Ambler Metals achieves most exploration goals
Ambler Metals worked late into September to wrap up an ambitious $27 million summer field season at the Upper Kobuk Minerals Proj- ect, east of Kotzebue in the western Brooks Range. Despite challenges from weath- er and a shortage of experienced drill crew members the company will achieve most of its 2021 season objec- tives, says Ramzi Fawaz, CEO of the company. Ambler Metals is a joint venture of Australia-based South32 Ltd. and Trilogy Metals, Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., who are also in a partnership with NANA Regional Corp. of Kotze- bue, which has an option to take an equity position if mined mining proj- ects are developed in the large project area. The focus of the 2021 work is on
the high-grade Arctic copper depos- it, which is in an advanced stage of exploration, but the company is also doing more drilling at other prospects in the area where mineralization has been discovered. Three rigs have been operating this summer although one had to be idled temporarily due to the shortage of drill crew, Fawaz said. However, camp support operations functioned well, and rigorous safety and health protocols have prevented any disrup- tion caused by COVID-19. “We’ve kept within our bubble,” of protected workers, thanks to the pro- tocols and testing, Fawaz said. About 65 percent of the 110 workers on the project are confirmed vaccinated. The company is also proud of its hiring of NANA region sharehold- ers this year, which totaled 55 per-
cent of the total workforce including contractors and more than 70 percent of a subset of people hired directly by Ambler Metals. Work this summer on drilling was done to further knowledge of the Arc- tic deposit, converting more “indi- cated” resources to “measured” re- sources, and for geotechnical testing required for pit design. A four-ton test sample of ore was also extracted at Arctic this summer and shipped to laboratories in British Columbia for metallurgical analysis, Fawaz said. Limited soils work was also done at Bornite, another copper discov- ery southwest of Arctic that is in the project area. More work at Bornite is planned in 2022 along with more testing of the other nearby prospects, but decisions have not yet been made
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The Alaska Miner
Fall 2021
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