Discovery of New Gold-Zinc Zone At The Kay Mine

TORONTO - Arizona Metals Corp. announced the discovery of a new gold-rich zone of open-ended mineralization at the Kay Mine, in an area previously untested by historic drilling or exploration. In addition, all seven recently completed holes at the Kay Mine project in Yavapai County, Arizona, intersected massive sulphide mineralization. Hole KM-21-24 displaying interval from 520.9 m to 521.7 m downhole, containing 0.8 m of 33.4 g/t AuEq (comprised of 16.5 g/t gold, 574 g/t silver, 1.75% copper, 1.22% lead, and 9.55% zinc). Hole 25 intersected 79 m of 7.0 g/t AuEq, including two separate higher-grade intervals of 9 m grading 18.1 g/t AuEq and 11 m grading 14.7 g/t AuEq, from a vertical depth of 638 m. Hole 24 intersected 91 m of 4.7 g/t AuEq, including two separate higher-grade intervals of 20 m grading 9.2 g/t AuEq and 16 m grading 6.8 g/t AuEq, from a vertical depth of 470 m. This hole also intersected a high-grade interval of 0.8 m grading 33.4 g/t AuEq.

The bulk of the mineralized intervals in holes 25 and 24 are located between the North and South Zones outside of the area defined in the historic estimate by Exxon. Historical records show very little exploration in this area by Exxon, or other previous operators. Hole 24 was drilled 104 m deeper than hole 21A which also intersected a broad zone of 65 meters of semi- to massive sulphides (assays pending), and hole 25 is 276 m deeper than 21A. These newly defined, wide, high-grade intervals demonstrate the potential to add a significant tonnage of gold-zinc mineralization outside of the historic resource, which is predominantly copper-gold in composition.

In addition to the new discovery of the gold-zinc zone in holes 24, 25 holes 17, 18, 18A, 21 and 23 returned wide intervals of copper and gold in the South Zone area, extending the plunge of the hinge zone defined by Phase 1 drilling. Some highlights include: Hole 18A, which intersected 32.5 m of 3.5 g/t AuEq; Hole 21, which intersected 42.8 m of 3.2 g/t Au Eq, including 4.8 m grading 6.7 g/t AuEq; and Hole KM-21-17, which intersected 20 m of 3.0% CuEq (incl. 4.6 m of 6.4% CuEq). This hole is located 41 m above hole KM-20-13 drilled in 2020, which intersected 43 m grading 3.9% CuEq, including 15 m at a grade of 6.7% CuEq.

Marc Pais, CEO, said, “It is very common in VMS districts for deposits to show distinct zonation of copper-rich mineralization, alternating with gold-zinc mineralization. The historical record of the Kay Mine shows an almost exclusive focus by previous operators on the copper-rich mineralization, with exploration focused on depths above 450 m.

The new broad intervals of high-grade gold-zinc mineralization reported today, of 79 m in hole 25 and 91 m in hole 24, define 276 m of vertical plunge below hole 21A (for which assays are pending), in an area between the North and South Zones that make up the historic resource. This area was not historically explored and is open for expansion at depths below 450 m.

These discovery holes demonstrate the potential to define a significant tonnage of gold-rich zinc VMS mineralization, outside of the historic resource defined by Exxon in 1982. Drilling at Kay continues to confirm that the deposit was historically under explored, despite being part of a rich mineralized system. We believe that as a result, historic exploration overlooked large areas of mineralization in the immediate vicinity of both the Kay historic estimate and surroundings. This will become even more important as we move the drills north and south on strike, to recently completed pads. On completion of the strike testing, the drills will move west to the Central and Western targets, to test for new satellite deposits in previously undrilled areas.”

Additional results include hole KM-21-18, which intersected 25.5 m of 2.7 g/t AuEq, from a depth of 255 m. In the North Zone, hole KM-21-19 intersected an interval of 0.5 m at a grade of 17 g/t AuEq, from a vertical depth of 337 m. Hole KM-21-20 intersected 0.9 m of 7.1 g/t AuEq and 2.1 m of 3.1 g/t AuEq, from a vertical depth of 362 m. Drilling is currently underway to target an area laterally between holes 19 and 20, which the Company believes has the potential to host a North Zone hinge, similar to the thick hinge encountered in recent South Zone drilling.

Permitting and bonding for Kay Mine strike extension pads 4, 5, 6 were completed in March 2021, and pad construction was recently completed. Permitting for pad and road construction to test the Central and Western Targets was subject to Covid-19 related delays, but is now progressing well again, with drilling expected at these targets later this year. A third drill rig is scheduled to arrive at site later this month, and will start drilling at pad 4, located 500m north of the Kay Mine.