International Millennium Significantly Expands Nivloc Silver Project
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- International Millennium Mining Corp. (“IMMC” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:IMI) announces it has expanded its Silver Peak Project lands by staking of fourteen (14) more claims and purchasing a 100% interest in an additional twenty-five (25) claims, strategically located adjacent to the Company’s 100% owned Nivloc Ag-Au Property near the community of Silver Peak, in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The additional claims bring IMMC’s total land holdings in the Silver Peak Project to 211 claims covering in excess of 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares). The twenty-five (25) new claims are subject to various Net Smelter Return (NSR) royalties that are no greater than 2.5%. This is the first time in the history of the Silver Peak silver camp that one company holds a 100% interest in the lands that include both the past producing Nivloc Mine and the past producing “16 to 1” Mine.
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The claims acquired in 2017 include at least twelve (12) additional Ag-Au mineralized vein structures that have no previous exploration activity other than surface prospecting and sampling (see Silver Peak Project map below). The “16 to 1” Mine was operated by the Sunshine Mining Company from February 1982 to June 1986. During that period, the mine produced 907,185 tonnes grading 175 g/t Ag and 1.17 g/t Au (1.0 million tons grading 5.1 oz/ton Ag and 0.034 oz/ton, Au). This underground mine was developed on five (5) levels and was accessed by a 300 m long adit and a 600 m long decline. The adit, decline and approximately 3,500 m of underground ramps and drifting are readily available for exploration and potential future development of the “16 to 1” Zone and other zones in the immediate area.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/78453447-f535-417d-bf68-49322b4da175
Known Ag-Au mineralization at the Silver Peak Project is hosted within braided, epithermal vein zones associated with steeply dipping fault structures. The faults are classified as normal faults that resulted mainly from tectonics associated with a collapsing volcanic caldera located to the northwest of the property and, to a lesser extent, with Basin and Range tectonics. This model is consistent with the geological setting of many Ag-Au deposits within the Walker Lane Trend of western Nevada, the most renowned of which is the Comstock Lode deposits near Virginia City. Hot, metal bearing fluids are thought to have migrated up the fault structures and as fluid temperatures decreased the metals were deposited in a vertical zoning pattern ranging initially from copper, zinc and lead, followed by gold and silver.
The host vein material in the Silver Peak region also displays distinct zoning, consisting principally of quartz and adularia at the bottom, and calcite and gypsum nearer the surface. The upper parts of the vein systems in the Silver Peak Project area have been weathered and leached near surface and oxidized to depths of 200 to 300 meters. The higher grades of known Ag and Au mineralization appear to occur within the interval from 50 meters below surface to the un-oxidized zone. Below that point, grades of Cu, Pb and Zn increase and precious metals decrease, although there is very little drill data from below the oxidized zone to assess the economic viability of these zones. As a general rule, the mineralized veins in the Silver Peak Project area are narrow in surface exposures, but increase dramatically in width a short distance down dip.
As an example, the main “16 to 1” vein ranges from 0.3 to 1.0 m at surface, but reaches a width of more than 15 m at a depth of 50 m. The narrow surface expression of the veins in some cases may be a result of rock type, as the veins often present themselves as narrow chalcedonic quartz and calcite stringer swarms, when observed in a very siliceous rhyolitic unit that occupies much of the higher terrain in the area. The mineralizing fluids may have been ponded beneath this unit, resulting in the increased vein thickness at shallow depths. This is demonstrated at the Nivloc Mine where the mined vein was between 2 and 4 meters wide, within what was thought to be a fairly narrow < 1m meter wide vein at surface.
As noted in the Company’s 2012 NI 43-101 report, from 1937 through 1943, Desert Silver Inc. mined portions of the Nivloc Mine deposit and operated a 200 ton per day mill. Historical records indicate that the operation milled a total of 364,064 tons of ore averaging 12.84 oz/ton Ag and 0.0516 oz/ton Au. During that period, 4,675,408 oz of Ag and 18,794 oz of Au were produced. Drilling in 2011/2012 not only expanded the known width of the mined vein, but also increased the known width of the fault zone to between 20 and 60 meters, which included up to five (5) veins at mining widths of no less than 1.5 meters per vein.
In addition to the “16 to 1” and the Nivloc Mines, which form the foundation for the Silver Peak Project, the Silver Peak Property now includes at least twelve (12) additional, known, vein structures that have been traced at surface for strike lengths of 200 to 600 meters. These vein structures vary in width from 10’s of centimeters to 3.0 meters, where exposed at surface, and are composed principally of calcite and gypsum. Samples from these veins are elevated in Ag, Au and numerous other pathfinder elements commonly associated with epithermal vein systems in this area, including Bi, Sb, As and Mo. It is the opinion of the IMMC exploration team that each of these twelve (12) or more veins have potential for becoming wider at shallow depths, and for hosting economic Ag-Au mineralization, similar to the “16 to 1” and Nivloc deposits, described above.
The “16 to 1” Mine is similar in its geological setting to the Nivloc Ag-Au deposit. Previous drilling by IMMC along a 400 meter long portion of the 1,500 meter long strike of the Nivloc Structure in 2011/2012 outlined an initial Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 1,640,000 tonnes having grades of 106.47 g/t Ag and 0.78 g/t Au containing an estimated 5,633,000 oz Ag and 41,000 oz Au, at 40 g/t Ag cut-off (see the Company’s news releases of August 16, 2012, December 4, 2012 and January 8, 2013). The 2012 Resource Estimate for the Nivloc Zone was for the footwall vein, which was partially mined by previous operators and does not include mineralization intersected in the parallel and splay veins.
Mr. John A. Versfelt, President and CEO of IMMC, observes, “The Company’s drill results from 2011 and 2012, demonstrated that there was not one, but no less than three and up to five minable width Ag/Au veins present at the Nivloc Mine, and we are very interested in taking a fresh look at the “16 to 1” vein and the parallel fault zones to examine the potential for similar structures around these faults.”
Silver Saddle Option Agreements
IMMC, through its wholly-owned subsidiary International Millennium Mining Inc. (“IMMI”), executed Option Agreements with Silver Saddle Resources LLC (“Silver Saddle”) and Consent to Assignment Agreements between IMMI, Silver Saddle and two underlying property owners (the “Silver Saddle Agreements”), to acquire the twenty-five (25) contiguous unpatented lode mineral claims comprising the “16 to 1” Silver Peak property (the “Silver Saddle Claims”) by making cash payments of US$115,000 over four (4) years and by issuing 1,000,000 common shares of the Company, to be issued upon receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval. The shares will be subject to a statutory four (4) month hold period.
Pursuant to the Silver Saddle Agreements, the Company shall acquire a 100% interest in the Silver Saddle Claims, subject to various NSR royalties. The NSR royalties on the twenty-five (25) optioned claims vary from 1.5% on eight (8) of the claims, of which 1.25% NSR can be purchased for US$190,000; 2.5% on seven (7) of the claims, of which 1.25% NSR can be purchased for US$110,000; and, 1.5% on ten (10) of the claims, of which 0.5% NSR can be purchased for US$500,000.
Silver Peak Claim Staking
The Silver Peak Silver land package was expanded in November 2017, when the Company staked an additional fourteen (14) claims contiguous to the “16 to 1” Silver Peak claims for US$11,484, including US BLM and Esmeralda County filing fees. The staked claims cover the Red Mountain fault, a prospective fault zone 250 m northwest of the main “16 to 1” vein.
The acquisition of the “16 to 1” Silver Property, along with the recently announced claim acquisitions contiguous to the east and west of the original Nivloc Property (see the Company’s news release dated April 11, 2017), consolidates the known Ag-Au prospects in IMMC’s Silver Peak Project area, prospects that were historically held by separate owners. Never in the history of the Silver Peak camp has one company assembled a land position of 4,000 contiguous acres covering no less than fourteen (14) fault zones, of which two (2) zones have historically produced 9.8 million oz of Ag and 52.9 thousand oz of Au. The IMMC Silver Peak Project covers approximately 50% of the available portion of the Silver Peak Precious Metal District and 75% of the known Ag-Au prospects in the Silver Peak caldera.
Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence, in his article titled “Silver Miners’ Q3’17 Fundamentals,” remarked that the “universe of major silver miners is pretty small, and their purity is shrinking.” Mr. Versfelt, states, “IMMC’s goal is to develop the Silver Peak Project into a significant silver camp, such that it can be added to that silver miners’ universe.”
Director Update
The Company announces that it has appointed Sébastien Vermeire to the board of directors, replacing long-time director, James M. Patterson, who has resigned as a director of the Company, as part of his desire to reduce his commitments to public companies. Dr. Patterson has been a valuable member of the Board of Directors since 2006, and the Company wishes to thank Dr. Patterson for his time and commitment to the Company as a director of the Company.
Mr. Vermeire is an experienced professional, who has worked for Dredging International NV since 2001. Mr. Vermeire, who earned his Master’s in Geology from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1997, has been a project manager for Dredging International in Panama, Belgium, Colombia and Brazil. Mr. Vermeire is experienced in value engineering, budget control and project leadership.
International Millennium Mining Corp. (TSX-V:IMI) is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal deposits in the Americas, such as its Silver Peak silver-gold project in southwest Nevada. The Company’s common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol: IMI and on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol: L9J.
Seymour Sears, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by Nation Instrument (“NI”) 43-101, reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
”John A. Versfelt”
John A. Versfelt
President and CEO
Further information about the Company can be found on the Company’s website (www.immc.ca) and SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or by contacting Mr. John Versfelt, President & CEO of the Company at 604-527‑8135.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, potential mineral recovery processes and other business transactions timing. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
CONTACT:
John A. Versfelt, President & CEO
Telephone: (604) 527-8135
Facsimile: (604) 527-9126
E-mail: info@immc.ca