Coeur Mining Announces Positive Exploration Results at Kensington
Recent drill results from Upper Kensington.
Coeur Mining
Coeur Mining on September 12 provided updates on its exploration programs at the Kensington underground gold mine in Alaska and the Silvertip polymetallic exploration project in British Columbia. Together, the company expects to invest approximately 60 percent of its total 2023 exploration investment of $40 million to $50 million in these two prospective assets.
Discovery Extends Mine Life
Located 45 miles north-northwest of Juneau, Coeur Alaska’s Kensington mine is the second-largest private employer in Southeast. It began operations in 2010 and employs nearly 400 people.
At Kensington, the company reports that 2023 drilling has demonstrated the continuation of all key mineralized structures to the south and down dip. In addition, new sub-parallel mineralized structures have been discovered. The company has completed approximately 40 percent of its planned 2023 exploration drilling program and roughly 55 percent of its planned 2023 underground mine development program, which has led to approximately 2,500 feet of additional mineralized strike length. These most recent positive developments from Kensington’s multi-year exploration drilling and development program follows the successful addition of 1.5 years of mine life in 2022, net of depletion, the first such mine life addition at Kensington since 2018. Coeur expects to invest approximately $80 million in this four-year plan.
Mineralization Extended at Lower Kensington
Recent drill results from Lower Kensington.
Coeur Mining
Current Issue
April 2024
Drilling along strike at Lower Kensington has intersected some of the best grade thickness ever encountered at Kensington, extending mineralization by more than 760 feet so far this year. In addition, drilling is beginning to define a new hanging-wall splay and a series of mineralized linking structures. The intersections between the main structures, the splay structures, and linking structures are believed to control higher-grade plunging shoots at Kensington.
New Zone (Zone 30c) Discovered at Upper Kensington, Zones Linked At Elmira
Recent expansion drilling at Upper Kensington has led to the discovery of the new Zone 30C, with drilling extending mineralization by approximately 400 feet along strike. The drill program at Upper Kensington continues to trace key mineralized structures to the south and down dip and has outlined a new parallel vein structure that already extends 950 feet along strike and 800 feet down dip.
Infill drilling at Elmira, located approximately 200 meters to the east of Kensington, has successfully linked the main zone to the zones to the south.
“Coeur’s track record of success from its sustained multi-year investment in mostly brownfield exploration to extend mine lives and build a robust pipeline of resources remains a key differentiator for the company relative to the sector,” says Mitchell J. Krebs, president and CEO. “Kensington’s successful mine life extensions and growing zone continuity highlight the compelling expected returns on investment that can be generated over time by sustaining our commitment to targeted and cost-effective brownfields exploration.”
Coeur has made significant progress in understanding the mineralization system and the remaining prospectivity at Kensington in 2022. This led to the planning of an aggressive four-year exploration program aimed at extending the life of mine beyond 2030. This program started in the second quarter of 2022 and delivered an additional 1.5 years to the life of mine by year-end. Detailed structural and geological modelling is continuing to enhance Coeur’s understanding of the controls to higher grade mineralization with drill testing targets expected to take place later in 2023 through 2024.
For a complete table of all year-to-date 2023 drill results, please visit:
coeur.com/files/doc_downloads/2023/09/2023-09-12-exploration-update-appendix-final.pdf.
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