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- Project encompasses potential for copper, gold, cobalt, silver and indium
- Evaluating expanded electromagnetic (EM) survey
- Program designed to refine targets ahead of future drilling
- ICE has 10,584m of historical drilling and a copper JORC 2012 MRE
Vita Resources (ASX: VTA) has lodged a revised application for the ICE polymetallic project in Yukon, Canada with field work targeted for the 2027 Yukon season.
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The submission follows a positive recommendation received from the Yukon Environmental and Socio- economic Assessment Board (YESAB) and the Yukon government’s subsequent grant of a five-year Class 3 Quartz Mining Land Use Approval, effective until 6 October 2031.
Vita Resources chairman, Gavin Rutherford, said the application represents another important step towards recommencing field exploration at ICE in 2027, following two significant regulatory milestones.
“More than 10,000 metres of diamond drilling has been undertaken at ICE. A similar program today, in such a remote location, would require a multi-million-dollar investment, meaning it’s essential to support future drilling with the best geological, geophysical and geochemical information available.”
The revised application follows discussions during which authorities indicated to the company they would consider a lower-impact, multi-year Class 1 exploration program, incorporating provisions for reassessment as regional land-use investigations progress.
Vita’s proposed program, designed to advance geological understanding of ICE, includes ground-based geophysical surveys, soil geochemical sampling, geological mapping and prospecting, and potential airborne or drone-supported geophysical surveys where appropriate. No drilling is proposed under the revised application.
Historical exploration at the ICE project comprised 121 diamond drill holes totalling 10,584m, with an average drilled length of approximately 87.5m per hole.
The program was relatively shallow and geographically concentrated, with 116 of the 121 holes drilled within an area measuring approximately 600m by 400m. The drilling has tested less than one per cent of the project area, leaving substantial areas untested.
Mr Rutherford said this is particularly significant in a volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) geological setting, where mineralisation can occur in clusters of discrete sulphide bodies.
Previous geological, geophysical and geochemical investigations have identified 11 priority exploration targets beyond the established resource4, including untested electromagnetic conductors. Vita considers that these targets, together with the limited extent and depth of historical drilling, provide a compelling rationale for systematic, project-wide exploration aimed at identifying additional mineralised zones.
In February 2026, Vita announced the findings of an independent geological re-evaluation of the ICE Project1, which identified previously under-recognised polymetallic mineralisation associated with the established copper resource.
VTA was steady at 1.8¢ with a Mkt cap of $1.752M prior to markets opening.
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