Sonoran Desert Copper Corporation Enters into Option Agreement on Papua New Guinea Gold-Silver-Copper Property
Vancouver, March 14, 2024 - Sonoran Desert Copper Corp. (TSXV: SDCU) ("SDCU" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has received a signed option agreement dated March 9th for the highly prospective Normanby gold-silver-copper project located in Papua New Guinea (the "Normanby Project" or the "Project"). The Normanby Project consists of two Exploration Licences (EL): EL 2504 (Sehulea) and EL 2590 (East Normanby).
Normanby Project Background
EL 2504 - Sehulea (Au-Ag)
A large-scale, low-sulphidation, epithermal system is present across eastern/southern Normanby Island and the Sehulea exploration licence. Exploration to date has demonstrated gold + silver mineralization in rocks, soils and streams over the entire 8km strike length within the licence. The gold mineralised system then continues into the adjoining EL 2590 - East Normanby Exploration Licence.
EL 2504 contains the Weioko epithermal gold deposit along with five additional highly prospective gold targets (Weioko Prospects). The Weioko deposit is located near the coast, at the northern end of a N-S trending ridgeline, over a strike length up to 400m. The Weioko deposit has 67 historical diamond core and reverse circulation holes totaling 5,791.7m. The holes tested 400m of strike length (N-S) and intersected wide intervals of gold mineralisation. Drill results include 2.24 g/t Au and 8.9 g/t Ag over 64.6m and 16.27 g/t Au and 27.3 g/t Ag over 3.0m.
There is very good potential in the Weioko Prospects for bulk-tonnage, low-sulphidation epithermal gold mineralisation in the permeable volcanics and sediments overlying the metamorphic basement. There is also very good potential for lower-tonnage, higher-grade discrete vein and/or vein stockwork type mineralisation in both the sediments and the basement metamorphics.
The Weioko Deposit is located at the midpoint of EL 2504 and its gold prospects. It was discovered in 1986 during a program of rock chip sampling and ridge/spur soil sampling to follow up pan concentrate gold anomalies and epithermal-style float found during earlier reconnaissance. A total of 1,088 soil and 104 outcrop and float rock samples were collected. The soil samples were analysed for gold, arsenic and antimony and the rock samples analysed for gold, silver, arsenic and antimony. The follow up program generated many significant geochemical anomalies.
At the main Weioko Prospect, low-grade, disseminated gold mineralisation is associated with silicification and argillic alteration of porous sedimentary rocks, and higher-grade veins cut both metamorphic basement and overlying sedimentary rocks. The geology consists of basement metamorphics overlain by Pliocene-age basaltic to andesitic lavas and pyroclastics (Sehulea Volcanics) and poorly to well sorted polymict conglomerates, a marginal epiclastic facies of the volcanics.
The gold mineralisation occurs as structurally controlled epithermal veins and silica flooded zones associated with moderate to strong argillic alteration, hosted mainly by the conglomerates but also in the metamorphics. Sulphides (mainly pyrite) occur as disseminations or veinlets in the matrix and fragments of hydrothermal breccias. The mineralisation is closely associated with the volcanic rocks.
Soil sampling was carried out over a 5.5km x 1.6km NE oriented grid along 100m spaced lines. Numerous broad, strong gold anomalies were demonstrated along the full length of the grid and are defined with mostly coincident arsenic anomalies. Individual anomalies cover areas of up to roughly 9 hectares. The Weioko Prospect was defined by an open-ended, gold-in-soil anomaly covering an area of 350m x 250m.
Hand trenching within the soil anomaly located bedrock gold mineralisation and the best results were 2.43g/t Au over 156m, 2.34g/t Au over 72m, and 1.20g/t Au over 60m, in three separate trenches. Visible gold was noted only at the northernmost Weioko ridgeline outcrop, associated with quartz veinlets and vugs.
A six-hole reconnaissance diamond drilling program totalling 869.7m was undertaken to test the contact zone between the volcanolithic sediment cover and metamorphic basement rocks and for a possible southern extension. Hole WED 003 graded 0.75g/t Au from 0 to 117.5m, including 27.7m grading 2.07g/t Au and 17.1g/t Ag (further including 19.9g/t Au over 1.5m from 30.7m to 32.2m). Hole WED 001 graded 0.53g/t Au from 0 to 114.8m, WED 002 graded 0.44g/t from 0 to 150.0m and WED 005 graded 1.35g/t gold from 0 to 27.7m.
A second program of four holes tested for east and west extensions to the mineralisation and intersected wide anomalous intervals including 0.37g/t Au over 38.8m from 47.2 to 86.0m in hole WED 007, 0.40g/t Au over 15.0m from 37.9m to 52.9m in hole WED 008 and 0.36g/t Au over 46.4m from 78.4m to 124.8m in hole WED 009.
The main Weioko trench was resampled and yielded 3.96 g/t Au over 164m, including 8.69 g/t Au over 44m. Additional trenching approximately perpendicular to the ridgeline returned 8.07 g/t Au over 12m, 3.36 g/t Au over 40m, 5.70 g/t Au over 26m, and 5.19 g/t Au over 28m (including 24.4 g/t Au over 4m).
The trench results encouraged a third round of drilling consisting of 29 reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill holes (DD) (1,765m RC/167m DD). Mineralization was established over a strike length of 400m and to a depth of ~170m vertically and remains open at depth and along the major NE trending structure.
The best results from RC drilling included 1.29 g/t Au from 0 to 70m (including 1.66 g/t Au over 52m from 10 to 62m in hole WEH005, 1.29 g/t Au from 0 to 60m (including 1.57 g/t Au over 46m from 14 to 60m) in WEH004, and 1.00 g/t Au from 0 to 60m in WEH007.
Conventional IP and CSAMT (controlled source audio magnetotelluric) geophysical surveys were carried out at the Weioko Prospects. A total of 14.75-line km of IP surveying and 3.6-line km of CSAMT surveying were completed. The IP survey defined several chargeability anomalies at Weioko, some of which are coincident with gold and arsenic soil anomalies and mineralisation intersected by drilling. A resistivity anomaly was also defined.
The IP anomalies show a strong NNW alignment and indicate the Weioko mineralisation may extend north and south for up to one kilometre, while the CSAMT survey also produced high resistivity values. The anomalies generated by the IP and CSAMT surveys remain to be tested.
EL 2590 - East Normanby (Au-Ag / Cu-Au Porphyry)
EL 2590 surrounds the EL 2504 (Sehulea) prospects detailed above and includes the Sewatupwa porphyry copper-gold target, the Gwamogwamo structural copper-gold area, plus seven further gold prospects in a major and very under-explored epithermal gold district.
The Sewatupwa Cu-Au Porphyry Prospect is an approximately 22 sq.km area of generally coincident and anomalous copper, zinc, silver and manganese in stream silt samples, with local gold and molybdenum anomalies, mostly covered by EL 2590. The Sewatupwa area straddles two intersecting, crustal - level faults (trending NNE to the Weioko target in EL 2504 and WNW/ESE). Aeromagnetic, radiometric, and structural targets are present within the anomalous Sewatupwa copper drainage area and remain generally unexplored.
The Gwamogwamo Cu-Au-Ag-Zn Prospect is a structurally controlled, semi-massive sulphide unit located at the south of the Sewatupwa Prospect. The prospect has four zones of outcropping to sub-outcropping gossan present along a 1.5km long north-south trending zone.
The Imwauna South Au-Ag Prospect is the interpreted southern extension of the high-grade Imwauna gold vein system that trends approximately N-S across central Normanby Island. Only six recon LS epithermal quartz samples were collected in 2002 over the southern strike extent in EL 2590 and were analysed for gold, silver, and arsenic. One sample of a 50cm wide outcrop returned 0.6 g/t Au, 28.4 g/t Ag, and 814 ppm As. Four float samples returned 0.63 g/t, 0.37 g/t, 0.15 g/t and 0.11 g/t Au.
The Gui Au Prospect returned highly anomalous gold assays from 530m of hand trenching. Highlights include 10m of 5.06 g/t Au over 10m, 5.29 g/t Au over 5m, and 0.99g/t Au over 75m.
The Lomitawa / Mwaduna Au-Ag Prospects have epithermal quartz float up to 7.12 g/t Au and 86 g/t Ag, with gold in soil samples to 0.14 g/t Au. Outcropping gold has been located in narrow veins up to 5.33 g/t Au and in sulphide-bearing banded metamorphics to 0.77 g/t Au.
The Soisoia River / Kwanaula Au Prospects have very strong to moderate drainage gold geochemical anomalies covering an area of at least 15 square kilometres. Only 12 rock-chip float samples have been collected from this location, with a peak value of 0.311 g/t Au.
OPTION TERMS
This Option Agreement between SDCU (the "Optionee") and WNB Resources Limited (the "Company") and its beneficial shareholders Peter McNeil and Paige McNeil (the "Optionors"), requires the parties to complete the following cash payments, work expenditures and share issuances:
(a) the Optionors will cause the Company, subject to administrative matters, to issue and or transfer to the Optionee, all the existing shares in the Company representing 100% of the total issued capital of the Company upon receipt of a cash payment in the amount of $10,000 due upon the execution of this Option Agreement.
(b) the Optionee will fund upcoming EL 2590 and EL 2504 Warden's Court Hearing costs and make minimum exploration expenditures, on the Property of $100,000 for ground exploration on an expedited schedule and subsequently $60,000 for assays and additional work and filing of the appropriate reporting requirements under the respective guidelines and subject to TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement. The above exploration programs will be agreed between the parties. The Optionee will also be responsible for updating and maintaining corporate records and associated regulatory filings.
(c) the Optionee will make cash payments to the Optionors of $2,500 per month for which the Optionee will be entitled to receive 2 days commensurate professional geological management services from the Optionors in relationship to the Property, for a minimum period of 24 months from the date of and subject to TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement.
(d) the Optionee will issue 1,500,000 common shares of the Optionee to the Optionors upon receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement.
(e) the Optionee will issue 1,500,000 common shares of the Optionee to the Optionors on the 12-month anniversary of TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement.
(f) the Optionee will issue 1,000,000 common shares of the Optionee to the Optionors within 10 Days of the next renewal of the EL 2590 License and subject to TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement.
(g) the Optionee will issue 1,000,000 common shares of the Optionee to the Optionors within 10 Days of the next renewal of the EL 2504 License and subject to TSX Venture Exchange approvals of this Option Agreement.
(h) the common shares issued to the Optionors by the Optionee under the terms of the Purchase Option, will be subject to a 4-month statutory hold period which will begin on the date of issuance of the common shares.
The Optionee will cause the Company to grant a 1.5% net smelter return royalty (the "NSR") over the Licenses in favour of the Optionors or their respective nominees on the terms and conditions of the Royalty Deed to be executed on the same date as this Option Agreement and set out in Schedule "C", attached hereto. The Optionee does not have any residual rights to repurchase the NSR.
Qualified Person (QP) Statement
Case Lewis, P.Geo. is a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Lewis has read and approved the contents of this release.
ABOUT SONORAN DESERT COPPER CORPORATION
Sonoran Desert Copper Corp. is focused on securing, developing and monetizing assets in the copper sector to build shareholder value.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of
Sonoran Desert Copper Corp.
"Brian Leeners"
Brian Leeners, CEO & Director
brianleeners@gmail.com / +1 604-862-4184 (WhatsApp)
FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE
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