Drilling Program At The Wildcat Deposit
VANCOUVER - Integra Resources Corp. upcoming exploration drill campaign at the Wildcat Deposit, which combined with the Mountain View Deposit form the Nevada North Project. Wildcat is located within the Farrell mining district in northwest Nevada, 56 kilometers (km) (~35 miles) north of the town of Lovelock, in Pershing County. The 17,612-acre land package consists of 916 unpatented claims and 4 patented claims. Mineralization at Wildcat consists of a gold-dominated, low sulphidation, epithermal vein system with disseminated oxide, transition, and non-oxide mineralization hosted in permeable volcanic and intrusive rocks.
The Company intends to complete a ~2,000 meter ("m") Phase 1 exploration drill program at Wildcat. The drill program is designed to test the oxide mineralization adjacent to the existing mineral resource at Wildcat, while also testing the high-grade breccia target which is believed to be the feeder source of gold mineralization at Wildcat. The planned drill program is the first time Integra's team will complete a significant follow up exploration program since the Company acquired the Project as part of the merger with Millennial Precious Metals Corp. in 2023. The Company believes that Phase 1 drilling has the potential to significantly increase the existing mineral resource at Wildcat by testing high-priority targets that could not be drilled previously due to permit restrictions.
Wildcat currently hosts a mineral resource of 746,297 ounces (oz) of gold (Au") and 6,437,869 oz of silver (Ag) or 829,152 oz of gold equivalent (AuEq) in the Measured and Indicated Category (M&I) (59,872,806 tonnes at 0.39 g/t Au and 3.34 g/t Ag) and 209,662 oz Au and 1,980,129 oz Ag or 235,146 oz AuEq in the Inferred Category (Inf.) (22,455,848 tonnes at 0.29 g/t Au and 2.74 g/t Ag).
The 2023 Nevada North Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) demonstrated strong project economics including an after-tax Net Present Value (NPV)5% of US$310 million (C$409 million1) and a 37% after-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR) using base case metal prices of US$1,700/oz Au and US$21.50/oz Ag. Using recent metal prices of US$2,000/oz Au and US$23.00/oz Ag, the Nevada North Project delivers an after-tax NPV5% of US$490 million (C$647 million) and a ~54% after-tax IRR.
Previous drilling at Wildcat completed by Millennial focused primarily on the Main Hill target which hosts the existing mineral resource. The upcoming drill campaign will test multiple underexplored targets outside the Main Hill area at Wildcat, which have demonstrated the potential to host additional mineralized material at Wildcat.
The 2,000 m Phase 1 exploration drill program will focus on achieving three main objectives: Oxide resource expansion: The 2022 exploration program at Wildcat completed by Millennial increased the mineralized footprint from ~1.5 km by 1.5 km to ~3.0 km by 2.0 km through the collection of ~850 rock samples. Of these samples, ~99% were collected outside the proposed PEA pit and ~200 were above cut-off grade2. Three priority areas were identified within the expanded mineralized footprint, including the Crossroads, Breccia Pipe, and Rhyolitic Ridge targets. The 2024 drill program will be the first time the expanded mineralized footprint will be drill tested by the Company with the goal of increasing the oxide mineral resource in future studies. Testing high-grade Breccia Pipe target at depth: Significant geophysical, magnetic, and chargeability anomalies were interpreted below post-mineralization basalts 800 m north from the Main Hill resource. These anomalies are interpreted to be the potential location of high-grade epithermal feeder veins which will be drilled as part of the Phase 1 program. A discovery at the Breccia Pipe Target has the potential to materially augment both the size of the mineral resource and potential future economics at Wildcat.
Metallurgical and geotechnical testing: Strategic drilling will be executed within the proposed PEA pit to collect additional material for future economic studies. Column leach tests completed for the 2023 PEA demonstrated excellent leachability of the tuff material (~75% of the in-pit mineralized material) with oxide recoveries up to ~80%. Test work planned in 2024 will seek to further optimize and improve the variability, size sensitivity, and kinetics observed within the tuff material. Further testing will also help the team better understand recoveries in the granodiorite (~25% of the in-pit mineralized material) which had recoveries of 52% in the 2023 PEA. Integra has observed a strong correlation at Wildcat between the presence of historical mines and the location of mineralization. Of the ~25 historical mines and adits located on the property, only 8 are located within the proposed PEA pits, suggesting a strong potential for new areas of mineralization at the targets designated for drilling in 2024.