Strategic Metals Announces First Assay Results from 2016 Diamond Drill Program at Salloon Property

Strategic Metals Ltd. is pleased to announce the first results from its 2016 diamond drill program, which tested a variety of precious metal targets at four of its properties in southern Yukon. The assay results are from a single diamond drill hole at the wholly owned Salloon property, located 70 km northeast of Whitehorse at the southern end of the Livingstone Creek placer gold camp. Highlight results from the 2016 drill hole are provided in the following table.

Table I – 2016 Diamond Drill Highlights

*No recovery from 50.29 to 54.86 m, all elements assigned values of zero for interval average calculation.
¥Interval thought to represent 95% true thickness.

The Salloon property hosts some of the earliest mineral occurrences discovered in Yukon. The Main Showing is marked by a large clearing centred on malachite and limonite stained, silica flooded outcrops. The occurrences were first staked in 1901 and by 1912 two adits, about 23 and 115 m long, had been cut to explore high grade copper-gold veins, located about 200 m north of the Main Showing. The best reported vein sample graded 44.6 g/t gold, 144 g/t silver and 10.37% copper over 0.5 m. Surprisingly, only two drill holes were completed on the property prior to 2016.

The Main Showing and historical adits lie within a 500 by 200 m copper-in-soil geochemical anomaly that coincides with scattered high gold values to a peak of 1020 ppb. Smaller, linear copper-in-soil anomalies occur north and northwest of the main geochemical anomaly. Figure 1 illustrates copper-in-soil geochemistry and the locations of the diamond drill holes and historical adits.

In 1993, two short diamond drill holes were intended to test beneath the Main Showing; however, it now appears they were drilled sub-parallel to mineralization. One of the holes cut 0.49% copper and 0.16 g/t gold across 24.06 m. The 2016 drill hole scissored the historical drill holes, as shown on Figure 2. Drill core in hole SAL-16-01 was highly fractured to gougy, and core recovery was poor (averaging about 55%). The hole was mineralized almost to the bottom and was terminated at a depth of 113 m due to the difficult ground conditions. Much of the silver was recovered from the screened fraction, which indicates that it is occurring as native silver. Antimony, arsenic and lead values are low, throughout the hole.

Two continuous chip samples were taken across the Main Showing in 2016. The weighted average grades of the chip samples returned much more gold and much less silver and copper than the corresponding intervals in the drill hole. The chip sample results averaged 0.565 g/t gold, 0.11% copper and 3.89 g/t silver over 20.0 m and 0.590 g/t gold, 0.08% copper and 2.71 g/t silver over 6.0 m. These intervals are separated by 5.5 m of weakly mineralized outcrop.

Analytical work was done by ALS Minerals, with sample preparation and geochemical analyses in North Vancouver, British Columbia. All rock samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay fusion and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (Au-ICP21) and 48 other elements by four acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ME-MS61). Overlimit values were determined for copper and silver by four acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (Cu- and Ag-OG62). Composite chip samples and diamond drill core were further analyzed by fire assay fusion and precious metal analysis – screen metallic gold and silver, double minus (Au- and Ag-SCR21). Certified assay standards, coarse reject duplicates, field duplicates and blanks were routinely inserted into the sample stream to ensure integrity of the assay process. All of the results reported have passed the QAQC screening.

The 2016 program on the Salloon property was managed by Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited (Archer Cathro). Technical information in this news release has been approved by Heather Burrell, P. Geo., a senior geologist with Archer Cathro and a qualified person for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101.