Fabled Reports on Aster Alteration Survey on the Bronson Property
posted on
Jul 06, 2022 07:33AM
Developing the Muskwa Copper Project in Northern British Columbia + Reports 23.40% Copper on South Extension of Eagle Creek Copper Occurrence
Fabled Copper Corp. ("Fabled Copper" or the "Company") (CSE:FABL); (FSE:XZ7) announces additional results of 2021 surface field work on its Muskwa Copper Project. See Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 - General Property Location
The Project is comprised of the Neil Property, the Toro and the Bronson Properties in northern British Columbia. See Figure 2 below.
Figure 2 - Location Map
Peter Hawley, President, CEO reports; "To date we have reported on 14 copper occurrences and related drone UAV missions and ground geophysics on the Neil Property. This completes the 2021 work on the Neil and now we will report on the 2021 work on the Bronson property to the south of the Neil." See Figure 3 below.
Figure 3 - Bronson Property Location
The Bronson property comprises 4 mineral tenures covering approximately 2,524.6 hectares where the key objectives of the 2021 work program were to:
i) Carry out a field campaign consisting of reconnaissance prospecting across the Bronson claims.
ii) Complete a focused program at the Book 6 vein target consisting of detailed sampling, Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic and ground magnetometer geophysical surveys and a UAV photogrammetry survey.
iii) Conduct alteration mineral mapping and targeting using Visible Near Infrared (VNIR), Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) and Thermal Infrared (TIR) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) multispectral satellite data.
BRONSON PROPERTY ASTER ALTERATION MINERAL MAPPING - RESULTS
The ASTER sensor is a spectral imaging instrument located on-board the EOS/Terra satellite which was launched by NASA in December 1999. ASTER has been designed to acquire land surface temperature, emissivity, reflectance, and elevation data and is a cooperative effort between NASA and the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). ASTER consists of threeseparate subsystems, each acquiring data from different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (VNIR, SWIR and TIR). Each ASTERscene covers an area of 60×60 km2.
The VNIR bands have a spatial resolution of 15 meters, SWIR bands 30 meters and the TIR bands 90 meters. An additional backward-looking near-infrared band provides stereo coverage. The ASTER channels are more contiguous in the short wave infrared region than those of Landsat, yielding increased accuracy in the spectral identification of rocks and minerals (Gabr et al. 2010).
ASTER can acquire data over the entire globe with an average duty cycle of 8% per orbit. This represents acquisition of about 650 scenes per day that are processed to three different levels based on final product (Level-1A, 1B and 1T). All processed scenes are transferred to the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) archive at the EROS Data Center's (EDC) Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP-DAAC) for storage, distribution, and processing to higher-level data products. All ASTER data products are stored in the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF- EOS).
ASTER level 1B products (used in this study) represent registered radiance at the sensor product and as such contain radiometrically calibrated and geometrically co-registered data for the acquired channels. Level-1B data is produced by applying the radiometric calibration and geometric correction coefficients to the Level-1A data files. Further image pre-processing is required to generate surfacereflectance and emissivity multiband imagery that is necessary for mineral mapping and analysis. Scenes used for mineral mapping must predate April 30, 2008 when SWIR sensor overheating began resulting in erroneous data for the 6 SWIR bands.
One minimally cloud covered Aster Level 1B Scene was acquired for the Bronson claim block, see Figure 4 below. The mapping areais characterized by minor snow and ice cover and moderate vegetation cover at lower elevations. These image feature types, inaddition to topographic shadow will significantly reduce the surface area over which spectral analysis can be carried out. The imagerywas acquired on September 11, 2001 and the Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) 30 m resolution DEM was acquired and usedto orthorectify the ASTER Scene. Note that Crosstalk is an effect in ASTER imagery caused by data signal leakage from band 4 intoadjacent bands 5 and 9. A cross talk correction is applied using open source software (ERSDAC Crosstalk 3).
Figure 4 - Bronson Property, ASTER Total Scene
Other necessary pre-processing steps after data import includes;
Band Ratio and Logical Operators
Selected ASTER VNIR-SWIR and TIR band ratios and logical operators are extremely effective in mapping hydrothermal alteration forreconnaissance or early stage exploration. Table 1 belowsummarizes various band ratio and logical operators used in this study to mapspecific alteration minerals. All operators listed in the table were used to generate mineral probability maps, however the following discussion focuses only on minerals that yielded credible anomalies (gossan, silica and general clay). Note vegetation was masked out of final data products to avoid generation of false anomalies.
Vegetation has a spectral response that overlaps with clay minerals that are identified using absorption and reflection features in the SWIR portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Table 1 - Bronson Property, Band Ratio's and Logical Operators
Alteration Mineral |
Band Ratio/Logical Operator |
VNIR-SWIR |
|
Hematite - Goethite |
B2/B1 |
Kaolinite |
B4/B6 |
Sericite |
(B5+B7)/B6 |
Clay General |
(B5*B7)/(B6*B6) |
Phyllic |
B4/B7 |
Muscovite/Illite |
B7/B6 |
Carb/Chlorite/Epidote |
(B7+B9)/B8 |
Epidote/Chlorite/Amphibole |
(B6+B9)/(B7+B8) |
TIR EMISSIVITY |
|
Quartz Rich Rocks |
B14/B12 |
Silica |
B11/B10 |
SiO2 |
B13/B12 |
Mineral probability maps for gossan and silica alteration are presented in Figures 5,6 belowand a summary map of all alteration targets is presented in Figure 7.
Important observations include:
Fifteen areas of anomalous gossan and silica mineral alteration targets have been identified both on the Bronson claims and immediately adjacent to the claims that warrant field follow-up, See Figure 7 below.
Figure 5 - Bronson Property, Gossan Probability Map
Figure 6 - Bronson Property, Silica Probability Map
Figure 7 - Bronson Property, Summary of Mineral Alteration Targets
Going Forwards
ASTER mineral alteration mapping over the Bronson Property reveals several areas of silica and gossan probable alteration. A total of 15 anomalous zones warrant field follow-up and reconnaissance of newly defined ASTER alteration anomalies.
QA QC Procedure
Analytical results of sampling reported by Fabled Copper Corp represent rock samples submitted by Fabled Copper Corp staff directly to ALS Chemex, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. Samples were crushed, split, and pulverized as per ALS Chemex method PREP-31, then analyzed for ME-ICP61 33 element package by four acid digestion with ICP-AES Finish. ME-GRA21 method for Au and Ag by fire assay and gravimetric finish, 30g nominal sample weight.
Over Limit Methods
For samples triggering precious metal over-limit thresholds of 10 g/t Au or 100 g/t Ag, the following is being used:
Au-GRA21 Au by fire assay and gravimetric finish with 30 g sample.
Ag-GRA21 Ag by fire assay and gravimetric finish.
Fabled Copper Corp. monitors QA/QC using commercially sourced standards and locally sourced blank materials inserted within the sample sequence at regular intervals
About Fabled Copper Corp.
Fabled Copper is a junior mining exploration company. Its current focus is to creating value for stakeholders through the exploration and development of its existing copper properties located in northern British Columbia. The Muskwa Project comprises a total of 76 claims in two non-contiguous blocks and totals approximately 8,064.9 hectares, located in the Liard Mining Division in northern British Columbia.
Mr. Peter J. Hawley, President and C.E.O.
Fabled Copper Corp.
Phone: (819) 316-0919
peter@fabledcopper.org
For further information please contact: