Exploration company Interra Copper has announced the discovery of a significant new copper zone at its Thane copper/gold project in British Columbia.

The Thane project, located in an underexplored part of the northern Quesnel Terrane, stretches from Centerra Gold’s Mt Milligan mine in the south to its Kemess underground project and the former Kemess South openpit mine in the north.

In early August, a specialist team from Equity Exploration and Accretive Metals Advisory conducted a field review of 19 targets across the 206 km² property. The review confirmed that the Thane property holds substantial alkalic copper/gold porphyry potential in a geological setting similar to nearby mines.

The team identified ten high-priority targets for further exploration, with the newly discovered Bananas Showing and the previously known Gail Showing ranking as top priorities owing to their strong copper/gold mineralisation and favourable host rocks.

The Bananas Showing, not previously identified as a target, was discovered during follow-up exploration on a 2016 float sample. The site, likely exposed owing to receding snow and ice, features syenite porphyry with magnetite, quartz vein stockwork, and sheeted veins containing chalcopyrite. It covers more than 2 km² and is part of a larger iron oxide and clay anomaly detected by a recent ALS Goldspot study.

The Gail Showing, an existing target, was also reassessed for its open-ended historical IP anomaly. It contains sheeted veins of quartz-pyrite with chalcopyrite and trace bornite, observed in quartz, potassic feldspar, magnetite, and pyrite veins. Like the Bananas Showing, it forms part of a large iron oxide and clay anomaly.

The Bananas Showing was sampled along 200 m of strike with an elevation of approximately 100 m exposed, and the zone remains open along strike.

Samples have been sent to ALS Laboratory for analysis.

“The discovery of a large new showing like the Bananas Showing is evidence of the exploration potential of the large property using modern exploration techniques combined with increased rock exposure due to decreased snow coverage,” comments CEO Brian Thurston.