Integra Resources details drill plans for Wildcat
2024-05-30 10:51 ET - News Release
Mr. Jason Kosec reports
INTEGRA PROVIDES OVERVIEW OF UPCOMING DRILL PROGRAM AT WILDCAT DEPOSIT IN NEVADA
Integra Resources Corp. has provided an overview of the coming exploration drill campaign at the Wildcat deposit, which combined with the Mountain View deposit form the Nevada North project. Wildcat is located within the Farrell mining district in northwest Nevada, 56 kilometres (approximately 35 miles) north of the town of Lovelock, in Pershing county. The 17,612-acre land package consists of 916 unpatented claims and four patented claims. Mineralization at Wildcat consists of a gold-dominated, low-sulphidation, epithermal vein system with disseminated oxide, transition and non-oxide mineralization hosted in permeable volcanic and intrusive rocks.
The company intends to complete an approximately 2,000-metre phase 1 exploration drill program at Wildcat, commencing in June, 2024. The drill program is designed to test the oxide mineralization adjacent to the existing mineral resource at Wildcat, while also testing the high-grade breccia target which is believed to be the feeder source of gold mineralization at Wildcat. The planned drill program is the first time Integra's team will complete a significant follow-up exploration program since the company acquired the project as part of the merger with Millennial Precious Metals Corp. in 2023. The company believes that phase 1 drilling has the potential to significantly increase the existing mineral resource at Wildcat by testing high-priority targets that could not be drilled previously due to permit restrictions.
Highlights:
- Wildcat currently hosts a mineral resource of 746,297 ounces of gold and 6,437,869 oz of silver or 829,152 oz of gold equivalent in the measured and indicated category (M&I) (59,872,806 tonnes at 0.39 gram per tonne Au and 3.34 g/t Ag) and 209,662 oz Au and 1,980,129 oz Ag or 235,146 oz AuEq in the inferred category (inferred) (22,455,848 tonnes at 0.29 g/t Au and 2.74 g/t Ag).
- The 2023 Nevada North preliminary economic assessment (PEA) demonstrated strong project economics including an after-tax net present value (5 per cent) of $310-million (U.S.) ($409-million) and a 37-per-cent after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) using base case metal prices of $1,700 (U.S.)/oz Au and $21.50 (U.S.)/oz Ag.
- Using recent metal prices of $2,000 (U.S.)/oz Au and $23 (U.S.)/oz Ag, the Nevada North project delivers an after-tax NPV (5 per cent) of $490-million (U.S.) ($647-million) and an approximately 54-per-cent after-tax IRR.
- Previous drilling at Wildcat completed by Millennial focused primarily on the Main Hill target which hosts the existing mineral resource. The coming drill campaign will test multiple underexplored targets outside the Main Hill area at Wildcat, which have demonstrated the potential to host additional mineralized material at Wildcat.
- The 2,000 m phase 1 exploration drill program will focus on achieving three main objectives:
- Oxide resource expansion: The 2022 exploration program at Wildcat completed by Millennial increased the mineralized footprint from approximately 1.5 kilometres by 1.5 km to approximately three km by two km through the collection of approximately 850 rock samples. Of these samples, approximately 99 per cent were collected outside the proposed PEA pit and approximately 200 were above cut-off grade. Three priority areas were identified within the expanded mineralized footprint, including the Crossroads, Breccia Pipe and Rhyolitic Ridge targets. The 2024 drill program will be the first time the expanded mineralized footprint will be drill tested by the company with the goal of increasing the oxide mineral resource in future studies.
- Testing high-grade Breccia Pipe target at depth: Significant geophysical, magnetic and chargeability anomalies were interpreted below postmineralization basalts 800 metres north from the Main Hill resource. These anomalies are interpreted to be the potential location of high-grade epithermal feeder veins which will be drilled as part of the phase 1 program. A discovery at the Breccia Pipe target has the potential to materially augment both the size of the mineral resource and potential future economics at Wildcat.
- Metallurgical and geotechnical testing: Strategic drilling will be executed within the proposed PEA pit to collect additional material for future economic studies. Column leach tests completed for the 2023 PEA demonstrated excellent leachability of the tuff material (approximately 75 per cent of the in-pit mineralized material) with oxide recoveries up to approximately 80 per cent. Test work planned in 2024 will seek to further optimize and improve the variability, size sensitivity and kinetics observed within the tuff material. Further testing will also help the team better understand recoveries in the granodiorite (approximately 25 per cent of the in-pit mineralized material) which had recoveries of 52 per cent in the 2023 PEA.
- Integra has observed a strong correlation at Wildcat between the presence of historical mines and the location of mineralization. Of the approximately 25 historical mines and adits located on the property, only eight are located within the proposed PEA pits, suggesting a strong potential for new areas of mineralization at the targets designated for drilling in 2024.
Jason Kosec, president, chief executive officer and director of Integra, commented: "We are extremely excited to kick off the much-anticipated 2024 drill program at Wildcat. The planned program is the first significant exploration drilling program at Wildcat since the deposit was explored by Millennial in 2022, when five new mineralized targets were discovered outside the 2023 PEA pit. We believe this drill program has the potential to significantly increase the near-surface oxide mineral resource which will enhance future economics at Wildcat. Moreover, the discovery of the main feeder zone could be a potential game changer for Wildcat, altering the scope of what we currently know about the potential size of the deposit."
Overview of previous Millennial exploration at Wildcat
In 2022, Millennial completed both drilling and a detailed mapping and sampling program at Wildcat. The sampling program included detailed surface mapping, a robust rock chip sampling program (approximately 850 samples, approximately 23 per cent of samples returned grades above 0.1 g/t Au) and detailed compilation of historic data. The mapping program successfully increased the mineralized footprint at Wildcat from approximately 1.5 km by 1.5 km to approximately three km by two km. Infill and metallurgical drilling which took place at Wildcat in 2022 was highly successful, demonstrating strong grade continuity, minimal overburden coverage and excellent rock mechanics allowing for favourable pit wall angles and the potential to reduce stripping volumes and lower mining costs. Wildcat demonstrates an extremely low strip ratio of 0.28 life-of-mine (LoM), which is presented in the 2023 PEA (Nevada North LoM strip ratio of 1.21).
Highlights from the 2022 drill program include (refer to Millennial news release date Nov. 29, 2022):
- WCCD-0003: 1.26 g/t oxide Au over 39.2 m from surface, including a high-grade intercept of 1.82 g/t oxide Au over 20.6 m;
- WCCD-0004: 0.93 g/t oxide Au over 41.4 m;
- WCCD-0005: 0.36 g/t oxide Au over 17.7 m and 0.55 g/t oxide Au over 68.6 m;
- WCCD-0006: 0.39 g/t oxide Au over 120.2 m from surface, including approximately 50 m of oxidized mineralization;
- WCCD-0012: 0.34 g/t oxide Au over 30.5 m and 0.41 g/t Au over 54.9 m (oxide and mixed).
2024 exploration drill program at Wildcat
The 2024 exploration drill program at Wildcat will test the expanded mineralized footprint at Wildcat identified by Millennial in 2022. The drill program will focus on greenfield exploration targets that have the potential to expand the oxide mineral resource at Wildcat. Material will also be collected for metallurgical and geotechnical testing to be used in future studies.
The greenfield portion of the 2024 drilling program will focus on three primary targets:
- Breccia Pipe target: One of the main objectives for the 2024 program is to drill into the previously untested high-grade Breccia Pipe target. Located approximately 800 m north of the Main Hill resource, this target was identified through a combination of conceptual metallogeny and recompilation of geophysical information. Considering the abundance of rhyolite tuff in the area, a large volcanic diatreme, which is a strong indicator of highly permeable conduits for gold-rich hydrothermal fluid, is not present at surface. The absence of a diatreme on surface suggests it may be located below the postmineralization basalts to the north. Using pre-existing geophysical data, a new 3-D model was developed that showed significant magnetic and chargeability anomalies immediately below the basalts. Magnetic and chargeability anomalies in this area indicate high sulphur content which is generally associated with magnetite, pyrrhotite, pyrite or chalcopyrite and can be strongly correlated with gold-bearing structures. The first three drill holes of the 2024 campaign are targeting these anomalies.
- Crossroads target: The Crossroads target is approximately 1,300 m by 600 m in size and is characterized by disseminated mineralization within silicified tuff breccia. Of the approximately 36 samples collected at the Crossroads target in 2022, approximately 69 per cent returned oxide grades greater than 0.10 g/t Au with values up to 2.44 g/t Au, suggesting that oxide mineralization extends into this target. The Crossroads target geology is identical to Main Hill; however, most of the granodiorite located below the Crossroads target is not mineralized. This implies that the main feeder structure of the gold mineralization at the Crossroads target may be a fault located east of the PEA pit. This fault will be tested for high-grade potential at depth during the 2024 drill program.
- Rhyolitic Ridge target: The untested Rhyolitic Ridge target consists of multiple large gold geochemical soil and geophysical anomalies. Located approximately 300 m east of Main Hill and presenting similar lithologies to the mineral resource area, Rhyolitic Ridge contains significant soil anomalies with approximately 55 per cent of the 116 samples tested returning grades above 0.1 g/t Au.
Wildcat deposit overview
Wildcat is located within the Farrell mining district in Nevada, 56 km north of the town of Lovelock within Pershing county. The property can be accessed year-round by roads from Lovelock via State Route 399 and Seven Troughs Road. The 17,612-acre land package consists of 916 unpatented claims and four patented claims. The claims are located on publicly owned lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Mineralization at Wildcat is genetically related to a mid-Miocene rhyolite dome complex developed during the extensional dominated tectonic environment of the Nevada Rift. The bulk-tonnage gold mineralization is hosted in tuff breccia that is considered to be the erosional remnant of a subaerial apron to a phreatomagmatic diatreme vent. The tuff breccia-hosted gold mineralization was fed from low-sulphidation veins in the underlying Mesozoic granodiorite basement. Additional bulk-tonnage gold mineralization associated with tuff breccia may be present elsewhere within the district, particularly beneath a postmineral mafic volcanic cover sequence and within the interpreted main feeder diatreme. Low-sulphidation epithermal veins beneath the tuff breccia have the potential to host high-grade gold targets.
A technical report for the Nevada North project, comprising the Wildcat and Mountain View deposits, is available under Integra's SEDAR+ profile and EDGAR profile.
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