Keno silver supplies another Yukon miner

Metallic Minerals Corp. April 10 announced the final results from the 2022 exploration at its Keno Silver project in Canada's Yukon. While small, the program unearthed impressive silver grades that are in line with the historical Keno Hill Silver District.

Consisting of 171 square kilometers (66 square miles) within the historic Keno Hill Silver District, Metallic Minerals has been advancing its flagship Keno Silver project.

Covering the eastern portion of the district, along with sections on the western and southern sides, Metallic Minerals' land package was host to eight of the silver mines that returned some of the highest grades in the district – with five averaging production grades above 5,000 grams per metric ton silver.

As part of its larger 3,265-meter drill program, the latest results are from 642 meters drilled in six holes at the Caribou target, located in the Central Keno area. This drilling was focused on testing extensions of high-grade and bulk-tonnage mineralization.

The total program aimed at target extension drilling at its advanced-stage "resource-ready" targets – Caribou, Formo, and Fox – in anticipation for the company's inaugural NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the Keno Silver project.

"The Caribou vein target in the Central Keno area is a classic example of "Keno-style" high-grade silver-lead-zinc vein mineralization and shows excellent potential for resource targets on the property," said Metallic Minerals President Scott Petsel. "Caribou has consistently returned grades over 1,000 g/t silver-equivalent and, more recently, has been recognized as a potential bulk tonnage target returning widths of mineralization up to 34.2 meters of potentially economic grades in a shallowly dipping configuration."

Drilling at Caribou has continued to impress Metallic Minerals, which has successfully extended high-grade silver mineralization both down-dip and south along strike of the known extents of the Caribou structure with a total of 71 intercepts in 5,890 meters of drilling to date.

Highlights from the final 2022 results include:

• 34.2 meters averaging 16 g/t silver, 0.11 g/t gold, 0.11% lead, and 0.24% zinc from a depth of 91.5 meters in hole CH22-01, and 0.5 meters averaging 548 g/t silver, 2.9 g/t gold, 1.77% lead, and 8.75% zinc.

• 32.1 meters averaging 18.9 g/t silver, 0.06 g/t gold, 0.1% lead, and 0.21% zinc from 94.5 meters in CH22-02, and 0.53 meters averaging 529 g/t silver, 1.07 g/t gold, 3.03% lead, and 3.76% zinc.

• 0.5 meters averaging 58 g/t silver, 0.09 g/t gold, 1.97% lead, and 0.26% zinc from 9.9 meters in CH22-03.

• 0.5 meters averaging 74 g/t silver, 0.09 g/t gold, 2.75% lead, and 0.37% zinc from 12 meters in CH22-04.

• 6.7 meters averaging 99 g/t silver, 0.07 g/t gold, 0.14% lead, and 2.12% zinc from 37.5 meters in CH22-05, including 0.86 meters averaging 361 g/t silver, 0.19 g/t gold, 0.41% lead, and 1.14% zinc.

• Nine meters averaging 15.5 g/t silver, 0.02 g/t gold, 0.05% lead, and 0.2% zinc from 50 meters in CH22-06.

From the latest results, hole CH22-01 intersected two separate higher-grade vein intervals within a broad zone of bulk tonnage mineralization. From 91.5 to 92 meters, this half-meter interval averaged 205 g/t silver; and from 125.2 to 125.7 meters, another half-meter intercept averaged 548 g/t silver, bounding a zone of 34.2 meters averaging 16 g/t silver.

First drilled in 2021, the southernmost drilling at the Caribou target continues to demonstrate strong potential for further extension with hole CH22-05, which encountered another half-meter intercept that returned 356 g/t silver at a near-surface depth of 44 meters.

"With high-grade results at the Caribou, Formo and Fox area targets, along with the continued delineation of broad bulk tonnage mineralization near surface, we are continuing to demonstrate the extensive exploration potential of the district," said Petsel. "We look forward to completing a first resource for the Keno Silver project in the second half of 2023."

The company says it expects a maiden mineral resource estimate for Keno Silver to be released later this year.