The focused evaluation campaign was designed by Vector to advance the geological understanding of the deposit and identify additional drill targets. New copper-moly-gold targets will have the potential to increase the grade and tonnage of the existing resource. 

Clive Massey, Universal Copper's CEO and president, said: "The technical team at Universal Copper is utilising the extensive drill core library that the company maintains for the Poplar Deposit. Advancing our technical understanding of the Poplar Deposit through the application of modern, cutting-edge exploration techniques and tools will produce robust diamond drill targets and significantly enhance the potential to increase the size and grade of the resource. Furthermore, a better understanding at Poplar will improve our ability to identify new targets elsewhere on the broader, prospective land position."

The targeted drill core logging/relogging programme will improve the 3D lithological, structural, alteration and geochemical framework. The work will be a foundation for drill hole targeting designed to expand the resource and increase the overall grade of the deposit. Exploration tools to generate mineral and geochemical targets include Portable XRF, TerraSpec Halo Spectrometer, and modelling software.  

Core from the 2005 drilling programmes onward, totalling in excess of 26,000m in 67 holes (inclusive of the 2021 programme) will form the basis for the targeted drill core logging/re-logging campaign.