お知らせ • Jan 02
Hercules Silver Corp Reports Assay Results for the Latest Holes Drilled into the New Leviathan Porphyry Copper Discovery At Its Hercules Project Located in Western Idaho
Hercules Silver Corp. reported assay results for the latest holes drilled into the new Leviathan Porphyry Copper discovery at its Hercules project located in western Idaho ("Hercules" or the "Property"). Assay results were received in batches for three step-out holes, with complete results now having been received for HER-23-08 and HER-23-11, along with partial results for HER-23-21. HER-23-08, HER-23-11 and HER-23-21 were collared 220 meters east, 450 meters southeast, and 500 meters southeast of discovery hole HER-23-05 respectively. Each hole was designed to test separate parts of a near surface 2022 IP anomaly. Assays for the remainder of HER-23-21, as well as HER-23-26, which also intersected porphyry copper mineralization, remain pending. The Leviathan Porphyry remains open for expansion in multiple directions and thus far has only been tested within the 2022 IP survey area. This first phase of blind drilling has intersected copper mineralization within an approximate 500m x 450m area represented by drill holes HER-23-05, -08, -11,-21, and -26. HER-23-21 tested approximately 800 meters of vertical extent below the silver system. All holes ended in mineralization. A new property-wide deep-penetrating IP survey demonstrates that the 2022 anomaly represents just a small part of much larger, 4 kilometer long, potentially zoned system which largely remains to be tested. Final geophysical inversions remain pending. Large step-outs demonstrate significant scale to the newly discovered blind system. Significant silver overprints copper porphyry in HER-23-11, returning 183m of 0.3% Cu and 25 g/t Ag, including a sub-interval of 63m of 0.43% Cu, 70 g/t Ag.Low arsenic associated with the epithermal silver overprinting HER-23-11, indicating favorability for potential future smelter treatment. Assays remain pending for the remainder of HER-23-21 and HER-23-26, which also intersected porphyry mineralization. Preliminary Property-wide deep-penetrating IP reveals the potential for a much larger zoned system than was previously understood. Mineralization remains open for expansion in multiple directions. HER-23-08 and HER-23-21 ended in well mineralized volcanic country rock which remains open at depth. An IP survey was carried out by Dias Geophysical ("Dias") in 2022 to target near surface silver in the upper plate, to a depth of 300 meters. However, the survey revealed the presence of a large chargeability anomaly below the limit of historical silver drilling which ultimately led to the discovery of the Leviathan Porphyry. With the success of the 2022 IP survey conducted by Dias, it was decided to utilize the same system again in 2023 to image the entire Property to a depth of 900 meters. The new large-scale 2023 survey reveals that the 2022 anomaly represents just a fraction of a much larger system which does not show any apparent fault bounds, indicating the potential for significant expansion. Chargeability values are seen to increase along trend to over 33ms in magnitude, demonstrating the potential for increased levels of mineralization. Additional processing is now underway to incorporate the previous high-resolution near surface data with the new deep penetrating data, to generate a robust inversion model over the entire Property. Hercules is working with Barrick's geophysical team to interpret the data in context with the 2023 drilling and generate the best possible drill targets for the next phase of drilling. The Company has also engaged Kurt J. Hoffman Mining Services of Post Falls, ID and has staked an additional 570 lode mining claims to the north of the Property, securing a key extension of the new 3D IP anomaly. All drill core samples were prepped and analyzed at MSA Labs in Langley, British Columbia, an ISO17025 and ISO 9001 certified laboratory. Samples were dried and crushed to 2mm, from which a 250g sub-sample split was then pulverized to 85% passing a 75-micron sieve. Following preparation, assays were determined by the IMS-230 method. A 0.25g aliquot of the prepared pulp was digested in a 4-acid solution consisting of hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric and hydrofluoric acids. 4-acid is a near total digest nd only the most highly resistant minerals are not dissolved. The resulting solution was analyzed viaICP-MS and ICP-ES for 48 elements and was corrected for inter-element spectral interferences. Lower detection limits for this procedure are 0.01 ppm for silver, 0.5 ppm for lead, 2 ppm for zinc, and 0.2 ppmfor copper. Mercury is not reported due to volatilization in reaction with hydrofluoric acid and gold is not reported due to the small, 0.25g aliquot size being insufficient to overcome the nugget effect. Gold was analyzed by FAS-111, a 30-gram fire assay fusion with AAS finish. No significant results were reported. Samples with initial results beyond the upper detection limit of the IMS-230 method were analyzed by procedures ICF-6Ag, ICF-6Cu, ICF-6Pb and ICF-6Zn. The thresholds are 100 ppm for silver, and >1% for copper, lead and zinc.MSA Labs employs internal quality control standards, duplicates and blank samples at set frequencies. Blind certified reference materials (CRMs) and blank samples were systematically inserted by the company into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company's quality assurance/quality control protocol. The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Christopher Longton BS, CPG, Hercules' Vice President, Exploration. Mr. Longton is a"Qualified Person" for Hercules Silver within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
