Vancouver, B.C., Metallic Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: MMG; US OTC: MMNGF) (“Metallic Minerals” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the commencement of drilling at the Company’s flagship Keno Silver Project a highly-prospective, district scale, brownfields exploration property consisting of 112.5 square kilometres in the historic Keno Hill Silver District of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Through a comprehensive review of modern and historic data, Metallic Minerals has identified more than a dozen priority target areas for further evaluation during the 2017 field exploration program. The first phase of drilling, which is now underway, will focus on five initial targets. The 2017 exploration program budget at the Keno Silver Project is anticipated to be a minimum of $1.6 million including the phase 1 drilling.
The Keno Silver Project is located in the eastern and southern portions of the Keno Hill Silver District adjoining Alexco Resource Corp.’s high-grade Keno Hill silver properties. Over 200 million ounces of high-grade silver have been mined in the Keno Hill Silver District over the past 100 years1 with several major new discoveries over the past decade leading to the district hosting one of the highest-grade silver resources in the industry2. Keno-type silver deposits consist of high-grade silver-lead-zinc veins typically 1 to 5 metres in width, grading from 200 g/t to over 5,000 g/t silver1. The largest individual deposits in the district, which range from 10 million to 100 million ounces of contained silver, are associated with northeast trending, southeast dipping fault/vein structures that form major ore shoots in the main quartzite and greenstone host rocks.
There are twelve known mineralized structural corridors in the Keno Hill Silver District, eight of which continue across Metallic Minerals’ land package and occur in the same geologic settings that host the largest deposits in the district. The Keno Silver Project covers seven historic producing mines including four with average production grades of over 5,000 g/t silver1. The eastern portion of the Keno Hill Silver District has seen little modern exploration due to the longstanding, fragmented, private land ownership structure, which has now been largely consolidated by Metallic Minerals as the Keno Silver Project.
Follow up work by Metallic Minerals has been focused at the Homestake, Keno Summit, Caribou, Faith, Vanguard, Duncan and Silver Queen target areas including completion of detailed geophysical and geochemical surveys, geologic mapping, and trenching. With positive results from the follow up program, several of the planned soil grids and trenches are being expanded to cover open anomalies identified in the field using a Niton XRF to provide rapid analysis ahead of final assay lab results.
Metallic Minerals‘ Chairman & CEO, Greg Johnson, stated: “The soil and trenching work, combined with completed mapping and detailed magnetic and VLF surveys, have contributed to our understanding of the prospectivity of our top target areas and refined the targets for the Phase 1 drill campaign. With the target refinement phase of the 2017 program nearly complete, our team has now initiated diamond drilling on the priority targets that are the down-dip and along-strike extensions of surface mineralization along the known mineralized trends.
Drilling will start at the Caribou, Faith and Keno Summit targets and continue on to the Homestake target later in the program. The objective of the 2017 program is to target high-grade silver mineralization in the lesser explored parts of the Keno Hill Silver District using a systematic, disciplined approach to exploration along the known mineralized corridors. This approach to exploration in the district has led to several recent major high-grade discoveries by the Alexco exploration team including the still growing Bermingham and Flame & Moth deposits. We look forward to drilling these initial targets as a proof of concept on the Keno Silver Project and would expect assay results from drilling starting in September.”
In addition to the exploration work being conducted on the Keno Silver Project, Metallic Minerals has undertaken a sampling and mapping program at its 100% owned McKay Hill Project, located 50 km north of Keno Hill, adjacent to the northwest portion of ATAC Resources’ Rackla Gold Project. The McKay Hill Project is an historic high-grade silver and gold producer that shows potential to host a district scale vein system similar to Keno Hill, with at least 10 identified vein structures that have seen very limited exploration. Historic surface sampling returned results included grab samples of up to 600 g/t silver with 15 g/t gold, which is similar to the historic production grades from the No. 6 vein at McKay Hill. Initial on-site evaluation of the project has been encouraging and results from recent surface sampling are expected to be received starting in September.
About Metallic Minerals Corp.
Metallic Minerals Corp. is a growth stage exploration company, focused on the acquisition & development of high-grade silver and gold in under-explored districts of mining-friendly jurisdictions proven to produce top-tier assets. Our objective is to create value through a systematic, entrepreneurial approach to exploration, reducing investment risk and maximizing the probability of long-term success. Our core Keno Silver project is located in the historic Keno Hill silver district of Canada's Yukon Territory, a region which has produced over 200 million ounces of high-grade silver over the past 100 years and has excellent existing infrastructure, including grid power, highway & road access, and two nearby communities with services. Metallic Minerals is led by a team with a track record of discovery and exploration success, including large scale development, permitting and project financing.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Website: www.metallic-minerals.com
Twitter: @mmgsilver
Email: chris.ackerman@metallic-minerals.com
Phone: 604-629-7800
Toll Free: 1-888-570-4420
References
1Boyle, R.W., 1965. “Geology, Geochemistry, and Origin of the Lead-Zinc-Silver Deposits of the Keno Hill -- Galena Hill Area, Yukon Territory”. Bulletin 111, Geological Survey of Canada. Cathro, R.J., 2006. “The History and Geology of the Keno Hill Silver Camp Yukon Territory.” Geoscience Canada, Volume 33, Number 3.
2Alexco News Release: January 3, 2017: Alexco Expands Bermingham Indicated Resource to 17 Million Ounces Silver, Remains Open.
Forward-Looking Statements
Forward Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Metallic Minerals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Metallic Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
