TORONTO, March 20,
2023 /CNW/ - Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX:
EXN) (OTCQB: EXNRF) (FRA: E4X2) ("Excellon" or
the "Company") is pleased to announce the initial
diamond drilling results from the recently completed 2022-2023
exploration program at its Oakley
property in Idaho, USA
("Oakley"). Assays
from additional six drill holes are still outstanding.
Centerra (U.S.) Inc. ("Centerra"), a wholly owned
subsidiary of Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG and NYSE:CGAU), has an
option to earn up to a 70% interest in Oakley by, among other things, spending
US$7 million in exploration
expenditures on the project by May 2026. At the end of
February 2023, Centerra had spent
US$4.5 million to earn an initial 51%
interest in Oakley.
Highlights
- Significantly expanded mineralization more than 90 metres
from the currently defined extents of the mineral resource
estimate at Blue Hill Creek, with results from the recent drilling
including:
-
- 0.40 grams/tonne (g/t) if gold (Au) over 189.56 metres (m)
in BHC-22-02; and
- 0.43 g/t Au over 110.64 m in
BHC-22-03, including 3.94 g/t Au over 2.03
m.
- Further assays are pending.
"These intercepts extend mineralization by more than 120 metres
(m) from the nearest drill hole and represent a significant step
towards unlocking the potential of the Blue Hill Creek claims,"
stated Jorge Ortega, Vice President
Exploration at Excellon. "We are encouraged by these initial
results as they demonstrate that the deposit is open to the south
and the west, and confirm the outstanding opportunity to increase
the currently defined inferred mineral resource estimate (163,000
oz Au; 9,972,000 tonnes (t) @ an average grade of 0.5 g/t
Au)1".
Hole
ID
|
From
(m)
|
To
(m)
|
Interval*
(m)
|
Au
(g/t)
|
BHC-22-02
|
8.79
|
198.35
|
189.56
|
0.40
|
including
|
11.28
|
70.94
|
59.66
|
0.60
|
and
including
|
120.35
|
122.33
|
1.98
|
1.00
|
and
Including
|
132.28
|
146.5
|
14.22
|
1.21
|
BHC-22-03
|
11.89
|
122.53
|
110.64
|
0.43
|
including
|
11.89
|
72.00
|
60.11
|
0.54
|
and
including
|
120.50
|
122.53
|
2.03
|
3.94
|
*
|
All intervals are
reported as core length.
|
The 2022-2023 drill program comprises 12 diamond drill holes
totalling 2,751.53 metres targeting Blue Hill Creek and Cold Creek
claim blocks.
____________________________________
|
1
|
For more information on
the Oakley Project, including the current mineral resource
estimate, see the technical report entitled "NI 43-101 Technical
Report - Geology, Mineralization, Resource Estimate and
Exploration Potential of the Blue Hill Creek and Matrix Creek
Gold-Silver Properties Cassia County, Idaho, USA" with an effective
date of August 16, 2016 (the "Oakley Technical Report,
2016"), available on the Company's website at
www.excellonresources.com.
|
Claims
Blocks
|
Year
|
Number of
Drillholes
|
Metres
Drilled
|
Cold Creek
|
2022
|
3
|
608.38
|
Blue Hill
Creek
|
2022
|
5
|
1,173.00
|
Blue Hill
4Creek
|
2023
|
4
|
940.15
|
Figure 1: Plan view demonstrating the extent of the
Oakley project, drill hole
locations and the estimated mineral resource area.
1
|
Source:
Oakley Technical Report, 2016
|
Figure 2: Cross-Section demonstrating assay results for
BHC-22-02 and BHC-22-03
1
|
Source: Oakley Technical
Report, 2016
|
Drilling at Cold Creek focused on testing mineralization within
the Tertiary Conglomerate unit that hosts mineralization at
Oakley to the south of the
currently defined mineralization footprint. Although weakly
mineralized conglomerates were encountered, no significant Au
values were reported. At Blue Hill Creek, the assay results
for three diamond drill holes have been received. BHC-22-01
tested the location of the mineralization-bounding Tertiary
Conglomerate/Paleozoic Limestone contact and did not intersect
significant mineralization. Both BHC-22-02 and BHC-22-03
intersected wide mineralized zones east of the previously
identified mineralization, indicating that the Tertiary
Conglomerate unit extends 100 metres deeper than anticipated, which
significantly increases the potential of the area to host
mineralization.
Hole
ID
|
Easting (m)
(1)
|
Northing (m)
(1)
|
Elevation
(m)(1)
|
Azimuth
|
Dip
|
Depth
(m)
|
CC-22-01
|
263622
|
4662191
|
2121
|
60
|
-60
|
243.23
|
CC-22-02
|
263622
|
4662191
|
2121
|
240
|
-60
|
227.69
|
CC-22-03
|
263780
|
4662531
|
2097
|
240
|
-55
|
137.46
|
BHC-22-01
|
261304
|
4656393
|
1841
|
90
|
-70
|
70.1
|
BHC-22-02
|
260641
|
4656394
|
1840
|
90
|
-70
|
285.6
|
BHC-22-03
|
260639
|
4656396
|
1840
|
0
|
-70
|
232.85
|
BHC-22-04
|
260641
|
4656399
|
1841
|
180
|
-55
|
291.55
|
BHC-22-05
|
260641
|
4656399
|
1841
|
270
|
-70
|
292.91
|
BHC-22-06
|
260492
|
4656399
|
1841
|
90
|
-70
|
231.05
|
BHC-22-07
|
260491
|
4656401
|
1789
|
180
|
-55
|
239.85
|
BHC-22-08
|
260491
|
4656401
|
1789
|
0
|
-70
|
231.35
|
BHC-22-09
|
260300
|
4656400
|
1781
|
90
|
-70
|
237.90
|
1
|
NAD83 Zone 12 (EPSG:
26912)
|
Technical Information and Quality
Control Notes
The drill results contained in this news release have been
prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") of the
Canadian Securities Administrators ("CSA"). True widths of
cited intercepts are unknown.
Oakley drill core samples are
prepared and assayed by Bureau Veritas lab ("BV") at
Elko, Nevada. BV is accredited to
ISO/IEC 17025:2017. Assay turnaround times have been impacted
recently by a worldwide increase in demand for laboratory services.
Centerra has a comprehensive quality assurance and quality control
("QA/QC") program supervised by a Qualified Person, as
defined in NI 43-101.
The sampling of, and assay data from, the core sampling and
reporting are monitored through a QA/QC program designed according
to best industry practices. Samples from HQ drill core are selected
by Centerra geologists and cut into halves at the project site.
Half of the core is retained at the site for reference
purposes. Samples are labelled and packed into sealed plastic
bags which are grouped into larger fibre bags for shipping. A
formal chain-of-custody procedure is in place for the security of
samples from project to laboratory.
Samples are shipped by Centerra staff to the BV laboratory in
Elko, Nevada. Samples then undergo
crushing to 70% passing 10 US Mesh (2mm), rotary split of 250
grams, a 50-gram sub-sample is selected for analysis. Fire assay
with atomic absorption spectrometry for gold is performed at
Reno, Nevada BV facility, and
ICP-MS 36 multi-element analysis is performed at Vancouver, British Columbia BV laboratory.
Qualified Person
Mr. Jorge Ortega, P. Geo, Vice
President Exploration of the Company and a Qualified Person,
as defined in NI43-101, reviewed, verified and approved the
scientific and technical information contained in this news
release.
About the Oakley Project
The Oakley Project is a gold-silver exploration prospect located
21 km south of Oakley, Idaho. The
Oakley project totals 2,833
hectares. The exploration targets include hot-spring style
low-sulfidation epithermal mineralization hosted by tertiary rocks
as well as the potential for low-sulfidation Carlin-style
epithermal mineralization hosted within Basin-and-Range Palaeozoic
sediments. The property lies along the western flank of the Albion
Mountains, part of the Albion-Raft River-Grouse Creek Metamorphic
Core Complex. Oakley contains
multiple targets, including Cold Creek, Blue Hill Creek and Matrix
Creek. The Oakley Project's mineralization at Blue Hill Creek is
comparable to Liberty Gold's Black
Pine project, also in southern Idaho, currently with an indicated mineral
resource estimate of 2.613 M Au oz
(157,267,000 t @ an average grade of 0.52 g/t Au and inferred
mineral resource estimate of 0.48 M
Au oz (35,150,000 t @ an average grade of 0.43 g/t Au). The Black
Pine mineral resource estimate was reported using a constraining
resource pit at a cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t Au. As reported by
Libery Gold, metallurgical testing
at Black Pine is positive, averaging an 80.8% gold recovery for
oxidized ore on column leach tests.2
____________________________________
|
2
|
Source for details on
Liberty Gold's Blackpine Project:
https://libertygold.ca/projects/black-pine.
|
About Excellon
Excellon's vision is to realize opportunities for the benefit of
our employees, communities and shareholders, through the
acquisition of advanced development or producing assets with
further potential to gain from an experienced operational
management team. The Company is advancing a portfolio of
gold, silver and base metals assets including Kilgore, an advanced gold exploration project
in Idaho; and Silver City, a high-grade epithermal silver
district in Saxony, Germany with
750 years of mining history and no modern exploration. The Company
has also entered into an agreement to acquire La Negra, a
past-producing Ag-Zn-Cu-Pb mine with exploration potential, located
in Querétaro State, Mexico.
Additional details on Excellon's properties are available at
www.excellonresources.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND OTHER
MATTERS
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements, other than statements of historical fact,
contained or incorporated by reference in this news release
constitute "forward-looking statements" and "forward–looking
information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within
the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation.
Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by
the use of forward-looking terminology such as: "advancing",
"anticipated", "believe", "considered", "contact", "continue",
"could", "demonstrate", "development", "encouraged",
"expectations", "exploration", "estimate", "focused",
"future", "growth", "indicating", "initial", "may",
"modeling", "opportunity", "option", "outstanding", "pending",
"pipeline", "plan", "potential", "program", "project", "prospect",
"risk", "samples", "scenario", "targeting", "testing", "towards",
"vision", "will" and "would", or variations of such words, and
similar such words, expressions or statements that certain actions,
events or results can, could, may, should, will (or not) be
achieved, happen, occur or result in the future or which, by their
nature, refer to future events. In some cases,
forward-looking information may be stated in the present tense,
such as in respect of current matters that may be continuing, or
that may have a future impact or effect. Forward-looking statements
include, without limitation, statements regarding mineralization,
mineralized area or footprint, or mineral deposits (including
potential, grade, further definition or expansion or extension,
continuation, openness and location); mineral resource estimates
(including any potential for a future increase or
reclassification); exploration programs and activities (including
prospectivity or potential (and any increase thereof), targets and
assessments or interpretations of drilling and results thereof to
date);Excellon's vision (including the realization of
opportunities, the means thereof, benefits arising therefrom and
basis therefor); and the acquisition of La Negra and its
exploration potential. Although the Company believes that such
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct, and any forward-looking
statements by the Company are not guarantees of future actions,
results or performance. Forward-looking statements are based on
assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions, which are
considered reasonable and represent best judgment based on
available facts, as of the date such statements are made. If such
assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions prove to be
incorrect, actual and future results may be materially different
than expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.
The assumptions, estimates, expectations and opinions referenced,
contained or incorporated by reference in this news release which
may prove to be incorrect include those set forth or referenced in
this news release, as well as those stated in the Company's annual
information form dated March 31, 2022
("2022 AIF"), the Oakley Technical Report,
2016, the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the
year–ended December 31, 2021 and the
first three quarters of 2022 (together with the accompanying
financial statements, collectively, the "FYE2021 and 2022
MD&A") and the Company's other applicable public
disclosure, all available on the Company's website at
www.excellonresources.com and under its profile at
www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are
inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
contingencies and other factors which may cause the actual results
or performance of the Company to be materially different from any
future results or performance expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties,
contingencies and other factors include, among others, the "Risk
Factors" in the 2022 AIF, and the risks, uncertainties,
contingencies and other factors identified in the Oakley Technical
Report, 2016 and the FYE2021 and 2022 MD&A and the Company's
other applicable public disclosure. The foregoing list of risks,
uncertainties, contingencies and other factors is not exhaustive;
readers should consult the more complete discussion of the
Company's business, financial condition and prospects that is
provided in the 2022 AIF and the other aforementioned
documents. The forward-looking statements referenced or
contained in this news release are expressly qualified by these
Cautionary Statements as well as the Cautionary Statements in the
2022 AIF, the Oakley Technical Report, 2016 and the FYE2021 and
2022 MD&A and the Company's other applicable public disclosure.
Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date
of this news release (or as otherwise expressly specified) and the
Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable
laws.
Mineral Resources
Until mineral deposits are actually mined and processed,
mineral resources must be considered as estimates only. Mineral
resource estimates that are not classified as mineral reserves do
not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimation of mineral
resources is inherently uncertain, involves subjective judgement
about many relevant factors and may be materially affected by,
among other things, environmental, permitting, legal, title,
taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant risks,
uncertainties, contingencies and other factors described in the
foregoing Cautionary Statements. The quantity and grade of reported
"inferred" mineral resource estimates are uncertain in nature and
there has been insufficient exploration to define "inferred"
mineral resource estimates as an "indicated" or "measured" mineral
resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in
upgrading "inferred" mineral resource estimates to an "indicated"
or "measured" mineral resource category. The accuracy of any
mineral resource estimates is a function of the quantity and
quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and
judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which
may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon
the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that
may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. The quantity and grade of
"inferred" mineral resource estimates are uncertain in nature and
there has been insufficient exploration to define "inferred"
mineral resource estimates as an "indicated" or "measured" mineral
resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in
upgrading "inferred" mineral resource estimates to an "indicated"
or "measured" mineral resource category. Mineral resource estimates
may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (i)
fluctuations in mineral prices; (ii) results of drilling and
development; (iii) results of geological and structural modeling
including stope design; (iv) metallurgical testing and other
testing; (v) proposed mining operations including dilution; and
(vi) the possible failure to receive and/or maintain required
permits, licenses and other approvals. It cannot be assumed that
all or any part of a "inferred", "indicated" or "measured" mineral
resource estimate will ever be upgraded to a higher category
including a mineral reserve.
The mineral resource estimates declared by the Company were
estimated, categorized and reported using standards and definitions
using Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum
Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves
(the "CIM Standards") in accordance with NI
43-101 of the CSA, which governs the public disclosure of
scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects by
Canadian issuers such as Excellon.
U.S. Readers
The terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource",
"indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" as
disclosed by the Company are Canadian mining terms defined in the
CIM Standards (collectively, the "CIM
Definitions") in accordance with NI 43-101. NI 43-101
establishes standards for all public disclosure that a Canadian
issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning
mineral projects. These Canadian standards differ from the
requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC") applicable to
United States domestic and certain
foreign reporting companies under Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K
("S-K 1300"). Accordingly, information
describing mineral resource estimates for the Company's projects,
including Oakley, may not be
comparable to similar information publicly reported in accordance
with the applicable requirements of the SEC, and so there can be no
assurance that any mineral resource estimate for the Company's
projects would be the same had the estimates been prepared per the
SEC's reporting and disclosure requirements under applicable
United States federal securities
laws, and the rules and regulations thereunder, including S-K 1300.
Further, there is no assurance that any mineral resource or mineral
reserve estimate that the Company may report under NI 43-101 would
be the same had the Company prepared such estimates under S-K
1300.
Third-party Data Sources
Information regarding the Black Pine project in this news
release was obtained from the noted third party source. The
accuracy and completeness of such third-party project disclosure is
not guaranteed and Excellon makes no representation as to the
accuracy of such data. The Company accepts no responsibility for
referenced third-party sources and shall have no liability arising
from, such sources.
SOURCE Excellon Resources Inc.