Visionary Launches Sampling Program at Pt. Leamington Deposit

Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. has launched a new sampling program at its 100%-owned Pt. Leamington Gold-Copper-Zinc-Silver Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) Deposit in central Newfoundland. The initiative follows an analysis of hyperspectral data and high-resolution core photography from 48 historic drill holes, which identified widespread hydrothermal alteration associated with previously unsampled visible sulphide stringers that may host copper mineralization.

The company’s President and CEO, Max Porterfield, stated, "Every hole we drilled to test the Kraken copper zone hit mineralization, and none of it is in our 2021 resource estimate. That tells you something about what the historical drilling was and wasn't looking for. The original operators defined an excellent massive sulphide deposit, but broad copper feeder systems weren't the target in that era. We're resampling up to 2,000 metres of historical core and planning to put 20,000 metres of drilling into the ground, enough to bring Kraken into the resource and upgrade what's already there."

The program will focus on eight holes that show numerous wide intervals of visible sulphide stringer mineralization, which hosts the Kraken copper zone, within broad quartz-chlorite-white mica alteration signatures. Jason Flight, Visionary’s Vice President of Exploration, commented, "We have used the hyperspectral data to map chlorite, quartz and white mica through the scanned historical holes and integrated those responses into our three-dimensional geological model. The strongest alteration is concentrated in the footwall of the massive sulphide system, where we also see copper-bearing stringer mineralization in the historical core and the newly discovered Kraken zone. That geometry is familiar from my previous experience at the Ming Mine, where broad copper-rich footwall mineralization occurs beneath the VMS lenses."

Visionary considers the Ming Mine, operated by FireFly Metals Ltd., a useful geological analogue illustrating the potential significance of broad copper-bearing footwall stringer systems. The company notes that the potential importance of large VMS feeder systems is well demonstrated at the Ming Mine, where higher-grade VMS lenses are underlain by an extensive copper-rich Footwall Zone.

The Pt. Leamington Deposit has its own compelling exploration characteristics. The massive sulphide component of the mineralized system has been drilled over approximately one kilometre of strike, begins at surface and has only been tested to roughly 400 metres depth. The recently discovered Kraken copper zone occurs in the footwall of the existing massive sulphide system and highlights the potential for additional near-surface copper-bearing stringer mineralization beyond the current resource.

The historical core program is made possible because more than five decades of historical core has been preserved through the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Core Storage Program, and the College of the North Atlantic's multi-camera hyperspectral scanning system subsequently created a high-resolution photographic and hyperspectral dataset from that core. Visionary wishes to acknowledge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Core Storage Program for preserving the historical Pt. Leamington core at the provincial core storage facility in St. John's and the College of the North Atlantic's HSU team for scanning the historical core and making the resulting high-resolution photography and hyperspectral data available.

The company plans to resample up to 2,000 metres of historical core and integrate the results with the 20,000-metre Phase 2 drilling program. The findings will be progressively incorporated into the company's three-dimensional Pt. Leamington model. Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. is advancing its portfolio of base and precious metals-rich deposits located in established Canadian mining jurisdictions, with a focus on the 100% owned Pt. Leamington Deposit in Newfoundland.