Arizona Silver Exploration (TSX-V: AZS) received this week approval from the US Bureau of Land Management of its Notice of Intent to start an initial six-hole exploration drilling program on the Philadelphia project, located in Mohave County, northwestern Arizona.
In a press release, Arizona Silver said that the BLM determined the reclamation bond amount required to cover the proposed drilling program and that the company paid it. Once the bond is accepted, drilling can begin.
The mine operated intermittently until 1941 when it was closed by the War Order Act.
In parallel, the Vancouver-based miner submitted a Notice of Intent and permit application fee with the Arizona Department of Water Resources to commence the exploration drilling.
The plan is to drill six holes in a fence following the gold-silver mineralization identified in the Philadelphia No. 1 (PH-1) shaft.
According to Arizona Silver, the fence of holes will test the easterly dipping mineralized structure along a dip length of over 150 metres from where old descriptions of underground sampling done over 100 years ago revealed good gold grades present, but not sufficient for development at a time when gold was valued at $20/ounce.
The Philadelphia property was discovered in the late 1800s and operated intermittently, mostly between 1917 and 1935 as a 50-tonne per day underground mine.
The Canadian miner now in charge of the project reports that old maps show mining stopped about 46 metres south of the PH-1 shaft and the fence of holes the company intends to drill to test the continuity of the high-grade vein and enveloping lower grade material.