Toronto, Ontario / January 2, 2024 – Hercules Silver Corp. (“Hercules Silver” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: BIG) (OTCQB: BADEF) (FWB: 8Q7) is pleased to report assay results for the latest holes drilled into the new Leviathan Porphyry Copper discovery at its Hercules project located in western Idaho (“Hercules” or the “Property”). Assay results were received in batches for three step-out holes, with complete results now having been received for HER-23-08 and HER-23-11, along with partial results for HER-23-21, which are reported in Table 1 below.
HER-23-08, HER-23-11 and HER-23-21 were collared 220 meters east, 450 meters southeast, and 500 meters southeast of discovery hole HER-23-05 respectively. Each hole was designed to test separate parts of a near surface 2022 IP anomaly. Assays for the remainder of HER-23-21, as well as HER-23-26, which also intersected porphyry copper mineralization, remain pending.
The Leviathan Porphyry remains open for expansion in multiple directions and thus far has only been tested within the 2022 IP survey area. This first phase of blind drilling has intersected copper mineralization within an approximate 500m x 450m area represented by drill holes HER-23-05, -08, -11, -21, and -26.
HER-23-21 tested approximately 800 meters of vertical extent below the silver system. All holes ended in mineralization. A new property-wide deep-penetrating IP survey (see below – “2023 Deep Penetrating 3D IP Survey by Dias Geophysical”) demonstrates that the 2022 anomaly represents just a small part of a much larger, 4 kilometer long, potentially zoned system which largely remains to be tested. Final geophysical inversions remain pending.
- Large step-outs demonstrate significant scale to the newly discovered blind system.
- Significant silver overprints copper porphyry in HER-23-11, returning 183m of 0.3% Cu and 25 g/t Ag, including a sub-interval of 63m of 0.43% Cu, 70 g/t Ag.
- Low arsenic associated with the epithermal silver overprinting HER-23-11, indicating favourability for potential future smelter treatment.
- Assays remain pending for the remainder of HER-23-21 and HER-23-26, which also intersected porphyry mineralization.
- Preliminary Property-wide deep-penetrating IP reveals the potential for a much larger zoned system than was previously understood.
- Mineralization remains open for expansion in multiple directions.
- HER-23-08 and HER-23-21 ended in well mineralized volcanic country rock which remains open at depth.
Table 1: Significant Intercepts
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Cu (%) | Ag (g/t) | Mo (ppm) | As** ppm |
| HER-23-08 | 276.3 | 713.8 | 437.5 | 0.32 | 0.5 | 86 | 20 |
| including | 276.3 | 364.85 | 88.55 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 48 | |
| and including | 300.35 | 332.35 | 32 | 0.67 | 1.5 | 66 | |
| HER-23-11 | 233.11 | 416.05 | 182.94 | 0.3 | 25 | 61 | 37 |
| including | 233.11 | 296.27 | 63.16 | 0.43 | 70 | 66 | |
| including | 246.31 | 247.86 | 1.55 | 0.63 | 774 | 71 | |
| including | 270.69 | 271.42 | 0.73 | 0.25 | 3,001 | 8 | |
| HER-23-21* | 248.41 | 409.53 | 161.12 | 0.45 | 4.4 | 148 | 40 |
| including | 251.46 | 330.71 | 79.25 | 0.53 | 7.3 | 113 | |
| *HER-23-21 assays remain pending from 734m to 1,003m **Arsenic reported to demonstrate low concentrations | |||||||
Figure 1: Plan view of drill holes showing grade bars for copper (orange) and molybdenum (blue) for HER-23-05, HER-23-08, HER-23-11 and HER-23-21.
Chris Paul, CEO and Director of the Company, noted: “Step out holes drilled up to 500m from the initial discovery hole, HER-23-05, have demonstrated significant scale to the system. We’ve drilled in all directions across a 450m x 500m area and every hole ended in mineralization. The system remains open in multiple directions and at depth, with new geophysical data suggesting the potential for significant expansion. Our 2023 drilling encountered a significantly large phyllic halo for which core photos have been posted to the Company’s website. The photos illustrate intense veining, sulfide mineralization and hydrothermal alteration reflective of the scale of the system. In exceptionally large porphyry coppers, the phyllic alteration can extend significant distances from a high-grade potassic core, and the intensity of veining is supportive of that.
Utilizing large step outs has allowed us to employ property scale targeting and attracted a substantial premium investment from Barrick Gold Corp. (“Barrick”) which positions the Company to aggressively drill a new large-scale IP anomaly over several kilometers as we vector toward the potentially high-grade core of the system.
Core photographs can be viewed on the Company’s website at the following link:
2023 Deep Penetrating 3D IP Survey by Dias Geophysical
An IP survey was carried out by Dias Geophysical (“Dias”) in 2022 to target near surface silver in the upper plate, to a depth of 300 meters. However, the survey revealed the presence of a large chargeability anomaly below the limit of historical silver drilling which ultimately led to the discovery of the Leviathan Porphyry. With the success of the 2022 IP survey conducted by Dias, it was decided to utilize the same system again in 2023 to image the entire Property to a depth of 900 meters.
The new large-scale 2023 survey reveals that the 2022 anomaly represents just a fraction of a much larger system which does not show any apparent fault bounds, indicating the potential for significant expansion. Chargeability values are seen to increase along trend to over 33ms in magnitude, demonstrating the potential for increased levels of mineralization. Additional processing is now underway to incorporate the previous high-resolution near surface data with the new deep penetrating data, to generate a robust inversion model over the entire Property. Hercules is working with Barrick’s geophysical team to interpret the data in context with the 2023 drilling and generate the best possible drill targets for the next phase of drilling.
Additional Staking
The Company has also engaged Kurt J. Hoffman Mining Services of Post Falls, ID and has staked an additional 570 lode mining claims to the north of the Property, securing a key extension of the new 3D IP anomaly.
Geological Description
HER-23-08, HER-23-11 and HER-23-21 all intersected strong phyllic alteration with relatively high pyrite to chalcopyrite ratios, indicative of a marginal part of the system. All of the holes carry bornite mineralization near the top of the reported intercepts which demonstrates a potentially higher-grade sulfide assemblage within shallower portions of the system. This information will be used to target areas where the shallower portions of the system may have a higher preservation potential.
HER-23-11 intersected high-grade silver veinlets carrying grades of up to 3,000 g/t over 0.75m which appear to crosscut earlier copper mineralization. Encouragingly, the lead-zinc-arsenic concentrations are negligible within this zone, and native silver has been identified in polished thin sections, indicating potentially favourable metallurgy. They may represent high-grade feeder veinlets to the silver-lead-zinc mineralization hosted in the upper plate, further supporting that HER-23-11 was drilled in a marginal part of the porphyry system and may have been transitional to distal silver-lead-zinc mineralization.
All holes ended in mineralization. HER-23-08 and HER-23-21 intersected inter-mineral porphyry phases in the middle of the holes but ended in higher-grade volcanic wall rock which remains open at depth. The target is early-mineral porphyry phases which intruded the wall rock the earliest and are likely concentrated toward the center of the system with the highest vein densities and copper grades.
Spectral data was collected at 5-foot intervals using a portable Terraspec spectrometer to analyze the composition of hydrothermal sericite. The data is being interpreted to map sericite composition in 3D space. In porphyry copper systems, the spectral signature of sericite can be used as a vector towards the potentially higher-grade potassic core of the system.
Table 2: Drill Hole Locations
| Hole ID | Easting | Northing | Elevation | Depth (m) | Azimuth | Dip |
| HER-23-08 | 511414 | 4956760 | 1402 | 713.9 | 110 | -70.0 |
| HER-23-11 | 511577 | 4956352 | 1430 | 419.2 | 50.2 | -60.5 |
| HER-23-21 | 511638 | 4956352 | 1436 | 1007.1 | 240.4 | -80.2 |
High Resolution Core Photos
Full resolution versions of the core photographs can be downloaded directly from the following link (~4.8Gb):
Sample Analysis and QAQC
All drill core samples were prepped and analyzed at MSA Labs in Langley, British Columbia, an ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 certified laboratory. Samples were dried and crushed to 2mm, from which a 250g sub-sample split was then pulverized to 85% passing a 75-micron sieve. Following preparation, assays were determined by the IMS-230 method. A 0.25g aliquot of the prepared pulp was digested in a 4-acid solution consisting of hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric and hydrofluoric acids. 4-acid is a near total digest and only the most highly resistant minerals are not dissolved. The resulting solution was analyzed via ICP-MS and ICP-ES for 48 elements and was corrected for inter-element spectral interferences. Lower detection limits for this procedure are 0.01 ppm for silver, 0.5 ppm for lead, 2 ppm for zinc, and 0.2 ppm for copper.
Mercury is not reported due to volatilization in reaction with hydrofluoric acid and gold is not reported due to the small, 0.25g aliquot size being insufficient to overcome the nugget effect.
Gold was analyzed by FAS-111, a 30-gram fire assay fusion with AAS finish. No significant results were reported.
Samples with initial results beyond the upper detection limit of the IMS-230 method were analyzed by procedures ICF-6Ag, ICF-6Cu, ICF-6Pb and ICF-6Zn. The thresholds are 100 ppm for silver, and >1% for copper, lead and zinc.
MSA Labs employs internal quality control standards, duplicates and blank samples at set frequencies.
Blind certified reference materials (CRMs) and blank samples were systematically inserted by the Company into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company’s quality assurance/quality control protocol.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Christopher Longton BS, CPG, Hercules’ Vice President, Exploration. Mr. Longton is a “Qualified Person” for Hercules Silver within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Hercules Silver Corp.
Hercules Silver Corp. is a junior mining company focused on the exploration and development of the 100% owned Hercules Silver Project, northwest of Cambridge, Idaho.
The Hercules project is a disseminated silver-lead-zinc system with 28,000 meters of historical drilling across 3.5 kilometers of strike. The additional discovery of a new porphyry copper system at depth in 2023 adds significant upside potential to the Property. The Company is well positioned for growth through the drill bit, having completed extensive surface exploration consisting of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping, IP geophysics.
The Company’s management team brings significant exploration experience through the discovery and development of numerous precious metals projects worldwide.
For further information please contact:
| Chris Paul CEO & Director Telephone +1 (604) 670-5527 Email: [email protected] |
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. Any securities referred to herein have not and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws of an exemption from such registration is available.
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains certain information that may be deemed “forward-looking information” with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “projects,” “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will,” “would,” “may,” “could” or “should” occur. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may include, without limitation, the expected assay results of the remaining holes; the results of the geophysical inversions from the 2023 IP survey; exploration plans and expected exploration and drilling results at the Property, results of operations, and the expected financial performance of the Company.
Although the Company believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by its nature, forward-looking information involves assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; the Covid-19 pandemic; adverse industry events; the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the timing of such approvals; that the Company maintains good relationships with the communities in which it operates or proposes to operate, future legislative and regulatory developments in the mining sector; the Company’s ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; mining industry and markets in Canada and generally; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; the risk that any of the assumptions prove not to be valid or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned work, risks associated with the interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company’s expectations, as well as other assumptions risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company, including as set forth in the Company’s public disclosure documents filed on the SEDAR website at www.sedarplus.ca.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF HERCULES SILVER AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE HERCULES SILVER MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.
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