Midas Exploration At Green Racer Sinter Intercepted High-Grade Mineralization
COEUR D'ALENE, ID - Hecla Mining Company, Phillips S. Baker, Jr., President and CEO, reported “Early exploration results, just two miles from the mine portal, validates our thesis that despite its long high-grade production history, there remains significant untouched potential at Midas Property, in Elko County, Nevada. “The recent high-grade intercept grading 5.52 oz/ton gold and 8.9 oz/ton silver over 20.3 feet drilled (13.1 feet estimated true width) is one of the best exploration drillholes in North America in the past year. But maybe more important than the grade and width of the discovery are the two additional mineralized structures in the footwall of the main structure and that significant mineralization continues over a strike of 1,000 feet and a dip length of 1,250 feet. All structures are open along strike and at depth. At the end of April, we received the amended plan of operation allowing further access to drill not only at this new high-grade discovery but also to drill test targets on previously unpermitted ground. While it is very early days in our exploration at Midas, these successful results warrant expanding the number of drill rigs from two to possibly four by the end of the year.”
Highlights: Midas exploration at Green Racer Sinter intercepted high-grade gold and silver mineralization over a 1,000-foot strike length and a 1,250-foot dip extent in the Sinter Vein, as well as two new mineralized footwall structures. Significant intercepts include more than 5 oz/ton gold over 13 feet estimated true width. All are open for expansion; and Midas’ plan of operations amendment expands to allow greater access to multiple targets on the Green Racer Sinter and East Graben Corridor.
At Midas, two core rigs focused on offsetting and expanding high-grade mineralization along strike and up and down dip at the Green Racer Sinter discovery made in the fourth Quarter of 2020. It is anticipated that a third core rig will arrive at Midas in July, and all three core rigs will focus on the Green Racer Sinter and other East Graben Corridor targets. A detailed surface mapping program identified an outcrop of spicular geyserite sinter, anomalous in gold, at the Green Racer Sinter target, 2 miles east of the main Midas Mine. Previously undrilled, Hecla’s drill program began in late 2020 and successfully hit significant mineralization in multiple intercepts, including 3.26 oz/ton over 3.9 feet estimated true thickness. The 2021 drill program is highlighted to date by 5.52 oz/ton gold and 8.9 oz/ton silver over 20.3 feet drilled (13.1 feet estimated true width) including 8.89 oz/ton gold and 14.5 oz/ton silver over 12.3 feet drilled (7.9 feet estimated true width). Mineralization is hosted in quartz and carbonate veining within the Sinter structure which is locally fractured due to post-mineral fault movement. Although early in the exploration program, high-grade mineralization is defined over 1,000 feet of strike length and 1,250 feet of dip extent and is open along strike and down dip. Two additional mineralized structures (FW1 and FW2) have also been intersected in the footwall of the Sinter structure and both are open for expansion. Mineralization in these footwall structures is like the Sinter structure with results that include 0.71 oz/ton gold and 1.5 oz/ton silver over 2.0 feet drilled (1.7 feet estimated true width) in the FW1 structure and 2.93 oz/ton gold and 1.6 oz/ton silver over 2.5 feet drilled (1.8 feet estimated true width) in the FW2 structure.
Also at Midas, the amended exploration plan of operations was approved by the BLM in late April. This expanded exploration plan of operations allows exploration of the strike extensions of the Sinter and footwall structures as well as previously untested targets.