Bighorn raised to big league for Alianza

Alianza Minerals Ltd. Dec. 14 announced the completion of its 2022 exploration program at the Haldane silver project in the Yukon's historic Keno Hill Mining District, which culminated in the successful extension of Bighorn by roughly 525 meters.

Located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) west of Hecla Mining Company's Keno Hill silver mine, the 8,579-hectare (21,200 acres) Haldane property hosts a small historical mine that produced roughly 24.7 metric tons of hand-sorted ore averaging 3,102 grams per metric ton (99.7 ounces per metric ton) silver and 59% lead on the south side of Bighorn Creek.

This year, the company investigated Bighorn and three other targets at Haldane – Bighorn East, Ross West, and Sundown.

The exploration at Bighorn targeted the extension of known mineralization identified in surface trenches and diamond drilling from 2019.

Hole HLD19-15, the first to test a 900-meter-long silver-lead soil geochemical anomaly at Bighorn, intersected four separate structures, including a 2.35-meter section averaging 125.7 g/t silver and 4.39% lead.

BHU3, a trench dug this year across what is now known as the BT Structure, intersected faulted quartzites and schists of the Basal Quartzite Member of the Keno Hill Formation approximately 250 meters south of HLD19-15. While no sulfides remain, sampled oxide mineralization from a two-meter chip sample returned 32.7 g/t silver.

With this trench, the BT structure has been traced for roughly 525 meters along at least 1,400 meters of strike potential.

"The BT structure at Bighorn now rivals other priority targets such as West Fault and Middlecoff in observed and potential strike length," said Alianza Minerals Vice President of Exploration Rob Duncan. "The presence of silver-lead mineralization in the first and only drill hole at Bighorn in 2019 is very encouraging and indicates there is a strong possibility of this structure being a significant host to silver mineralization."

Additionally, further potential to expand the BT structure strike exists where the fault continues within the Basal Quartzite. In light of these encouraging results, Alianza has categorized Bighorn as a priority for drill testing in 2023, along with West Fault.

Aside from the elevated status of Bighorn, Alianza reports that crews were unable to identify the source of the anomalous soil geochemical results at the Sundown and Ross West targets, largely due to the depth of overburden and a lack of outcrop. Furthermore, Bighorn East intrusive sills and dykes identified in the area were not precious metals bearing.