Huldra Silver Announces initial 2013 exploration plans at the Treasure Mountain Mine and an Update on Operations
Huldra Silver Inc. has provided details of its upcoming underground diamond drill program and planned surface drill program for the summer of 2013. The company also wishes to announce it has achieved a major milestone in shipping the first concentrates from its mill in Merritt, B.C.
The underground drill program is designed to systematically test for mineralization from level 1 to 20 metres below level 2 at the Treasure Mountain mine, ultimately leading to the generation of a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate for this area.
The program will comprise 61 holes, for a total program of 4,400 metres of HQ diamond drill core. The drilling will be conducted from two diamond drill platforms, specifically constructed to allow for optimal drilling of the targeted mineralization from the footwall of the vein. A video displaying the planned drill program can be viewed on the company’s website. An initial interpretation has identified two mineralized structures on level 2.
The underground drill program follows up on mineralization identified by the company’s 2011 surface diamond drilling program and encompasses areas adjacent to holes TM11-26, TM11-9 and TM11-36 which produced the results indicated in the associated table. The complete list of results from the 2011 program is available on the company’s website.
- 7,013 grams per tonne silver (Ag), 21.82 per cent lead (Pb), 19.63 per cent zinc (Zn) and 4.9 per cent manganese (Mn) over 1.2 metres in true width in hole TM11-26 that intersected the vein structure approximately 10 metres above the level 2 drift;
- 592.92 grams per tonne Ag, 4.28 per cent Pb, 2.47 per cent Zn and 5.80 per cent Mn over 2.2 metres in true width in hole TM11-9 that intersected the vein structure below the level 1 drift, approximately 80 metres east of the level 2 drift;
- 1,565 grams per tonne Ag, 13.47 per cent Pb, 9.92 per cent Zn and 4.76 per cent Mn over 0.8 metre in true width in hole TM11-36 that intersected the vein structure approximately 15 metres below the level 2 drift.
The program also builds on the results from 256 chip samples collected along vein exposures on level 2. Highlights from that chip sampling program are presented in the associated table.
SAMPLE RESULTS Sample ID Ag (ppm) Pb (%) Zn (%) True width (m) 1582447 1,251 19.76 24.16 0.46 1582450 1,471 16.66 11.65 0.78 1582492 1,253 15.64 3.92 0.12 1582501 3,132 18.29 15.27 0.29 1582507 5,136 46.33 8.49 0.1 1582562 3,589 25.02 8.20 0.44 1582565 1,552 3.47 5.25 0.18 1582568 1,053 0.55 15.64 0.07 1582571 2,929 2.82 33.52 0.06 1582577 4,242 2.15 10.47 0.17 1582578 2,028 0.92 9.01 0.17 1582589 1,002 19.89 1.52 0.22 1582592 1,173 20.86 0.28 0.49 1582595 2,176 25.29 2.98 0.28 1582598 2,291 28.12 6.57 0.27 1614408 3,696 56.60 0.58 0.14 1614445 1,635 3.64 1.16 0.71 1614459 1,538 12.87 2.02 0.06 1614462 1,035 2.97 1.42 0.02 1614465 2,261 5.54 9.60 0.32 1614467 6,624 49.40 8.70 0.3 1614472 6,514 36.88 22.11 0.2 1614477 8,739 44.32 19.57 0.18 1614480 4,986 27.83 12.91 0.04 1614483 3,032 22.70 22.51 0.18
The underground drilling targets are also coincident with a geophysical anomaly identified during a magnetic susceptibility survey conducted over the Treasure Mountain property.
The company is also pleased to provide details of its upcoming surface diamond drill program on the Treasure Mountain property. An 8,000-metre surface program is anticipated in the summer of 2013, with the drilling spread across four separate targets. The drilling is designed to test targets identified through geochemical soil sampling and airborne geophysics. The targets to be tested during this program are the:
- MB zone, a geochemical and geophysical anomaly approximately 800 metres north of the existing mine workings where, in 2010, a grab sample was taken and assayed 0.81 g/t Au, 9,221 g/t Ag (296.4 ounces per ton Ag), 1.02 per cent Cu, 1.14 per cent Pb, 1.03 per cent Zn from a composite sample of reddish oxide material (see Aug. 25, 2010, press release);
- Camp zone, a geochemical and geophysical anomaly identified east of the camp and approximately 500 metres south of the existing mine workings;
- Jensen anomaly, a geophysical anomaly near the historic Jensen workings, and a prospective geophysical anomaly linking the Treasure Mountain mine with the East zone;
- Mine extension, a geophysical feature that appears to connect the Treasure Mountain mine workings with known mineralization located at the East zone.
Results from the 2011/2012 soil sampling program show anomalous Ag values to the south of the camp as well as across the MB zone (2011/2012 soil satellite image) (2011/2012 soil magnetic overly image). A magnetic susceptibility survey identified anomalous geophysical responses across the property, with prospective anomalies identified proximal to the Jensen workings as well as on a feature that appears to connect the Treasure Mountain mine workings with known mineralization located at the East zone.
Mining update
At the Treasure Mountain mine, the company is currently on track to meet its stated 2012 objective of mining its permitted 60,000 tonnes of mill feed from the underground workings in addition to the previously removed 10,000-tonne bulk sample. The drawdown of stope 1 from level 1 of the mine has been completed. The company is scheduled to complete the backfilling by the end of the week as part of the reclamation program. Once the drawdown of stope 1 is complete, the company is planning on completing the drawdown of stope 3 by the end of 2012 and will be actively mining stope 2. Transportation of mill feed from the mine site to the mill is continuing.
Development on the second level of the mine is continuing and preparation of the crosscuts and drill stations required for the first phase of the underground drill program has commenced.
Mill operations and concentrate shipping
The company is also pleased to announce it has made the first concentrate shipments under the previously announced concentrate purchase agreements. Once independent lab verification has been received, the company will provide monthly totals of the estimated production levels from the mill.
The mill is now fully staffed and has been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since Nov. 12, 2012. There are still minor modifications and adjustments being made to the equipment and processing that require brief stoppages from time to time. The company expects to be running at the nameplate 200-tonne-per-day capacity in the near future.
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mark Williams, PGeo, a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. For more information about the company’s Treasure Mountain property, see the technical report entitled Technical report, project update, Treasure Mountain property, dated June 7, 2012, available under Huldra’s profile on SEDAR.
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