Vancouver, British Columbia: FIREWEED ZINC LTD. (“Fireweed” or the “Company”) (TSXV: FWZ) is pleased to announce the first drill results from its 2017 verification and step out drill program on the Macmillan Pass Project in Yukon, Canada.
Highlights
- Hole TS17-03 intersected 10.20% Zinc, 6.28% Lead and 87.7 g/t Silver over 24.4 meters (TW) including 19.20% Zinc, 13.95% Lead and 379.8 g/t Silver over 3.6 meters. These exceptional intersections confirm the very high grades in the near surface portion of the Tom West Zone
- Hole TS17-05 intersected 6.35% Zinc, 3.15% Lead and 34.2 g/t Silver over 27.7 meters (TW) including 7.55% Zinc, 5.99% Lead and 87.0 g/t Silver over 10.5 meters (TW)
- All holes confirmed previously established mineralization grades and widths, with some providing notably better results:
- TS17-02 / TS17-03 showed much higher silver levels than nearby historic drill results
- TS17-05 returned much higher assays generally than the nearby low grade historic hole drilled in 1951 indicating the Tom West Zone is open for expansion to the north
- Additional drilling has been completed and results are pending from both the Tom and Jason areas
Results from the first five drill holes of the program were on the Tom West Zone as follows:
Notes to table:
- Maps of the drill hole locations are attached to this news release or available on the Fireweed website at www.FireweedZinc.com .
- True Width is estimated from the company’s current understanding of the orientation of the mineralized body in the area of the drill intersection and will be refined when the final geological model for the planned mineral resource report is completed.
- Drill hole TS17-02 had low core recoveries (40-70%) through the mineralized zone and was re-drilled at a slightly different angle from the same pad as TS17‑03 which returned good (>90%) core recoveries.
These first holes of the Phase 1 drill program were infill holes in the Tom West Zone drilled to verify historic results from drilling carried out between 1951 and 1992. The current drilling confirmed some of the historic results (drill holes TS17-01 and TS17-04) but in other holes returned better results:
- TS17-02/03 returned much higher silver values than historic holes in that area.
- TS17-05 was drilled 50 meters below an original 1951 drill hole at the north end of the Tom West Zone and returned much higher assays across a similar width compared to the reported results (1.19% zinc, 0.73% lead and 4.89g/t silver over 27 meters) from 1951 drill hole TS001. This result opens the Tom West Zone for potential expansion to the north.
“We are excited to see these results not just confirm the historic grades, but also exceed them significantly in places,” said CEO Brandon Macdonald. “These results also demonstrate the very high-grade nature of near surface areas of the Tom West Zone. We look forward to integrating these results into an updated NI43-101 compliant mineral resource later this year which will include not just these and other holes drilled this year, but also include the 11 holes drilled in 2011 after the last mineral resource was published in 2007.”
Verification drilling in key locations has been completed now at both the Tom and Jason sites with most assays still pending. Re-sampling of select historic drill core has also been completed. These satisfy the inputs needed to write an updated NI43-101 compliant mineral resource report for the Tom and Jason zones which is expected to be completed by year end. Additional drilling of step out holes to expand on historic drill results as well as holes for metallurgical test work is continuing. Assay results for the additional verification, step out and metallurgical drill holes from this summer’s drilling will be published as they are received and interpreted. After publication of the updated NI43-101 compliant mineral resource report, Fireweed plans to undertake a NI43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment to evaluate project economics.
Exploration field work is also being carried out including surface mapping and geochemical sampling in the search for new discoveries in the Tom and Jason deposit areas. Airborne LiDAR surveying is also scheduled to be flown to produce an accurate topographic map of the property and to aid in the mapping of geologic features.
Notes on sampling and assaying:
Drill intersections are all HQ3 (split tube) size core (61.1mm / 2.4-inch diameter) with recoveries typically above 87%. After drilling, the core is logged for geology, structure and geotechnical characteristics, marked up for sampling, and photographed on site. The cores for analyses are marked for sampling based on geological intervals with individual samples 1.5 meters or less in length. They are cut in half lengthwise with a rock saw or core splitter at the core facility on site, with half-core samples bagged and sent by reliable transport to the laboratory, and the other half-cores are stored on site for future reference. A total of 5% assay standards and blanks are inserted into every sample shipment as a quality control measure and, after analyses were received, were found to be acceptable. Samples are sent to the Bureau Veritas (formerly Acme Labs) preparation laboratory in Whitehorse, Yukon where the samples are crushed and pulverized to 85% passing 200 mesh size pulps. A 250-gram split of each pulp is then sent to the Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, B.C. and analyzed by 1:1:1 Aqua Regia digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-ESI/ICP-MS) multi-element analyses (BV Code AQ270). Over-limit Pb (>4%) and Zn (>20%) samples are analyzed by 4 Acid Digestion followed by “ore grade” Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (BV Code MA404) and double over-limit Pb (>20%) is analyzed by Pb Titration (BV Code GC817). Bureau Veritas (Vancouver) is an independent, international ISO/IEC 17025:2005 credited laboratory.
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Brandon Macdonald, P.Geo, a ‘Qualified Person’ as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43‑101.
About Fireweed Zinc
Fireweed Zinc is a new public mineral exploration company focused on zinc and managed by a veteran team of mining industry professionals. This summer the Company is advancing its Macmillan Pass Project where it has an option to acquire 100% of the Tom-Jason property in Yukon, Canada which is host to the large, advanced Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits, and an option on the adjacent large MAC claims which cover projected extensions of mineralization from the Jason area and where previous exploration identified zinc, lead and silver geochemical anomalies in critical host geology.
Additional information about Fireweed and its Macmillan Pass Project, can be found on the Company’s website at www.FireweedZinc.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .
ON BEHALF OF FIREWEED ZINC LTD.
Brandon Macdonald
CEO & Director