Arizona Silver Exploration Inc said it has completed the first two core holes at the Philadelphia project in Arizona.
Drilling commenced on January 28, 2022, with the first hole is in the laboratory with the second hole to be submitted February 18.
"From a visual perspective the new drilling is proceeding as anticipated. Intercepts are close to modelled depths and quartz vein breccia thicknesses remain strong. The presence of visible gold in core in the hanging wall vein is encouraging but must be regarded with caution as to grade,” said Greg Hahn, vice president of exploration for Arizona Silver, in a statement. “That said, the model of the gold system in the ‘boiling zone’ is holding up and as such I expect the zone will continue deeper."
Current drilling is at the north end of the Perry patented claim testing down-dip of three previously drilled reverse circulation drill holes, PRC21-81 thru PRC21-83. The objective of the drilling is twofold -- determine the grade continuity down-dip of previous mineralization and recover drill core to compare with RC cuttings.
Earlier holes, PRC21-81 thru PRC21-83 reported two vein breccias separated by a diagnostic rhyolite dike that hosts quartz stockwork veining. The upper (hanging wall) quartz vein breccia is higher grade than the lower (footwall) calcite-cemented vein breccia. The thickness and grade of the entire mineralized package increased with depth.
The company noted that the upper vein breccia was up to 3 metres (m) thick at 16.9 grams per tonne (gt) gold and 51.15 gt silver. Stockwork mineralization up to 33.5m drill thickness was intersected in the mineralized rhyolite dike between the upper and lower vein breccias. The lower vein was characterized by black carbonate-cemented quartz vein and rhyolite fragments.
Current holes PC22-86 and PC22-87 intersected upper and lower vein breccia intercepts as predicted, 30m and 60m respectively, below the earlier drill intercepts. The geology is continuous in both core holes, with the two vein breccias separated by quartz stockwork rhyolite.
In holes PC22-86 and PC22-87, the upper vein breccia carries fine-grained visible gold. The vein breccia is characterized by yellow or green chalcedonic to crustiform quartz, occasionally banded, with clasts of vein and rhyolite within the vein breccia. The thickness of the upper vein breccia is 5.91m in the shallower hole, PC22-86, and 3.87m in the second hole, PC22-87. Estimated true thickness of the upper vein breccia in the two holes is 4.85m and 2.74m, respectively.
In holes PC21-86 and PC21-87, the lower vein breccia is 10.33m thick and 12.71m thick, respectively. The estimated true thickness of the vein breccia is 8.5m and 9m, respectively. Quartz in the lower vein is mostly white to gray, not green to yellow as in the upper vein breccia, and locally contains cockade and banded textures. The vein textures suggest the new drill hole intercepts are below the upper level of "boiling" as anticipated.
In the new drilling, the quartz stockwork rhyolite zone between the two vein breccias is 29m thick and 39.4m thick, respectively. The zone is getting both thicker and stronger with depth. Some yellow and green quartz is evident in the stockwork zone reflecting a mixture of the quartz present in both the upper and lower vein breccias. Overall thickness of the strongly mineralized interval in the two holes is 45.27m and 56m, respectively. Estimated true thicknesses are 32m and 45.87m.
Arizona Silver said two more drill holes are planned to follow the zone further down-dip some 30m and 60m below PC21-87. Drilling is underway on hole PC21-88, but this hole will probably not be completed before February 17 when the drill crew will break before resuming February 27.