11:04:36 EDT Mon 29 Apr 2024
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Eagle Plains Resources Ltd
Symbol EPL
Shares Issued 110,465,727
Close 2023-07-10 C$ 0.22
Market Cap C$ 24,302,460
Recent Sedar Documents

Eagle Plains continues drilling at Vulcan

2023-07-10 07:08 ET - News Release

Mr. Tim Termuende reports

EAGLE PLAINS PROVIDES UPDATE ON DRILLING ACTIVITY ON VULCAN CRITICAL METALS PROJECT, SOUTHEASTERN BC

Diamond drilling activity continues at Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.'s 100-per-cent-owned Vulcan project, located 30 kilometres west of Kimberley, B.C. The planned program will include a minimum of 3,000 metres (9,842 feet) of diamond drilling in four to five holes at the Hilo and West basin zones, following up on encouraging results obtained during 2022 drilling (details following).

To date, drill hole VU22004 has been successfully extended from a previous depth of 597.2 m to a total depth of 829.0 m. The extension was planned to test beneath mineralization encountered during 2022 (see highlights below) and to establish the base of a subbasin interpreted to exist in the immediate area. These objectives have been met and valuable information gained on mineralization, alteration and stratigraphy in the immediate area.

Previously reported analytical results for VU22004 include:

  • 11.55 m at 0.46 per cent zinc, 0.02 per cent lead, 21.48 parts per million cadmium, 90.65 ppm Tin (545.50 to 557.05 m), including 1.50 m at 1.72 per cent Zn, 68.83 ppm Cd and 32.09 ppm Sn (554.58 to 556.08 m), including 0.22 m at 6.46 per cent Zn, 259.00 ppm Cd, 39.10 ppm Sn (554.58 to 554.80 m), and 0.18 m at 3.16 per cent Zn, 126.50 ppm Cd and 26.80 ppm Sn (555.53 to 555.71 m).

Drill hole VU23001 was drilled at minus 45 degrees toward azimuth 130 degrees and reached a total depth of 765.6 m, intersecting significant centimetre-scale stratabound (laminated) and fragmental (clast) zinc, lead and silver mineralization consistent with that seen in VU22004 (see news release July 4, 2023). Mineralization intersected in VU23001 shows continuity of up to 130 m southeast from mineralized horizons observed in VU22004. This hole also defined a significant zone of tourmalinite alteration within the footwall.

Drill hole VU23002 was drilled at minus 45 degrees toward azimuth of 075 degrees to a total depth of 715.6 metres. The hole intersected significant fragmental clast mineralization (pyrrhotite plus or minus sphalerite (zinc) plus or minus galena (lead)) starting at the top of the thick fragmental unit, a trend not seen in previous holes. In the base of the fragmental are thin beds (up to five centimetres) of undisturbed sediments with significant disseminated sphalerite (zinc) and galena (lead); these in situ mineralized beds can be correlated to VU22004 and VU23001. Further underlying the fragmental unit is a zone of thin bedded sediments consistent with lower Aldridge rocks. Zinc and lead mineralization is pervasive throughout this zone and forms disseminations in distinct cm scale beds up to 53 cm wide (523.24 to 523.77 m). Mineralization within this hole represents continuity of approximately 170 m northwest from VU22004 and 300 m from VU23001, confirming widespread distribution of mineralization within the fragmental and footwall thin bedded sediments.

Detailed logging and sampling are under way, with complete analytical results expected in the coming months. Visual observations and preliminary portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of mineralized material confirm the presence of widespread alteration associated with narrow bands of high-grade mineralization consistent with that of sedimentary exhalative (sedex) deposits, particularly as extensively documented at the nearby Sullivan deposit.

Highlights from preliminary pXRF analysis*:

  • 334.65 m: 1.09 per cent Zn, 2.75 per cent ppm Pb (mineralized clast);
  • 447.80 m: 0.92 per cent Zn, 0.32 per cent Pb over about five cm (stratabound);
  • 523.24 m: 0.53 per cent Zn, 0.39 per cent Pb over about 53 cm (stratabound);
  • 525.05 m: 0.56 per cent Zn, 0.23 per cent Pb over about 15 cm (stratabound);
  • 582.45 m: 0.53 per cent Zn, 0.34 per cent Pb over about 15 cm (stratabound).

* Management cautions that pXRF data should be treated only as an indication of elements including lead and zinc that are present at the particular location in which the pXRF is placed on a drill core. All pXRF data are point data and the data collected at that point may not be representative of all the pXRF detectable elements occurring over an extended interval. The company has no intention of using pXRF data for the purpose of weighted average calculations but does compare and evaluate pXRF point data with results of chemical analyses once received. The company relies on chemical assays from an independent certified laboratory to determine the true values of lead and zinc occurring in sampled drill core, as well as all other elements the company is targeting at the Vulcan property. The company expects these assays to be available to the public once certified analytical results are received and evaluated.

Drill hole VU23003 is now being drilled at minus 70 degrees toward azimuth 075 degrees and is planned as a down-dip test of VU23002, testing for down-dip mineralization approximately 250 m from that seen in VU23002. It is planned to test depths of up to 700 m.

Vulcan consists of 12,400 hectares located 30 kilometres west of the world-class Sullivan sedex critical metals deposit near Kimberley, B.C., and is accessible by an extensive network of well-maintained forest service roads. The property is owned 100 per cent by Eagle Plains and has no underlying royalties or encumbrances. Encouraging results from the 2022 drill program were announced previously by Eagle Plains (see news releases dated Dec. 7, 2022, and Jan. 18, 2023). Initial observations of core lithologies, mineralogy, alteration and mineralization from VU22004 suggest proximity to a sedex-type vent source near the trace of drill hole VU22004. The 2023 program is designed to extend the mineralized horizons by completing systematic stepout drilling that will include testing of a prominent off-hole borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) anomaly delineated in late 2022. Drilling is expected to further define stratabound Pb-Zn-Ag mineralization and vector toward a suspected source vent complex such as that found at the now-depleted Sullivan deposit. Eagle Plains' management cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate land are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Vulcan property.

Management of Eagle Plains considers the Vulcan project to hold excellent potential for the presence of sedex zinc/lead/silver mineralization. Rocks underlying Vulcan are within the same sedimentary sequence and host occurrences, with mineralization and alteration styles similar to those observed at and adjacent to Sullivan. The Main (Hilo 3) mineral occurrence at Vulcan returned trench samples up to 1.6 per cent combined lead-zinc over 1.5 metres from rocks near the Lower-Middle Aldridge contact (LMC), the same time-stratigraphic horizon associated with the Sullivan deposit.

Tim Termuende, PGeo, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Plains, commented recently on the continuing Vulcan program: "We continue to be extremely encouraged by results to date at Vulcan. The thickening of mineralized beds as observed in VU23002 strongly suggests a source to the north of mineralization first encountered in VU22004. The increasing presence of galena (lead sulphide) further supports this theory. Though a number of historical holes exist to the north, none were drilled to stratigraphic depths at which we are currently finding significant mineralization. Mineralization has now been traced at depth by drilling for over 300 m laterally and, although subeconomic in grade, is evidence of a significant, widespread sedex-style mineralizing system at Vulcan. Additional drilling continues to be guided by geologic features observed during this program. To date, our geologists have observed many of the important hallmarks of the nearby world-class Sullivan deposit, giving us confidence that the ongoing program will provide critical information toward the potential discovery of source mineralization."

The Sullivan mine was discovered in 1892 and is one of the largest sedex deposits in the world. Over its 100-plus-year lifetime, Sullivan contained a total of 160 million tonnes of ore averaging 6.5 per cent lead, 5.6 per cent zinc and 67 grams per tonne silver, resulting in 298 million ounces of silver, 18.5 billion pounds of lead, 17.5 billion pounds of zinc and significant quantities of associated metals, collectively worth over $40-billion at current metal prices.

Vulcan project history

Sullivan-style mineralization was first reported in the mid-1950s at Vulcan. During the 1970s and 1980s, Texas Gulf Sulphur and later Cominco completed extensive geophysical work and drilled shallow holes to test for continuous mineralization in areas of the property. Drill testing occurred in the Hilo area during the early 1990s by Ascot Resources. In 1991 a five-hole, 1,003 m drill program was completed, with three holes totalling 1,535 m completed in 1992.

Since acquiring the initial claims on the property in 2002, Eagle Plains has completed an extensive compilation of all existing data, followed in 2006 by a 125 line km helicopter-borne time-domain geophysical survey flown at 200 m spacing. Additional claims were added to the property position as they became available through staking. Systematic geochemical, geological and geophysical programs were conducted by Eagle Plains and its partners from 2011 to 2019.

In June, 2020, Eagle Plains completed a two-hole, 977 m drill program to test the LMC along an existing road cut in an area of elevated soil geochemistry and anomalous geophysical features (magnetometer, induced polarization and magnetotelluric). The LMC contact was successfully intercepted in hole VU20002 with significant alteration suggesting proximity to a hydrothermal source, though no economic mineralization was encountered.

In 2022, Eagle Plains completed a 537 line km helicopter-borne high-resolution aeromagnetic survey. Geophysics was followed up with a three-hole, 1,700 m diamond drilling program. Hole VU22004 identified sedex-style mineralization at the West basin zone deeper in the stratigraphic package than historically tested. Analytical results from VU22004 defined the best intercept on the property to date. Results from this program have been used to reinterpret the stratigraphic sequence at the Hilo and West basin zones and have identified target stratigraphy considered to hold high potential to host economic mineralization.

Qualified persons

The current program is being conducted under the direct supervision of K. Bates, PGeo, exploration manager of Eagle Plains. TerraLogic Exploration Inc. of Cranbrook, B.C., has been engaged to provide overall project support. New Age Drilling Solutions has been contracted to complete diamond drilling activities and Bighorn Helicopters of Cranbrook, B.C., is providing helicopter support.

Charles C. Downie, PGeo, a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and a director of Eagle Plains, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

Update on Kalum property option

Eagle Plains reports that it has received formal notice from option partner Rex Resources Corp. that it has terminated its option on the company's 100-per-cent-owned Kalum property located 35 km north of Terrace, B.C. The property is flanked by a large intrusive stock that has intruded sedimentary rocks of the Bowser Lake Group. There are at least 15 gold-silver mineral showings on the property coincident with the contact zones of these intrusive plutons and large-scale structural zones. Mineralization is dominantly high-grade, epithermal/mesothermal, polymetallic and gold-bearing veins that are hosted within both intrusive rocks and country rock. The best drill results from previous work on the property include drill hole KRC04001, drilled at the Rico showing (discovered by Eagle Plains), which returned 35 g/t Au over 2.5 m from 101.8m to 104.3 m; including a 0.5 m interval that assayed 107 g/t Au. The property has recently seen systematic surface geological exploration work and is currently permitted for drilling.

About Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.

Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains is a well-financed, prolific project generator that continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout Western Canada. The company was formed in 1992 and is the ninth-oldest listed issuer on the TSX Venture Exchange (and one of only three that has not seen a rollback or restructuring of its shares). Eagle Plains has continued to deliver shareholder value over the years and through numerous spinouts has transferred over $100-million in value directly to its shareholders, with Copper Canyon Resources and Taiga Gold Corp. being notable examples. Eagle Plains' latest spinout, Eagle Royalties Ltd., was listed on May 24, 2023, and holds a diverse portfolio of royalty assets throughout Western Canada.

Eagle Plains' core business is acquiring grassroots critical- and precious-metal exploration properties. The company is committed to steadily enhancing shareholder value by advancing its diverse portfolio of projects toward discovery through collaborative partnerships and development of a highly experienced technical team.

Expenditures from 2011 to 2022 on Eagle Plains-related projects exceed $30-million, the majority of which was financed by third party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 45,000 m of diamond drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of numerous projects at various stages of development.

Throughout the exploration process, the company's mission is to help maintain prosperous communities by exploring for and discovering resource opportunities while building lasting relationships through honest and respectful business practices.

We seek Safe Harbor.

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