in 1996. Additionally, members of the Amarc team have collectively worked on all nine known porphyry deposits in the Toodoggone-Kemess region, providing a significant local knowledge advantage.
[1] Golder Associates, "Technical Report for the Kemess Underground Project and Kemess East Project, BC," for AuRico Metals Ltd., July 2017
[2] Centerra website: www.centerragold.com; as at December 24, 2024; cut off for Kemess OP is NSR cutoff of C$12.92/t; NSR shut off valve of C$22.92/t Kemess UG and Kemess East for block cave UG method. Amarc's qualified person has been unable to verify this information and the information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the JOY property.
Highlights from the AuRORA DEPOSIT Discovery Drill Holes Include:
Drill Hole | Int.1,2,3 (m) | From (m) | Incl. | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | Ag (g/t) | CuEQ4 (%) |
JP24057 | 82 | 18 | 1.24 | 0.38 | 2.47 | 1.08 | |
42 | 58 | Incl. | 1.97 | 0.49 | 3.58 | 1.61 | |
JP24059 | 271 | 24 | 0.98 | 0.25 | 1.93 | 0.81 | |
171 | 24 | Incl. | 1.32 | 0.34 | 2.62 | 1.09 | |
89 | 106 | and | 2.29 | 0.46 | 3.65 | 1.76 | |
JP24071 | 2125 | 21 | 1.36 | 0.40 | 3.35 | 1.18 | |
108 | 104 | Incl. | 2.38 | 0.60 | 5.17 | 1.96 | |
JP24074 | 162 | 69 | 2.19 | 0.63 | 6.95 | 1.90 | |
147 | 84 | Incl. | 2.40 | 0.69 | 7.60 | 2.08 | |
108 | 111 | and | 3.09 | 0.82 | 8.99 | 2.59 | |
81 | 135 | and | 3.69 | 0.92 | 9.72 | 3.04 | |
JP24060 | 130 | 74 | 2.40 | 0.61 | 5.33 | 1.98 | |
81 | 104 | Incl. | 3.58 | 0.85 | 7.36 | 2.89 | |
JP24063 | 132 | 70 | 1.01 | 0.30 | 2.80 | 0.88 | |
99 | 103 | Incl. | 1.17 | 0.33 | 3.15 | 1.00 | |
JP24068 | 192 | 47 | 0.52 | 0.25 | 2.63 | 0.56 | |
83 | 104 | Incl. | 0.75 | 0.34 | 3.77 | 0.78 | |
JP24073 | 219 | 102 | 0.98 | 0.24 | 2.01 | 0.80 | |
131 | 102 | Incl. | 1.40 | 0.34 | 2.81 | 1.13 | |
95 | 138 | and | 1.62 | 0.37 | 2.94 | 1.28 | |
JP24075 | 266 | 34 | 1.24 | 0.31 | 3.42 | 1.02 | |
109 | 37 | Incl. | 2.41 | 0.51 | 5.27 | 1.89 | |
JP24080 | 132 | 137 | 1.87 | 0.63 | 5.22 | 1.71 | |
90 | 167 | Incl. | 2.53 | 0.81 | 6.45 | 2.26 | |
JP24083 | 204 | 74 | 0.74 | 0.28 | 3.86 | 0.72 | |
51 | 157 | Incl. | 1.51 | 0.53 | 6.47 | 1.41 |
Notes to Table:
Widths reported are drill widths, such that true thicknesses are unknown.
All assay intervals represent length-weighted averages.
Some figures may not sum exactly due to rounding.
Copper equivalent (CuEQ) calculations use metal process prices of: Cu US$4.00/lb, Au US$1800/oz., and Ag US$24/oz. and conceptual recoveries of: Cu 85%, Au 72% and 67% Ag. Conversion of metals to an equivalent copper grade based on these metal prices is relative to the copper price per unit mass factored by conceptual recoveries for those metals normalized to the conceptualized copper recovery. The metal equivalencies for each metal are added to the copper grade. The general formula for this is: CuEQ% = Cu% + ((Au g/t * (Au recovery / Cu recovery) * (Au $ per oz./31.1034768 / Cu $ per lb. * 22.04623)) + ((Ag g/t * (Ag recovery / Cu recovery) * (Ag $ per oz./ 31.1034768 / Cu $ per lb. * 22.04623)).
Drill hole JP24071 interval 179-182 m comprised broken ground, no core was recovered, and it was therefore averaged at zero grade.
Further details are available in Amarc's January 17, 20, and February 28, 2025 releases.
Other JOY District Potential - Twins Discovery, Canyon Discovery, PINE Deposit and a Pipeline of High Potential Cu-Au Deposit Targets
Amarc has also established nine other large (up to 7 km 2 ) sulphide systems at JOY, mainly located approximately 15 km to the southeast of the AuRORA Discovery (see Amarc release February 28, 2025). Drilling to date in three of these sulphide systems - Twins, PINE and Canyon - has intersected important porphyry Cu-Au mineralization. The highly prospective Twins discovery, made in 2024, represents Amarc's third new Cu-Au porphyry system discovery in three years of drilling with Freeport in the JOY District.
New scientific information gleaned from the AuRORA Discovery, the Twins and Canyon Discoveries, PINE Deposit and several other large-scale sulphide systems and targets across the JOY District is being further assessed, and these systems along with newly emerging deposit t