Jun 27 2013
Silver Range Resources Ltd. ("Silver Range" or "the Company") is pleased to announce exploration and drilling plans for its wholly owned Silver Range Project located in Yukon Territory. The 1000+ sq km Silver Range Project is situated 10 to 40 km north of the town of Faro, the former site of large-scale, lead-zinc-silver mining operations.
The 2013 program will include:
- Diamond drilling at three priority exploration targets: the Owl Southwest, Vent and Hammer Zones; and
- Detailed prospecting and mapping throughout the project area, designed to make new discoveries, expand known mineralized zones and advance targets to the drill stage.
Since 2010, exploration at the Silver Range Project has identified twenty-four silver-bearing zones and thirteen unprospected soil geochemical anomalies. Collectively, these prospects define two major mineralized belts: the 17 km Mount Mye Trend and the 70 km Tay Trend. Systematic grid drilling has outlined bulk tonnage silver-polymetallic mineralization at the Keg Deposit containing 38.7 million ounces of silver, 675 million pounds of zinc, 228 million pounds of lead, and 131 million pounds of copper (see details below). Metallurgical results show that mineralization responds very well to conventional copper/lead/zinc flotation processing with excellent recoveries of payable metals.
The 2013 exploration program will include 1,500 m of diamond drilling at:
The Owl Southwest Zone, a high-grade discovery located 7.3 km northwest of the Keg Deposit. Both 2012 scout drill holes returned significant silver values, including 5,370 g/t (156.63 oz/t) silver over 0.34 m in hole OSW-12-001 and 432 g/t (12.60 oz/t) silver over 1.50 m in hole OSW-12-002. Mineralization occurs near the edge of an extensive upland marsh marked by a strong, open-ended 200 by 350 m soil geochemical anomaly, with values ranging from 10 to 208 g/t silver.
The Vent Zone, a new discovery located 20 km east-southeast of the Keg Deposit, will be drill tested for the first time in 2013. It is associated with a very strong, 600 by 400 m silver-arsenic-antimony-lead soil anomaly. Ten samples of mineralized quartz veins and altered pyroclastic rocks collected throughout the anomaly returned between 150 g/t and 673 g/t (4.38 and 19.63 oz/t) silver. Limited excavator trenching returned 247 g/t (7.20 oz/t) silver and 1.30% lead across an 8 m interval that remains open to extension on one side. Other trench results indicate potential for bulk tonnage mineralization, with values including 21.0 g/t silver over 21 m.
The Hammer Zone, a bonanza-grade silver-rich epithermal vein system, discovered in 2011 and located only 12 km from the Faro mine and mill site. Broadly-spaced drilling in 2012 traced three subparallel veins for strike lengths of up to 600 m and through a vertical range of 280 m. Fourteen of 19 drill holes completed at the Hammer Zone intercepted one or more veins in a grade range between 237 and 4,620 g/t (6.91 and 134.75 oz/t) silver. The weighted average of 16 individual vein intercepts is 807 g/t (23.54 oz/t) silver over an average drill intersected width of 0.66 metres. All veins are open for extension along strike and to depth.
Field crews will also complete follow-up prospecting and detailed sampling throughout the Silver Range Project. This work is designed to make new discoveries, expand known mineralized zones, evaluate high-grade and bulk tonnage potential, and advance targets to drill stage.
Further drilling at the Keg deposit and adjacent targets is pending results from surface exploration work. At a 16 g/t silver cut-off, the Keg Deposit inferred resource is 39.76 million tonnes grading 30.25 g/t silver, 0.26% lead, 0.77% zinc and 0.15% copper. For further details, see the technical report entitled "Geology, Mineralization, Geochemical Surveys, Diamond Drilling, Metallurgical Testing and Mineral Resources at the Keg Property" dated December 19, 2012 and amended May 27, 2013 and filed on SEDAR.
Maps related to the Silver Range project can be viewed at www.silverrangeresources.com. Work at the Silver Range Project is being conducted by Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited. Technical information in this news release has been approved by Matthew R. Dumala, P. Eng., a geological engineer with Archer Cathro and qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"W. Douglas Eaton"
President and Chief Executive Officer