Kerr Mines Drills 12.2 Meters of 11.7 g/t Gold at Copperstone
TORONTO, April 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kerr Mines Inc. (TSX: KER, OTC: KERMF, FRA: 7AZ1) (“Kerr” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce initial drilling results from its resource expansion program at the Copperstone Mine located in Arizona, USA. Additional drilling results are pending and will be released as they become available.
2019 Resource Expansion Highlights:
- Drill hole 18-08A-02 returned an interval of 12.2 meters at 11.7 g/t Au, including 3 meters of 38.3 g/t Au, indicating the zone is higher grade and thicker than initially anticipated with an effective mining width of 17.7 meters;
- Additional intervals include 6.1 meters @ 5.8 g/t Au (18-05A-01); 4.6 meters @ 9.8 g/t Au (18-05A-06) and 4.6 meters @ 18.3 g/t Au (18-08A-03);
- Established continuity between previously drilled mineralized intercepts in the existing Inferred category while extending mineralization along strike and dip;
- Drilling is being accomplished entirely from existing underground access and will affect an area of 500 meters of strike length and 200 meters of elevation, representing approximately 33 per cent of the current resource strike length. The program was designed to increase confidence in the mineral reserve, particularly the portion scheduled for the first three years of production in the recently-completed Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).
- The objective of the underground resource expansion program is to increase mine life by adding new Inferred resources and converting new and existing Inferred resources into Measured and Indicated resources. Updating the mine plan with the new resources will be the final step towards extending mine life once all drilling results have been received; and,
- Resource Expansion underground drilling program of up to 10,000 meters is currently focused on the D and C areas of the Copperstone zone.
“We are extremely pleased with the initial drilling results and performance of the program in its early stages and look forward to communicating results as they become available. These results confirm our understanding of the Copperstone gold deposit and support our confidence in expanding the resources and further extending mine life at the Copperstone Mine,” stated Martin Kostuik, President.
| Hole ID | From | To | Interval Length | Gold* | True Thickness** | Effective Mining Width*** |
| meter | meter | meter | gram/tonne | meter | meter | |
| 18-05A-01 | 16.8 | 24.4 | 7.6 | 5.15 | 4.6 | 8.2 |
| includes | 16.8 | 22.9 | 6.1 | 5.77 | 3.7 | 6.1 |
| includes | 16.8 | 18.3 | 1.5 | 12.85 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| 18-05A-06 | 36.6 | 44.2 | 7.6 | 7.71 | 4.9 | 8.2 |
| includes | 39.6 | 44.2 | 4.6 | 9.84 | 2.7 | 4.9 |
| 18-08A-02 | 12.2 | 24.4 | 12.2 | 11.70 | 10.1 | 17.7 |
| includes | 18.3 | 24.4 | 6.1 | 20.67 | 5.2 | 8.8 |
| includes | 21.3 | 24.4 | 3.0 | 38.25 | 2.4 | 4.6 |
| 18-08A-03 | 10.7 | 27.4 | 16.8 | 8.25 | 16.2 | 28.3 |
| includes | 22.9 | 27.4 | 4.6 | 18.25 | 4.6 | 7.6 |
| * Grades herein are reported as uncapped values. | ||||||
| ** Estimated distance between the foot wall and hanging wall of the mineralized zone measured perpendicularly to the edges. | ||||||
| *** Effective Mining Width is defined as the distance between the foot wall and hanging wall of the mineralized zone measured horizontally and matches the planned mining method. The mining method used to calculate reserves will extract ore by drift mining along strike in a defined ore stope. The Effective Mining Width is the width that miners will be working within. | ||||||
18-05A-01: Azimuth 245, inclination 0, total length 64 meters. This hole demonstrates opportunity to convert Inferred resource in the resource domain to Measured or Indicated resource. The intercepted thickness of the resource domain is wider than had been anticipated by the existing model, having a true thickness of approximately 6 meters. This intercept is 16 meters up-dip from the edge of the nearest engineered mining stope and may allow the stopes to be extended up-dip.
18-05A-06: Azimuth 235, inclination 0, total length 70 meters. This hole demonstrates opportunity to convert Inferred resource in the resource domain to Measured or Indicated resource. The intercept length approximates true thickness and is approximately what had been previously modelled, while the grade of this intercept exceeds what had been predicted in the existing model. Similar to hole 18-05A-01, this intercept is approximately 16 meters up-dip from the upper edge of engineered mining stopes in the resource domain and may allow the stopes to be extended up-dip.
18-08A-02: Azimuth 245, inclination -20, total length 40 meters. This hole demonstrates opportunity to convert Inferred resource in the resource domain to Measured or Indicated resource. The intercept length approximates the true thickness of the domain and shows it to be twice the anticipated thickness at this location and also of higher grade than anticipated. This intercept is 40 meters up-dip from the upper edge of engineered mining stopes of the resource domain and may allow the stopes to be extended up-dip.
18-08A-03: Azimuth 245, inclination -40, total length 43 meters. This hole demonstrates opportunity to convert Inferred resource in the resource domain to Measured or Indicated resource. The intercept approximates the true thickness of the zone and is of approximately the expected thickness and is of higher than anticipated gold grade. This intercept demonstrates opportunity to convert domain resources 30 meters up-dip from the upper edge of engineered mining stopes and may allow the stopes to be extended up-dip.
The Copperstone zone is the underground extension of the same orebody that was historically mined as an open pit. The pit mined nearly 150 vertical meters of the Copperstone zone and produced in excess of 500,000 gold ounces historically. The Copperstone orebody currently has a horizontal strike length of over 1,500 meters and extends 110 meters beneath the historical open pit. Within this area there are Measured and Indicated resources of 276,100 gold ounces and Inferred resources of 145,700 gold ounces.
Future drilling programs, with the objective of further mine life extension, will target areas beyond the current 2019 Phase II affected area of 500 meters of strike length. The ultimate goal would be the addition of resources along all sections encompassing the entire current resource strike length of over 1,500 meters.
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Michael R. Smith, SME Registered Member (Geology), who is a “Qualified Person” as defined by NI 43-101 for this project.
About Kerr Mines Inc.
Kerr Mines is an Emerging American Gold Producer currently advancing the 100% owned, fully permitted past-producing Copperstone Mine project to production. Copperstone is a high-grade gold project located along a detachment fault mineral belt in mining-friendly Arizona. This gold project in Arizona demonstrates tremendous exploration potential targeting multi-million ounce prospects within a 50 Square kilometers (12,259 acre) land package.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control Statement
Procedures have been implemented to assure Quality Assurance Quality Control (QAQC) of drill hole assaying being done at ALS Global, which is ISO Accredited. All intervals of drill holes are being assayed and samples are securely stored for shipment to ALS, with chain of custody documentation through delivery. Mineralized commercial reference standards and coarse blank standards are inserted every 30th sample in sequence and results are graphed to assure acceptable results, resulting in high confidence of the drill hole assay results. When laboratory assays are received, the QAQC results are immediately evaluated and graphed to analyze dependability of the drill hole assays. As the Copperstone Project advances, additional QAQC measures will be implemented including selected duplicate check assaying on pulps and coarse rejects at a second accredited assay laboratory. All results will be analyzed for consistency.
For further information contact:
Claudio Ciavarella
Chief Executive Officer
cciavarella@kerrmines.com
416-855-9305
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including current expectations on the timing of the commencement of production and the rate of production, if commenced. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such statements. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the Canadian economy; the price of gold; operational, funding, and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; and the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations. Risks and uncertainties about Kerr Mines’ business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials, including its annual information form and MD&A, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at www.sedar.com and readers are urged to read these materials. Kerr Mines assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such statements unless required by law. Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release and no stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
