Expansion At The Philadelphia Property
VANCOUVER – Arizona Silver Exploration Inc. reported that recent high grade drilling results have prompted the Company to stake an additional 10 lode mining claims (200 acres) at the Philadelphia project in Mohave County, Arizona.
Greg Hahn, VP-Exploration, said, “We have staked additional mining claims to cover the depth extension of the Perry vein system that returned the high grade gold results announced. The new claims cover strongly altered and iron oxide-stained flow dome rhyolite that forms the hanging wall of the vein system where drilled. Significantly, alteration in the rhyolite is strong to intense which suggests it overlies a robust mineral system. In my view it was imperative that we secure the potential depth extensions of the vein system beneath such impressive hydrothermal alteration.”
The hanging wall rhyolite is now considered a key indicator of mineralization on the property. The hydrothermally altered rhyolite has outcrop dimensions of some 600 meters by 1000 meters. Drilling on the Perry vein west of the new claims intersected the rhyolite in all of the holes. Accordingly the vein is projected to continue at depth beneath the rhyolite body.
The rhyolite is unique within the numerous rhyolite bodies on the property in that it has a strong hyperspectral reflectance indicative of strong hydrothermal alteration, as shown on the USGS Great Basin alteration map. To our knowledge there are no drill holes or mine workings in this rhyolite, except where the Company has discovered mineralization near surface.
The eastern portion of the new claims covers a shallow bowl-shaped area in unmineralized and weakly altered to unaltered volcanics. This is a potential waste rock disposal site for future open pit mining at Philadelphia. South of the new claims the rhyolites are significantly less altered.