Approval Of Plan Of Operations For Drilling New Targets On USFS

TORONTO - Hercules Metals Corp. reported that the United States Forest Service (USFS) has approved a Categorical Exclusion (CatEx) for its Plan of Operations allowing the Company to drill two large untested targets on its Hercules Property in western Idaho. This approval authorizes exploration activities on an eastern portion of the Property where the surface is administered by the USFS. The Plan contemplates drilling of the Grade Creek and Eastern Block targets, neither of which have been tested below the depth of shallow epithermal silver mineralization to the underlying Leviathan porphyry copper system.

The USFS has issued a CatEx for up to 15 pre-selected drill sites to be tested. Two priority target areas, Grade Creek and the Eastern Block, have been selected for drill testing based on over 2,000 soil and outcrop chip samples, favourable chargeability values, and a theorized northwest tilt to the system.

The Eastern Block is an interpreted fault block that includes the Metheny, Lighting and Big Cut zones. FS 17 or 18 will likely be the first pads to test the zone and assess if mineralization plunges, and therefore has greater preservation potential, to the southeast. Chargeability is low to moderate, as might be expected in deeper parts of the system where the phyllic alteration may transition to potassic. Four potential pad locations have been selected to test the Grade Creek Zone, including FS 11, 12, 13 and 03. Grade Creek has the best silver-lead-zinc and copper-molybdenum soil and rock chip anomaly on the Property. It also has high chargeability, suggesting a northeastern extension of the pyrite-rich phyllic zone. However, the hypogene enrichment tends to occur in the upper portion of the phyllic zone where high chargeability is the target.?The Company is in the early stages of moving forward with an Environmental Assessment on the Property, to secure longer-term drilling on USFS lands once the CatEx expires. New targets on the USFS will initially be tested with core drilling to attain important geological information and guide further follow-up drilling of these new zones. RC drilling, scheduled to begin in mid-September, will supplement drilling of existing zones that the Company has been core drilling since 2023.

Chris Paul, CEO and Director, said, "We're excited to advance our exploration efforts with the newly secured CatEx permit, unlocking new targets to the east and northeast. We appreciate the diligence and support of the USFS in this process. Drilling in the west has revealed a large blanket of phyllic alteration. Recent mapping however suggests that the Triassic geology, and porphyry intrusions, may be tilted and partially eroded to the northwest, consistent with similar observations made by Scout Discoveries Corp. on their adjacent Cuddy Mountain property[1]. We look forward to testing downplunge of this theoretical tilt, within the Eastern Block.

In the north, the Grade Creek Zone shows the strongest geochemical anomaly on the Property. Despite this, historical operators were unable to test it due to steep terrain and associated road building challenges. The zone however represents the potential northeastern extension of a large phyllic zone, which is often overprinted with secondary (hypogene) copper enrichment.”+