Florida Mountain Deposit Program Results
VANCOUVER - Integra Resources Corp. reported numerous high-grade gold-silver drill results from the Florida Mountain Deposit at the DeLamar Project, situated in southwestern Idaho. The drill holes announced at Florida Mountain continue to demonstrate high-grade gold-silver mineralization continuity in various locations covering a strike length of 1.5 kilometers (km) on the deposit and in some cases 250 m outside of the current NI 43-101 resource model. Including the drill results announced, the Company has reported a total of 79 high-grade intercepts at Florida Mountain, with grades of over 4 g/t AuEq and a minimum width of 1.52 m. The continued success in intersecting high-grade gold-silver at Florida Mountain has demonstrated the accuracy of the geological model created by Integra’s exploration team. Since the cut-off date for the resource estimate previously scheduled for June 2021 would prevent the Company from including a large number of high-grade gold-silver intersects into the resource estimate update, the Company has made the decision to delay the resource estimate to early Q4 2021 so as to include high-grade mineralization into the NI 43-101 study. The updated resource estimate with a high-grade component will now be included alongside the upcoming PFS due out in Q4 2021.
“The impressive high-grade gold-silver intercepts reported today at Florida Mountain continue to demonstrate the high-grade resource potential and upside at Florida Mountain, both within and outside of the current resource estimate,” noted George Salamis, President and CEO. “With a high-grade intercept hit rate of 60% to 70% in the last two years of drilling at Florida Mountain, Integra’s exploration team has clearly shown the high-grade, underground resource potential at this deposit. Over the past 2 years, the Company has reported 79 high grade intercepts grading in excess of 4 g/t AuEq, covering a strike extent 1.5 kms and down to a vertical depth of 250 m. We’ve now drilled enough high-grade at Florida Mountain to warrant the inclusion of a high-grade component into the Q4 NI 43-101 resource estimate update, both within the bulk tonnage resource envelope and outside of the existing resource envelope at Florida Mountain. Over the next few months, the resource estimators will focus on including high-grade mineralization into the updated 2021 resource estimate that will be published alongside the PFS in Q4.
Following the expected completion of the upcoming PFS in Q4 of this year, and subject to continued drilling success on these high-grade structures at Florida Mountain, Integra may seek to evaluate certain potential exploration scenarios of this high-grade mineralization and demonstrate the possible positive contributions of this potential high-grade resource component to the already-robust DeLamar development plans outlined in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment. There are tremendous merits in continuing to push the envelope by extending high-grade mineralization laterally and at depth at Florida Mountain, potentially demonstrating the need for an underground exploration program at some stage in the future.”
Integra’s exploration team has modeled 7 high-grade vein structures that appear similar in size and orientation to the historically productive high-grade Trade Dollar – Black Jack vein system. Most historic underground production stemmed from the Trade Dollar – Black Jack vein, while the remaining 6 veins saw limited production up until mining operations ceased with the start of World War I. Geometrically, the veins occur in the form of plunging shoots over an altitude difference of approximately 300 m below the apex of Florida Mountain. Strike lengths of the individual shoots tend to be 100 m to 200 m long and with widths of between 1 m and 8 m.
Integra refined its understanding of the controls on high-grade vein mineralization at Florida Mountain in early 2020 and has been using this model to specifically target the higher-grade “shoots” within the several vein systems identified to date. These higher-grade shoots are interpreted as being localized at the intersections of the four principal north-northwest vein structures with a series of north-east trending splays.
The high-grade underground potential at Florida Mountain remains a high priority drill target. Further drilling is currently underway, testing the interpreted vein structure and continuity of grade at Florida Mountain. A total of 4 drill rigs are currently in operation at DeLamar, with 2 rigs positioned at Florida Mountain and a further 2 rigs situated in the BlackSheep District on the Georgianna Target, north-northwest of DeLamar. In the coming weeks, one Florida drill rig will be repositioned to the eastern flank of Florida Mountain to test the Florida Keys target, a 2 square kilometer gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly. In late summer, drilling is scheduled to commence at War Eagle and will include a series of drill fences aimed to further delineate the high-grade shoots in the volcanics and potential high-grade feeder structures in the granites. War Eagle will also see the completion numerous soil geochemical and geophysical surveys.
Metallurgical test work for Florida Mountain heap leaching of oxide and transitional ores and the unoxidized mill feed is well advanced. The DeLamar heap leach testing program has progressed with the variability testing concluding in early June. The first column is under leach while the remaining composites have been selected and are being prepped for testing. Mill testing for DeLamar unoxidized ore will begin in June, including further evaluation of Albion processing on flotation concentrates. Milling throughputs are being evaluated to optimize mine life and production schedules. Other PFS related work continues to advance as scheduled.