Silver Reef

Property Description

The Silver Reef Property consists of six mineral tenures that cover an area of over 4,425 hectares approximately 85 kilometers north of Hazelton BC.  The exploration target at Silver Reef is similar to the historic and high-grade Silver Standard Mine located approximately 80 kilometers to the south.  At Silver Reef, as with Silver Standard, the quartz/carbonate veins and stockwork are associated with a regional shear zone that cuts through the alteration halo of a large granitic intrusive.

The Silver Reef property is a new discovery where limited exploration has been carried out to date.  A total of 51 rock grab samples have been collected on the property with the highest-grade grab sample yielding 1,892 grams per tonne silver, 2.01 grams per tonne gold, 4.46% lead, and 2.7% zinc from a massive sulphide vein subcrop.  Grab samples are collected as niche samples of rock material of specific style or character of interest and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property.

In 2019, eight shallow packsack drill holes were completed (at depths ranging from 0.6 to 1.2 meters), with six holes partially successful in encountering bedrock.  Although packsack drilling yielded generally poor core recoveries, results demonstrated elevated mineral values ranging from 0.11 to 0.42 grams per tonne gold, 56.4 to 322.0 grams per tonne silver, 0.12 to 1.0+% arsenic, 225 to 4,850 grams per tonne lead, and 182-712 grams per tonne antimony.  The mineralization has been traced for over 1,500 meters, has a combined width up to 100 meters wide, and is made up of three zones.  The hanging wall zone comprises quartz/calcite veins and stockwork with a combined width of up to 50 meters wide.  Individual veins range up to 20 meters wide.  The main shear zone is up to 30 meters wide and contains variable amounts of disaggregated quartz/calcite and sulphide veins.  Discontinuous ferrocrete and gossanous kill zones along the hanging wall contact of the main structure are up to 20 meters wide and indicate the presence of veins and stockworks containing massive sulphides.  

Exploration Update

The Silver Reef Phase One exploration drill program has been completed, which consisted of 10 holes totaling 1,315 meters and intersected up to 521 g/t silver.  Eight of the drill holes targeted the Main Zone, with the remaining two holes targeting the Northwest Zone.  (See Table 1 for Phase 1 drill results.)  Both zones host silver/gold/lead/zinc mineralization within and on the margins of graphitic shears that are proximal to an altered felsic dyke.

Drilling demonstrated that the Main Zone and Northwest Zone structures are well defined with mineralization typical of silver deposits within the silver belt that runs from Idaho through British Columbia into Yukon.  Select drill results include:

• Hole SR-004 (Main Zone) intersected 1.18 g/t gold, 521.0 g/t silver, 0.71% lead and 2.17% zinc over 0.5 meters within a 1.3 meter interval grading 0.93 g/t gold, 245.25 g/t silver, 0.33% lead and 0.98% zinc; and
• Hole SR-010 (Northwest Zone) intersected 0.51 g/t gold, 27.6 g/t silver, 0.97% lead and 1.99% zinc over 0.8 meters within a 6.7 meter interval grading 0.23 g/t gold, 30.71 g/t silver, 0.47% lead and 1.04% zinc.

A plan map and drill hole sections of the Silver Reef 2020 Phase 1 drill program are available at Silver Reef Phase 1 Drill Program Results.

Prospecting has shown that the Main Zone is now at least four kilometers long, and that the Northwest Zone is a separate, parallel trend that is at least two kilometers long.  In addition, prospecting also identified several other showings between these two primary trends suggesting the property hosts a stacked system of multiple zones.  This more than doubles the known strike extent of the mineralization, which remains open in all directions.  Assays from the later field work are pending and will be released when available. 

Typical of the mines in the North American silver belt, the silver to gold ratio is approximately 100 to 1; gold is showing a strong association with arsenic; and silver is associated with both copper and lead.  In light of the regional geology and results to date, the Phase 1 drill program has shown that the Silver Reef Property has excellent potential to host a significant high-grade silver-gold deposit.  Analysis of the results from the Phase 2 drill program along with the airborne geophysical surveys will be used to refine the understanding of the structural controls of the mineralization and identify possible feeder zones that may be associated with the mineralization.

The Phase Two exploration drill program has also been completed at Silver Reef consisting of four holes totaling 374 meters.  Two of the drill holes targeted the Main Zone, with the other two holes targeting the Northwest Zone.  Assays will be reported on receipt.

Table 1: Selected Silver Reef Property Drill Results, September 2020 (SR-001 to SR-010)(1, 2) 

(1)        True thickness to be determined.

(2)       All samples were submitted for preparation and analysis by MSALABS at its facilities in Terrace, BC. All samples were analyzed using multi-digestion with ICP finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples over 100 ppm silver were reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade ICP analysis. Samples over 1,500 ppm silver were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples with over 10 ppm gold were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. One in 20 samples was blank, one in 20 was a standard sample, and one in 20 samples had a sample cut from assay rejects assayed as a field duplicate at MSALABS in Langley, BC.

Quality Assurance

Amanda Tuck, P.Geo is the qualified person responsible for the Silver Reef Property and has reviewed, verified and approved the scientific and technical information relating to the Silver Reef Property.

True thickness of drill intercepts to be determined.  All samples were submitted for preparation and analysis by MSALABS at its facilities in Terrace, BC. All samples were analyzed using multi-digestion with ICP finish and fire assay with AA finish for gold. Samples over 100 ppm silver were reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade ICP analysis. Samples over 1,500 ppm silver were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples with over 10 ppm gold were fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. One in 20 samples was blank, one in 20 was a standard sample, and one in 20 samples had a sample cut from assay rejects assayed as a field duplicate at MSALABS in Langley, BC.

Technical Report

View and download the Technical Report on the Silver Reef Property dated September 20, 2020.

Maps