Downpour Gold Zone Expanded On The Golden Crest Project

DENVER, CO - Solitario Zinc Corp. has significantly expanded the Downpour high-grade gold zone on its Golden Crest Project, South Dakota. Several new areas with multi-gram gold values have been discovered to the north (highest value: 20.4 grams per tonne (gpt) gold), southeast (highest value 87.3 gpt gold), and west (highest value: 41.7 gpt gold). In total, the footprint of these newly discovered areas, including the original Downpour Central discovery, constitute an area measuring 800 meters in length in a north-south trend, and 500 meters in width in an east-west direction. Significantly, this zone remains open to expansion to the north and west.

With the additional work that has been completed at Downpour, it now appears that this mineralized high-grade zone occurs in a flat lying stratigraphic horizon that has undergone significant brecciation and hydrothermal alteration. Mineralization has most likely been caused by ascending gold-rich hydrothermal fluids that traveled vertically from below. The original Downpour central discovery area may have formed near one of these vertical feeder structures resulting in its higher grades of gold. Importantly, on a regional scale, the brecciation of this favorable stratigraphic horizon is often seen to be five to fifteen meters in thickness, and intermittently mineralized with gold. This style of gold mineralization has the potential to create a very significant gold deposit.

There are several stratigraphic horizons below the Downpour zone that are also known to be very favorable for the deposition of gold. The largest and best known of these horizons is the Deadwood Formation that has produced over six million ounces of recovered gold from historic and modern workings of the Wharf-Bald Mountain district situated about six kilometers northeast of the Downpour Zone. At Golden Crest, the depth to the Deadwood Formation is relatively shallow, estimated to be between 250 and 400 meters.

Chris Herald, President and CEO, said, "Surface assay results at Downpour continue to impress, not only in grade, but now in the size of the overall Downpour gold system. With these new results and geologic information collected at Downpour, we now believe more than ever, that Downpour has the potential to host a major gold system. As good as these surface results are, we also believe the most favorable horizons for gold mineralization occur stratigraphically below the Downpour zone. Our continuing work elsewhere on the Golden Crest property suggest that other similar gold systems exist at surface and at depth. We anticipate reporting on these other emerging areas in the near future."