Battery Minerals Resources holds the Bonanza, Desert and East Fork properties located in the historic cobalt-copper-gold Blackbird mining district approximately 30 kilometers west of Salmon, Idaho. The three properties cover fourteen significant cobalt prospects within the known cobalt-copper-gold mineralized zone.
The Bonanza property has been BMR's main exploration focus in Idaho and hosts drill ready targets located adjacent to the Jervois Global Ram Deposit / Idaho Cobalt Works that hosts a Reserve of 2.5 million tonnes grading 0.55% cobalt, 0.8% copper and 0.64g/t gold for 30M lb. of contained cobalt. The Idaho Cobalt Works is the only primary cobalt mine in America set for production in late 2022. BMR’s Bonanza property exhibits similar geology to the Idaho Cobalt Works deposit and hosts multiple surface and sub-surface shoots of cobalt-copper-gold mineralization hosted along a contact with a gabbro sill.
Historic drilling results demonstrated cobalt grades ranging 0.4% to 0.58% with anomalous gold from surface level to 100 meters deep. All projects three BMR Idaho cobalt belt properties host excellent high-grade cobalt-copper-gold discovery potential.
Battery Minerals Resources holds the Bonanza, Desert and East Fork properties located in the historic cobalt-copper-gold Blackbird mining district approximately 30 kilometers west of Salmon, Idaho. The three properties cover fourteen significant cobalt prospects within the known cobalt-copper-gold mineralized zone.
The Bonanza property has been BMR's main exploration focus in Idaho and hosts drill ready targets located adjacent to the Jervois Global Ram Deposit / Idaho Cobalt Works that hosts a Reserve of 2.5 million tonnes grading 0.55% cobalt, 0.8% copper and 0.64g/t gold for 30M lb. of contained cobalt. The Idaho Cobalt Works is the only primary cobalt mine in America set for production in late 2022. BMR’s Bonanza property exhibits similar geology to the Idaho Cobalt Works deposit and hosts multiple surface and sub-surface shoots of cobalt-copper-gold mineralization hosted along a contact with a gabbro sill.
Historic drilling results demonstrated cobalt grades ranging 0.4% to 0.58% with anomalous gold from surface level to 100 meters deep. All projects three BMR Idaho cobalt belt properties host excellent high-grade cobalt-copper-gold discovery potential.
Idaho Cobalt Belt
Key Facts
Overview
BMR’s properties include Bonanza and East Fork assets located in the historic cobalt-copper Blackbird mining district approximately 30km west of Salmon, Idaho.
The largest, Bonanza, encompasses an area of widespread cobalt mineralization recognized as a fault offset of the Blackbird Mining District mineralized horizon located immediately to the southeast.
Bonanza is a drill ready target located adjacent to the Jervois Global Ram Deposit (reserve of 2.5 million tonnes grading 0.55% cobalt, 0.8% copper and 0.64g/t gold for 30M lb. of contained cobalt) the only advanced stage, near term, environmentally permitted, primary cobalt deposit in the United States.
Historical Background
Mining for gold started in 1893 and the cobalt content was first recognized in 1901.
The Blackbird mine produced copper and cobalt between 1902 and 1968. Calera (1940’s-1963) and Noranda (1977-1981) operated underground and open pit operations (cobalt, copper and gold). - Exploration and resource definition: ~5Mt @ 0.60% Co, 1.5% Cu.
Production from the Blackbird Mine area during 1940-1980 led to district-scale exploration which included Bonanza.
Exploration at Bonanza resulted in the development of several adits, trenches, and surface sampling. Historic exploration rock grab sample assays range from 1.1% - 4.57% cobalt. Historic exploration drilling in 1955 encountered intercepts grading up to 0.76% cobalt and 5.15% copper over a width of 1.5m from surface to 100m depth.
Geology & Mineralization
The Bonanza property geology includes copper-cobalt mineralization hosted in shoots along the contact with a Gabbro sill exposed in surface trenches and intersected in seven 1955 drillholes to a depth of 150m over a north-south distance of several kilometres.
Bonanza Tunnels and Tinker's Pride are about 1km apart and each are situated along the 8km-long Gabbro dyke that consistently forms the hanging wall to mineralization along the Idaho Cobalt trend.
- Bonanza Tunnels showing: Numerous ore lenses all ranging from 3m – 5m thick assaying up to 0.8% copper, 0.4-0.58% cobalt.
- Tinker's Pride showing: Numerous ore lenses encountered at surface and in drilling; most notable intersection is 1.5m downhole interval assaying 0.76% cobalt and 5.15% copper.
Current Exploration
BMR has collected 712 grid-spaced soil and 45 rock assay samples. Assay results highlight a 2km-long by 700m-wide target area of anomalous copper and cobalt mineralization.
BMR has completed 3.2 line-km of ground IP (Induced Polarization) survey and 550 line-km of airborne magnetic - radiometric surveys that have confirmed the trend of anomalous mineralization and provide confidence supporting several drill targets.
The most recent exploration resulted in the collection 92 continuous chip samples in one of three historic underground workings developed over a 2km strike length.
Sampling returned a 2m channel assaying 2.58% cobalt, 2.7% copper, and 1.14g/t gold, and 1m channel assaying 5.51% cobalt, 1.0% copper, and 1.28g/t gold within a section with a weighted average of 0.70% cobalt, 2.12% copper and 0.58g/t gold over 17.00m from the central portion of the target area.
Five additional 1.0m-long channel samples across the mineralized zone yielded assays ranging from 0.25% to 5.0% cobalt and yielded peak assays of 6.91% copper and 3.57g/t gold.
The assay results confirm the potential of the Bonanza project to host stratabound cobalt and copper mineralization, interpreted as a structurally-displaced block within the principle epicenter for mineralization in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, and represents a significant drill-ready exploration target.
