Expanded Footprint Of Oakley Project In Idaho

TORONTO, - Excellon Resources Inc. reported an update on the Oakley Project, Idaho, on which the Company has granted Centerra (U.S.) Inc. an option to earn up to 70%, among other things, spending up to US$7 million in exploration expenditures on the project prior to May 2026.

Highlights: Increased land holdings by approximately 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares) to approximately 7,000 acres (2,833 hectares) through staking of an additional 125 Federal Lode Mining claims on land managed by the BLM at the Cold Creek, Blue Hill Creek and Matrix Creek Prospects; Continued application process for 960 acres (388 hectares) of State of Idaho-managed land as "mineral leases," adding to the current 320 acres (129.5 hectares) of mineral leases for a total of 1,280 acres (518 hectares); Completed soil sampling across the newly staked ground with 1,347 samples sent for gold and multi-element analysis; Completed 1,330 line-kilometer, airborne magnetic survey across the entire Oakley Project area including expanded footprint; & Completed detailed geologic mapping program over the Cold Creek Prospect

Continuing on from exploration work completed in 2018, and in collaboration with Centerra, Excellon staked an additional 125 federal lode mining claims on the Cold Creek (78 claims), Blue Hill Creek (23 claims) and Matrix Creek (24 claims) Prospects. The additional claims were staked as follow-up to the gold and silver anomalies identified in soils and rocks in 2018 and the mineral trends identified to the north-west and south-east. The new staking adds 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares) to the existing 225 federal lode mining claims, or 4,500 acres (1,821 hectares), on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a total of 350 claims or 7,000 acres (2,833 hectares).

Excellon continues with the application process for State of Idaho mineral leases covering 960 acres (389 hectares). The proposed leases lie to the north of the Blue Hill Creek claims up to the Emery Claims, and to the west of the Matrix Creek claims; these areas are considered prospective and follow-up on the 2018 exploration program results that indicated north and northwest anomalous trends from soil and rock samples.Geochemistry

The Company conducted soil geochemistry programs over the newly staked  claims to further investigate the gold and silver anomalous trends identified as a result of the 2018 exploration program; results indicated the potential for mineralization to extend to the northwest and southeast of the existing land package into previously untested areas. A total of 1,347 soil samples were submitted, 522 from the Cold Creek prospect and 825 from the contiguous Blue Hill and Matrix Creek prospects, to Bureau Veritas in Sparks, Nevada for gold and multi-element analysis.

Excellon contracted Edcon-PRJ of Denver, Colorado to conduct a low level, airborne magnetic survey using a Reeder's 206-L3 helicopter with a towed sensor array incorporating a Geometrics G823A magnetometer and dual frequency Hemisphere R-220 GPS antenna. The survey flew for a total of 1,330 line-kilometers in early July 2020. The results from this program will be integrated with all currently available exploration data to generate targets for follow-up with ground-based geophysics in early- to mid-fall 2020.

The Company has completed a detailed geologic mapping program over the existing and extended claim package at Cold Creek. The findings from mapping will be incorporated into the developing geologic model to guide ground geophysics and drill targets for the remainder of 2020. The mapping program has confirmed and extended the existence of surface outcrops of tertiary volcaniclastic and clastic sediments hosting low sulfidation hot spring-style epithermal mineralization containing anomalous gold (up to 1.9 g/t Au) and silver (up to 8.4 g/t Ag). The program also confirmed the existence of hydrothermally altered Palaeozoic clastic marine sediments including black jasperoidal rocks interpreted as altered limestones along with intensely stockwork veined, hydrothermally brecciated and faulted quartzite. The presence of altered Palaeozoic sediments underlying silicified and veined tertiary volcaniclastic rocks confirms the potential of the Cold Creek Prospect to host economic mineralization at depth.

In addition Excellon has contracted Geoterra of Eugene, Oregon to conduct a Lidar and Orthophoto survey over the Oakley Project. Both the Lidar and Orthophoto data will provide high quality images that will be used to enhance the structural geology in the geologic model. The goal of the program is to interpret large- to medium-scale faulting by determining trends and orientations providing for a more comprehensive structural framework in the geologic model. This data along with all other exploration data will be incorporated into the current leapfrog model resulting in targets for drill testing in late 2020.