EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT

Braveheart increases Bull River copper resource by 57%

Braveheart Resources has announced a 57% increase in copper metal in an updated resource for its Bull River Mine project in British Columbia.

 Braveheart Resources is aiming to restart its Bull River Mine project in BC

Braveheart Resources is aiming to restart its Bull River Mine project in BC

It's aiming to restart the mine near Cranbrook but said in August it no longer expected approvals before year-end due to COVID-related delays.

The update puts the indicated resource at 2.26 million tonnes at 2.132% copper-equivalent for 89.5 million pounds copper, 30,600 ounces of gold and 1.1Moz of silver.

Inferred stood at 1.36Mt at 1.9% Cu-eq for 47.8Mlb copper, 18,200oz of gold and 594,000oz of silver, using a 0.9% cut-off grade.

This compares with a 2018 indicated resource of 2.18Mt at 1.8% Cu-eq for 72.9Mlb copper, 25,000oz of gold and 857,000oz of silver, plus an indicated 513,000t at 1.5% Cu-eq for 14.5Mlb, 5,000oz and 144,000oz respectively, using a 0.6% cut-off.

President and CEO Ian Berzins said inferred copper had risen 230% and both gold and silver had increased by 63% and 71% respectively.

"The results are encouraging because we have significant overall increases in copper, gold and silver notwithstanding the use of a higher COG of 0.9% Cu-eq in the new mineral resource versus 0.6% Cu-eq in the previous mineral resource," he said.

The increases were due to the inclusion of new drilling from 2020 and 2021, reinterpretation of the mineralised shapes and additional certificates and QAQC being applied, Braveheart said.

The company said Bull River was fully developed and dewatered, infrastructure included a 700tpd mill and the property was now connected to grid power

Braveheart had struck an offtake and US$3.5 million pre-payment agreement with Ocean Partners UK in April, with the maturity date extended this week to September 30, 2023.

It also has the past-producing Thierry copper-nickel mine in Ontario, where it unveiled a PEA in January less than a month after acquiring the project.

The company raised C$723,313 in July at 10c per unit.

Its shares (TSXV: BHT) have ranged from C6.5-15.5c over the past year and closed up 14.3% - or 1c - yesterday to 8c to value it at $17 million (US$13 million).

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