Sep 13 2016
Minfocus Exploration Corp. ("Minfocus") is pleased to report the assay results from the recent reconnaissance drilling and exploration program on its CORAL Zinc Project in northeastern British Columbia. The field program comprised nine drill holes [totalling 510 metres] and chip sampling of a newly discovered zinc-mineralized outcrop, a showing beside Hound Dog Creek. Below is a summary of the assay results from the key drill core intervals.
Summary of Coral Project Zinc Mineralized Drill Core Intervals
The new showing is located along Hound Dog Creek approximately 50 metres east-northeast of the 2015 Hound Dog Creek Trench, and 8 - 10 metres north of 1988 historic drill hole 88-4, where 4 metres grading 3.5% zinc was intercepted starting 5.1 metres down-hole. The chip sampling of the new showing extended a total length of 7.0 metres in an East-West direction along Hound Dog Creek, which yielded samples with an average grade of 0.94% zinc over 5.0 metres (including an interval of 2.33% zinc over 1.5 metres), starting from the west end of the outcrop, closest to Hound Dog Creek Trench No. 1 ("HDC Trench 1").
Dr. Francis Manns, geological consultant to Minfocus, who was present during the entire Coral program, noted that, "The results from the drilling and other sampling during this recent program at the Coral project are significant and, based on them, it would be my recommendation that a further more extensive drilling and exploration program is justified along strike because goethite gossans (some with shines of galena) extend more than 2 km to the west and northwest. The target horizon is open both west and east. Several other highly anomalous areas remain to be evaluated when time permits."
The 4,950 hectare Coral property is now believed to contain several zones of zinc enrichment and mineralization. The recently completed 2016 program only investigated two of these areas. The highlights of Minfocus' findings in these two zones are:
- The east-west zone is along the south side of Hound Dog Creek, from hole C16-09 east to the new showing, contains a zone of zinc mineralization, now sampled in four drill holes and two surface showings, including HDC Trench 1. The typical mineralization consists of disseminated fine-grained, wine-red sphalerite in dolostone, cut by late veinlets of coarse dolomite and a second generation of honey-yellow sphalerite. The translucent nature of all observed sphalerite suggests that both types, and especially the yellow crystals, are relatively low in iron (and rich in zinc).The red sphalerite predominates in outcrop and in drill core. A grab sample of gossanous goethite with specks of galena near the south end of HDC Trench 1 assayed 2.37% zinc. This east-west zone has a mapped length of 2000 metres and is open to the northeast and southwest.
- On the north side of Hound Dog Creek an extensive zone was drilled and sampled on the hillside above Hound Dog Creek, where the large zinc-cadmium geochemical soil anomaly exists (cadmium is a minor metal frequently hosted by sphalerite, at levels of a few tenths of 1 wt.%). There are outcrops of cavernous dolostone and other evidence of solution collapse, combined with zinc mineralization assayed and evident in minor veinlets and clots of brown granular sphalerite seen in holes C16-3 and C16-6, which are 290 metres apart. This is considered to be a separate zinc-prospective domain from the zone along the south side in Hound Dog Creek.
Coral Zinc Project Exploration History and Access
The CORAL Zinc property has historic and recent core drilling and trenching, intersecting mineralized breccia containing values of up to 7.8% zinc and up to 3.81% lead in carbonate rocks approximately the same age as Pine Point, a former Mississippi-Valley-Type mine on Great Slave Lake.The targets zones include the large (600m x 300 m) zinc geochemical anomaly (15-50 times background zinc levels) with outcropping zinc mineralized brecciated dolostone at its edge and the 2.6km long Tangle Creek zone of highly anomalous historic stream sediment zinc values (1700-4000 ppm Zn), 5-10 times background. For more details, see the Minfocus news release of October 19, 2015 and the website www.minfocus.com, which includes maps, sections and photographs.The CORAL Zinc project is well located with a barge landing and airstrip that are a twenty-minute helicopter flight from the project. Drill equipment and supplies were brought in by a one-hour barge trip from a landing near Hudson's Hope, B.C. Logging roads access the area within 10 kilometres of the Coral Zinc project and a high-voltage power line is planned to pass within 25 kilometres to deliver power for another advanced mine development.
Minfocus has a current, two-year Mines Act permit which authorizes drilling at up to a further 6 drilling sites subject to a maximum area of disturbance (this permit expires on 31 December 2017) which Minfocus may apply to extend and/or expand, as appropriate. All reported samples were analyzed by Activation Laboratories Ltd. of Kamloops, BC, an accredited laboratory using a four-acid total digestion followed by Induction Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectroscopy.