Troymet Exploration Corp. is pleased to update exploration progress on the SE target on its Wildcat gold-silver project located in the Detroit Mining District, an historic gold producing region in the northern Drum Mountains of central Utah.
The primary exploration focus is structural feeders and breccias along the Joy Fault and structural/stratigraphic targets in Cambrian carbonate rocks. Property wide geological mapping has identified 13 projected intersections of secondary faults with the Joy Fault and all are primary targets for gold and silver mineralization in veins, stockworks, breccias and bulk-tonnage deposits. Importantly, only one historic drill hole has intersected the Joy Fault proximal to one of these newly interpreted intersections/targets. This hole, drilled by Gold Fields Mining Corporation in 1991, intersected 22.72 metres grading 1.27 g/t gold (75 feet grading 0.037 ounces per ton gold).
Seven of the newly recognized structural targets occur in the SE target area and some have associated pathfinder element soil anomalies. All are easily accessible from established roads. None of these structural targets have been drilled. Detailed mapping has also confirmed the presence of favorable stratigraphy for gold mineralization at shallow depths. This stratigraphy, consisting of thin-bedded silty, sandy, calcareous units of the upper Big Horse Member of the Cambrian Orr Formation, appears to occur along the Joy Fault for a distance of at least 1 km in the SE target area.
The Joy Fault, in the SE target, is largely concealed by overburden and consequently soil geochemistry, geophysics, structural mapping of flanking geology, and overburden trenching are critical in identifying drill targets. The SE target tracks the Joy Fault along the contact between Cambrian carbonate rocks and volcanics of the Thomas caldera. The target area is located along a pronounced NW-trending break in Bouguer gravity. Magnetic (TMI) data shows a strong magnetic low, approximately 1800 metres long and ~500 metres wide, developed in the Cambrian carbonates along the Joy Fault.
Rock chip samples of decalcified carbonate in a prospect pit near a fault intersection along the Joy Fault yielded 2.2 and 3.9 g/t gold as well as 100 and >500 ppm tellurium and 100 and 283 ppm antimony. Three jasperoid rock chip samples from the same prospect pit assayed 0.115, 1.29, 2.46 g/t gold. Pathfinder element geochemistry is also anomalous; one jasperoid sample returned 332 ppm arsenic, 5.74 ppm bismuth, 37.4 ppm mercury, 99.6 ppm antimony and >500 ppm tellurium in addition to 2.46 g/t gold. Mapping has identified an additional exposure of the Joy Fault 200 meters NW of the prospect pit, and assays are pending. This mineralization could represent leakage above more extensive mineralization in the underlying Big Horse limestone. Decalcification of silty carbonates increases porosity and permeability of host rock and is an important characteristic of Carlin style mineralization. The presence of anomalous pathfinder element geochemistry with gold is highly significant.
Historic grid soil sampling (300 X 100 foot or 90 X 30 metres) by Newmont Mining Corporation in 2012 identified a 300-meter-long (1,000-foot-long) tellurium >> mercury >>>gold anomaly paralleling the Joy Fault in the SE area. This anomaly has never been trenched or drilled. The average tellurium concentration of 0.32 ppm (five samples) compares to a background of <0.05 ppm. For corroboration, two additional soil lines were completed by Troymet. One of these lines, running along the edge of alluvium sub-parallel to the anomalous Newmont soil line, yielded similar results, with an average tellurium concentration of 0.29 ppm (eight samples). Gold and mercury concentrations in the same area are not as continuous, but range from 2 to 122 ppb gold and from 0.05 to 4.9 ppm mercury.
The combination of the anomalous prospect pit and the soil anomalies point to possible mineralization at shallow depths in this area.
All rock and soil samples were prepared for analysis and assayed for gold (30 gram sample by FA/ICP_AES finish) at the ALS Global laboratory in Reno, Nevada. Multi-element analysis of all samples was performed at the ALS Global laboratory in Vancouver, Canada.
Troymet is currently in the process of permitting trenches, drill roads and drill pads in the SE area and other areas. Troymet, through its wholly owned subsidiary Troymet USA LLC ("Troymet USA"), holds an option to acquire a 70% interest in the Wildcat property from Renaissance Exploration, Inc., ("RenEx") a wholly owned subsidiary of Renaissance Gold Inc. Under the terms of option agreement Troymet USA has retained RenEx as its contractor in Year 1 to take advantage of RenEx's expertise and established infrastructure. Troymet USA is exclusively responsible for the planning, execution and supervision of all exploration programs.
Kieran Downes, President and CEO of Troymet, comments: "Troymet's exploration has identified a significant number of new and untested gold targets in the SE target area. The Company hopes to move quickly to drill testing once the trenching program is approved and completed."