Metallic drills for Keno silver resource

Metallic Minerals Corp. Oct. 19 announced the completion of its 2023 exploration program at its Keno Silver project in Yukon, Canada.

Covering 171 square kilometers (66 square miles) within the historic Keno Hill Silver District, Metallic Minerals has been advancing its flagship Keno Silver project that lies adjacent to Hecla Mining Company's Keno Hill silver mine.

While not as large as last year's program, the company opted to focus its efforts on the largest and highest-grade target on the property – Formo.

Highlights from the 2022 drilling at Formo include:

• 0.5 meters averaging 1,139 grams per metric ton silver, 14.8% zinc, and 18.3% lead in hole FOR22-01.

• 1.63 meters averaging 1,050 g/t silver, 9.45% zinc, and 4.21% lead in hole FOR22-03.

• 0.64 meters averaging 1,358 g/t silver, 16.4% zinc, and 4.16% lead in hole FOR22-04.

This year's program at Formo included 1,112 meters in four holes aimed at establishing an inaugural NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate expected later this year.

"We were very pleased to return to our Keno Silver project and complete this important new phase of exploration which focused on drilling mineralized extensions of our "resource-ready" target at Formo," said Metallic Minerals President Scott Petsel. "With the key milestone of an inaugural resource estimate for Keno Silver on the near-term horizon, the team is already looking ahead to working from those initial deposit models to continue to add additional ounces with this and subsequent future programs."

More than 200 million ounces of silver having been mined from Yukon's Keno Hill; Metallic Minerals is well aware of its position by holding claims in one of the world's highest-grade silver districts.

The junior exploration company holds the second largest land position in the Keno district, with claims covering the east and parts of central and western Keno Hill, including eight high-grade, shallow, past-producing deposits.

Hecla, the largest landowner in the district, is ramping up to commercial production at the Keno Hill Silver mine project that it recently acquired from Alexco Resource Corp.

According to a calculation completed for Alexco, Hecla's Keno Hill property hosts 1.44 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 804 grams per metric ton (37.19 million ounces) silver, 3.84% (122 million pounds) zinc, and 2.64% (84 million lb) lead in four deposits – Bellekeno, Lucky Queen, Flame & Moth, and Bermingham.

"One of the major advantages the upcoming resources will have are their shallow depth which makes them amenable to low-cost bulk tonnage mining methods," said Petsel. "The blueprint for rapid and dramatic resource growth in the Keno district, as demonstrated by prior operators, is to first identify the dominant mineralized vein structures and their orientations, then vector along trend and depth with successive drill campaigns. This tried-and-true methodology is being employed by Metallic Minerals to expand the Keno Silver project which is located within one of the world's highest grade silver producing districts."