Exploration History

Copper was discovered at Lights Creek in 1883, and it was mined on a large scale from 1915 until 1930. Reported production from the Engels and Superior mines was approximately 161 million pounds of copper, 23,000 ounces of gold and 1.9 million ounces of silver recovered from 4.7 million tons of ore containing 2.2% copper. Gold and silver credits represented almost 20% of mined value at current commodity prices.

Placer-Amex owned the property from 1960 to 1994, drilling over 400 holes and estimating a resource (non NI:43-101 compliant) of 4 billion pounds of copper.¹ They sold the project to focus on their gold portfolio. The project was then owned by a number of junior mining companies from 1994 to 2011, during which time, 87 holes were drilled totaling 28,884 feet and an initial NI 43-101 resource was defined at the Moonlight deposit of 1.5 billion pounds of copper.

The Company acquired 132 unpatented claims and a lease with an option to purchase 36 patents covering the Superior and Engels mines in June 2013. A NI 43-101 resource of 54 million tonnes at 0.41% copper for 488 million pounds of copper was calculated for the Superior deposit in November 2013. A NI 43-101 resource for the Engels deposit was estimated at 2.5 million tonnes at 1.05% copper oxide for 58 million pounds of copper.

The claims of the Moonlight deposit were initially under a lease agreement and an option agreement. The Company completed the purchase of a 100% undivided title interest in the Moonlight property in March 2018. The updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Moonlight deposit and the publication of the PEA also occurred that same year. For further information on the mineral resource and PEA of Moonlight, please see menu on the left.