Continued Growth Reported At Taylor Deeps Zone 

 

VANCOUVER, BC - Arizona Mining Inc. reported the results of five exploration holes from the current drill program targeting the expansion of the Taylor Deeps Zone and definition of the Trench Vein System located on its 100%-owned Hermosa Project in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Three of the five holes were step out exploration holes targeting expansion of the Taylor Deeps zinc-lead-silver sulfide zone. The fifth drill hole (HDS-438) was an angle drill hole targeting the Trench Vein System, a series of steeply dipping veins which extend across the property in a northeast/southwest direction.

This latest set of drill results continues to expand the Taylor Deeps Zone and also highlights the robust nature of the Trench Vein System. In addition to excellent zinc and lead grades, assay results show increased silver and copper values in these two zones compared to the Taylor Sulfide Zone. Based on the results to date, the Company believes there is significant potential to increase the size of the overall resource, positively impact the mine plan in the early years, and further improve the project's economics from the numbers included in the recently released preliminary economic assessment, which estimated a US$1.26 billion after-tax net present value, 42% after-tax internal rate of return and 1.7-year payback. In light of this, management has decided to: Increase the number of drill rigs to nine from the current six and increase the budget to enable the continued resource expansion of both the Taylor Deeps Zone and Trench Vein System; Delay the Feasibility Study until H1 2018, or as dictated by drill results, to allow for the current drill program to be incorporated into an updated resource estimate for the Feasibility Study; Continue permitting activities to maintain production timelines and schedules; and Continue all other planned activities including hydrologic assessment and modeling, environmental background studies, and metallurgical and geotechnical test work.

COO Don Taylor said, "The current drill results, coupled with prior results, clearly indicate the enormous size potential for the Taylor Deeps Zone. The assay results from Deeps continue to indicate substantially higher silver and copper grades compared to the Taylor Sulfide Zone. Additionally, HDS-438 is the first drill hole specifically targeting the Trench Vein System and has returned some very encouraging intercepts. Similar to the Deeps assays, the results for the veins indicate significantly higher silver and copper grades as compared to the Taylor Sulfide Zone. The drilling success in both Taylor Deeps and the Trench Vein System warrant delaying our Feasibility Study, as both zones could have a significant beneficial impact on our development plan."