Results Uncover A Potential Porphyry System In Passiflora Region, Silver Cliff, Colorado

VANCOUVER - Viscount Mining Corp. reported on exploration drill targets on Passiflora in Silver Cliff, Colorado. Approximately 1.2 kilometers NNW of the Kate Silver Resource (KSR) lies a geochemically distinct, yet likely hydrothermally related deposit historically referred to as the Passiflora Deposit. In November of 2020, Viscount drilled their first NI 43-101 compliant drill hole (20-05) in the Passiflora target. This hole displayed detectable silver and gold concentrations for nearly the entire bored depth (over 170 meters), including a 1.5-meter interval at 84.5 G/T silver and 0.414 G/T gold. The hole also showed anomalous pyrite and abundant silica and clay alteration, especially towards the bottom of the hole. The encouraging results prompted Viscount to do additional field mapping and plan future drilling. In April of 2021, during the second phase of the program, Viscount drilled another three holes in the Passiflora (21-08, 21-09 & 21-10). The map below shows the locations of these drill holes, which were chosen based upon limited historic drilling data.

Drill holes 21-09 and 21-10, which are distanced over 800 meters apart from each other, both have sections with grades above cut-off, with 21-09 showing 10.4 meters at 0.262 G/T gold and 21-10 displaying detectable amounts of silver and gold for its entire 183-meter depth, including 1.8 meters at 142.3 G/T silver. The strong results from phase 2 encouraged Viscount to further explore the southwest area of the Passiflora.

During Viscount's most recent drill program, in September of 2021, a final two holes were drilled in the Passiflora target (21-24 & 21-25). Both holes exhibited significant concentrations of silver, with hole 21-25 showing the most significant interval yet observed by Viscount in the Passiflora. From the depth of 68.9 meters to 107.0 meters, drill hole 21-25 encountered 40.1 meters testing at 43.2 G/T silver.

While the presented concentrations are of merit, the underlining potential could lie just a bit deeper. In each of the six holes drilled by Viscount in the Passiflora target, evident phyllic alteration and associated metal concentration increases were observed throughout the entirety of the drilled depth. Core photos from drill holes 21-24 and 21-25, depicting intense alteration and hydrothermal mineral replacement.

The level of increased alteration displayed, as well as the volcanic history of the region as a caldera, make it completely plausible to believe that the Passiflora target could be a porphyry at depth. This caldera is one of at least ten eruptive centers of the Central Colorado Volcanic Field (CCVF). Four of these ten have been further classified as silicic eruptive centers, of which the Silver Cliff caldera is one (McIntosh and Chapin, 2004). Another member of this classification is Newmont's Cripple Creek Mine, a highly profitable, still active deposit located ~70km NNE of the Passiflora. The ore being mined at Cripple Creek is primarily from diatremes (volcanic breccia pipes), which overlie sulfide-altered, porphyritic igneous intrusions. A similar system of diatremes and sulfide-hosting igneous intrusions may also exist at depth in the Passiflora target. In order to verify this concept, Viscount management is currently considering a telluro-magnetic survey to more precisely delineate targets at depth.

Exploration Manager, Jacob Hooker, said, "The striking similarities between the Passiflora Deposit and the well-known Cripple Creek Deposit, both in terms of geologic environment and depositional age, suggest that a highly profitable diatreme deposit could also exist at the Passiflora."

All Viscount's drilling to date has been core. The company has implemented a rigorous quality assurance/quality control program at the Silver Cliff project. Core is retrieved from the drill site to a locked storage facility, where it is logged and then cut by independent geologists. Half of the core is bagged, and standards, blanks and duplicates are frequently inserted in to the sample stream. These are then boxed and then shipped via USPS to Skyline Labs in Tucson, Arizona. Pulps and rejects will then be retrieved, and stored with the split core at our locked facility.