New Vein Identified At The Philadelphia Project

VANCOUVER – Arizona Silver Exploration Inc. has completed the first deep core hole to test the down-dip continuity of high-grade gold-silver mineralization at the Philadelphia gold-silver project, Mohave County, Arizona. Hole PC23-111 has been completed to a depth of 319.5 meters. Results have confirmed the down-dip extensions of both the Hangingwall (HW) and Footwall (FW) vein systems.  A third new vein, called the Upper Vein, was intersected.  

Greg Hahn, VP-Exploration, said, “We are pleased that we continue to hit the dominant veins in the system as we drill deeper, and the thickness of the FW vein has not only increased but the character of the vein appears to be improving with the loss of calcite and the increase in silica.  The discovery of a new upper vein is also exciting, as it portends the potential for additional veins as we get deeper into the system.”

Drill hole PC23-111 was drilled from the same drill pad as previous hole PC22-91, which was terminated in calcite-cemented quartz vein breccia containing + 2 grams per tonne (gpt) gold.  Hole PC23-111 was designed to test the known HW (hangingwall) and FW (footwall) veins 30-40 meters below the intercepts in hole PC22-91. Hole PC23-111 intersected the HW from 230.59-231.59 meters depth and the FW vein was intersected at 275.15-285.12 meters depth down hole. In addition, a new vein was intersected from 187.26-190.95 meters.

The new Upper Vein is composed of calcite cemented quartz breccia, with a dominant calcite matrix. This is very typical of many vein intercepts higher up-dip in the system at Philadelphia.  This has not been seen this vein in previous drilling, suggesting that the Company is getting closer to the source of the fluids that produced the veins.

The HW vein intercept is typical of HW vein intercepts in previous drilling. The FW vein however is markedly different from the FW vein intercepts in the up-dip holes. The higher-level intercepts up-dip are characterized by calcite-cemented matrix, as observed in the Upper Vein in this hole.  The FW vein in PC23-111 has only a very thin (~10 cm) portion of bladed calcite textures and virtually no calcite.  Instead, it is composed almost entirely of fine grained saccharoidal-textured quartz vein clasts, with occasional banding and dark streaks.  The transition from calcite-cemented breccia to silica-cemented breccia is an indication we are deeper in the boiling zone and below the dilutive influence of late-stage barren calcite.  The FW vein appears to have flattened appreciably, as it was intersected higher in the hole than anticipated. Up-dip the vein appears to maintain a steady -70 degrees dip, whereas in PC23-111 the vein appears to have flattened to -55 degrees, based upon the cross section and the angles of fractures and banding to the core axis. The FW vein intercept is nominally 35-40 meters down-dip from the vein intercept in hole PC22-91, indicating how quickly the character of the vein can change at the boiling zone transition.