New Drill Results From Core Drilling At Philadelphia Gold Project
VANCOUVER – Arizona Silver Exploration Inc. reported on drill results from two core holes, PC22-93 and PC22-92T from the Philadelphia gold project, Mohave County, Arizona. Core hole PC22-93 was drilled 350 meters north of the northernmost core holes completed earlier in the program. This hole successfully extends the strike length of the mineral system drilled to date to +750 meters, with gaps in the drill pattern to be drilled as the next priority. Core Hole PC22-92T was intended to be a twin of reverse circulation hole PRC21-85 for quality control purposes. Unfortunately, it intersected a significant fault zone and suffered poor recoveries as a result. It also deviated from the intended azimuth by 20 degrees and therefore was not a valid twin.
Core hole PC22-93 was drilled north of Arizona Silver’s previously announced core holes. It tested below a prominent ridge on the Rising Fawn claim that had caught the attention of Meridian Gold in 1982. They drilled 14 shallow RC holes on the top of the ridge to test abundant gold-bearing quartz veins mostly in granite. As drill logs or geology are not available from that program, PC22-93 was drilled below the Meridian holes to provide a geological framework for our program. The hole successfully intersected good quartz vein mineralization in the upper portion of the hole.
The interval 27.84 to 46.01 meters (18.17 meters) averaged 1.20 grams per tonne (gpt) gold and 13.31 gpt silver within a broader interval, 27.84 to 67.99 meters (40.15 meters) that averaged 0.78 gpt Au and 8.79 gpt Ag, in both rhyolite dike and footwall altered granite. The gold-silver mineralization was terminated by a clay rich fault zone. Below the fault was barren propylitic granite. A single hole does not provide a handle on the orientation of this fault. Additional drilling is planned to test the quartz vein mineralization along strike both above and below the fault to expand the strike and dip of mineralization and to determine the geometry of the fault plane as a guide to deeper drilling.
Core hole PC-22-92T was intended to be a twin of RC hole PRC21-85 which intersected 115.85 meters of 1.34 grams per tonne (gpt) Au and 5.79 gpt Ag. Core hole PC22-92T was set up about one meter away from the collar of RC hole -85 but deviated by about 20 degrees off azimuth to terminate about ten meters from the bottom of RC hole-85.
Core hole PC22-92T intersected a zone of mineralization from 119.51-154.57 meters (35.05 meters) averaging 0.85 gpt gold and 5.27 gpt silver, including an upper vein intercept of 5.32 gpt gold and 13.7 gpt silver from 121.04-122.1 meters, all within a very broad zone from 50.91-188.41 meters (137.5 meters) averaging 0.41 gpt gold and 2.22 gpt silver, as defined by an outer cut-off of 0.2 gpt gold.
The upper 71 meters of the intercept was in the hanging wall volcanics without any attendant quartz veining. The host lithologies in the core hole are identical to those encountered in RC hole PRC21-85 but all contacts are approximately 30 meters deeper in the core hole than in the adjacent RC hole. This provides evidence for a steep fault separating the two holes. In fact the core hole appears to have gone down a fault zone, with many intervals of crushed and broken rock and poor to no recovery. As a result, we do not consider do hole PC22-92T to be a fair “twin” of PRC21-85.
Both drill hole intercepts are approximately true widths.
From the site of the PC-22-93 drill hole it is planned to drill southward to the Shark Fin area towards excellent holes PC-22-86 thru PC22-91. This open extension to the Shark Fin area is expected to host both vein and stockwork mineralization over a width of 30-80 meters. Up to 26 RC drill holes (~5000 meters) have been designed to test a target area approximately 500 meters long. First pass drilling will test the area to a vertical depth of approximately 100 meters. From the site of the PC-22-91 the Company plans to drill to the south for a strike length of 300 meters. This Southern Gap is bounded to the south by an array of Arizona Silver drill holes, including drill hole PC-22-92T. This target area is scheduled for drilling when we can get a core rig back on the property.
Greg Hahn, Vice President, Exploration, said, “Core hole PC22-93 is our first drill hole north of drill hole PC22-86 through PC22-91 which all intersected good gold mineralization in the upper vein and stockwork zone beneath the upper vein. Hole PC22-93 is located 350 meters north of the previously drilled core holes beneath a hill of very prominent gold-bearing quartz veins. The results of this hole are encouraging and require us to follow up with additional drilling to flesh out the extent of the gold bearing quartz veins along the entire strike length of the hill which is about 450 meters. We now have gold mineralization in drill holes along 750 meters of strike length and + 200 meters of dip extension that needs to be fleshed out with additional drilling. The gold zone remains open along strike and down dip. Recent and ongoing geologic mapping and sampling north of hole PC22-93 for a distance of another 500 meters demonstrates abundant white quartz veining and stockwork mineralization on the ridge that has never been drilled. Again, this area needs to be drilled and is all on patented claims. I look forward to a resumption of drilling following the summer heat.”