Gladiator’s Cub East assays highlight historical copper belt

Recent assays from step out drilling at Gladiator Metals’ (TSXV: GLAD; US-OTC: GDTRF) Whitehorse project in Yukon show the Cub East discovery is a developing high-grade copper-gold-silver centre inside the Bear Cub trend.

Highlight hole BCG-035 cut 32 metres grading 1.36% copper, 0.63 gram gold per tonne and 10.93 grams silver from 178 metres depth, including 18 metres at 2.12% copper, 1.06 grams gold and 16.33 grams silver, Gladiator reported Wednesday.

Another strong hole – BCG-024 – returned 32.7 metres grading 1.06% copper, 0.44 gram gold and 6.37 grams silver from 176.73 metres, including 7.3 metres at 2.47% copper, 1.45 grams gold and 15.09 grams silver. The results extend high-grade strike continuity to more than 300 metres at the Cub targets just south of the Yukon capital.

"Cub East continues to deliver exactly the type of results we want to see from a rapidly emerging high-grade copper-gold-silver discovery,” Gladiator CEO Jason Bontempo said in a release.

Whitehorse belt potential

Cub East is Gladiator’s latest discovery in the historical Whitehorse copper belt, where successful drilling is building a case that the district hosts more mineralization than previously recognized. Gladiator was boosted by a $35-million investment for exploration from asset manager BlackRock last month.

Gladiator shares gained 3% to $3.19 apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at about $325 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 76¢ to $3.86.

Other noteworthy assays came from hole BCG-030, which returned 38 metres at 1.2% copper, 0.43 gram gold and 10.29 grams silver from 168 metres depth, including 15.1 metres grading 2.41% copper, 0.93 gram gold and 18.85 grams silver.

The company drilled 5,406 metres across 18 holes at Cub East. The rigs with targeted down-dip, up-dip and strike extensions across a 900-metre coincident gravity and induced polarization geophysical anomaly, Gladiator said.

Mineralized core definition

Results are defining a strong mineralized core bordered by interpreted faults to the east and west. To the east, the system is interpreted to step down, highlighting depth and further expansion potential. Geological models suggest mineralization might step up to the west, bringing the system closer to surface and possibly linking the previously mined Black Cub South open pit.

Gladiator has resource delineation drilling underway at the Cowley target, north of the Cub trends, and plans to increase drilling to more than 50,000 metres across the entire Whitehorse project, Bontempo said.

“Gladiator is exceptionally well positioned to deliver sustained exploration news flow and continue delivering high-grade, near-surface, copper-gold results in one of Canada's most infrastructure-rich historic copper districts,” he added.

Exploration and mining development have happened intermittently in the area since copper mineralization was first discovered in 1897. The Whitehorse copper belt’s main production period lasted from 1967 to 1982, yielding 267.5 million lb. copper, 225,000 oz. gold and 2.84 million oz. silver from 11.1 million tonnes of ore milled, according to Yukon Geological Survey figures cited by Gladiator.