Acquisition Of Option To Buy Arizona Gold Coin Property

DENVER, CO  - Solitario Zinc Corp. has acquired an option-to-buy a 100% interest in the Gold Coin Property in southeastern Arizona. Gold Coin hosts significant surface gold values over an area in excess of 400 acres. The property has never been drilled to depths greater than 20 meters (60 feet). Work to date has identified five potential target areas for drilling. In addition, a second property, the Texas-Arizona, contains polymetallic mineralization (copper-lead-zinc-silver-gold) is included in the Gold Coin option agreement.

Geologically, Gold Coin is a low-sulfidation system hosted primarily in low-angle thrust faults that offset Paleozoic carbonate and Tertiary volcanic rocks. Gold occurs in oxidized rocks with associated quartz-hematite alteration and siliceous hydrothermal breccias which appear to be distal to the Courtland-Gleeson base metal system of the Turquoise District. Historical rock chip sampling (collected before NI 43-101 protocols) was conducted by several companies since the 1990's in trenches, prospect pits and outcrops (see this link). Out of 197 chip samples, 53 contain greater than 350 ppb gold, with the overall average of these 53 samples containing 3.2 grams per tonne gold, with slightly higher grades of silver. Limited surface sampling conducted by Solitario has confirmed historical surface values in several areas. A geologic team is currently in the field continuing to confirm historical values and extending the footprint of gold mineralization, as well as conducting geologic mapping to further develop drill targets.

Chris Herald, President and CEO, said, "We are excited to be re-entering the precious metals exploration space with the addition of the Gold Coin project. Gold Coin represents an untested gold system that displays widespread and strong gold values at surface. Arizona is an excellent mining jurisdiction that can be worked year-round. We look forward to reporting progress at Gold Coin as well as potential new gold acquisitions.

With the unprecedented, planned stimulus spending throughout the world due to Covid-19, we believe zinc is exceptionally well positioned for years of increased demand related to infrastructure spending. Accordingly, we anticipate our two zinc assets, being our interests in the large high-grade Florida Canyon and Lik projects, as managed by our partners, will remain our core assets. In addition, we want to take advantage of our in-house wealth of experience in the precious metal arena and believe we can add shareholder value by acquiring and advancing gold and silver assets, as we believe precious metals will benefit as a store of value as countries expand their currencies to fund the stimulus. Historically, our technical team has discovered in excess of five million ounces of gold in the United States and we previously have sold two gold assets for a total of approximately US$250 million in two separate transactions in 2006 (Buckhorn Mountain gold deposit in Washington State) and 2015 (Mt. Hamilton gold deposit in Nevada)."