Porphyry Cluster you say? That would be BIG
Hercules Silver, (BIG.V) has released the much-anticipated results of its 2023 deep-seeking 3D induced polarization ("IP"), direct current resistivity and drone magnetic geophysics over the area to be drill tested in 2024. In this release, Chris Paul, BIG’s CEO, does not mince words, “We now recognize that the initial 2022 IP survey covered just a small portion of a much larger system which shows the potential for multiple porphyry centers.” BIG just got a lot bigger.
The initial excitement about BIG’s Cuddy Mountain discovery centred on the results of a single drill hole released October 10, 2023.
HER-23-05, the first hole to test a large-scale (>1.8km) blind chargeability anomaly, intersected 185.29m of 0.84% Cu and 111 ppm Mo from 246m to 431.2m, including 45.33m of 1.94% Cu.
That was a long interval of copper and was interpreted by the market as indicating that several hundred meters down there was a potential copper porphyry. BIG’s share price rocketed from less than $0.20 in late August to a high of $1.61 in December after Barrick announced a 23 million dollar investment.
A quiet, but fierce, staking race broke out at Cuddy Mountain and at other locations where the Izee and Olds Ferry terranes met and formed what geologists refer to as sutures. The geology of sutures is such that structures can form which allow the formation of porphyries and plutons as mineralized fluids find “gaps” to flow into.
Which is why I was not all that surprised that BIG sees itself on the hunt for more than one porphyry. This mildly psychedelic graphic gives a sense of what BIG is on about:
There are at least two potential porphyries suggested by the magnetic anomalies. And there is a potential third, some distance away, where trenching and sampling have turned up significant copper values as well as gold and silver.
The BIG CEO.CA Board exploded with discussions of “porphyry clusters” egged on by the fact that the news release provided some excellent examples of other, large, copper-bearing, structures which contain multiple porphyries. The excitement is palpable notwithstanding the fact the BIG share price was up only $0.01 to $0.83.(Which the CEO Board attributes to an overhang of shares held by the prior management of the company and coming free trading.)
My own view is that a porphyry cluster is quite likely at the Hercules property. But I do not base that view on the examples BIG so helpfully provides, rather I looked at the resistivity map Bayhorse Silver (BHS.V), also located on a suture of the Izee and Olds Ferry terranes, published in a March 4, 2024 press release:
The red and purple zones indicate low resistivity which is associated with potential porphyries. The three on the right hand side of the graphic could, if they turn out to actually be porphyries, be reasonably called a “cluster”. And there is another anomaly on the Oregon side, very close to the Western end of the Bayhorse Mine workings. I wrote about these results here.
Looking at the larger picture, it appears from today’s Hercules release and Bayhorse’s earlier release that the Izee/Olds Ferry terrane sutures are highly prospective for silver (and, perhaps, gold) near-surface with tantalizing hints of significant copper at depth. BIG has its discovery hole with decent copper intervals, BHS has copper staining and, more significantly, copper recoveries running up to 17% in the concentrate it has produced from the Bayhorse Mine.
I expect that BHS will have some assays from its current, short hole, underground drill program at the Bayhorse Mine before the end of April, assuming no serious lab delays. I don’t expect these short holes to show much, if any, copper but I will be watching for even trace amounts. The old saying, “You only find what you are looking for,” applies here. Until the BIG discovery, BHS had never really looked for copper. Now it is and, I suspect over the next few months, Bayhorse will find copper: maybe in the low resistivity zone west of the mine, maybe in Idaho.
[Disclosure: Graeme O’Neill is a friend. I own shares in Bayhorse Silver (BHS.V), a lot of shares, and may buy more or sell some or all at any time. I also have a small position in Hercules Silver (BIG.V)This is not investment advice. Do your own due diligence. Call the CEOs!]