Advancement Of District-Scale Targets On Newly Staked Tonopah North Property

VANCOUVER - Blackrock Silver Corp. reported on its Tonopah North project located adjacent to the Tonopah West silver-gold resource project along the Walker Lane in west central Nevada. The Tonopah North project consists of unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 20 square kilometers north and west of the Tonopah West DPB resource area. The claims had been staked to cover the western margin of the recently identified Tonopah Caldera.

The caldera margin is an important foci for mineralization on the Tonopah West project. Detailed mapping and interpretation shows the caldera margin is buried beneath younger volcanic rocks and gravel. A specific unit called the Siebert Tuff outcrops along the margin of the caldera. These tuffaceous sediments and volcanic tuff form a unit classified as moat sediments that occur in close proximity to the margin of the caldera.

Mapping and a gravity geophysical survey show the caldera is east-west at the Tonopah West project and swings northwest then north and finally eastward. The configuration of the caldera is paramount to finding new veins in the district and two distinctive high-priority targets have emerged.

The first target is along the western edge of the Tonopah Caldera where a large northwest fault system appears to offset the caldera rim. The structure appears to be the strike extension of the Pittsburg-Monarch fault system (PMFS) which controls thick veins in the Victor and Ohio areas of the Tonopah West project. At Victor, the vein was 24 meters thick at the intersection with the PMFS. Similarly, the Ohio vein was 14 meters thick where it intersected the PMFS.

The target is compelling in that a new area under the pediment gravels may host another Victor or Ohio vein set. Additional exploration work is being planned to include CSAMT and scout drilling.

The second exciting target is on the north side of the Tonopah Caldera where a strong east-west structural fabric has been mapped and regional magnetic data show a strong east-west structural domain. The geologic setting for the second target is very similar to the Tonopah district itself. The Tonopah North property covers the area which has roughly the same strike as the existing Tonopah silver district. More work is justified as the prize could be a second Tonopah-sized district located beneath post mineral cover and pediment gravels.