Strategic Metals Ltd. announced details concerning exploration programs it will conduct during summer 2022 at three of its wholly owned porphyry copper projects in southwestern Yukon Territory. The programs will involve geophysical surveys designed to better understand the three-dimensional geometry of the porphyry systems. Induced polarization (IP) surveys will be done at the Mint and Alotta projects, and helicopter-borne magnetic and radiometric surveys will be flown at the CD property. The Mint, Alotta and CD are three of eleven porphyry projects Strategic owns within a prolific porphyry belt that extends the length of British Columbia, through western Yukon and into Alaska.

The Mint project is a 50 sq km property located 26 km south of the Alaska Highway. It is one of the youngest porphyry systems in Canada and is hosted in within Oligocene-age granodiorite and porphyry dykes with alteration and mineralization permeating into a nearly coeval, overlying basalt unit. Work programs conducted by the Company since 2010 have outlined interesting geochemical and geophysical features that are centered on a zone of hydrothermal alteration, marked by a prominent gossan.

Soil geochemistry has returned strong copper, gold and molybdenum values within an area about 2,000 m in diameter. A prominent magnetic high that underlies the southern part of the area is flanked to the north by a zone with elevated potassium radiometrics. The northern part of the area of interest is mostly covered by talus while the southern part is blanketed by glacial and eluvial material.

An IP survey that covered the southern part of the area of interest identified chargeability highs that partially coincide with the core of the magnetic high. In 2012, six relatively short, diamond drill holes tested in and around the magnetic and chargeability anomalies. Most of these holes intersected strongly fractured, phyllic altered rocks that returned moderately to strongly enriched gold values but only weakly elevated copper and molybdenum values.

The best results were from the most northerly hole (M12-03), which averaged 0.204 g/t gold over its entire 331 m length, including a 53 m interval grading 0.556 g/t gold near the bottom of the hole. This hole lies just north of the magnetic high, in the southern part of the potassium radiometric anomaly. In 2021, detailed mapping and prospecting discovered a 300 m in diameter area containing well mineralized, stockwork and sheeted quartz veining, about 800 m north of hole M12-03.

This northern target lies within the potassium radiometric high and shows moderate to weak magnetic response. It was not covered by the historical IP survey. Rock samples collected in 2021 from the northern target contained much more copper and molybdenum than those collected elsewhere in the Mint porphyry system and returned strongly elevated results, including peak values of 2.3% copper, 1.365 g/t gold, 32 g/t silver and 0.337 % molybdenum.

The planned 2022 IP survey will expand coverage to include the newly discovered zone of mineralization. Once interpreted, the results should provide more information concerning lateral and vertical zonation of mineralization and alteration within the porphyry system, which will guide future drilling.