Honey Badger Silver Inc. has announced that it has hired Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited to conduct a thorough 3D geological modeling study at its 100%-owned, 5,690-hectare Plata Silver Property in east-central Yukon to develop and enhance targets.
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The recent study has highlighted intriguing target areas for future research, and the findings of the study will be presented in the upcoming weeks once interpretations have been completed.
this research was undertaken after realizing the extraordinarily promising outcomes of the Company’s 2021 Field Program at Plata, which delivered Keno Hill-style high-grade silver-lead-zinc values from a number of targets collected and mapped.
Between 1913 and 1989, Keno Hill, located 165 km west of the Plata Silver Property, produced more than 200 million ounces of silver at an average grade of 44 ounces per ton (oz/t), making it Canada’s second greatest primary silver producer.
Alexco Resource Corp., which owns and runs most of the historic Keno Hill silver district, restarted concentrate production and shipments in the first quarter of 2021. Now, they are progressing Keno Hill to commercial production.
The Plata and Keno Hill regions exhibit strong similarities, according to Archer Cathro geologists.
Plata has produced high-grade silver from small-scale mining in the past and currently hosts 32 showings, many of which have returned high-grade silver, lead, and zinc values, from drilling and trenching.
Chad Williams, Chairman, Honey Badger Silver Inc.
“My site visit to Plata last summer served to highlight the great potential of this property and we are delighted to be partnered with Archer Cathro, a highly regarded and sophisticated group of geoscientists that have had tremendous success in the Yukon over the past forty years. We look forward to leveraging their deep knowledge to identify the most prospective targets at Plata and in planning our Summer 2022 program,” Williams added.
Previous drilling and channel sampling data, as well as soil geochemistry information and data received from numerous iterations of geological and structural mapping on the land, will be incorporated into the 3D geological modeling study.
The program’s goal will be to develop a better understanding of the structural and lithological control mechanisms on mineralization, as well as to identify and prioritize areas for additional research and drilling.
Highlights from the Plata Summer Work Program in 2021 are summarized below:
1. Assays received confirmed the presence of Keno Hill-style high-grade silver including:
- 16,887 g/t silver and 67.99% lead from a rock sample (float) at the P1 Zone, 4,300 g/t silver, 22.00% zinc, and 46.40% lead over 1.0 m from a channel sample at the P2 Zone and 2,720 g/t silver, 72.63% lead from a rock sample (outcrop) at the P26 Zone related to Type I veins
- 4,500 g/t silver, 7.26 g/t gold, and 24.13% lead over 0.85 m from the Aho Zone that ranges over 800 m along strike, related to Type II veins
- 5,190 g/t silver, 4.24 g/t gold, 24.4% lead, and 3.62% zinc obtained from composite grab samples from about 90 historic ore bags
2. The property hosts 32 hard rock representations that have seen limited past exploration as well as eight strong multi-element soil anomalies indicating additional zones along the trend that have seen very minimal or no follow-up work, offering the promising potential for new discoveries.
Sampling Methodology
ALS Minerals conducted all evaluations of rock samples from the Plata 2021 program, with sample preparation in Whitehorse and assays and geochemical analysis in North Vancouver.
Rock samples were consistently examined for gold via fire assay, then by atomic absorption (Au-AA24) and 33 other elements using four acid digestion, and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy analysis (ME-ICP61).
Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (Ag/Pb/Zn-OG62) was used to test samples that surpassed the limit of detection of routine tasks for silver, lead and zinc. Titration was used to examine samples that contained more than 30% lead (Pb-VOL70).
Fire assay and gravimetric finish procedures were used to examine samples that surpassed the detection limits using Au-AA24 for gold and Ag-OG62 for silver (Au-GRA22 and Ag-GRA21). Silver samples with concentrations of more than 10,000 ppm were subjected to a fire assay and gravimetric finish (Ag-CON01).
The technical information has been validated by Heather Burrell, P.Geo., a senior geologist with Archer Cathro and qualified person for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101.