Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 10, 2023) - Tower Resources Ltd. (TSXV: TWR) ("Tower" or the "Company") is pleased to report that Hole RN23-045, the last hole of the winter diamond drilling program on the Company's Rabbit North property near Kamloops, British Columbia, between New Gold's New Afton underground Cu-Au mine and Teck's Highland Valley open pit Cu-Mo mine (see Fig. 1), intersected 92 m grading 1.13 g/t Au in the Lightning Zone, and that a summer drilling program is planned 400 m to the west to expand the new Thunder Au and Rainbow Porphyry Cu-Au-Mo Zones.
Hole 045, Lightning Zone
The near-surface Lightning Au Zone was discovered by Tower in December, 2021, and has yielded highlight intersections of 95 m of 1.40 g/t Au in discovery Hole 026, 138 m of 1.55 g/t Au in Hole 028 and 70.5 m of 1.78 g/t Au in Hole 029 (see press release from June 22, 2022). It occurs beneath 30-50 m of saprolite in strongly sheared Nicola volcaniclastic rocks on the northwest side of a small plug of Durand diorite (see Fig. 2). An older, 10-15 m wide zone of Durand-style porphyry Cu-Au mineralization is present on the south side of the gold zone at the contact between volcaniclastic rocks and diorite. The Hole 026 intersection of this zone averaged 0.28% Cu and 0.31 g/t Au over 13.0 m.
Shear-hosted Au zones typically persist to a depth greater that their strike length, and Hole 045 was designed to test whether this is the case for the Lightning Zone. It was collared over the gold-depleted saprolite horizon that overlies the gold zone and drilled to the north at a -80° dip with the objective of following the steeply northwest dipping gold mineralization to depth without deviating into either the footwall (south side) or hanging wall (north side).
Hole 045 entered the Lightning Zone at 52 m and exited it 92 m further down-hole at 144 m. It appears to have followed the footwall too closely and deviated into it several times rather than flattening slightly and remaining in the zone as expected. The longest uninterrupted mineralized interval, 20.0 m at the bottom of the section, averaged 2.13 g/t Au (see Table 1). The average Au grade of the 92 m section was diluted to 1.13 g/t Au by the unmineralized footwall intervals.
Further down the hole between 198.5 and 203.0 m the hole intersected a more strongly mineralized, 4.5 m wide zone that averaged 4.23 g/t Au and is evidently related to the Lightning Zone as it is devoid of Cu. The hole ended at 297.5 m with the last 6 m being in the Cu-Au porphyry zone and averaging 0.22% Cu and 1.20 g/t Au.
Scout Holes on Dominic Lake Train
The other two holes not previously reported, Nos. 043 and 044, were drilled on the Dominic Lake gold grain dispersal 300 to 500 m glacially down-ice from the Lightning Zone as part of an ongoing investigation into the apparent mismatch between the 400 m width of the dispersal train and the 100-150 m footprint of the Lightning Zone which lies directly up-ice from the western edge of the train (see Fig. 2).
Before drilling Holes 043 and 044, the top of the till horizon over part of the 300 m wide diorite plug between the Lightning Zone and the previously defined segment of the Dominic Lake Train down-ice from the plug was sampled. As noted in Tower's February 23, 2023 press release, the gold grain content of the till was found to be lower over the plug than down ice from it (see Fig. 3), the reverse of the normal pattern for a dispersal train.
The thickness of the till down-ice from the plug was unknown at the time. If it were as thin as the 1-2 m veneer encountered in Tower's drill holes at the Lightning Zone, the down-ice increase in gold grain abundance would indicate the presence of a second gold source beneath the Dominic Lake Train. Holes 043 and 044 were drilled to check this possibility.
The holes were drilled in-line to the southeast obliquely across the dispersal train, starting on the southern edge of the diorite plug. Both holes encountered thick (10-20 m) till, indicating that the second gold source is not beneath the Dominic Lake Train. Instead, the sharp down-ice increase in till thickness in combination with the up-ice decrease in gold grain abundance at its surface implies that the gold source is located on the north side of the diorite plug because hundreds of metres of glacial transport are normally required to elevate gold grains through till as thick as that in the Dominic Lake Train.
The most probable gold source area is northeast of the Lightning Zone where Tower's easternmost drill hole, No. 033, returned the highest grade mineralization encountered to date (69.3 g/t or 2.01 oz/ton Au over 1.0 m) and a historical hole 200 m further northeast intersected 12.4 g/t Au over 10 metres (see Fig. 2).
Porphyry Cu-Au Alteration and Mineralization Ubiquitous West of Durand Stock
Hole 043 crossed the southern contact of the diorite plug into the adjacent Nicola volclanistic rocks while Hole 044 encountered only volcaniclastic rocks. The Nicola volcaniclastics are almost continuously propylitically (epidote ± pyrite) altered and anomalous in porphyry-type Cu-Au, and a 35.2 m section in Hole 043, near the diorite, returned 0.14% Cu and 0.26 g/t Au.
The above Cu-Au results, together with the consistently anomalous Cu-Au contents of all of the other Nicola intersections in Tower's drill holes west of the Durand Stock, attest to the large scale and very dynamic environment of the porphyry hydrothermal system and reinforce the potential importance of the new Rainbow Cu-Au-Mo Zone that Tower intersected in the westernmost drill holes, Nos. 041 (36.0 m of 0.19% Cu and 0.33 g/t Au ± 0.004% Mo) and 042 (72.4 m of 0.27% Cu, 0.40 g/t Au and 0.01% Mo; see Figs. 4 and 5).
Next Drilling Program
Tower is now planning to perform more systematic drilling to expand the newly discovered Thunder Au Zone and Rainbow Cu-Au-Mo Zone both laterally and to depth (see Fig. 4). Permits are currently being processed for a series of drill pads at a much closer spacing than the 300 m separation between the northern and southern pads of the initial four-hole test program. This will shorten the holes and thereby allow more holes to be drilled on the program budget.
With the dip of the shear-hosted Thunder Au Zone now appearing to be to the east, holes targeting it will be drilled toward the west while some of the holes targeting the porphyry Cu-Au-Mo mineralization of the Rainbow Zone will be vertical due to the presumed conical to cylindrical rather than planar form of this zone.
In the present program, differentiating the Thunder and Rainbow zones became a significant issue, especially in Hole 042, due to their newness, side-by-side positions and similar sericitic alteration and, consequently, their equally sheared condition. It is now apparent, however, that the zones can be reliably differentiated on the basis of their sulphide mineralogy.
The Thunder Zone, like the Lightning Zone, invariably contains only pyrite without a trace of chalcopyrite or any other sulphide minerals whereas the Rainbow Zone contains chalcopyrite in addition to pyrite (as does all of the porphyry-style mineralization in the area) and, toward its core, also molybdenite. However the concentration of chalcopyrite and especially molybdenite (where present) is generally low relative to that of pyrite, and extra care is required to accurately determine their presence or absence.
Tower is also planning a new ground magnetic survey of the area west of the Durand Stock because all of the new discoveries are on the southern edge of the Company's previous (2015) survey area. As well, detailed magnetic data are needed to help resolve the potential extents of the Thunder and Rainbow Zones due to the closeness of these zones, the extensive basalt cover (see Fig. 4) and the reversely magnetized character of the basalt. The survey will extend west across Durand Creek to cover the potential source area of the untested Durand Creek gold grain dispersal train (see press release from August 9, 2022).
Methods and Qualified Person
The drill core was logged at Tower's leased, fully equipped core facility near Kamloops by Matthew Husslage, P.Geo, and Lauren Vollo, BSc. Geology. Both have extensive experience with B.C. gold and copper deposits and Mr. Husslage has managed or co-managed all of Tower's Rabbit North diamond drilling programs since the discovery of the Lightning Zone in December 2021.
Split samples of the core, generally 1.0 or 1.5 m in length, were delivered directly to Activation Laboratories (ActLabs) in Kamloops, BC, a laboratory certified as ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited (Lab 790) by the Standards Council of Canada. QA/QC samples including blanks and standards were inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a ratio of approximately 1:20.
The samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay and ICP-OES and for Ag and 36 additional elements by ICP-OES using a four-acid, near-total digestion. Any over-limit (>5 g/t) Au analyses were repeated using the same fire assay procedure but with a gravimetric rather than ICP finish.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stuart Averill, P.Geo., a director of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Tower Resources
Tower is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in the Americas. The Company's key exploration assets, both in B.C., are the Rabbit North copper-gold porphyry project located between the New Afton copper-gold and Highland Valley copper mines in the Kamloops mining district and the Nechako gold-silver project near Artemis' Blackwater project.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Tower Resources Ltd.
Joe Dhami, President and CEO
(778) 996-4730
www.towerresources.ca
Reader Advisory
This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Figure 1 - Location of Tower's Rabbit North property relative to the active mines of the Kamloops district.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/165472_0a76153574456a54_002full.jpg
Figure 2 - Locations of the Holes 043 and 045 in relation to previously reported drill holes in or near the Lightning Zone.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/165472_0a76153574456a54_003full.jpg
Figure 3 - Gold grain content per 10 kg sample of the till southwest of the Durand Stock. Gold grain counts greater than 200 are shown individually.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/165472_0a76153574456a54_004full.jpg
Figure 4 - Proposed Rainbow and Thunder Zone targets for the summer drilling program. Note that the orientations of Holes 041 and 042 are more northerly than shown previously due to cut-and-paste errors on the drill logs.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/165472_0a76153574456a54_005full.jpg
Figure 5 - Section through Holes 041 and 042 looking north-northwest. Note the downward (outward from the Rainbow Zone) change from high-temperature Cu-Au-Mo to low-temperature Cu-Au-Ag-Bi mineralization.
To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5023/165472_0a76153574456a54_006full.jpg
Depth (m) | Grade | |||||
Hole No. | Zone | From | To | Length (m) |
Au g/t |
Cu % |
RN23-045 | Lightning | 52.0 | 144.0 | 92.0 | 1.13 | 0 |
Including | 124.0 | 144.0 | 20.0 | 2.13 | 0 | |
Sub-Lightning | 198.5 | 203.0 | 4.5 | 4.23 | 0 | |
Porphyry | 291.5 | 297.5 | 6.0 | 1.20 | 0.22 |
Table 1 - Significant Au and Cu-Au zones intersected in Hole 045.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/165472