NorthWest Copper (NWST.V) reported palladium assay results from historical drilling at the Kwanika project in British Columbia, highlighting the potential for palladium to provide an additional by-product credit, the company said on Wednesday.
Sample pulps from Kwanika have been stored since the 2007 drill program. However, palladium has only been systematically assayed since 2022. As a result, most of the assay database supporting the current mineral resource estimate does not include palladium values.
Palladium, a designated critical mineral, is used primarily in automotive catalytic converters, with emerging use in fuel cells and hydrogen purification equipment.
Results demonstrate that certain mineralized zones have the potential to host payable palladium by-product credits, specifically Zones 2, 5, and 10.
Highlights of the results include 74.1 meters of 1.04% copper, 1.48 grams per tonne gold, 3.32 g/t silver and 0.71g/t palladium from 27.4 m; and 30.5 m of 0.53% copper, 1.28 g/t gold, 1.61 g/t silver and 0.40 g/t palladium from 101.1 m.