MMV: TSXV
MNRLF: OTCQB
M8M: FRANKFURT
VANCOUVER, April 22, 2020 /CNW/ - Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. and Mineral Mountain Resources (SD) Inc. ("Mineral Mountain" or the "Companies") (TSXV: "MMV") are pleased to report that, including historical drilling and the Company's two phases (Phase I and II) of drilling, a grand total of 45 drill holes totalling 16,361.29 metres have been drilled in the Standby project area. The Company defined a 200m average width of the Standby Gold Zone surface to a down plunge depth of 1800 metres and a total vertical depth of about 1000 metres. Based on 3D modelling and down-hole borehole EM, the Company's database confirms that the Standby Gold Zone occurs within the largest volume of altered iron formation recognized within in the Standby Project to date (see attached Figure 1).
Upper Tail Gold Mineralization
The Standby Mine Deposit, was mined historically at an average grade of about 0.350 ounces per ton (12.0 grams per tonne) in the early 1900's to the 425-foot level. (as reported in the South Dakota mining annuals).
The Company, as an aggregate result of Phase I and Phase II drilling in 2018-2020, has now been extended the Upper Tail gold mineralization to a plunge length of 850 metres (2,788 feet). The Company's 3D mapping software (Leapfrog) database estimates that this Upper Tail Standby Gold Zone measures 200 metres wide by 400 metres high and 850-metres down plunge (open at depth).
The Company has planned a Standby Gold Zone maiden inferred gold resource in in-fill drill program with hole spaced on a 40-m grid interval. The in-fill drilling is designed to test the down plunge and down dip limits of this Upper Tail Standby Gold Zone gold mineralization (see attached Figure 1).
Phase II Program (October 2019 -March, 2020)
In October 2019, the Company initiated a directional drilling program designed to test the down plunge extent of the Standby Gold Zone by drilling a "pilot hole" semi-parallel to the shear zone designed to test two historical high grade gold targets, Target 1 and Target 2, to the 1800 metre down plunge depth. Pilot hole ST19-11 intersected multiple intervals of extensive hydrothermally altered iron formation. Due to the extreme hardness of the alteration zone, including tens of metres of quartz veining or silicification, progress of pilot hole ST19-011 was slow.
ST19-011 successfully intersected a 6.09-metre down hole interval of up to 80% arsenopyrite mineralization with quartz between 373.80 -379.89 metres grading 1.81 grams per tonne Au, including between 373.80 -374.40 metres grading 7.59 grams per tonne Au and between 378.64 -379.89 metres grading 4.21 grams per tonne Au.
Several core Intervals with up to 20 metres of iron sulphides consisting of pyrrhotite and variable concentrations of arsenopyrite in the Mineral Mountain holes near Target 1 were indicative of widespread fluid flow carrying auriferous sulphide-rich hydrothermal fluid from deeper sources. A photo of a section of the intense alteration with wide intervals of quartz and hydrothermal chlorite combined with sulphide-rich mineralization including arsenopyrite taken from a core interval near the Target 1 area is attached below in this release.
Dr. Robert Brozdowski. V.P. Exploration for Mineral Mountain, noted "We are pleased with the results of the Phase II drilling program that provided us with critical information on the distribution of gold mineralization and associated intense and widespread alteration in the previously completely unexplored corridor between our Phase I drilling program and the historic 1986 Homestake Mining Company drill holes, which now allows us to vector on down-dip and down-plunge gold targets in our recently defined Untested Target Trend, as depicted in Figure 1, and as described in the section below on Exploration Drilling Planned."
Between October, 2019 and March, 2020, a total of 7 holes totaling 2,551.35 metres were completed and assayed by the Company. The Company utilized directional drilling methods to test for deep mineral deposits. A summary of selected drill holes drilled by Mineral Mountain including Phase I, Phase II and historical holes are included in Table 1 attached.
Highlights of the Rochford Gold Belt and the Standby Gold Zone
The Rochford Gold Belt has been explored intermittently in the past but never comprehensively or systematically to depths greater than 425 meters. Mining companies including Getty, Cominco, Newmont, Noranda, Western Mining including Homestake Mining have conducted gold exploration based on surface showings.
Despite gold prices hitting $1,900 US per ounce in 2011, the last historic diamond drilling in the Rochford District was completed in 1997. The Company's Rochford District mineral lease holdings, which hosts the Standby Gold Zone, represents the largest ever assembled position in the Rochford Gold belt. The Company has obtained the historical drilling and surface exploration data and re-assembled it into modern 3D and GIS formats. This provides the Company with an evaluation advantage with which to facilitate the Standby Gold Zone evaluation and detailed drill targeting.
Standby Gold Zone and district positives
- Located in the politically stable jurisdiction of South Dakota, with the currently operating Coeur Mining's Wharf Gold Mine, and tremendous infrastructure and skilled labor.
- Only 26 kilometres south of the historic Homestake Mine which produced in excess of 42 million ounces of gold.
- Drilling on the Standby Gold Zone has defined identical geologic characteristics comparable to the Homestake Mine, including iron formation hosted gold mineralization characterized by quartz veining, hydrothermal chlorite alteration and arsenopyrite, focussed along wide vertical structured shear zones.
- Company's Phase I and II drilling has confirmed a very broad gold system which matches or exceeds the early exploration drilling results of many of the deposits located at the Homestake mine. These zones of gold are referred to as upper tail mineralization, where only about 10% of the gold at Homestake was found, with less continuity than the Homestake ore located at greater depths. The Company concludes that its deposit has a high likelihood of richer deeper gold mineralization.
- Due to the complex geology at the Homestake mine, only 3 out of 10 drill holes would intersect ORE GRADE intervals, even within ore zones. Homestake followed the structure and mineralization of these zones, even low-grade gold intervals accompanied by intense alteration guided into more robust centroid areas of gold mineralization.
- 40-meter core drilling centers to compile an initial "inferred" resource, enabling the Company to more effectively vector into those enhanced deeper gold zones.
- Drilling at greater depth can confirm higher grade material by evidence from the Homestake analog.
- The Standby Gold Zone is only 1 of the 5 high priority LEDGE Style targets under the Company's extensive landholdings.
Gold Mineralization Model for the Standby Gold Zone and Homestake Districts
- Folding increased the volume of iron formation available to be mineralized in key corridors
- Widespread fluid flow mobilized gold in auriferous sulphide-rich hydrothermal fluid from deep sources into favourable structural traps (i.e. centroid ore zones)
- Iron formation acted as a "chemical trap" for gold and sulphides
- High grade gold zones (called Ledges at Homestake) are concentrated within complex hinge zones within the iron formation. The Company's database indicates this should occur between a TVD of between 1500-2800-metres.
Gold Corridor
With the completion of the Phase II drill program, the Company integrated pathfinder elements such as arsenic, and incorporated the intensity of sulphide mineralization, chlorite alteration and quartz veining into its 3D model. This program has been successful in providing the Company's technical team with vectors to a large volume of untested gold-hosting iron formation that extends down dip and down plunge beneath the existing historic drill holes and the Mineral Mountain drill holes (see Figure 1 attached).
This systematic exploration approach, namely seeking gold - associated hydrothermal alteration in addition to just gold values, had proven very successful for Homestake Mining Company during their exploration and development programs. This approach resulted in the discovery of the 15-Ledge gold mineralization within the Homestake Mine complex, and the Homestake North Ledge discovery several kilometers northwest of the mine complex.
Subsequent to in-fill drilling Exploration Drilling Planned
Using different permitted drill sites, the Company has devised a plan to drill 4 holes totaling 5500 m designed to intersect the expanding Standby Gold Zone down plunge between ST20-014 and Homestake's high grade gold intersection recorded in SM87-3A ( circa 1987) grading 10.29 gpt Au over 3.05 m , a down plunge distance of about 900 m. All 4 drill holes will conventionally cross-cut over several hundred meter widths of the Standby Gold Zone corridor and not along the plunge length.
"The Standby Gold Zone corridor represents an exceptional gold-dominant system that hosts the largest volume of replacement style gold mineralization in iron formation along the entire Rochford Gold Belt" says Nelson W. Baker, President and CEO of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. "Much more drill testing is required to test this potential Tier 1 gold system".
The Company further advises that it is in direct discussions with interested institutions and groups regarding financing for our 2020 drilling season.
Qualified Persons
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Nelson W. Baker, P.Eng., the President and CEO of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. and a Qualified Person for this project. All exploration activities at the Standby Gold Zone are carried out under the strict supervision of Kevin Leonard, P.Geo., also a Qualified Person for this project.
Quality Control
Drill core samples are transported, handled and stored with chain of custody procedures. Core is sawn or split in representative halves with one half submitted to the laboratory for analysis and the second half saved for archival purposes. Typical core samples are 0.5 to 1.5 m in length. Gold (Au) assays are by 30 g fire assay with atomic absorption finish with a lower limit of 0.005 ppm and upper limit of 10 ppm. The 48 element geochemical package, including silver (Ag), uses a 4 acid digestion followed by Induced Coupled Plasma with Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) and Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). When gold values are greater than 10 ppm then the sample is reanalyzed using fire assay with a gravimetric finish. All over limits are also analyzed using the screened metallic method.
The laboratory for the Standby Gold Zone is ALS located in Reno, Nevada. ALS is a certified laboratory that uses standard reference material and duplicate sampling to ensure quality control. Mineral Mountain routinely sends a set of 4 blind standards as well as one blank sample with every shipment of core. The results of the analysis of the standard material are continuously reviewed to ensure quality assurance
About Mineral Mountain Resources and the Rochford Gold Project
Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd., through its wholly owned subsidiary Mineral Mountain Resources (SD) Inc. has a strong technical team, which collectively has well over a 100 years of experience in the Homestake area, who are focused on systematic exploration employing advanced "state of the art" technologies and, on the development of its 100%-owned Standby Gold Zone is situated only 26 kilometres south of the largest and richest iron-hosted gold deposits in the world, the Homestake Mine, which having produced over 42 million ounces of gold, is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, U.S.A. The Rochford Gold Project is protected by a large, contiguous block of unpatented and patented mineral claims totaling over 7,500 acres that is 100% controlled by the Company. Since 2013 Mineral Mountain has spent over $13 million US primarily directed to land acquisition and maintenance, compilation, airborne surveying, 3 D modelling, database management and 2 phases of diamond drilling. The contiguous land package covers five major gold trends of structurally thickened iron formation comparable geologically to the Ledge-type gold deposits developed historically at the Homestake Mine.
3D modelling of the Company's airborne survey in 2013, combined with surface geological mapping, and the compilation of historic drilling, identifies and/or highlights 3 high priority large magnetic anomalies that are considered to have large volumes of gold-bearing iron formation, including the Company's flagship gold project in the Rochford District, the Standby Gold Zone property.
The Company now owns the largest land position in the Rochford District and, in addition, has the largest and most comprehensive database for the district in modern day exploration history, which has now has been compiled and synthesized in modern GIS and 3D imaging software! The Rochford District is vastly under-explored and has the potential to host a Tier 1 gold system.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
MINERAL MOUNTAIN RESOURCES LTD.
"Nelson W. Baker", President and CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward looking information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, constitute forward looking- information. Forward looking information consists of statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such information does not constitute guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward- looking information. Factors that cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information include gold prices, results of exploration and development activities, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of materials and equipment, timeliness of government approvals, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The Company cautions the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on the Company's forward-looking information should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
SOURCE Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd.
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