Brixton Metals: Strongest gold, silver and copper mineralisation identified to date at Hog Heaven

Brixton Metals’ (TSX.V: BBB, FSE: 8BX1, WKN: A114WV) Hog Heaven project in Montana, USA, is currently being explored by Ivanhoe Electric under an earn-in agreement. Recent drilling on the project intersected 0.32 g/t gold, 37.8 g/t silver and 0.63 per cent copper over a length of 82 metres.

Ivanhoe Electric has reported this as the best copper-gold-silver intersection ever identified on the Hog Heaven project. The 82 metres long mineralised zone starts at a depth of 568 metres and contains a 3.95 metres long intercept where metal grades reach 5.78 per cent copper, 2.2 g/t gold and 264.7 g/t silver!

In addition to the length and high-grade nature of the mineralisation, its overall location is also of interest as the drill hole lies to the west of the Flathead Mine and remains open in several directions. Drilling to date has shown that the high sulphidation epithermal mineralisation has a strike length of at least 800 metres.

The high-grade, increasingly copper-rich intercepts in hole HHD-014 are the latest evidence that Hog Heavon has the potential to be a significant discovery. Mineralisation remains open in several directions and additional drilling is planned to identify the assumed, deep-seated porphyry source of the high sulphidation system.

Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Electric, was pleased with the significant discovery. He reported, “Since our initial drill holes at Hog Heaven, we have been impressed by the widespread sulphide mineralisation containing a variety of base and precious metals found throughout the system. This is the smoke for a potentially special porphyry system. Today’s results are a great validation of our belief in this particular part of the Earth’s crust. We will continue to drill deep and around the clock on our Hog Heaven and Tintic projects.”

In search of the central source

With drill hole HHD-014, Ivanhoe Electric intersected several zones of copper, gold and silver-bearing mineralisation. They occur both in the volcanic diatreme and in the surrounding sediments. The mineralisation occurs both as enargite and as pyrite in the form of disseminations and diffuse veins in the volcanic rock. Considerable thicknesses of this disseminated and vein-bearing mineralisation have been intersected.

The best single assay in this vein zone returned 21.7 per cent copper, 3.94 g/t gold and 510 g/t silver over 1.1 metres at a depth of 632 metres. However, Ivanhoe Electric exercised great caution when evaluating these findings. The copper content of 21.7 per cent was therefore capped at ten per cent in order to avoid overestimating and smearing the grades within the reported intercepts.

If this capping is not applied, the 82 metre total intercept would show 0.79 per cent copper, 0.32 g/t gold and 37.8 g/t silver and the 3.95 metre particularly highly mineralised intercept would increase to 9.13 per cent copper, 2.2 g/t gold and 264.7 g/t silver.

The latest drilling at Hog Heaven thus not only impressively demonstrates the considerable size of the system. It is also clear from the latest results that the copper-dominated mineralisation is increasing. The intersection in HHD-014 reflects a 500 metre extension to the west of the areas mined in the historic Flathead Mine. Together with Ivanhoe Electric’s drilling below the Flathead Mine, the mineralised system now has a strike length of over 800 metres and remains open in multiple directions.

The copper-rich intercept in HHD-014 is located near the edge of the Diatrem volcanic pipe containing the host sediments, which remains untested along much of its extent. In the shallower part of HHD-014, a significant intercept of 0.30 per cent copper, 0.59 g/t gold and 69.7 g/t silver was found in the sedimentary rocks outside the diatreme over 528 metres. This includes a sulphide cemented breccia with 0.58 per cent copper, 1.84 g/t gold and 184.3 g/t silver over 5.3 metres from 544 metres down dip. This intercept demonstrates that the sediments outside the diatreme complex can also host significant mineralisation.