Sonoro Completes Phase Two Drill Program at Cerro Caliche

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonoro Metals Corp., (TSXV: SMO | OTCQB: SMOFF | FRA: 23SP), (“Sonoro” and the “Company”), reports that assays for the final 15 holes of the initial two-phase drill program at Cerro Caliche have been received, bringing the total drilled by Sonoro to 10,328 meters over 96 holes. The program has confirmed gold mineralization identified by prior operators and substantially increased the dimensions of all the mineralized zones

Within the Central Zone, drilling has demonstrated a sector measuring 1.3 km long by up to 0.6 km wide, comprised of Japoneses, Chinos NW, Cuervos and Buena Vista, with shallow, gold mineralized zones and gold grades and intervals similar to operating heap leach mines in the region. The Cabeza Blanca-El Colorado-Guadalupe zone located 750 meters west of the Central Zone demonstrates similar mineralization over a 1 km strike length. An additional 7 mineralized zones have been drilled within a 1.5 km radius of the Central Zone, at Abejas, Rincon, Gloria, Veta de Oro, Chinos Altos, La Espanola and Buena Suerte, with all showing potential for expansion.

“The successful conclusion to the Phase Two drilling program has enabled Sonoro to proceed with the commissioning of an NI 43-101 technical report by a team of independent geologists, to estimate the resource potential for Cerro Caliche,” said Kenneth MacLeod, President and CEO of Sonoro. “Following receipt of the contemplated technical report, Sonoro plans to conduct a comprehensive review of the data to determine the scope and scale of a Phase Three drill program.”

Assays from the final 15 drill holes continued the expansion of the gold and silver mineralization in and around the previously identified Central Zone at Japoneses, Chinos NW, and Buena Vista and confirmed the continuity of mineralization between these zones and in areas within these zones not previously drilled.

To view a map of all the drill holes, please click here and to view a map of the drill holes in the Central Zones please click here or visit the Sonoro website at www.sonorometals.com

Highlights from the last 15 holes of the 10,328 m program reported here include:

• Infill hole SCR-094 returned 1.154 g/t AuEq over 12.19 m in NW end of Japoneses zone
• Infill hole SCR-095 returned 0.791 g/t AuEq over 19.81 m in north end of Japoneses zone
• Infill hole SCR-089 returned 0.657 g/t AuEq over 22.86 m in Chinos NW zone
• Infill hole SCR-083 returned 0.747 g/t Au Eq over 22.86 m in west side of Japoneses zone
• Infill hole SCR-084 returned 0.704 g/t AuEq over 15.24 m in north Japoneses zone

Drill holes SCR-081, 082, 083, 092, 093, and 094 were completed along the western side of Japoneses toward the northwest region of the zone. Holes SCR-093 and 094 were paired holes from the same drill site inclined 45 degrees in opposite directions with SCR-093 containing 4.57 m with 0.436 g/t AuEq and SCR-094 reporting 12.9 m with 1.154 g/t AuEq.  SCR-093’s end of hole overlaps SCR-095’s end of hole making these three drill holes, including SCR-094, aligned in the cross section. Click here to view the Japoneses cross section. These holes are at the northern terminus of the Japoneses gold mineralized zone that remains open and which Sonoro plans to test by future drilling. 

Drill hole SCR-084 was completed in the north-central part of the Japoneses zone with 15.24 m of 0.704 g/t AuEq intercepted, including a vein showing 1.53 m of 2.93 g/t Au and 33.6 g/t Ag.   Drill holes SCR-085, 088, 089, 090 and 091 drill-tested the area between Japoneses and Chinos NW zones, showing the mineralization continuing between the two zones.  SCR-086 and 087 were drilled to infill the connection between the Japoneses and Cuervos zones which show shorter intervals.

This drilling program has shown that the mineralized zones have good continuity along strike and these zones are open for extension potential.  The strike length of Japoneses through the Cuervos zone is over 1,100 meters and with the inclusion of Boluditos and Chinos NW, it is approximately 1,300 meters long by 400 meters wide.

The historic Cabeza Blanca zone is now shown to have a strike length of 1,000 meters including the El Colorado zones of veins, some of which have higher grades.  The width of the Cabeza Blanca zone is approximately 20 meters with some additional mineralized areas alongside the zone in the Guadalupe vein.  The potential to expand this area of mineralization is believed to be high with open extensions north and south.

A total of 10,328 meters has been drilled and assayed to date in the two phases of the program with 96 drill holes for an average drill hole length of 107.6 meters, all inclined.  The combination of historic and current exploration drilling now totals 23,679 meters in 212 drill holes in addition to more than 6,000 surface samples.

Mineral intercepts presented for the final 15 drill holes are shown in the table below.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) Measures and Analytical Procedures
Drill samples are collected with an airstream cyclone and passed into a splitter that divides each sample into quarters.  The quartered samples are then bagged and sealed with identification. The sample group has blanks, standards and duplicates inserted into the sample stream.  ALS-Chemex collects the samples and transports them directly to the preparation laboratory in Hermosillo, Sonora.

At the laboratory, part of each sample is reduced through crushing, splitting and pulverization from which 200 grams is sent to the ALS-Chemex assay laboratory in Vancouver. Thirty grams undergoes fire assay for gold with the resulting concentrated button of material produced is dissolved in acids, and the gold is determined by atomic absorption.  Another quantity of the sample is dissolved in four acids for an ICP multi-element analysis.

Geologic Description
Cerro Caliche is located 45 kilometers east southeast of Magdalena de Kino in the Cucurpe-Sonora Mega-district of Sonora, Mexico. Multiple historic underground mines were developed in the concession including Cabeza Blanca, Los Cuervos, Japoneses, Las Abejas, Boluditos, El Colorado, Veta de Oro and Espanola. Mineralization types of the Cucurpe-Sonora Mega-district include variants of epithermal low sulfidation veins and related mineralized dikes and associated volcanic domes. Local altered felsic dikes cut the mineralized meta-sedimentary rock units and may be associated with mineralization both in the dikes and meta-sedimentary rocks. 

Host rocks include Jurassic-Cretaceous meta-sedimentary rock units including argillite, shale, quartzite, limestone, quartz pebble conglomerate and andesite. Younger intrusive rock consisting of medium coarse-grained granodiorite-granite is present in the westerly parts of the concessions near the historic Cabeza Blanca mine. It is apparent that veining cuts and pervasively alters the intrusive stock.   Rhyolite occurs in irregular bodies distributed in higher elevations in the northerly part of the concession, including the Rincon area, where it occurs as flows, sills, dikes and rhyolite domes. Part of the rhyolite is mineralized and appears to be related to epithermal gold mineralization throughout the property.

Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo., a director of Sonoro, is a Qualified Person within the context of National Instrument 43-101 and has read and approved this news release. Readers are cautioned that the presence of mineralization on historic mines adjacent to or on Cerro Caliche is not necessarily indicative of gold mineralization in the concessions held by the company.

About Sonoro Metals Corp.
Sonoro Metals Corp. is a publicly listed exploration and development company with two exploration stage precious metal properties in Sonora State, Mexico. The company has highly experienced operational and management teams with proven track records for the discovery and development of natural resource deposits.

For further information, please contact:
Sonoro Metals Corp. - Corporate Communications:
Bill Campbell – Tel: (604) 565-5609
Email: bill@sonorometals.com

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions: This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, the Company's plans for the drilling of the above-described Cerro Caliche Concessions, located in the municipality of Cucurpe, Sonora, Mexico, and the Company’s future exploration plans for those properties. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable based on current circumstances, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the possibility of unfavourable interim exploration results, the lack of sufficient future financing to carry out exploration plans, and unanticipated changes in the legal, regulatory and permitting requirements for the Company’s exploration programs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law or the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. Readers are encouraged to review the Company’s complete public disclosure record on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

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